Europe
Northern Ireland Converts Civil Partnerships To Marriages
In a win for same-sex couples in Northern Ireland, their civil partnerships will be converted to marriage, Gay Times reports. The Northern Ireland Office made the recent announcement via Twitter. In its announcement, the Northern Ireland Office said the ability to convert civil union to marriage was open to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples and… Read more »
Russian cabinet strikes down abhorrent bill that would have erased trans people and banned same-sex marriage
Russia’s cabinet has rejected amendments to the country’s Family Code which would not only have banned marriage equality and same-sex adoption (which are already outlawed), but would also have legally erased trans people. A bloc of hard-line, high-decibel anti-LGBT+ lawmakers drew up a package of policies masterminded by Vladimir Putin earlier this year to drum… Read more »
Gay fathers are fleeing Russia with their children after authorities threatened to arrest them for ‘baby trafficking’
Gay and single men in Russia are fleeing the country with their children, after they were threatened with arrest for creating families via surrogacy. Under Vladimir Putin’s rule, authorities in Russia declared this month that gay and single men who have had children by surrogacy will face arrest for “baby trafficking”. Although surrogacy is legal… Read more »
Gay men in Russia with surrogate children warned they face arrest
LGBT+ community draws breath as state investigators equate single fathers to baby traffickers Russian authorities have warned of the arrest of gay men who have fathered children to surrogate mothers, firing what appears to be another salvo across the bow of LGBT+ rights. Commenting on a long-running criminal case to state media, a source in… Read more »
Rimbaud and Verlaine: France agonises over digging up gay poets
President Emmanuel Macron is under pressure to strike a blow for sexual diversity by ordering the “Pantheonisation” – interment at the national mausoleum in Paris – of two of France’s best-loved poets, Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine. A petition signed by 10 former culture ministers, as well as a long list of artists and intellectuals,… Read more »
UK’s first-ever Pride train staffed by all-LGBT+ crew makes its kaleidoscopic maiden journey
A Pride train has been launched by Avanti West Coast that will be staffed by an all-LGBT+ crew. The company, which operates on routes from London to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Wales and Scotland, unveiled the train on Tuesday, two months after the end of Pride Month – which is actually comparatively timely for a British… Read more »
Sweden’s Top Pop Star, Darin, Comes Out
Darin, who is one of Sweden’s biggest pop stars, came out as gay via his Instagram account saying everyone should, “be able to be proud and accepted for who they are”. “I know how difficult it can be,” he wrote. “Took me a while, but I am proud to be gay. Happy pride!” 33-year old… Read more »
Hector MacDonald
Major-General Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald, KCB, DSO (Scottish Gaelic: Eachann Gilleasbaig MacDhòmhnaill; 4 March 1853 – 25 March 1903), also known as Fighting Mac, was a Victorian soldier. The son of a crofter, MacDonald left school before he was 15, enlisted in the Gordon Highlanders as a private at 17, and finished his career as… Read more »
Scotland will become the first country in the world to add LGBTQ+ history to school curriculum
Scotland is set to become the first country in the world to introduce LGBTQ+ inclusive lessons to their school curriculum. In 2021, all public schools will receive lessons in issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community such as same-sex marriage, same-sex parenting, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and the HIV and AIDS epidemic. John Swinney, Deputy First Minister… Read more »
‘We’re living in fear’: LGBT people in Italy pin hopes on new law
Debate on long-awaited bill that would punish discrimination and hate crimes towards LGBT people opens on Monday For 15 years, Marco and his boyfriend had lived together fairly peacefully in a town outside Rome. Then, in early June, a neighbour started harassing them. “It began quite lightly, with him being provocative whenever we met in… Read more »
First Transgender Woman to Run for Office in Romanian Elections
Thirty-year-old Roma sex worker Antonella Lerca will be the first-ever transgender person to run for public office in Romania when she competes in September’s local elections. Antonella Lerca, a transgender woman of Roma origin who is a sex worker, launched her campaign on Monday to run as an independent candidate for Bucharest’s District 2 in… Read more »
Russian constitution change ends hopes for gay marriage
Hopes vanished on July 1, when voters backed a slate of constitutional amendments, one of them stating marriage is only between a man and a woman. St. Petersburg, Russia — At the Lagutenko wedding in 2017, the couple exchanged vows, rings and kisses in front of friends and relatives, then took a traditional drive in… Read more »
Turkish president Erdoğan unleashes vile stream of homophobia, calling queer people ‘perverts’ who ‘poison young people’
Turkey’s president Recep Erdoğan offered a thinly-veiled defence of a homophobic tweet from the head of the country’s largest humanitarian agency. Erdoğan, the ruling Justice and Development Party founder, accused LGBT+ people of “sneaking up on our national and spiritual values again” and claimed queer folks “throughout human history” have been “trying to poison young… Read more »
The Dutch are writing LGBTQ rights into their constitution
