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 […]
Cabinet finally approves publishing of draft hate crime bill
After a decade of campaigning, Cabinet has announced that a draft of South Africa’s long promised hate crimes bill will be made public. The news was revealed at a briefing on the outcome of Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting. In a statement, it was confirmed that the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill […]
UK finally agrees to pardon thousands of men jailed for being gay
The UK government has confirmed that it will support a bill to clear the criminal records of gay and bisexual men who were convicted of consensual homosexuality. The amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill, dubbed the “Turing law”, was proposed by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Sharkey and will impact 65,000 men, including 15,000 who […]
Indonesia’s president says police must protect LGBT people
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has finally addressed the growing onslaught against LGBT people in his country, the world’s most populous Muslim nation. Human rights observers have become increasingly alarmed at a series of attacks against LGBT equality by government officials and politicians over the past year. Speaking to the BBC, Widodo offered a mixed message, […]
New campaign aims to get South African MSM testing
Health4Men has launched a new campaign that aims to drastically increase HIV testing amongst gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in South Africa. As part of ‘We’re Braver Together’, MSM will be encouraged to overcome their primal fears and in doing so find the courage to get tested for HIV […]
Unbelievable! Now Anderson’s hate church sets its sights on Malawi
Despite being banned in Botswana and South Africa, Pastor Steven Anderson is determined to spread his church’s hate in Southern Africa. It now appears that his Faithful Word Baptist Church is planning to open a church in Malawi, a country where LGBTI bigotry has already deeply divided society. Mambaonline can reveal that a Facebook page, […]