Botswana: BONELA welcomes NACA’s overtures to gays, prostitutes

The Botswana Network on Ethics Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) has welcomed the decision by the government to spread the HIV/AIDS message to marginalised groups, including the gay community and commercial sex workers. In an interview, BONELA executive director, Cindy Kelemi said her organisation had been calling for such intervention “for more than a decade” but no one had been willing to listen.

“We see it as a milestone that finally government is reaching out to minority groups.  We applaud government for taking such a step,” she said. Read More 

US: Texas school claims it had the 'right' to expel student for being gay

The Executive Director of Lutheran High North has responded to a teen who said on YouTube he was forced to move schools for being gay: 'We reserve the right to discontinue enrollment of a current student participating in, promoting, supporting or condoning homosexual activity'

Austin Wallis, a 17-year-old former student at private Christian school posted a video that showed him in tears after he recounted a story of how he was called into his principal's office and told he must delete all social media on which he had revealed his sexuality or leave the school. Read More via Gay Star News

Tanzania: Trans man, wife arrested on gay-sex charges

Police in Tanzania have arrested a trans man and his female partner on suspicion of violating the Tanzanian law against same-sex intimacy.

News of the arrest, and the couple’s photos, were splashed across the local newspaper with the headline, “Beautiful girls arrested for homosexuality.” The arrests came after their neighbors told police that they suspected the two people were married and in a same-sex relationship.  Read More

Ghana: Police arrest suspect in connection to brutal anti gay attack

A man has been arrested in connection with the brutal attack on a Ghanaian events organizer on allegations he was gay. The suspected attacker was arrested by police after a video surfaced showing events promoter, Kinto Rothmans being assaulted and blood dripping from his head. Ghanaian celebrities took to social media to condemn the attack. Singer Efya immediately took to Twitter to express her disgust saying, ‘You can’t beat the gay out of someone… you can’t.’ Read More

Syria: Killed for 'being gay'

Less than 2 months after two other men were thrown from buildings on accusations by ISIS of homosexuality, another man is thrown from a tower. The man survived the fall and, according to reports, was stoned to death by onlookers. ISIS released pictures and video of the murder.  Read More

US: Sixth Transgender Woman Is Killed In Less Than A Month

Police have arrested an Akron, OH, father in connection with the February 13 stabbing death of his child Bri Golec, a 22-year-old who local advocates say was as a trans woman.  Bri is the sixth transgender woman in the US to be murdered in the last month. Read More

UK: Caseworkers ‘must not stereotype’ gay asylum seekers

The Home Office has published new guidance on the treatment of sexual identity issues in asylum claims following last year’s critical report by Borders and Immigration Chief Inspector John Vine.

The guidance states that Home Office caseworkers must conduct “a sensitive enquiry into the development and exploration of the claimant’s sexual identity and the extent to which it is relevant to the assessment of the need for protection. It should not be an enquiry into any explicit sexual activity.” Read More

Arkansas Legislature Passes Bill Allowing LGBT Discrimination

The Arkansas legislature gave its final thumbs-up Friday to a bill that will block cities and counties from enacting antidiscrimination laws that protect LGBT people. The Arkansas House of Representatives voted decisively, 57-20, for SB202, with seven members voting present. Having already cleared the state Senate Monday, the bill now heads to the governor’s desk.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson told BuzzFeed News in a statement he will let the bill take effect. By neither vetoing nor signing the legislation, he said, “I am allowing the bill to become law.”
The bill’s sponsor, Republican State Sen. Bart Hester, said this week that he sponsored the measure to create consistent policies across Arkansas that will attract business, and because he was infuriated that cities were attempting to expand civil rights laws for LGBT people. Read More

Inside The Last-Ditch Conservative Campaign To Target LGBT Americans

In this progressive climate, the battle has shifted to the state level, where conservatives are waging a last-ditch campaign to target LGBT Americans. Two months into 2015, the volume of legislation that allows religion to be used for discrimination is already higher than the total for 2014. 

The legislation introduced so far tends to fall into three broad categories: bills that could facilitate discrimination on the basis of religious freedom, bills that specifically target officials who marry same-sex couples and bills that would allow anyone to refuse to recognize a couple's marriage based on religious beliefs.  Read More
 

US: Lawmakers introduce bill to promote LGBT rights worldwide

The International Human Rights Defense Act, spearheaded by Sen. Edward Markey and Rep. Alan Lowenthal would appoint a special envoy within the U.S. Department of State to coordinate efforts to prevent discrimination and advance the rights of LGBT people worldwide.

“With the rights of the LGBT community under attack around the globe, we must stand hand-in-hand with them in the struggle for recognition and equality everywhere," Markey said.  Read More