While America keeps sliding backwards…. A constitutional amendment to ban discrimination against LGBTQ people has moved forward in the Netherlands. The lower chamber of the Dutch legislature voted 124-26 to add “sexual orientation” to the list of protected categories in Article 1 of the Netherlands’ constitution. Article 1 of the Dutch constitution requires that everyone… Read more »
HRC Denounces Russian Constitutional Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBT rights advocate, has denounced the passage of a constitutional amendment in Russia that defines marriage as a heterosexual union. Russian voters approved more than 200 constitutional amendments during a recent referendum that lasted seven days. Voters also approved an amendment that paves the way for Russian… Read more »
Montenegro legalises same-sex civil partnerships
London (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Montenegro voted to legalise same-sex civil partnerships on Wednesday, becoming the first European country outside of Western Europe and the European Union to legally recognise gay and lesbian couples. The law received 42 votes in the 81-seat parliament, Blanka Radosevic Marovic, a director in the Ministry of Human and Minority… Read more »
Montenegro: Parliament legalizes same-sex civil partnerships
Montenegro is the first European country outside of Western Europe and the EU to legally recognize same-sex couples. President Milo Djukanovic said it was a confirmation that Montenegrin society “is maturing.” The Balkan nation of Montenegro legalized same-sex partnerships on Wednesday. President Milo Djukanovic described the moment as “one step closer to joining the most… Read more »
Chechnya Is Trying to Exterminate Gay People. Our Silence Only Emboldens Vladimir Putin and Ramzan Kadyrov.
Torture. Rape. Murder. I cannot get the gruesome images of these brutal crimes out of my head. “Welcome to Chechnya: Inside the Russian Republic’s Deadly War on Gays,” which premiered at the Sundance Festival in January and airs on HBO next week, is one of the most harrowing films I have ever seen. “Imagine in… Read more »
New law forces Hungarian transgender people to choose exile
Responses in the field ‘sex at birth’ on new ID documents will be unchangeable Being a transgender person in Hungary is about to become even harder, after the government passed a law that will demand all citizens write their “sex at birth” on their national IDs. And the response in this field cannot be changed.… Read more »
‘Panic’ as Hungarian parliament bans trans people from changing gender on IDs
The ruling Fidesz party voted to prevent transgender and intersex people from changing the sex on their birth certificates London (Openly) – Hungary’s parliament voted Tuesday to ban transgender people from changing their gender on identity documents, in a move that LGBT+ advocates said was creating panic among trans people who feared an increase in… Read more »
Hungary lurches ‘back towards dark ages’ as parliament passes cruel and devastating law to legally erase trans people
Lawmakers in Hungary overwhelmingly voted to end legal gender recognition for trans people Tuesday afternoon (May 19), putting to law prime minister Victor Orbán’s cruel crusade against the country’s most marginalised and vulnerable. Around 133 National Assembly members voted in favour of stripping what little rights trans Hungarians once exercised. With just 57 opposed and… Read more »
Albania becomes third European country to ban gay ‘conversion therapy’
Albania’s psychologists have banned so-called “conversion therapy”, which tries to change the sexual orientation of young LGBT people, a move hailed on Saturday by the country’s rights groups. The decision by Albania’s order of psychologists on Friday is “significantly important for LGBTI adolescents”, the gay rights association Pink Embassy said in a statement. All registered… Read more »
Turkey orders schools to stop letting kids draw rainbows because it’s a “plot to turn children gay”
Children worldwide have been drawing rainbows and hanging them in windows to comfort others during the coronavirus pandemic. While governments around the world focus on finding a cure and preventing the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Turkey’s government is warning about a different ridiculous danger. Children worldwide have been drawing rainbows and hanging them in… Read more »
Turkish president Erdoğan backs Muslim cleric who claims ‘evil’ homosexuals spread disease: ‘He’s absolutely right’
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has waded into a row to back a senior cleric who called for Muslims to oppose the ‘evil’ of homosexuality. Ali Erbaş, who is the head of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), used a sermon at the start of Ramadan on Friday to call on people to “work together”… Read more »
Netflix slammed as ‘Islam’s enemy’ by bigots over rumours of gay character in Turkish teen drama
Rumours of a gay character on a Turkish Netflix series have fuelled anti-LGBT bigotry in the country. New Turkish coming-of-age drama Love 101, which is set to begin on April 24, unleashed a torrent of fury over unconfirmed rumours that it will feature a gay character. It’s technically legal to be gay in Turkey, but… Read more »
Bosnia takes first small step towards recognising same-sex relationships
Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country with a poor record on LGBT+ rights, has taken its first small step towards recognising same-sex relationships. While in recent years Bosnia has been moving in the right direction — 2016 saw the country ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity — there is still no… Read more »
Factbox – Andorra set to become latest nation to legalise gay marriage
