South Africa: A gay mosque in Cape Town sounds the call to prayer for everyone

The call to prayer should welcome all Muslims, including gay Muslims, according to an openly gay imam in Cape Town. To many, the values of Islam and the rights of the LGBTQI community are incompatible, but Muhsin Hendricks has created a safe space for prayer, reflection and embracing all gender identities.

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Belarus leads group of about 17 nations to block LGBT rights in U.N. cities plan

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A group of up to 17 countries led by Belarus has blocked a plan to include the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender communities in a new urban strategy drawn up by the United Nations, according to sources close to negotiations.

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US: Multi-trillion dollar investors tell North Carolina: Ditch ‘hate-filled’ HB2

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A collection of asset management companies, who collectively manage investments totaling $2.1trillion, have written an open letter demanding that North Carolina repeal anti-LGBT HB2.

UN appoints first expert to protect LGBT people from discrimination

The UN Human Rights Council appointed its first independent investigator to help protect homosexual and transgender people worldwide from violence and discrimination. The United Nations expert Vitit Muntarbhorn will have a three-year mandate to investigate abuses against LGBTI people.

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The fear of trans bodies.

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Chase Strangio is an American lawyer and transgender rights activist. He is a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union

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Chinese gay activist challenges homosexuality 'disorder' textbooks

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Natalie Thomas

A gay Chinese student activist on Monday lodged a suit against the Ministry of Education over school textbooks describing homosexuality as a mental disorder, the latest step by China’s small but growing gay rights movement.

It is not illegal to be gay in China and these days many large Chinese cities have thriving gay scenes, though there is still a lot of family pressure to get married and have children, even for gay men and women.

Homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder until 2001.

However, Chinese universities continue to use textbooks that contain terms such as “disorder” and “impediment” to refer to homosexuality, research the Gay and Lesbian Campus Association of China carried out in 2014 found.

Qiu Bai, 21 and a media studies student at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, told Reuters she came across similar materials when she turned to the books in her university library after beginning to question her own sexual orientation. Read more via Reuters