With a controversy over proposed gay rights legislation in Kyrgyzstan, the struggle between the United States and Russia for influence in Central Asia – traditionally seen as a conflict over pipelines and military bases – is taking on aspects of a culture war.
Malaysia paper tells Muslims backing opposition is backing gay rights
A right-wing Malaysian newspaper has said supporting opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim means supporting the international LGBTI rights movement ahead of his sodomy trial. Anwar has been prosecuted under the country's colonial anti-gay law four times in what LGBTI groups have called a politically motivated prosecution. He is appealing his March sentence of five years in jail. Read More
Armenian Activists Sue Over Article Outing Several LGBT People
The editor of an Armenian newspaper is awaiting judgement in a lawsuit brought by several individuals after he published an article naming them as “gay rights lobbyists” and calling for them to be fired from their jobs and ostracized. The article was titled, “They serve the interests of international homosexual lobbying: the blacklist of country’s and nation’s enemies,” and named more than 50 individuals. 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
School teacher Who Referred To Student As “Fag Number One” Quickly Fired
A photography teacher at a school in Helsingborg, Sweden has learned the hard way why you shouldn’t hurl antigay slurs at students. “When I found out what the photographer said, I felt that this required immediate action,” the principal told media. “He did not respect our values and offended a student. As an adult, you must think about what you say to students.” Read More
Chile’s LGBT movement marches united
Chile has celebrated a historical moment: for the first time, the LGBT movement marched united to demand equal rights. Although collaborating will always be difficult, the success of this march has added new momentum into the LGBT movement in Chile and stands for a powerful collaborative force. Just days ago, the front was awarded a grant by UNESCO and the Chilean National Institute for Human Rights, which aims at strengthening collaboration between NGOs. 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
Gays complain of HIV prevention overdose
Homosexuals in the Chennai, India have complained that they are being given overdoses of messages on HIV prevention and that programmes concerning the community should address their psychological needs more.
Though the study says that gay men in India have an HIV seroprevalence rate that is 22 times higher than the country's general population, those surveyed have a different take. "It is better not to keep concentrating on HIV... I think it is important to raise the low self-esteem of MSMs," one of the interviewees said. Read More
Free Health Care Service From The Şişli Municipality
For the first time, Şişli, Istanbul, Municipality initiated free health care services for the LGBTI communities. LGBTI individuals will be able to benefit from health care services for free and, if they would like to do so, using nicknames rather than disclosing their identities. Read More
Half of HIV+ Gay Men Don’t Take Life-Saving Drugs
A survey from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows dramatic deficits in treatment among those at highest risk of HIV infection. The reasons why men don’t get—or stick with—treatment range from cost to misperceptions about the toxicity of current drug therapies to the enduring stigma of HIV. 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
Can the Catholic Church Help End HIV?
This year National Latino AIDS Awareness Day coincides with new conversations happening around two very important areas of HIV prevention for Latinos: PrEP and stigma. A shift in tone from the Catholic Church could result in how Latino families embrace their loved ones who happen to be gay, lesbian or transgender.
What does this mean for Latinos and HIV?
It means that the stigma around being gay may be coming to an end. It means that Latino men and women may feel safer to come out of the closet to their family, their community and to a church that will not only tolerate them, but embrace them. It means that we may be closer than ever to ending HIV by reducing the stigma surrounding what it means to HIV-positive. Read More