Nigeria: Country's Homophobic Law Driving Gays Into Shadows

Award-winning Nigerian writer Jude Dibia’s first novel, Walking With Shadows, has as its central character a gay man who lives his life as a married family man. Dibia’s novel is one of the first to deal with the taboo subject of homosexuality in Nigeria. 

“People have gone further underground, but they still are trying to survive. And, I think maybe that is why online now on the Internet and on blogs you are seeing more stories coming out,” he says.

“There is a lot of anger festering in the underbelly. … But, more stories are popping out there because of this law. And, I think it is a good thing. In its own way, it is a good thing,” Dibia says.   Read More

The Economic Case for Supporting LGBT Rights

What’s the secret to convincing the world to back a movement? Figure out how it could impact the global bottom line. Economic reasoning is part of what propelled the modern women’s empowerment movement.

And now, it’s informing an emerging argument for LGBT inclusion. Discriminatory laws hinder the size of the workforce, employees' mental health, and international tourism. How could they not impact a country's GDP? Read More

Conservative Paper Attacks Turkish MPs Who Attend LGBTI Conference

Conservative Turkish newspaper Milli Gazete attacked the Turkish MPs who participated in the conference titled “Fundamental Rights, Non-Discrimination and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups, Including LGBTI” organized by the European Parliament. Following reporting on the event, “Parliament gives pass for immorality,” three MPs withdrew their participation. Read More 

25 Powerful Pictures From India’s Largest Gay Pride Parade Since Section 377 Was Reinstated

In December 2013, India’s Supreme Court overthrew a 2009 ruling by the Delhi High Court that had decriminalised gay sex, effectively making homosexual sex illegal. On November 30, New Delhi saw the largest demonstration of gay pride since said ruling, and since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of India. Below are some of the parade’s most poignant images. See more

India's Gay And Lesbian Community Demands End To Discrimination

Nearly a thousand gay rights activists marched through central New Delhi on Sunday to demand an end to discrimination against gays in India's deeply conservative society. Many at the parade said the recent Supreme Court decision criminalizing gay sex was a denial of their human rights. Read More 

Pastor Calls for LGBT Holocaust to Eradicate AIDS by Christmas

In the U.S., even the most right-wing of religious fundamentalists, even if they believe Scripture condemns LGBT people as deserving of death, usually pull their punches (or stones) and stop short of actually calling for the execution of anyone based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

But one Baptist minister in Arizona has not only called for an LGBT holocaust but put forth the claim that such a mass killing would wipe out AIDS by Christmas. Read More

Latvian Ruling Party Official Laimdota Straujuma Resigns After Praising Nazi Extermination Of Gays

In a Twitter discussion with party colleagues that included former Welfare Minister Ilze Viņķele, the subject wandered onto the possibility of same-sex partnerships being introduced in Latvia. Challenged on the point, Laimdota Straujuma said she approved of homosexuals having to leave the country as a result of opposition to homosexuality in society at large.

"Thank god - at one time, the Germans shot them. It improves fertility," Priede said in a tweet that was subsequently deleted and replaced with a call for "Christian values." Priede was immediately warned by Viņķele and others that her comments were inappropriate and might amount to a incitement to hate crimes. Read More

Rights and repercussions: The paradox of LGBT life in Georgia

Former Russian republic makes progress on paper as discrimination continues. “It is becoming a dangerous trend in Georgia to condone and leave unpunished the acts of violence against religious and sexual minorities if they are perpetrated by the Orthodox religious clergy or their followers.

It is simply unacceptable for the authorities to continue to allow attacks in the name of religion or on the basis of anyone’s real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia program director at Amnesty International, in the aftermath of the chaos. Read More

Pope Francis Speaks Up on Synod Process: ‘It Isn’t Over’

Pope Francis held an in-flight press conference on his way back to Rome in which he opened up about the debate surrounding last month’s Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family. When asked about the synod’s controversial phrasing regarding persons with homosexual orientation: 

“The synod is a path; it is a journey, firstly. Secondly, the synod is not a parliament. It’s a protected space in which the Holy Spirit may speak,” the Holy Father told journalists. Read More 

Finding Tru Love?

A spike in relationships that bridge the viral divide may be an unintended side effect of the use of Truvada for HIV prevention. Alex Garner, the founding editor of Positive Frontiers, notes that all these new approaches to safer sex have affected how negative and positive men relate to each other because they reduce a key emotional obstacle to love: fear.

Garner says the key to reducing stigma and increasing wellness is for both positive and negative men to talk openly about their health issues with each other. By having this dialogue, they may also rekindle that spark of commonality, in ways that can improve not just physical and but also mental health. Read More

Meeting the needs of neglected key populations in Pakistan

Men who have sex with men and transgender people make up an alarming proportion of new HIV infections in Asia. In Pakistan, these key populations have traditionally been neglected in national HIV responses. Documenting the efforts of ongoing HIV and human rights work in Pakistan are two new films: 'Neglected No Longer: The Men who have Sex with Men and Transgender Community in Pakistan' and 'In from the Margins: Overcoming Barriers to Accessing HIV Services in Pakistan'. Read more and watch the films