Tag: gay canada

World’s first lesbian head of government to headline WorldPride summit

LGBTI rights leaders from around the world to speak at event as part of Toronto’s WorldPride celebrations in 2014 The event, organized as part of the WorldPride celebrations, which next year are in Toronto, Canada, will see presenters from 60 countries. International LGBTI activists will debate human rights around the world at the event from… Read more »

Gay Russian man seeks refugee status in Vancouver

Maxim Zhuravlev says stay at Vancouver homeless shelter safer than life in Russia A gay refugee claimant living in Vancouver says he fled to Canada from his native Russia to escape being persecuted for his sexual orientation. Maxim Zhuravlev is staying at a homeless shelter in downtown Vancouver, but says the conditions are far safer… Read more »

Video: Montreal a human rights ‘hot spot’

  Montreal – There are no gays in Yemen. That’s the Middle Eastern republic’s official position on homosexuality. But in the event that a person is caught committing a homosexual act in one of Yemen’s southeastern provinces, two kinds of punishment are meted out: flogging and death. In the face of the country’s profoundly homophobic… Read more »

Ontario Gets First Female and Openly Gay Premier

(AP) Canada’s most populous province is getting its first female premier and the country’s first openly gay premier after the provincial Liberals chose a new leader. Former education minister Kathleen Wynne won the party’s leadership race Saturday. Wynne is making history as Canada’s first openly gay premier, a subject she confronted head-on in a speech… Read more »

Ugandan parliamentary speaker blasts Canada over gay rights criticism

The Speaker of Uganda’s Parliament claims that Canada has refused to grant visas for several of the country’s politicians due to its ban on same-sex marriage. According to the Daily Trust, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga made the statement on Tuesday as an international summit took place in Quebec. She reportedly said most of her colleagues who… Read more »

Lesbian doctor is first openly gay president of the Canadian Medical Association

The Canadian Medical Association has its first openly gay president. Anna Reid MD officially became the president of the CMA at their national convention in Yellowknife, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, where she works as an emergency room doctor. The body has 76,000 members, and installed Doctor Reid as their president earlier this month. She will… Read more »

Pressure grows to improve human rights for transgender people in Newfoundland

St. John’s, N.L. – As Newfoundland and Labrador celebrates its gay pride week, pressure is growing on the province to improve human rights protections for the transgender community, one of society’s most marginalized and vulnerable groups. The NDP has called on the Progressive Conservative government to add gender identity as a prohibited ground of discrimination… Read more »

Toronto unveils rainbow cabs to woo gay Londoners for WorldPride 2014

Pride Toronto has unveiled a new taxi advertising campaign to promote the host city of WorldPride 2014 to gay Londoners, as the latter city handed over the mantle this weekend. Toronto beat Stockholm to host WorldPride after winning the majority vote from leaders of gay and lesbian organisations around the globe. As WorldPride celebrations in… Read more »

Iranian Queers March in Toronto Pride Parade for Those Who Can Not in Iran

A group of Iranian queers in Toronto decided to march in Toronto Pride Parade 2012 (Today, July 1st), to show their existence and promote Iranian Queer Human Rights Cause. Last year, IRQR officially registered the first Iranian contingent at Pride Parade 2011 and won the Best Entry Award of ‘Dream Big’ Theme by Pride Toronto… Read more »

Ontario passes pro-gay anti-bullying bill despite opposition from Catholic Church

The Canadian province of Ontario has passed a wide-ranging anti-bullying bill which mandates that students be allowed to form Gay-Straight Alliances in schools, including those run by the Catholic Church. The state’s legislature passed Bill 13 easily by a 65 to 36 majority, and the Education Minister, Laurel Broten, said that it is expected to… Read more »

Halifax gay rights activist beaten to death outside bar

A well-known gay rights activist in Halifax is dead after being beaten as he was leaving a popular gay bar Monday night. Raymond Taavel intervened when a man he was with began arguing with another man, who was yelling at the pair as they left Menz Bar. Witnesses said the man was yelling homophobic slurs.… Read more »

Coming out to family could help, prof says

In high school, Darren Ho recalls boys writing, “Darren’s so gay” in his notebook or calling him girly. A shy kid who didn’t like standing out, Ho kept mostly to himself. Now a 23-year-old linguistics major at Simon Fraser University, Ho says he couldn’t talk to his parents about what was going on in school… Read more »

Gay South Korean finds peaceful refuge in Canada

Kim Kyung-hwan arrived in Canada in June 2006 with no clear plans in mind. “I really just needed some time to think and decide what to do. I knew that if I went home I would have to go to jail,” Kyung-hwan, 30, told the Star. Kyung-hwan objected to the 21 months of compulsory military… Read more »

Gay S. Korean conscript wins refugee status in Canada

Seoul (Yonhap) – Canada awarded a South Korean man refugee status after he objected to the mandatory military service in his home country for being a pacifist and a homosexual, a local human rights group said Thursday. The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) granted the status in July 2009 to Kim Kyung-hwan, 31,… Read more »