Step into an LGBTQ+ wonderland with Pink Loerie 2017

Knysna’s forests will be filled with fantastical fairies, bears, princes, princesses, (frogs too), kings and fabulous queens for the Malebooth Pink Loerie Mardi Gras and Arts Festival 2017, powered by MambaOnline.com and Exonika. From 26 April to 1 May 2017, South Africa’s most beautiful town will once again host the annual celebration of all things […]

Burnt lesbian murder victim: More pain for Nonkie’s family as suspects released

The LGBTI community in Kroonstad is said to be living in fear after being allegedly threatened by one of the suspects in the murder of Nonkie Smous. Last week, a burnt out body, presumed to be the 28-year-old openly lesbian woman, was found in the township of Maokeng. The victim was burned beyond recognition. According […]

London DJ Paul Heron on bringing his ‘dirty, sexy, fun’ Therapy to Jozi

Born a Scot but now firmly a Londoner, international DJ Paul Heron is the headliner at Therapy’s Limited Session queer party at And Club in Johannesburg on Wednesday, 26 April. (The next day, appropriately enough, is Freedom Day.) Paul’s name has become synonymous with quality deep, dirty, pumping, funky, tribal and uplifting progressive house. Living […]

Surprise as police arrest anti-gay blackmailers in Ghana

Gay men are often the victims of extortion in Africa, thanks to their status as a stigmatised sexual minority across much of the continent. With the double whammy of being illegal citizens, in many cases the police are not informed, fail to act or even arrest or further blackmail the victims themselves. In a recent incident […]

An fabulous fashion first: Vogue’s new editor is a black gay man

For the first time in Vogue’s history a black gay man has been appointed the editor in chief of the British edition of the famous fashion publication. On Monday, Condé Nast International chairman and chief executive Jonathan Newhouse announced that fashion stylist Edward Enninful will replace outgoing editor Alexandra Shulman. Enninful, 45, will start his […]

Lesbian mom finally allowed to be open about her sexuality with her kids

The Washington Supreme Court has overturned a shocking lower court ruling that banned a lesbian mom from discussing her sexuality with her children After realising that she was lesbian, Rachelle Black filed for divorce in 2011 from her husband, who is a conservative Christian. Despite being a stay-at-home mother, in 2013, the court gave primary custody of their […]

LGBT ally arrested for calling Ugandan president a “pair of buttocks”

A courageous academic and outspoken critic of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has been arrested for insulting him on social media. Dr Stella Nyanzi, 42, was detained by “unknown state agents” on the night of 7 April. On Monday she was changed with “cyber harassment” for calling Museveni a “pair of buttocks” in a January Facebook […]

Chechnya: Victims tortured and killed in gay ‘concentration camps’

News about the abuse of LGBT people in Chechnya continues to shock, with reports of camps being opened in the Russian republic to detain gay men. According to the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, facilities or “secret prisons” have been identified where more than 100 gay men were detained and tortured, with at least three killed. To bolster allegations […]

Court ends last US gay adoption ban – compares it to racism

The Nebraska Supreme Court has struck down a decades-old prohibition on gay and lesbian foster and adoptive parents; the last such ban in the US. The 1995 provision, known as Memo 1-95, barred homosexual individuals and same-sex couples in Nebraska from fostering children, which also meant, as a result, that they could not go on […]

Indonesia must release gay couple who face being tortured

Two men who were kidnapped by religious fanatics face receiving 100 lashes for being gay in Indonesia. The men, both in their twenties, were at home in the Aceh province on 28 March when a group of vigilantes forced their way in to detain them for allegedly having sex. Cell phone video footage of the raid, […]