Europe
Spain’s new PM appoints two gay ministers to cabinet
Cabinet now has more women and gay men than heterosexual men Spain’s newly installed government has appointed two openly gay men as cabinet ministers. It’s the first time the country has had such a large LGBT representation in the government’s cabinet office. Mariano Rajoy, the previous prime minister, stepped down last week. He left following… Read more »
Gay pride colours Rome despite Italy’s lurch to the right
Thousands of people took to the streets of Rome on Saturday to celebrate Gay Pride just days after Italy’s new families minister caused a storm by saying that homosexual families do not legally exist. The annual march in the Italian capital comes at a tense time in the country after a coalition government took power… Read more »
The Latest: Romania gay pride parade builds on court ruling
The Latest on LGBT pride events in Europe (all times local): 4:45 P.M. People in Romania’s capital are gearing up for a gay pride parade that will feature calls for same-sex couples to receive more rights and acceptance. Before the parade taking place in Bucharest on Saturday, choreographer Emil Rengle wanted fellow Romanians who oppose… Read more »
Rome Pride attracts a 500,000-strong ‘Rainbow Brigade’ in Italy
Organizers wanted a march to celebrate the fight against fascism – at a time when far-right politicians have taken position of power in the country Organizers of this year’s Rome Pride say 500,000 people participated in today’s event in the city. The celebrations commenced at 4pm at the Piazza della Repubblica and passed such classic… Read more »
How cute is this Pride-inspired rainbow brick road in Iceland?
The rainbow path is one of the ways the small town of Seyðisfjörður shows support for its local Queer Parade As if Iceland wasn’t picturesque enough, tourists and Instagrammers are loving a recently painted rainbow brick path. It can be found in the town of Seyðisfjörður in eastern Iceland. Iceland is known for being particularly… Read more »
Former Mafia home to become shelter for LGBTI community
The local council decided to give the former Mafia house to a LGBTI group to promote acceptance LGBTI people and migrants fleeing persecution will be able to call a former Mafia villa home. The city of Castel Volturno had opened bids for organizations to take over a three-storey house in the coastal town. Mafia boss… Read more »
EU Court: Member States Must Recognize Marriages Of Gay Couples
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Tuesday ruled that member states must recognize the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples performed within the European Union (EU). The case involves a Romanian man, Adrian Coman, and his American husband, Clai Hamilton, who married in 2010 in Brussels. Romania had refused to recognize Hamilton as… Read more »
LGBTQ Russians Are Fleeing To NYC, But They Still Face Hostility
Following Russia’s 2013 anti-gay “propaganda” law, applications for U.S. asylum from Russia have increased every year. Anastasia Orlova and her wife, Anna Elvira Brodskaya, were asleep in their apartment in St. Petersburg, Russia, when bullets hit their window. Male neighbors were shooting at them, angry that the women had previously refused their advances. It was… Read more »
The government’s treatment of gay refugees shames Britain
The Home Office is deporting desperate people to places where they face persecution – often because of colonial-era laws “My neighbours will put a tyre around my neck and set it on fire.” That is what Rosemary fears will happen if she, a lesbian, is deported by Britain back to Nigeria. She fled her homeland… Read more »
Thousands of gay and bisexual men are to be formally pardoned after a new law was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament.
Consenting sexual activity between men over the age of 21 was only decriminalised in Scotland in 1981. It was a further 20 years before the age of consent for gay men was lowered to 16. The new law will pardon men convicted of having consensual sex with other men before it was decriminalised. It will… Read more »
Tchaikovsky and the secret gay loves censors tried to hide
New volume includes once-hidden passages about the composer’s homosexuality The words are tender and passionate, describing in raw detail the powerful emotions felt by one of the world’s best-loved composers. But until now some of the letters of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in which he tells of his sexual desires, have been hidden from the world… Read more »
Northern Ireland can’t and won’t follow Ireland’s footsteps – the UK must act
Opinion: Don’t waste time on Northern Irish referendums on abortion or same-sex marriage. It would delay crucial human rights laws and could be ignored The Irish referendum result over the weekend was a truly amazing moment. It shows Ireland is a united country, with both urban and rural, behind social progress and human rights. But… Read more »
Sweden votes in law to make sex illegal without consent
Sweden has passed a law to make sex illegal without explicit consent. The historic vote marks a victory for campaigners who have worked to implement the legislation for more than a decade. ? “Today’s vote marks a huge victory for women’s rights activists in Sweden who have been campaigning tirelessly for this change for more… Read more »
Ireland becomes first country to legalise gay marriage by popular vote
