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, […]
Chechnya: Beaten with a hose and electrocuted
More details are emerging of the violent mass crackdown against LGBT people in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Earlier this week, various sources reported that around 100 gay men were rounded up, arrested and even killed by the authorities in recent weeks. The Russian LGBT Network has now released information about a number of incidents. […]
Lesbian woman raped and stabbed in Potchefstroom
Potchefstroom’s LGBT community has been shaken by another possible hate crime incident after a young lesbian woman was attacked and raped. According to reports from local activists, on the night of 1 April, the 26-year-old was talking to a friend on the phone outside her home in Mohadin, Potchefstroom. As she was chatting, three men […]
Pope meets world’s first gay married head of state and his husband
In a first for the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has received an openly gay head of state and his husband at the Vatican. Last month, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, attended a celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which created the European Economic Community. Images have emerged in which […]
Images of Putin in drag will now get you jailed in Russia
Fragile masculinity much? The clampdown on free speech in Russia has again been highlighted by the country’s ridiculous new ban on pictures of its president in drag. Activists have in recent years used a host of images in which Vladimir Putin has been photoshopped to appear to be wearing makeup to protest restrictive Russian anti-gay policies. […]
Is Barry Manilow’s coming out really so funny?
Legendary pop singer and songwriter Barry Manilow’s coming out has taken very few people by surprise, leading to a flood of humorous reactions on social media. But should this really be a topic of such hilarity? The 73-year-old star spoke about his sexuality for the first time this week with People magazine. He revealed that […]
Burnt body feared to be that of young lesbian woman
There are fears that a young lesbian woman has become the victim of a shocking hate crime, after a burnt out body was discovered in Kroonstad. According to multiple sources, the charred body was found in the Seeisoville section of the township of Maokeng on Tuesday, just meters from an evangelical church. Smoke had been […]
These male politicians held hands in support of gay couple attacked with a bolt cutter
Male politicians in the Netherlands have shown their solidarity with a gay couple assaulted in a brutal homophobic attack by holding hands in public. Jasper Vernes-Sewratan and Ronnie Sewratan-Vernes, who are both in their 30s, were attacked in the early hours of Sunday morning after a night out in the city of Arnhem. They were […]
LGBTQ community to honour George Michael at his old cruising ground
Let’s go outside! A coalition of London’s LGBTQ community are organising a free party to remember George Michael at the park where the queer icon often cruised for sex. Saturday’s ‘George Michael Wants You’ party aims to remember the star’s “life, talent and courage in celebrating sexual freedom”. Michael, who passed away on Christmas Day […]