In France, three Twitter users have been fined for using the hashtag #BrûlonsLesGaysSurdu, or “Let’s burn the gays.” It is the first time France has handed down court convictions for anti-gay tweets.
The case was brought by the French LGBT charity Comité IDAHO, which filed a complaint against the three Twitter users, accusing them of inciting hatred and violence on the basis of sexual orientation. The group called the convictions a “significant victory.” Read More
The attacks, which also include the stoning of an adulterer, appear to have taken place in Mosul and were distributed by ISIS social media accounts.
These are obscene images. They depict two men thrown from the roof of a building as a crowd watches them fall to their deaths, and they purport to show the Islamic State (or ISIS) carrying out public executions before an audience in Iraq’s Nineveh province.
The two victims’ alleged crimes? They are believed to be gay. Read More
The sentences for eight men charged with attending a homosexual wedding in Egypt have been reduced. Volker Beck of the German Green Party told DW that the West should do more to help persecuted homosexuals.
DW: An Egyptian appeals court reduced the sentences for eight men, who are in prison for allegedly attending a gay wedding. The court did not rescind the sentence and the men must stay in prison for another year. They had been sentenced to three years for "publishing obscene pictures." What do you make of the court decision?
Volker Beck: We have seen since the fall of the Islamist regime that the government is trying to show that it can be just as conservative and homophobic as the previous government. The court sentences are completely disproportionate. They are not based on any Egyptian law because homosexuality per se is not punishable in Egypt.
Two LGBTI rights activists have made public their intentions to run for political office in the upcoming 2016 elections. Moses Kimbugwe, currently the Programs Director at Spectrum Uganda and Mboode Willy Senior, a gay activist, have announced that they will be running for elective office and have started online campaigns.
The announcements bring to mind the daring efforts of Kenya’s LGBTI activist, David Kuria, who announced he would be running for the 2012 Kiambu Senatorial seat. However, a few months to the elections, Kuria stopped campaigning allegedly over threats he received on account of his sexuality. Read More
A coalition of fourteen organisations joined forces to write to President Obama requesting the United States hold “President Yahya Jammeh and his associates accountable for their deplorable human rights record,” particularly with regard to LGBT people in the Gambia.
Their letter stated: “It is not too late for the United States to send President Jammeh and his regime a clear and unequivocal message: human rights violations will not be tolerated, and the U.S. government will respond with actions, as well as with strong condemnation.” Read More
History has been made in India after a transgender candidate won a mayoral election in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh Municipal Corporation. Independent candidate Madhu Kinnar defeated her opposition by 4357 votes on 4 January, beating the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Mahaveer Guruji to become mayor of Raigarh.
The win is a historic occasion for the LGBT population in Raigarh, which lies west of the India-Bangladesh border. However homosexuality still remains a criminal offence in India, with those caught in sexual acts imprisoned. Read More
Ukrainians thought that, post-Maidan, their country would start to look more like Europe. But for members of the LGBT community, things may have even gotten worse.
“I believe we are in between two evils: Russian homophobic culture and Ukrainian homophobic intolerance,” says Olena Semenova, an LGBT activist.
The Ukrainian gay and lesbian community is large and vibrant, especially in Kiev, where gay clubs and bars operate in relative peace. But many of its members prefer to remain closeted. Homophobia in Ukraine is pervasive and deep-rooted, sharing many parallels with Russia’s. Read More
Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has come out publicly saying, “I am a gay man, it’s not a secret, but not something that everyone would necessarily know but isn’t something I’ve spoken publicly about before.”
While confirming that the decision to go public about his sexuality had lifted a weight off his shoulders, Mr Varadkar admitted that some people in the Fine Gael party may judge him, but that it was an important precedent to set for future politicians. Read More
This month the US Supreme Court announced it would decide in the current term whether all 50 states must allow same-sex couples to marry. But while legal gay marriage has spread rapidly over the last several years, sex education laws in many states remain in the Dark Ages—even in states where gay marriage is allowed.
Sex education is only mandated for middle or high schoolers in 22 states, but almost every state in the nation has policies governing what teachers should emphasize or avoid if they teach sex ed. In 20 states, this means spelling out how teachers should cover homosexuality: 9 states require that information on sexual orientation be "inclusive," while 11 states have either pro-heterosexual or anti-homosexual biases. Read More
A new study published in the Journal of Public Health has claimed bisexual women were 65% more likely to report eating problems and 37% were more likely to self-harm than lesbians.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine also found they were more likely to have suffered from depression and anxiety than lesbians. Read More