Malawi government fights for gay sex ban moratorium
The Malawi government is defending its moratorium on the country’s criminalisation of homosexuality in court after religious leaders sought to compel it to enforce the ban. The status of LGBT people in Malawi is mired in confusion. In December last year, Justice Minister Samuel Tembenu announced a moratorium on the arrest of Malawians for having […]
11 states sue “King” Obama over transgender bathroom use
As the furore around the use of public bathrooms by transgender people grows in the US, eleven states have now sued the Obama Administration over its recent progressive guidelines on the issue. Earlier this month, the federal departments of education and justice, directed federally funded schools to allow transgender students to have equal access to […]
Isis forces bystanders to join in stoning 15-year-old boy for homosexuality
In another display of unspeakable inhumanity, Isis militants have murdered a 15-year-old boy for being gay. According to ARA News, the teen, identified as Jamal Nassir al-Oujan, was arrested by Islamic morality police in the city of Mayadin, in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province. He was accused of having engaged in sodomy. After being found […]
Justice system fails David Olyne again
The mother of gay hate victim David Olyne left court last Wednesday still not knowing the fate of his killer. Failures in the justice system have meant that the sentencing of his murderer, Christo Oncke, has been delayed for the fourth time. Oncke was found guilty in January of killing Olyne for being “a moffie” […]
Cape Town’s Black Queer Social coming to Jozi
The organisers of Cape Town’s controversial Black Queer Social event are bringing the concept to Johannesburg. The first event, which successfully took place on 30 April, was criticised by predominately white members of the city’s LGBT community for being racist and exclusionary because it was only open to people of colour. The ensuing debate and […]
Watch: Former Mr Gay India tries to “cure” his homosexuality with yoga
In response to suggestions that homosexuality can be “cured” through yoga, Mr Gay India 2014, Sushant Divgikar, set out to test the theory. A number of spiritual leaders and practitioners of yoga in India have claimed that the practice, and certain poses (or asanas) in particular, can change gay people’s sexuality. In a video, the […]
Khumbulani Pride remembers victims of LGBTI violence in Langa
Around 500 people took part in the fourth annual Khumbulani Pride march in the Cape Town township of Langa on Saturday. Khumbulani (“remember” in Xhosa) Pride aims to honour the lives of LGBTI people lost in hate violence in the Western Cape. The event takes place in a different township in the city every year. In […]
Hollywood stars and SA icons honour Pieter-Dirk Uys
A new film about the life and work of openly gay performing artist and activist Pieter-Dirk Uys will be released in cinemas in July. In Nobody’s Died Laughing, a film crew tries to keep up with one of the hardest working artists in South Africa on a journey from Cape Town, Johannesburg, Grahamstown, Stellenbosch to […]
Lesbian couple arrested for kissing in Hawaii get $80,000
Two lesbian women have accepted a settlement from the city of Honolulu after they were arrested for kissing in public last year. Courtney Wilson and Taylor Guerrero from Los Angeles were visiting Hawaii in October when they were harassed by police officer Bobby Harrison in a grocery store. He reprimanded them for holding hands, hugging and […]
Suspicious theft and murder at offices of Ugandan human rights group
Two men have murdered a security guard at the offices of one of the human rights groups that successfully challenged Uganda’s dreaded anti-homosexuality law. Ugandan LGBTI activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera revealed on Facebook that the offices of Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) were broken into in the early hours of the morning. She […]