Shock as Pete Burns dies at 57
Bisexual English singer and reality television celebrity Pete Burns has unexpectedly died at the age of 57. Burns is best known as the androgynous songwriter and vocalist for the band Dead or Alive which found fame with the 1985 hit song You Spin Me Round. In a statement on Monday, Burns’ management said that he […]
Top UK activist rejects verdict against christian bakery over gay marriage cake
Veteran British LGBT activist Peter Tatchell has condemned a verdict against a bakery that refused to make a pro-gay marriage cake as a blow to freedom of expression. On Monday, the Court of Appeal in Belfast upheld last year’s judgement fining Ashers Bakery for discrimination after the christian owners, Colin and Karen McArthur, rejected a request […]
Petition puts pressure on SA government to fast-track hate crimes law
An international petition, backed by a number of South African groups, has called on the minister of justice to speed up the enactment of hate crimes legislation in South Africa. The move follows a recent shocking incident in which a group of men broke into a Mpumalanga lesbian couple’s home and raped them, seeking to “remind […]
Johannesburg Pride venue controversy gets mainstream coverage
The Sunday Times has now weighed in on the debate around this year’s venue for Johannesburg Pride in an article published this weekend. The 2016 event is taking place on Saturday 29 October at Melrose Arch, an upmarket residential, office and retail precinct; a fact that has led some to classify the Pride as exclusionary. Speaking […]
Counting the cost of Nigeria’s anti-LGBT law
Human Rights Watch has warned that Nigeria’s 2013 anti-gay law has made a bad situation much worse for the country’s beleaguered LGBT community. The law, the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act (SSMPA), has led to an increase in extortion and violence against LGBT people and imposed restrictions on nongovernmental organisations providing essential services to LGBT […]