Referendum result gives yes vote 62% and no 38% as equality minister declares he is proud to be Irish Ireland has voted by a huge majority to legalise same-sex marriage, becoming the first country in the world to do so by popular vote in a move hailed as a social revolution and welcomed around the… Read more »
Belarus hits out at British Embassy for flying a rainbow flag for IDAHOBIT
Belarus has hit out at the British Embassy in Minsk for flying a rainbow flag to mark an international day against anti-LGBT discrimination. As part of IDAHOBIT, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, the British Embassy in the Belarusian capital flew a rainbow flag, posting a video of it on their Instagram account.… Read more »
Police in Moldova use tear gas on anti-LGBT protesters trying to disrupt Pride march
Police in Moldova fired tear gas at anti-LGBT protesters to keep them away from a Pride march. LGBT activists feared a repeat of violent scenes at the annual Moldova Pride solidarity march, which took place in the country’s capital Chisinau on May 19. ? Last year’s march was marred by clashes between anti-LGBT Orthodox Christian… Read more »
Belarus hits out at British Embassy for flying a rainbow flag for IDAHOBIT
Belarus has hit out at the British Embassy in Minsk for flying a rainbow flag to mark an international day against anti-LGBT discrimination. As part of IDAHOBIT, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, the British Embassy in the Belarusian capital flew a rainbow flag, posting a video of it on their Instagram account.… Read more »
Ukraine: Threats of violence block LGBTI event; police just watch
Police in Kiev (Kyiv), Ukraine, stood by on May 10 as opponents of LGBTI rights disrupted a planned panel discussion about reasons not to adopt a Russia-style ban on “gay propaganda.” Human Rights Watch reported on May 16: Ukraine: Radical Groups Disrupt LGBTI Event Police Should Hold Those Responsible to Account (Kyiv) – Members of… Read more »
Chechnya ‘gay purge’: Russia claims it can’t find any evidence of LGBT people or violence
Russia’s justice minister has claimed officials can’t find any LGBT people in Chechnya after it was alleged they were being kidnapped, tortured and beaten by security forces. Alexander Konovalov told United Nations representatives on Monday that Russia had undertaken an investigation after shocking allegations emerged last year. ? A report in Novaya Gazeta, a Russian… Read more »
Greece allows gay couples to foster children in landmark move
Gay couples will now be able to foster children in Greece. The groundbreaking legislation was passed by 161 votes to 103 on May 9. ? It will enable same-sex partners who are in civil partnerships to become foster parents – though adoption is still off-limits for gay people. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras welcomed the result… Read more »
Anti-Putin Protests Sweep Across Russia
Russian police on Saturday arrested dozens of protesters rallying against President Vladimir Putin ahead of his inauguration. At least 15 people including a journalist were detained in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, according to an independent monitoring group. “Detentions were conducted in a rough manner,” said the monitor OVD-Info. Read more: Alexei Navalny: ‘ …… Read more »
Czech Court Recognises Gay Parents For The First Time
The Czech supreme court has ruled for the first time that two gay partners should be legally recognised as the fathers of a surrogate child, the daily Mladá Fronta reported on Saturday. The child was born a few months ago to a surrogate mother in California through artificial insemination. In its ruling, issued at the… Read more »
Russia tightens gay website crackdown and bans HIV health website
Russia’s media regulator is shutting down a HIV health website as it continues to target LGBT+ websites in a media censorship crackdown. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, known as Roskomnadzor, has ruled that LGBT+ portal and health website Parni PLUS (Guys Plus) can no longer run as it “promotes unconventional sexual relations.” ?… Read more »
Commonwealth of homophobia: One billion live under anti-gay laws exported by Britain
As royals, politicians and diplomats gather in London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), millions of their LGBT citizens continue to suffer under oppressive discriminatory laws. British colonists made laws outlawing homosexuality that reflected Britain’s own Victoria penal code, transplanting them on to every country they conquered. ? While British politicians have largely… Read more »
In Italy, Lesbians Can’t Be Legal Moms Without Saying They’ve Had Straight Sex
Italy’s retrograde laws, pushed by the Catholic Church, force LGBT parents to lie about the way their children were conceived. Rome—Chiara Foglietta did not have sex with a man to conceive the healthy baby boy she and her partner Micaela Ghisleni delivered in Turin last week. And she says she’s not going to pretend that… Read more »
Poll finds overwhelming support for equal marriage in Czech Republic
A large majority of voters in the Czech Republic now support equal marriage – as pressure grows in the country to end a ban on same-sex weddings. 16 countries across Western and Northern Europe have now introduced same-sex marriage, but progress has been slower across Central and Eastern European countries, where polls suggest a majority… Read more »
Play about silenced 1920s gay poet rivets Moscow theatre audiences
