Category Archives: Pride

Target Pride merchandise only available at select stores after rightwing backlash

Posted on by

Company, which operates roughly 2,000 stores, declined to disclose number of stores where merchandise will not be available

Target confirmed Friday that it won’t carry Pride Month merchandise at all stores in June after the discount retailer experienced a backlash and lower sales over its collection honoring LGBTQ+ communities.

Target, which operates roughly 2,000 stores, said decisions about where to stock Pride-themed products, including adult apparel, home goods, foods and beverages, would be based on “guest insights and consumer research”.

Continue reading...

Hungarian bookstore fined for selling LGBTQ+ novel in youth section

Posted on by

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman was on shelves for young people and did not have closed packaging as required by controversial law

A government office in Hungary has levied a hefty fine against a national bookseller over a LGBTQ+ graphic novel series, saying it violated a contentious law that prohibits the depiction of homosexuality to minors.

The bookseller, Líra Könyv, is Hungary’s second-largest bookstore chain. It was fined 12m forints ($36,000 or £27,400) for placing Heartstopper by the British author Alice Oseman in its youth literature section, and for failing to place it in closed packaging as required by a 2021 law.

Continue reading...

Kamala Harris warns of threats to LGBTQ+ rights during visit to Stonewall

Posted on by

‘We won’t be deterred,’ says Kamala Harris, urging Americans to fight for LGBTQ+ equality amid rightwing attacks

Kamala Harris urged Americans to continue to battle for equality in the face of fresh waves of anti-LGBTQ+ action and rhetoric by conservatives, as she made a surprise visit to the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City on Monday.

The US vice-president celebrated the bar’s place in gay rights history while warning that many queer Americans are living “in fear” as rightwing legislatures pass draconian anti-LGBTQ+ laws and Republican leaders step up hostile rhetoric and conspiracy theories, particularly aimed at transgender and non-binary people.

Continue reading...

Rightwing governor of Lazio region withdraws backing for pride parade

Posted on by

Decision is linked to row over government plans to criminalise people who seek surrogacy abroad

The rightwing governor of Italy’s Lazio region has come under fire after withdrawing the administration’s support for Rome’s pride parade, saying its name could not be associated with events “aimed at promoting illegal conduct”.

Lazio, the region surrounding Rome which has been under rightwing rule since March, had planned to sponsor the LGBTQ+ event on Saturday but backed out after organisers said the support was a sign that the region had distanced itself from plans by the national government to criminalise people who seek surrogacy abroad.

Continue reading...

Dodgers re-invite drag nuns to Pride Night after cutting them

Posted on by

Baseball team apologizes to Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence after removing group from event amid conservative opposition

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a well-known San Francisco order of queer and trans “nuns” that has existed since the 1970s, are once again welcome at the team’s annual Pride Night.

Last week, the baseball team rescinded the group’s invitation after a Republican senator from Florida wrote a letter accusing the sisters, a group which came to prominence during the Aids crisis, of being anti-Christian activists. The group, which does charitable and protest work in addition to its street drag show performances, was set to receive an award during a ceremony before a 16 June game against the San Francisco Giants.

Continue reading...

Serbian police arrest dozens as Belgrade EuroPride marchers defy ban

Posted on by

Local media report arrests of unruly counter-protesters as pride marchers flout ban with shortened walk in rain

Serbian police arrested more than 64 people as thousands of LGBTQI+ activists turned out for Belgrade’s EuroPride march on Saturday, despite a government ban.

The event had been intended as the cornerstone event of the EuroPride gathering. But the interior ministry banned the march earlier this week, citing security concerns after rightwing groups threatened to hold protests.

Continue reading...

Serbia bans its first staging of EuroPride rally at late notice

Posted on by

Organisers vow to go ahead with event on Saturday after authorities announce ban citing public safety

Serbian authorities have banned EuroPride, the pan-European gathering of the LGBTQ community due to be held in Belgrade on Saturday, sparking an outcry from organisers.

EuroPride is held in a different country every year, and this would have been Serbia’s first time hosting the event.

Continue reading...

Pride in London 2022: huge turnout at first march since pandemic – as it happened

Posted on by

Rolling coverage of the annual LGBTQ+ celebrations in the capital as events mark 50th anniversary of the UK’s first Pride parade

Our reporter David Batty writes:

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has called on the UK’s largest Pride event to return to its radical political roots, saying the 1972 march was about wider social change, not just equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community.

Continue reading...

Biden signs executive order to curb anti-trans laws and conversion therapy

Posted on by

The move expands gender-affirming care and urges federal departments to counter anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed by states

Joe Biden has signed an executive order aimed at curbing discrimination against transgender youth and drying up federal funding for the controversial practice of “conversion therapy”.

