ZIM POLICE STORM GAY GROUP MEETING IN HARARE
The Zimbabwe authorities have continued their ongoing campaign of harassment against the country’s gay rights organisation. On Wednesday, police raided the Bronte Hotel in Harare which was hosting a Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) training workshop. Around 20 people were attending the multimedia and internet security training meeting when police burst into the conference […]
UN HUMAN RIGHTS GAY LAW CRITIC VISITS NIGERIA
In the wake of the country’s oppressive new anti-gay law, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has travelled to Nigeria for an official visit this week. Surprisingly, the visit was at the invitation of the Nigerian government. It is the first such visit to Nigeria by any UN High Commissioner for Human […]
GAY US BASKETBALL PLAYER SIGNED BY TEAM
After testing his talents, the Brooklyn Nets have signed openly gay basketball player Jason Collins to their team for the rest of the season. Collins came out in April last year to widespread praise from the likes of President Obama but failed to find a sporting home until last month when he was given a […]
SA GAY PARTY DROPS OUT OF ELECTION RACE
South Africa’s recently formed gay and lesbian political party has dropped out of this year’s election race. Last month, Michael Herbst, founder of the Equal Rights Party, made international news when he announced that the party had registered to contest the upcoming national elections. He said that he hoped to secure a number of seats […]
AFRICA’S ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN: IS KENYA NEXT?
The Kenyan parliament has demanded that the government explain why gays and lesbians are not being prosecuted under the country’s existing anti-gay laws. MP Irungu Kangata, who has been actively campaigning against LGBT rights, demanded that the Director of Public Prosecutions and the State explain what measures have been taken to enforce these laws. Kangata […]
ACTIVISTS STRIKE AGAINST UGANDA’S ANTI-GAY LAW
In a major development, a group of prominent activists and scholars in Uganda have lodged a challenge against the country’s recently enacted Anti-Homosexuality Act in the Constitutional Court. According to the blog O-blog-dee-o-blog-da, the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CSCHRSL) filed the petition with the help of seven advocates from five […]
US: BODIES OF LESBIAN COUPLE FOUND IN DUMPSTER
Two lesbian women in Texas have been murdered and callously dumped in the rubbish. According to media reports, the bodies of Crystal Jackson and Britney Cosby (both 24) were discovered by a delivery man in the dumpster outside a convenience store in Port Bolivar on Friday. The women had been a couple for two years […]
US SLAMS APPEAL OF ZAMBIA FREE SPEECH RULING
The Zambian government is appealing a recent court ruling acquitting an activist who was arrested for speaking out in support of LGBT rights on TV. Last month, the charges against well-know Zambian human rights and HIV activist Paul Kasonkomona were dropped after the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court found that the government had failed to prove its […]
TELECOMS GIANT DROPS ADS IN ANTI-GAY UGANDAN TABLOID
The French-based Orange telecoms multinational has bowed to pressure to no longer advertise in Uganda’s notoriously homophobic Red Pepper tabloid. After Orange ads were spotted on the Red Pepper website, the company was slammed for supporting the publication which has put gay and lesbian Ugandans in danger by gleefully outing them in its pages. An All […]
SOUTH AFRICA TO HOST AFRICAN SEMINAR ON LGBTI RIGHTS
It appears that the South African government is planning to host a potentially ground-breaking regional seminar on the rights of African gay people this year. The country has been widely criticised for not condemning the recent anti-gay laws passed in Uganda and Nigeria, or for that matter any of the 37 African countries that criminalise […]