Play tells story of poet Mikhail Kuzmin who disappeared into official obscurity during Soviet era A play about a largely forgotten gay poet from early 1900s Russia has emerged as the dark horse in this year’s Golden Mask awards, the Oscars of the Russian theatre world. The Trout Breaks the Ice is based on the… Read more »
Ireland paves way for LGBT-inclusive sex and relationship education in schools
The Irish government has asked a regulator to draw up guidance for teaching about LGBT issues in relationships and sexuality education (RSE). The Republic of Ireland’s Education minister, Richard Bruton TD, this week announced a review of the RSE provisions in all schools. ? Teaching about sex and relationships has been mandatory in Irish schools… Read more »
We must get justice for gay and bisexual men murdered in Chechnya
State-sponsored violence in Chechnya against men perceived to be homosexual will not be forgotten, writes Matt Beard of All Out, and those responsible will be held to account One year ago this week, news broke of a wave of terrifying, state-sponsored violence in Chechnya against men perceived to be gay or bisexual. In scenes that… Read more »
Gay Chechens flee threats, beatings and exorcism
Family pressure has fuelled a sense of persecution felt by gay people in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim region in southern Russia. Dozens have fled and some have been granted asylum abroad, amid reports of kidnap and torture by Chechen security forces targeting gay or allegedly gay people. Chechen officials deny the reported abuses. Olga Prosvirova… Read more »
Paata Sabelashvili on Drugs & the LGBT Community
Exclusive Interview Politicians, journalists, and civil society observers covering the theme of drug use, in conjunction with the LGBT community in Georgia, are very familiar with the ‘White Noise Movement,’ which stems from anti-drug legislations which put drug users for small offenses behind bars for years. For consuming only a small amount of marijuana, Paata… Read more »
The Evolution of One of Fiction’s Gay Liberators
Alan Hollinghurst, one of England’s most celebrated novelists, has changed with the times and found new ways to surprise. When he was in his early 20s, Alan Hollinghurst, the English novelist, had a very English conversation with his father, a regional bank manager who served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. They… Read more »
Finland allows babies to legally have two mothers as soon as they are born
The country’s parliament approved the citizens’ initiative to change the law which means two mothers can be recognised as the mothers of a baby from birth. The change in law will mean a child’s two mothers can be legally recognised as mothers from the moment a baby is born. The initiative was approved on Wednesday.… Read more »
‘At least I know I won’t be killed’: how one gay man fled from Russia to Belarus
Peter* had set up a Skype account just to speak to PinkNews. Even though it has been six months since he left Russia to embark upon a new life in Belarus, he has to be cautious, and won’t tell me his real name. ? Since Russia’s gay propaganda law came into action in 2013, a… Read more »
The lesbian pioneers who fooled Spain’s Catholic Church
There was something unusual about the fresh-faced groom that day. The priest at the San Jorge church in A Coruña, north-western Spain, didn’t see anything special, and the smattering of relatives in attendance weren’t saying anything. But both ‘Mario’ and his bride, Marcela, were women. It was 1901, and the union between Elisa and Marcela… Read more »
Opinion Why We’ve Suppressed the Queer History of the Holocaust
Even in the concentration camps, the prisoners of the Nazis employed homophobia to distance themselves from those considered ‘other’. That ‘disgust’ still informs the erasure of Jewish gay and lesbian victims from the Holocaust narrative On September 10, 1944, Gonda Redlich, the Jewish head of the Youth Care department in the Theresienstadt ghetto, wrote in… Read more »
In blow to Hungary, EU court rejects refugee ‘gay tests’
The EU’s top court yesterday (25 January) ruled that psychological tests to determine sexuality are illegal for asylum seekers fleeing countries where homosexuality is outlawed. The ruling involved a Nigerian man subjected to tests by Hungarian authorities, which the court said had interfered unduly in his private life. “An asylum seeker may not be subjected… Read more »
Lesbian couple sue Bulgarian court in first ever fight for same-sex marriage recognition
A trailblazing lesbian couple in Bulgaria have become the first to fight a legal battle for the recognition of their same-sex marriage. Lilia Babulkova and her wife, who goes by the initials DK, could set a court precedent in the battle for recognition by an EU court for their same-sex marriage to be officially recognised… Read more »
Researching Queer Archives from the Former Eastern Bloc
Karol Radziszewski began his art publication DIK Fagazine in 2005, and has since delved into the little-known queer archives of former Soviet Union countries. In 2005, Karol Radziszewski, a young graduate from Warsaw’s Academy of Fine Arts, began DIK Fagazine. In Radziszewski’s words, the fanzine is “the first art magazine from Eastern Europe devoted entirely… Read more »
Albania Has Transgender Beauty Pageant
LGBT supporters cheered as seven competitors took part in a transgender beauty contest competition in a disco bar in the capital, Tirana. (Dec. 24) Source – Olean Times Herald
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