Category Archives: LGBT rights

Whoopi Goldberg joins international backlash over Sydney Morning Herald’s treatment of Rebel Wilson

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Editor Bevan Shields has now accepted full responsibility for the paper’s coverage and apologised for the delay in acknowledging mistakes were made

The international backlash against the Sydney Morning Herald over its reporting of Rebel Wilson’s new relationship with fashion designer Ramona Agruma has intensified, with celebrities including Whoopi Goldberg now criticising the masthead.

Columnist Andrew Hornery and Herald editor Bevan Shields have this week apologised after Wilson was given a two-day deadline to respond to plans to write about the relationship.

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Columnist apologises after being accused of trying to out Rebel Wilson

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Andrew Hornery, gossip columnist for Sydney Morning Herald, says he regrets how he handled the story

An Australian newspaper columnist has apologised after being accused of trying to out the actor Rebel Wilson.

Andrew Hornery, who writes a gossip column for the Sydney Morning Herald, said he regretted how he handled the story – which has been characterised as an attempt to expose the sexuality of the Pitch Perfect star.

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Saudi Arabia bans Pixar’s Lightyear over same-sex kiss

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The Hollywood film has been banned in a number of countries in the Middle East because of a kiss between space ranger Alisha and her partner

Toy Story spin-off Lightyear will not be released in Saudi Arabia due to the inclusion of a same-sex kiss, the latest in a string of Hollywood films that have been banned in the Middle East over LGBTQ+ content.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the scene in question involved a space ranger called Alisha (voiced by Uzo Aduba) and her partner who greet each other with a kiss on the lips. Variety reports that Lightyear was not submitted to censors in Saudi Arabia, as it was anticipated it would not pass due to the country’s total prohibition of same-sex relationships. However, the Pixar film was submitted to censors in the comparatively more liberal United Arab Emirates, but the film’s licence was revoked after complaints on social media.

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‘Our reputation is trashed’: anonymous staffer criticises SMH management over Rebel Wilson coverage

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Email sent to all reporters states ‘our newsroom has become the story’ but editor Bevan Shields insists ‘we are a great masthead’

Anger about the Sydney Morning Herald’s reporting of Rebel Wilson’s new relationship has boiled over into the newsroom, with an anonymous staffer sending an email to colleagues claiming the paper’s reputation was being “trashed”.

“Here we are again – our newsroom has become the story,” the email sent on Monday afternoon stated. It referenced a February controversy when the editor, Bevan Shields, wrongly insisted a train network shutdown ordered by the state government was a strike.

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Rebel Wilson: Sydney Morning Herald removes column and apologises over reporting of actor’s new relationship

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SMH columnist admits mistakes after complaining about being gazumped on story about Wilson’s new girlfriend Ramona Agruma

Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Hornery has admitted he made mistakes in his approach to Australian actor Rebel Wilson’s new relationship, her first with a woman.

After complaining on Saturday about being gazumped on a story about Wilson’s new partner, Ramona Agruma, Hornery has written a new column apologising for his reaction and saying he will take a different approach from now on. Saturday’s column has been removed and replaced with the new one.

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‘Like a bridge that connects us’: Pride parade comes to Bangkok amid new hope for LGBT rights

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Event returns for first time in many years on Sunday as city appoints governor vocal in supporting LGBT community

Kath Khangpiboon has seen many joyful Pride parades abroad. She has watched in Spain and Canada as young people and families joined celebrations under the rainbow flag. Now, she is looking forward to seeing Pride in her city: Bangkok.

“I feel so much pride that an activity like this is happening,” says Kath, who is a lecturer at Thammasat University and a trans activist. Bangkok Naruemit Pride on 5 June – believed to be the first official Pride parade in the Silom area of Thailand’s capital for more than 15 years – comes as the city appoints its new governor, Chadchart Sittipunt, an independent politician who has been vocal in his support for LGBT rights.