With the tiny European country set to legalise same-sex weddings, gay marriages are now legal in 27 United Nation member states London (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Andorra, one of Europe’s smallest countries, is set to legalise gay marriage, highlighting that eastern European countries with anti-LGBT laws are “on the wrong side of history”, leading human… Read more »
Same-sex marriage is coming to one of Europe’s smallest countries
Beautiful European mountain country of Andorra moves on marriage equality. The tiny mountain nation of Andorra is about to make same-sex marriage equal. Three parties form the governing coalition in the tiny state of 77,000 people. They are the Democrats, the Liberal Party and Committed Citizens. And they have jointly presented a draft bill to… Read more »
A British court ruling may change laws for LGBT+ people around the world
Through a quirk of history and law, a court in London could help end sodomy laws and bring in same-sex marriage in dozens of countries. Years of legal battles around same-sex marriage in Bermuda will come to a head 5,548kms away in London on 7 and 8 December this year. And the result may help… Read more »
Wrestler Curdin Orlik Is First Openly Gay Pro Athlete In Switzerland
A 27-year-old Swiss wrestler has come out gay, making him the first openly gay professional athlete in Switzerland. Curdin Orlik, a “swing” wrestling champion, came out in an interview with The Magazine. “I’d rather be free than fearful,” Orlik told the outlet, according to LGBT sports blog Outsports. “I am like that. I can’t help… Read more »
Belgian Pride has a genius solution for keeping out ‘pinkwashing’ corporate sponsors
Belgian Pride is introducing a screening process for its corporate sponsors to ensure that they actually have inclusive, LGBT-friendly policies. The Pride parade, in Brussels, is Belgium’s largest LGBT+ event and is due to take place on May 23. Any companies wishing to take part now have to undergo a “diversity scan” carried out by… Read more »
Town cheers as they burn effigy of same-sex couple and baby
The Prime Minister of Croatia has condemned the ‘arsonists’ in Imotski. Residents of a small Croatian town cheered yesterday as they set fire to the effigy of a same-sex couple and their adopted baby. The incident happened during the carnival in the town of Imotski, Croatia on Sunday (23 February). The carnival is a 150-year… Read more »
Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s Openly Gay Prime Minister, Steps Down
Ireland’s first openly gay prime minister, Leo Varadkar, resigned on Thursday. According to the BBC, Varadkar acted after his Fine Gael party lost 15 seats in the general election held earlier this month. After the Irish Parliament failed to name his replacement, Varadkar submitted his resignation, though he’ll remain in the post in a caretaker… Read more »
Swedish crown princess makes history with first-ever visit to an LGBT organisation
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and her husband Prince Daniel have made a historic royal visit to an LGBT+ organisation, sending a clear message of support in the face of growing nationalist politics. The royals were given a tour of RFSL and RFSL Ungdom’s national office in Stockholm to gain an insight into the challenges… Read more »
Gay inmates tie the knot inside Cyprus prison
The two men, one a Cypriot and the other a Brazilian national, are only the second same-sex couple to marry in a prison within the European Union. Nicosia, Cyprus — Kevork Tontian met the man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with behind bars. And not even his freedom was enough to… Read more »
Gay Couples In Northern Ireland Begin Registering To Marry: First Weddings Set For Valentine’s Day
Gay and lesbian couples in Northern Ireland began registering to marry as a new marriage law took effect on Monday. Northern Ireland was the only part of the United Kingdom where same-sex couples could not wed. Last year, lawmakers in the UK overwhelmingly backed a plan to extend marriage equality to the region if the… Read more »
Same-sex marriage now legal in Northern Ireland
Same-sex marriage is now legally recognised in Northern Ireland. From Monday, same-sex couples will be able to register to marry, meaning the first ceremonies will take place in February. For couples who are already married, their marriage will now be legally recognised in Northern Ireland. However, those who are already in a civil partnership will… Read more »
Senate Confirms Openly Gay Ambassador To Lithuania
The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed the nomination of Robert Gilchrist as the U.S. ambassador to Lithuania. Gilchrist is at least the fifth openly gay person to serve in an ambassadorial role under the Trump administration, the Washington Blade reported. Senators confirmed Gilchrist with a voice vote. President Donald Trump nominated Gilchrist, a career Foreign… Read more »
German Cabinet Approves Ban On Gay Conversion Therapy
Germany could become the latest country to ban gay conversion therapy after the Government Cabinet approved plans. The plans extends to banning the practice for all children under 18 as well as vulnerable people with “diminished decision-making capabilities” and non-consenting adults. However, it will allow for consenting adults to opt into the so-called “treatment.” The… Read more »
German bishops declare that homosexuality is completely and utterly ‘normal’
In a groundbreaking move, German bishops have revised teachings on sexual morality and said homosexuality is “normal”. As the Catholic Church prepares for its contended review, the Commission for Marriage and Family of the German Bishops’ Conference came to the consensus that being gay is a “normal form of sexual predisposition.” Moreover, church organisers committed… Read more »
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