Tag: bangladesh

Bangladesh gets first magazine for LGBTI people

Bangladesh’s first magazine for LGBTI people was launched in Dhaka on Saturday in an event attended by the British High Commissioner Bangladesh saw the launch of its very first magazine for the LGBTI community on Saturday at an invite only event. The magazine is named Roopbaan – after a character from a Bangladeshi folk tale… Read more »

From Bangladesh to Brooklyn: An LGBT Activist’s Story

When I ask Shakhawat Hossain if it’s true that he’s the first openly gay Bangladeshi, he quietly demurs. “Lately more Bangladeshis are coming out to their families, and they’re a lot more courageous than me.” The bespeckled, young activist is in the U.S. as part of his four-month Community Solutions fellowship, where he’s being hosted… Read more »

Hijras now a separate gender

They will be referred to as Hijras in both English and Bangla Hijras, who are neither male nor female, from now on will be considered as a separate gender in Bangladesh and will get priority for education and other rights. The decision was made at a Monday cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.… Read more »

Bangladesh jails ‘married’ lesbian couple

Love blossomed in a Bangladeshi factory but their happiness ended with arrest, medical gender tests and prison A lesbian couple from the Jhalakati District of Bangladesh have are in jail because of their relationship. Lucky and Mishti met and fell in love in a factory in the capital, Dhaka. They ‘married’ and have been living… Read more »

Bangladeshi Muslims to protest over Nobel winner Muhammad Yunus’ gay rights support

Bangladeshi Muslim groups have threatened to hold nationwide protests today against Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus over his opposition to Uganda’s persecution of homosexuals in what appears to be the latest effort to smear the Nobel Prize winner Islamic groups in Bangladesh have called for nationwide protests today against Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus over his… Read more »

Bangladesh retains anti-gay sex law against United Nations recommendations

Bangladesh rejects United Nations recommendation to decriminalise its anti-gay sex law at the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva last Friday. LGBT rights activists in Bangladesh have expressed dismay at the government’s decision to retain its British colonial-era law that criminalises sex between same-sex couples. Section 377 of the Bangladesh Penal… Read more »

Anger as Bangladesh refuses to decriminalise homosexuality

Gay rights activists have criticised the Bangladeshi government after it rejected recommendations to remove a clause in its penal code which criminalises gay relationships. The reaction followed a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva on Friday, where Bangladesh accepted 164 of a total 196 recommendations made by… Read more »

Bangladesh lesbian couple threatened with life in jail for getting married

Young couple ran away to the capital Dhaka to get married in secret, but it was not long before the police found and arrested them A Bangladesh lesbian couple is being threatened with life imprisonment for ‘marrying’ in secret. Shibronty Roy Puja, a 16-year-old Hindu, and Sanjida Akter, 21-year-old Muslim, were arrested in Dhaka on… Read more »

Trans women in Bangladesh demand political voice

Newly formed Bangladesh Transgender Welfare Foundation demands equality for estimated 1.2 million trans people in the country Transgender women in Bangladesh are calling for an allocated seat in parliament to speak out for their rights. The demand was made at the launch of a new organization called Bangladesh Transgender Welfare Foundation (BTWF) at Dhaka National… Read more »