Cook Islands Queen: criminalising gays 'unfair'

The' queen of the Cook Islands,' Takitumu paramount chief Marie Pa Ariki says it is unfair and unjust for gay people to be treated as criminals due to who they love and how they express that love.

The Cook Islands is one of several Pacific nations which still criminalise same-sex relations between men and offer no human rights protections to those who are widely ostracised for not being born heterosexual. Pa Ariki stated: "[Gay] people are knowledgeable and contribute to society and to home life," she says. "They are human like everyone else... we are all whanau." Read More 

60% of Hong Kong backs anti-discrimination laws

Six in ten Hong Kong people support legal protections for LGBTI people, according to a new report. The paper, published by the Centre for Comparative and Public Law at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), comes two weeks after a three-month public consultation on the city's anti-discrimination laws.  Read More
 

Young LGBT People in Kenya Fight the Odds & Make Life Better for Peers

A lot of work remains to be done before LGBTs in Kisumu and in the rest of Kenya are fully accepted. Yet, with relatively few means, a young organisation like Men Against AIDS Youth Group (MAAYGO) has created a safe environment where LGBTs can talk openly about their sexuality and safe sex and where they can just simply be themselves for a moment without having to worry about what others might think of them.

 'At some point, my friends were dying one after another', says Kennedy, one of the founding members. 'No one dared to admit they were suffering from HIV/AIDS. They all pretended it was malaria or tuberculosis. As a result of this shame and denial, the disease spread only further.'  Read More

Activist Chalwe Charles Mwansa on LGBT activism in Zambia

While lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in some sections of the world have progressed in recent years, equality remains elusive in other parts of the world, such as Zambia. The paramount issue on the table, with regard to LGBT rights, is how we create an African-centered dialogue that tackles the social and political issues that currently drives homophobia across the continent.  Read More

South Africa: Gay rights in the classroom

Several South African women have been murdered for being lesbian, in most African countries you're a criminal if you're gay, and in Sudan and Mauritania you can be put to death for homosexuality. Meanwhile the University of Western Cape graduated its first students from the continent's first course on sexual orientation and the role of educators in dealing with sexual orientation issues in the classroom.  Read More

'The Red Umbrella Diaries' Documentary Shares Stories Of Queer Sex Workers

Why do individuals make the decision to engage in sex work? The Red Umbrella Diaries is different from other explorations of sex work because its driven by first person stories and though we collaborated with filmmakers who are not sex workers, we had the final say about the content and representations in the film. It's also unique in the spectrum of sex worker media representations because of the variety of people in the film - all are LGBTQ identified, three are women of color (one of whom is trans), and two are men. Read More

Surveying Nepal’s Sexual and Gender Minorities: An Inclusive Approach

In a recent survey of sexual and gender minorities in Nepal over 60% of respondents reported experiencing abuse or discrimination.

The survey utilized Nepal’s inclusion of a third gender category in its national census, the first such attempt in the world. LGBT people in Nepal face many obstacles, including widespread bullying in schools, lack of protection from discrimination by employers, paucity of programming for reproductive health of lesbians, and the lack of sensitive HIV healthcare for transgender women and gay men who are at exponentially higher risk of HIV infection than the general population.  Read More 

Young U.S. Catholics overwhelmingly accepting of homosexuality

Fully 85% of self-identified Catholics ages 18-29 said in a 2014 Pew Research Center survey that homosexuality should be accepted by society, compared with just 13% who said it should be discouraged. Older age groups are less likely to favor acceptance. But even among Catholics ages 65 and older, 57% say that homosexuality should be accepted.  Read More

Meanwhile, antigay politician Rick Santorum claims young people support LGBT rights only because gay activists have kept them from hearing the alternative view. Read More 

Turkey gets its first umbrella LGBTI organization to fight homophobia

A new organization, the first in Turkey to ensure LGBTI websites, groups and organizations has been established to fight homophobia and transphobia in the Islamic country that straddles Europe and Asia. In existence since less than two months, the organization was created in order to ensure unity and solidarity among LGBTI groups, LGBTI websites and LGBTI organizations. Read More

Gay in Nunavut: How politics, culture, religion and the English language shape sexuality in the North

This February Inuit people were confronted with questions over homosexuality which had perhaps been brewing for a while: Was homosexuality part of traditional Inuit society? Does it matter? What do the elders say? Are gay people born that way or is it a choice? Are gay kids killing themselves? What should leaders be doing?

The answers to those questions will vary, depending on who you ask, and will be influenced by bravado, wisdom, Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, bigotry, self-righteousness, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, vocabulary, experience, ignorance, fear, courage, and love.  Read More

Rainbow Sudan seeks LGBTI rights in Sudan

The LGBTQI community of Sudan rarely appears in the media, but Sharon Wagiella of SOGI News recently interviewed a leader of that community’s anti-AIDS, pro-human rights group Rainbow Sudan, which was founded on Feb. 5, 2012. Read excerpts from that interview:  here

Because You Are, Therefore I Am: African leaders discuss sexuality, religion, and equality

Leaders from Botswana, Cameroon, Lesotho, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe gathered for a historic consultation. Rev. Dr. Kaypa Kaoma and I worked with leaders from the World Council of Churches and Dr. Gerald West, University of KwaZulu-Natal in organizing this consultation.

We are committed to changing the narrative in Africa from persecution of LGBTI persons and their families to acceptance. We are committed to making change happen in faith communities, theological schools, universities and in civil society.  

Read More