Business and Technology

Cambodia: Social media a celebration and refuge for LGBT community

“I have Cambodian friends who are very comfortable with themselves and who they are, but they still don’t feel they’re in a position to reveal that to their family or friends,”

Poland: Why Online Sex Education is Necessary in Poland Today

Natalia Trybus is a sex educator and YouTuber. Her channel PinkCandy has over 50,000 subscribers. In her short films, she talks about female condoms, hymen types, masturbation, stand-to-pee devices and STDs. If not for her job at a Poznań sex shop, she would never have found the courage to start her YouTube channel on human sexuality.

The amicus brief is the new press release

Amicus curiae briefs from interested outside parties—the Latin words mean “friends of the court”—inform appellate judges about what’s at stake in a case. But they also serve another, more subtle purpose, working as a public relations tool for corporations.

US: Multi-trillion dollar investors tell North Carolina: Ditch ‘hate-filled’ HB2

A collection of asset management companies, who collectively manage investments totaling $2.1trillion, have written an open letter demanding that North Carolina repeal anti-LGBT HB2.

Digital Pride: The first online, global Pride festival

The LGBTI Pride movement is going fully online for the first time with a new global event – Digital Pride.
Created by Gay Star News, the Digital Pride festival was the first Pride anyone, anywhere in the world can join in – all they need is a smartphone, computer or tablet.

Live-streamed video discussions on topics ranging from identity and isolation to international LGBTI rights. Celebrities, politicians, activists and YouTube stars will be joining in with video messages and the world’s leading social media channels will help amplify the message of LGBTI love.

Scott Nunn, Gay Star News director, said: ‘For a lot of people going to a Pride is not an option. They could risk their lives by trying to be open and proud about who they are. ‘The LGBTI community connects digitally more than any other way and we have used our power online to accelerate change around the world.  Read more and check out the discussions via Gay Star News

Australia: LGBT youths are turning to Facebook to find a safe place to live

Increasingly, LGBT youth are turning to “Queer Housing” groups on Facebook to find housemates they trust will be accepting. The groups have cropped up across Australia’s biggest cities and beyond – Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Albury-Wodonga.

Admins say they fill a crucial gap between underfunded emergency service providers and generic house-hunting websites, where LGBT people might end up with people who seem friendly but don’t accept their sexuality or gender.

Adelaide woman Shaylee Leach started the Queer Housing Adelaide group after experiencing “secondary homelessness” – bouncing between friends without a stable roof over her head.  The higher rates of mental illness and unemployment experienced by LGBT people can make house hunting difficult.  Read more via Buzzfeed

Spain: 'Imagine Madrid without gays' metro advert sparks row

Madrid locals have been criticizing a poster in the city's metro which asks the public to imagine the city without gay people. The poster, which features shots of the empty streets of the Spanish capital, features the slogan: "Imagine Madrid without gays". 

Rather than the "imagine Madrid without gays" (wouldn’t it be great) as many people have inferred the poster is actually trying to say imagine how terrible Madrid would be without its gay population. The message appears to be a little too subtle, however, and the public have reacted strongly.

"I understand the main goal of the add is to attract attention but this has been done in such an ambiguous way that any homophobic person would feel good about it - 'Let the gays go far away this would be a calmer and nicer city without them," Rion Blake, who tweeted about the advert said.  Read more via the Local

16 ‘Pro-LGBT’ businesses that operate in countries with poor human rights records

Big corporations have come out to criticize state religious liberty measures in Georgia, Mississippi, and North Carolina as discriminating against those who aren’t heterosexual, some going as far as to propose boycotting states that enact such laws.