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Cameroon lesbians freed after 9 months awaiting trial

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After nearly a year in jail, 2 Cameroon lesbians have been convicted of same-sex activity. Cameroonian law provides for prison sentences of up to 5 years for same-sex sexual activity. Though it's supposed to apply only when a couple is “caught in the act,” the law is often interpreted as justifying imprisonment for suspected homosexuality.

Liliane and Nicole each received a two-year prison sentence, which was converted into a three-year suspended sentence and were released back to the community. Read More

Hate = Death, A round up of global hate crimes

Hate crimes are a global issue, spreading across cultural and national boundaries. This week's victims included an 18 year old Azerbaijan   whose parents doused him with gasoline and threatened to murder him when they found out he is gay. The boy survived his burns. After Alejandro Gala, president of Ola LGBT+ Almeria,  was attacked with a Molotov cocktail the Spanish youth leader swore, "it’s my obligation to denounce these homophobic acts, and urge others to do the same to show that there’s still a lot left to fight for and that activism is the solution.’ 


Meanwhile Brian Higgins, aka Feather Lynn, was taken off life support after a brutal attack left him on life support with a fatal brain aneurysm in San Francisco. In South Africa, Gift Makau, an 18 year old lesbian was the victim of “corrective rape”, before she was strangled to death. 

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Jamaican LGBT rights start in a storm drain

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"Any kind of injustice bothers me--bothers me deeply,” Yvonne McCalla Sobers said. A small woman with light gray hair, she is a dynamic force. As an LGBT activist in Jamaica, a battlefield country with the sixth highest homicide rate in the world, she faces violent intolerance rooted in national homophobia. Watch now

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Report finds most young Iranians are sexually active and many are gay

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The research department of the Iranian Parliament has found that four out of five young adults in the Islamic republic are sexually active and 17% with people of the same sex despite the country imposing the death penalty for homosexual acts. Read More

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani categorically dismissed the allegations by some western advocates of Human Rights that Iran executes people for being homosexuals. Meanwhile several human rights groups are reporting: Four prisoners were hanged in public this August. According to the official website of the Iranian judiciary two of the men had been accused of sodomy and "illegal sex between people of the same sex practices." Read More (french)  Read More (english)

Gay Palestinians In Israel: The 'Invisible Men'

On the run from Palestinian families, living illegally in Israel—treated by both sides as the enemy—gays from Palestinian territories can’t go home again. In January 2010, Rawashda was picked up by the secret police in the middle of the night on suspect of being gay. Next thing he knew, he was in an interrogation room being accused of collaborating with Israel. “I’d never even been to Israel before. But anyone who’s gay is immediately accused of spying for the enemy.” Read More

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Op-ed: What Not To Say to a Trans Person on OkCupid

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Despite the human hazards, transgender people, like anyone, can still find love (or at least some halfway decent drunk texting) on dating site OkCupid. If you’re not an asshole and you think of yourself as the kind of person who’d be open to meeting a transgender person on OkCupid, here are some things to avoid saying during conversations with your transgender romantic prospect. 

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Grindr promotes PrEP & new app helps HIV+ connect to clinics

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Massively popular dating app Grindr is working with PrEP groups to utilize it's social network to best and most effectively get the word out about HIV prevention.  Yet the 'Truvada Whore' Stigma Endures Among Doctors and LGBTs. Working with AIDS.org, US-based app Hornet shows users the 10 closest HIV clinics.

Meanwhile gay UK pop sensation Sam Smith urges gay and straight singles to stop using 'hook-up apps' like Tinder and Grindr: ‘No offence to people who go on Tinder but I just feel like it’s ruining romance, I really do,’ he said. ‘We’re losing the art of conversation and being able to go and speak to people and you’re swiping people.’  

'Being LGBTI in Asia'

New report was launched by UNDP and USAID together with grassroots Asian LGBT organizations and community activists to understand the challenges faced by LGBTs in eight Asian countries. It provides a comprehensive overview of the condition of Chinese LGBT people and organizations in terms of laws, policies, cultural and social attitudes, regional variations within China, and government engagement.It also documents the challenges faced by LGBT people in education, employment, health, family affairs, media and technology, and community development. Read More

Asian LGBT youth subjected to high levels of family violence, says study

Asians who identify as LGBT often find themselves victims of violence from family members, according to a recent report by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. The report interviewed people from Malaysia, Japan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the Philippines. Read More

Ecuador Grants New Status to Same-Sex Couples

After negotiations with LGBTI activists, President Rafael Correa has approved the official recognition of same-sex unions. Although he supports these unions, he doesn't support gay marriage. The Ecuadoran Constitution grants equal rights to "cohabitation partnerships" regardless if they are civil or Catholic marriages, so the LGBT community gains more legal recognition with this legislation. Read More

Nepal to legalize homosexuality and same-sex marriages, says law minister

This assurance comes amid fears that the government would confirm a 2011 proposal to recriminalize same-sex relationships.

Narahari Acharya, the country's minister for law, justice, parliamentary affairs and constituent assembly, said "[The bill] shall be our effort to grant equal status to homosexual and heterosexual relationships. The Muluki Ain is 160 years old and the last serious amendment to it was [made] 50 years ago. Efforts are under way to revise it and give it a new progressive face." Read More