Azerbaijani police have arrested a woman who killed her sister after she found out she was a lesbian. LGBT Azerbaijan Alliance has called the incident “a hate crime against LGBT people.” Read More
Activists condemn Singapore court gay ruling
Human rights groups have condemned a Singapore court's decision that a law banning gay sex is constitutional. Under Section 377A, men who engage in "gross indecency" privately or publicly can be jailed for up to two years. Singapore, which largely remains conservative, has seen intense debate in recent years over gay rights.
Human Rights Watch called the decision "a major setback for equal rights", adding that it "tramples upon basic rights to privacy, equality and non-discrimination" and "gives carte blanche for discrimination and reinforces prejudice". Read More
Fire Sweeps Through Kiev's Oldest Movie Theater During LGBT Movie
A fire has swept through the landmark Zhovten movie theatre in Ukraine's capital Kiev during the showing of an LGBT movie. Initial media reports cited movie-goers as saying the fire may have been started by arsonists who were outraged by the screening of the gay-themed film. Others suggested a connection with a business dispute that saw the movie theater fighting to avoid eviction from its building. The theatre, opened in 1931, suffered severe damage in the incident. Read More
Dozens of anti-gay Russian nationalists swarm three gay rights activists
Two young women and a man campaigning for gay rights in Russia were met with about 100 nationalist protesters on Sunday, who threw tomatoes and shouted anti-gay abuse.
Dozens of nationalists gathered in the southern city of Lipetsk over the weekend to oppose a rally of three gay rights activists, a news report said.
Two young women and a man met Sunday in Lipetsk and walked to the city's central Sobornaya Ploshchad, where their demonstration for LGBT rights had been expected to take place, local news site LRNews reported. The rally was greeted by about 100 nationalists and conservative activists, as well as police officers deployed to prevent violence, the report said.
One of the rally participants, who gave her name as Reida Linn, said she and her friends wanted to draw public attention to “fighting homophobia, discrimination and violations of the Constitution and of the rights of LGBT people,” LRNews reported. Read More
Jamaica: Unchecked Homophobic Violence
LGBT Jamaicans are vulnerable to both physical and sexual violence and many live in constant fear, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. They are taunted, threatened, fired from their jobs, thrown out of their homes, or worse: beaten, stoned, raped, or killed.
The 86-page report, “Not Safe at Home: Violence and Discrimination Against LGBT People in Jamaica,” documents 56 cases of violence in which victims reported they were targeted because of their actual or perceived sexual identity. Read More
Jamaican Coalition Wants Buggery Punished Severely
The Coalition for a Healthy Society is urging Jamaican courts to increase punishment for the crime of 'Buggery' which has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Committee member Delroy Chuck quizzed the Coalition on whether it would accede to some flexibility in law in respect to what he described as private morality. "If two males live together, do you believe it is the business of the State to investigate what they are doing within the confines of their bedroom?" Chuck questioned.
Head of the Coalition Dr Wayne West said if he had been asked the question five years ago he would have been inclined to support the position "because I have no intention of peeping into anybody's bedroom". However, West quipped, "when your neighbour's house is on fire you better take note of it". He argued that what is taking place in the bedroom is now being forced on persons in the public square. Read More
Palau legalizes gay sex: Eight Pacific countries still have anti-gay laws
The Pacific island nation of Palau has decriminalized gay sex in a revision of its penal code. Gay sex used to be punishable by up to ten years in jail but lesbian sex was legal.
Dr Paula Gerber, president of LGBTI rights group Kaleidoscope Australia, said, 'This is wonderful news - giving a much need impetus to the process for reform in the Pacific. It is especially pleasing to see that recommendations made during the UN Universal Periodic Review process appear to have had an impact. 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
The Obama Brief: How Obama Transformed the Federal Judiciary
To the extent that there is an Obama legal legacy, it centers on gay rights and voting rights, subjects that the President addresses more with caution than with passion.
In July, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a ruling that threatened the future of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. By a vote of two to one, the court held, in Halbig v. Burwell, that the insurance subsidies that allow millions of Americans to buy health insurance were contrary to the text of the law and thus were illegal. If such a decision had been made earlier in Obama’s tenure, lawyers for his Administration would have been left with a single, risky option: an appeal to the politically polarized, and usually conservative, Supreme Court. Read More
25 Senators Urge Obama to Stand Up for LGBT Rights Worldwide
Senators are pressuring President Obama to step up and appoint a special envoy for LGBT rights to the U.S. Department of State to protect LGBT people internationally.
President Obama got a letter Friday from 25 Democratic senators urging him to make a change on his global LGBT policy before the end of the year.
“In nearly eighty nations around the world there exist laws that criminalize homosexuality, prohibit public support for the LGBT community, or promote homophobia,” wrote the senators, asking the president to appoint a special envoy for LGBT human rights in the U.S. Department of State. “In seven countries, homosexuality is punishable by death. Even more troubling, though, is the recent trend of countries passing barbaric laws that deliberately try to persecute the LGBT community.” Read More
Wake Up Where the Clouds Are Far Behind
After July's International AIDS Conference ended, dozens of African delegates remained in Melbourne to seek asylum, fleeing countries that face not only widespread and generalised HIV epidemics, but violent and systemic homophobia. Benjamin Riley interviewed one of those people, learning it's hard to feel safe when the one you love is left behind. Read More
Argentina grants first refugee status to Russian gay, victim of President Putin's non tolerance policies
A young 28 year old became the first Russian gay to be given refugee status by Argentina, because of discrimination and violence at his home country. The positive reply to the year-long request was sponsored by Argentina's Federation of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans, FALGBT. Read More