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Rwanda plan challenged over alleged failure to identify risks for LGBTQ+ refugees

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Pre-action letter questions Home Office claims that east African country is ‘generally safe’

Priti Patel’s plan to send refugees on a one-way ticket to Rwanda is being legally challenged over the government’s alleged failure to identify risks facing vulnerable groups such as LGBTQ+ people.

A pre-action letter sent to the Home Office on behalf of the pressure group Freedom from Torture questions government claims that the east African state is “generally a safe country” for refugees.

The government’s claim that Rwanda is “generally” a “safe third country” is irrational.

It relies upon apparent pre-determination or bias.

The home secretary has breached her duty not to induce breaches of the European convention on human rights by her agents.

Removing asylum seekers to Rwanda is beyond Patel’s legal authority because it is contrary to the refugee convention.

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‘A history maker’: Karine Jean-Pierre set for White House press secretary role

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She will be the first Black openly gay woman to step into the role, a symbol of change after the Donald Trump era

This week the blue door will slide back, a Black woman will walk to the lectern and a piece of White House history will be made.

Karine Jean-Pierre, facing rows of reporters and cameras, will be making her briefing room debut as the first Black woman and first openly gay person in the role of press secretary. Not that there will be much time to stand on ceremony.

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‘Politics should steer clear’: rainbow flag set to fly over Wimmera

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Four of five councillors vote to fly pride flag on International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia

A special meeting of West Wimmera Shire council has overturned a decision against flying the rainbow flag.

The council ruling clears the way for the internationally recognised pride flag to fly above the rural Victorian council region for the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) on 17 May.

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Transgender medication law in Alabama blocked by judge

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A federal judge has blocked part of a law that makes it a felony to give gender-affirming puberty blockers and hormones to minors

An Alabama law that makes it a felony to prescribe puberty blockers and hormones to transgender minors has been blocked by a federal judge while affirming other aspects of the state’s “Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act”.

US district judge Liles Burke issued a preliminary injunction to stop the state from enforcing the medication ban, which took effect on 8 May, while a lawsuit against the bill goes forward.

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Election 2022 live updates: prepoll voting rush; Albanese lands in Sydney; 49 Covid deaths

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Reports of rush on early voting; Scott Morrison reiterates support for Katherine Deves; Greens launch environmental policies; nation reports at least 49 Covid deaths. Follow today’s news live

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, Catherine King was also asked about Labor’s timetable (if it won the election) for the religious discrimination bill:

We need to consult again with both religious organisations, with LGBTIQ+ groups, we don’t want – we want to make sure we’re able to protect religious freedoms and people’s religious expression, but we don’t want to introduce new discrimination.

That’s what the government’s bill did. It had their own members, particularly in some of the inner-city seats saying they couldn’t support it. I didn’t get into parliament to put more discrimination on people. I want to remove discrimination from people, including people who have religious faith, but I don’t want to make it worse for other people.

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Biden warns LGBTQ+ children could be next target of Republican ‘Maga crowd’

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President warns of new attacks by Trump-dominated political party after supreme court ruling draft leak on abortion

Joe Biden has warned of new attacks on civil rights as the supreme court prepares to strike down the right to abortion, telling reporters at the White House that LGBTQ+ children could be the next targets of a Trump-dominated Republican party he called “this Maga crowd” and “the most extreme political organisation … in recent American history”.

“What happens,” the president asked, if “a state changes the law saying that children who are LGBTQ can’t be in classrooms with other children? Is that legit under the way the decision is written?”

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Greek court acquits four police officers over death of LGBT activist

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Two men convicted of killing Zak Kostopoulos but human rights groups express dismay as officers walk free

A Greek court’s decision to exonerate four police officers involved in the brutal death of an LGBTQ+ activist in Athens has alarmed human rights groups, which deplored the verdict as profoundly unjust.

Two men were found guilty on Tuesday of participating in the killing of Zak Kostopoulos, but the four police officers, also accused of causing fatal bodily harm, were allowed to walk free.

