Drag performer makes a splash on Idols South Africa
Drag artist Shenay O’Brien has made history after she sang her way into the women’s top 16 in this year’s Idols South Africa contest. Shenay, also known as 26-year-old former drama student and performer Thiart Li, has been wowing audiences with her powerful voice. According to the Idols SA website, Shenay does not identify as transgender […]
Anti-gay clerk Kim Davis appeals her jailing
The group defending American anti-gay marriage clerk Kim Davis has filed an appeal in a bid to have her released from jail. Davis was found guilty of contempt last Thursday after she refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses from her Rowan County office in Kentucky as ordered by the courts. On Sunday, Liberty Counsel, an […]
LGBT group lauds late “same-sex marriage” Con Court Justice
Justice Thembile Skweyiya, who passed away this week, has been remembered for his role in legalising same-sex marriage in South Africa. Skweyiya died on Tuesday at the age of 76 after a short illness. He was on the bench of the Constitutional Court when it made its landmark ruling on same-sex marriage in 2005. In […]
Malawi to hold referendum on gay marriage
In a surprising move, Malawi’s president has announced that the country’s citizens will vote on the issue of same-sex marriage. The Nnyasa Times reports that President Peter Mutharika revealed on Tuesday that “contentious issues will be put to referendums”, including marriage equality. “On the issue of gay marriages, again I have said in our DPP […]
Large PrEP study finds no HIV infections
There’s more good news on the HIV prevention front. A major new study of the use of PrEP has found no new HIV infections among participants after more than two years. PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is the use of a daily antiviral tablet by an HIV negative person to avoid becoming infected with the virus. When […]
Kim Davis jailed over refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses
A judge has jailed Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis because she has refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses. On Thursday, Davis and six deputy clerks from her office appeared before District Court Judge David L. Bunning to explain why they should not be held in contempt of court. Both Bunning and the US Supreme Court […]
Vatican: Transgender people can’t be godparents
The Roman Catholic Church says it will not allow transgender people to become godparents. In June, Alex Salinas, 21, a Spanish Catholic transgender man asked to be recognised as his nephew’s godfather. According to Newsweek, his local church denied the request on the basis that being transgender is not accepted under Catholic dogma. The decision […]
Release seven men jailed for ‘acts against nature’ in sham trial
Human Rights Watch has urged the Senegalese government to release seven men convicted of consensual same-sex conduct in an improper trial in Dakar last month. The men were found guilty on August 21 under Senegal’s penal code, which prohibits “acts against nature” between persons of the same sex. They were sentenced to six months in […]
Hypocrisy of anti-gay clerk’s religious “values” laid bare
The woman who’s mounted a “moral” crusade against gay marriage in the US state of Kentucky on the basis of her Christian beliefs has been shown to be a hypocrite. It was already known that Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis has been married not once, twice, or three, but four times. That effectively means she’s […]
Passing soldier saves gay man from mob in Ghana
A gay man has been saved from a mob attack by a soldier who happened be passing by in the Ghanaian capital of Accra. According to the Pulse local news site, the soldier noticed the crowd beating the man in Kawukudi park, in the city’s residential Nima area. It appears that the victim was lured by […]