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Democrats in states across US seek to offer legal refuge to trans youth

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Effort by state legislators follows California’s lead in responding to wave of Republican laws targeting transgender kids and families

Democratic lawmakers in more than a dozen states are following California’s lead in seeking to offer legal refuge to displaced transgender youth and their families.

The coordinated effort, which was announced on Tuesday by the LGBTQ Victory Institute and other advocates, comes in response to recent actions taken in conservative states. In Texas, for example, Gregg Abbott, the governor, has directed state agencies to consider placing trans children in foster care, though a judge has temporarily blocked such investigations. And multiple states have approved measures prohibiting gender-affirming healthcare treatments for trans youth.

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Judge orders man who defaced Pride mural to write essay on Pulse shooting

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Judge says he needs more time to determine a punishment and orders Alexander Jerich to write 25-page essay on 2016 massacre

A Florida judge has ordered a man who defaced an LGBTQ+ Pride mural to write a 25-page essay about the 2016 Pulse gay nightclub shooting.

Last June, the city of Delray Beach in south Florida unveiled a rainbow mural at an intersection on the fifth anniversary of the attack, in which a gunman killed 49 people at the club in Orlando.

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Disney is refusing to cut LGBTQ scene in Doctor Strange 2, Saudi Arabia says

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Official denies Marvel film is banned but says kingdom ‘still trying’ to get Disney to cut 12 seconds referring to lesbian character with two mothers

Saudi Arabia has asked Disney to cut “LGBTQ references” from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness before it can be screened in the kingdom, an official said on Monday – but denied earlier reports that the film has been banned.

Disney has so far declined the requested edits to the Doctor Strange sequel, slated for release around the world next week. The cuts amount to “barely 12 seconds” in which a lesbian character, America Chavez, played by the actor Xochitl Gomez, refers to her “two moms”, according to Nawaf Alsabhan, Saudi Arabia’s general supervisor of cinema classification.

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AOC and Swimming Australia threaten legal action over billboards claiming ‘women’s sport is not for men’

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Conservative lobby group uses images of elite swimmers in ads targeting ‘woke politicians’ but Emily Seebohm says Advance acted ‘without my consent’

The Australian Olympic Committee and Swimming Australia are threatening a conservative lobby group with legal action for featuring images of elite female swimmers on billboards it is using to campaign against trans women’s participation in sport.

The AOC will send a legal letter to the conservative group Advance on Tuesday alleging the billboards are using its intellectual property without permission, a spokesperson said on Monday night.

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British Antarctic Territory to hold its first same-sex wedding

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Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter, who work on RRS Sir David Attenborough, hope to tie the knot on Monday

Two polar research ship crew members are to become the first same-sex couple to get married in the British Antarctic Territory.

Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter hope to tie the knot on Monday, although it may be pushed back because of the weather.

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Biden: Republicans’ Disney law shows ‘far right has taken over party’

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Florida strips company of self-governing power for opposing Governor Ron DeSantis’s ‘don’t say gay’ law

For Joe Biden, the vote by Florida Republicans on Thursday to strip Disney of its self-governing powers was a step too far.

“Christ, they’re going after Mickey Mouse,” the president exclaimed at a fundraiser in Oregon, in apparent disbelief that state governor Ron DeSantis’s culture wars had reached the gates of the Magic Kingdom.

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NSW MP Alex Greenwich threatens to withdraw supply from Perrottet government over ‘attacks’ on trans kids

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Sydney independent says he can’t have a ‘cooperative relationship’ with the NSW minority government if the premier continues comments

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, will meet with an independent MP who has threatened to withdraw supply and confidence from the minority government, following comments about the participation of transgender kids in sport.

The Sydney MP, Alex Greenwich – one of a handful of lower house crossbenchers the Coalition relies on to govern – said he could not have a “cooperative relationship” with the government if the premier continued to make “attacks” on the LGBTQ+ community.

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