Biden’s executive order, which comes during Pride month, asks the federal health and education departments to expand access to gender-affirming medical care and find new ways to counter a flurry of bills passed in US states by conservative lawmakers this year that ban these treatments for transgender youth.

Continue reading...

Thousands join Budapest Pride march to protest against anti-LGBTQ law – video

Posted on by

Hungarians joined the annual Budapest Pride march to support LGBTQ people and oppose a law that limits teaching about homosexuality and transgender issues in schools. Organisers said in a statement the rally would show opposition to 'power-hungry politicians' and reject intimidation of LGBTQ people

Continue reading...

Thousands march in Budapest Pride to oppose anti-LGBTQ law

Posted on by

Demonstrators say law that bans teaching of issue in schools is causing division in Hungary

Thousands of Hungarians have joined the annual Budapest Pride march to support LGBTQ people and protest against a law that limits teaching about homosexuality and transgender issues in schools.

Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, in power since 2010, has introduced social policies that he says aim to safeguard traditional Christian values from western liberalism, stoking tensions with the EU.

Continue reading...

Budapest Pride march is a protest against anti-gay laws, say organisers

Posted on by

Hungary’s LGBT community expects high turnout for march on Saturday marking end of Pride month

Saturday’s Pride march in Budapest will be “a celebration, but also a protest”, organisers have said, as Hungary’s LGBT community prepares to rally in defiance of an escalating anti-gay campaign by the country’s government.

Johanna Majercsik, one of the organisers of Pride month in Budapest, which culminates with the march, said she expected to see many more in attendance than the roughly 20,000 marchers who attended the last Pride march in the city, two years ago.

Continue reading...

Malawi Pride and press freedoms in Palestine: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

Posted on by

A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Chile to Cambodia

Continue reading...

‘You can’t cancel Pride’: the fight for LGBTQ+ rights amid the pandemic

Posted on by

Lockdown hit LGBTQ+ communities hard but even as Pride events are called off there is hope and a promise that the parades will return

This month, for the second year in a row, there was no Pride parade in San Francisco, arguably the city most laden with history and symbolism for the LGBTQ+ community.

It is a decision Fred Lopez, who took over as executive director of San Francisco Pride at the beginning of last year describes as “heartbreaking”.

Continue reading...

Malawi’s LBGTQ+ community celebrates first Pride parade

Posted on by

Homosexuality remains illegal in the country, where a conviction carries a jail term of up to 14 years

For a few hours over the weekend the streets of Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, were covered in rainbows, as about 50 members of the country’s persecuted LBGTQ+ community took part in the country’s first Pride parade.

The risks to those who took part are high. Homosexuality remains illegal in Malawi, and those who identify as anything other than heterosexual face arrest and imprisonment.

Continue reading...

Elton John and John Grant: ‘We help each other. We are both complicated people’

Posted on by

The pop legend and the US indie star have long been friends and fans of each other’s music. With Grant staying chez Elton and about to release a new album, the pair sat down to discuss politics, homophobia – and why Elton should never write lyrics

It’s a boiling hot day in rural Berkshire, and a man in navy satin Gucci shorts has just walked into his library. It’s all ornate chairs, wooden globes and Buddhist statues, its oiled shelves lined with books about history, the arts – and tons about music. The scene is one of airy tranquillity, the perfect place for two culture-loving good friends to hole up for a chat.

One of them isn’t here yet – he’s popped to the bathroom after having his photo taken – but Elton John can’t stop raving about John Grant. “We have so many things in common – photography, art, music – it’s as if we’ve known each other for ever. And he’s fun!” Grant wanders in shyly in a pink baseball cap, weathered Talk Talk T-shirt, and glossy white DMs. “Much more fun than his records are anyway, haha.”

Continue reading...

‘Drag is political’: the pioneering Indian event uniting art and activism

Posted on by

Artists from traditional communities and new wave performers to come together online for the country’s first drag conference

Two years ago, in early June 2019, a young man stepped on stage at a small cafe in the south Indian city of Hyderabad to sing Lady Gaga’s hit song Born This Way. He had chosen that song for the line “don’t be a drag, just be a queen” because this would be his first public performance as a drag artist. He had expected no more than a handful of people to turn up for this show with two other drag artists, but as the evening progressed, the cafe filled with more than 500 people. In a conservative city like Hyderabad, that was a huge surprise.

It has been a long journey for Patruni Chidananda Sastry, who began to learn classical Indian dance at the age of five. Now 29 and working as a business analyst, he performs Tranimal – a postmodern drag concept born in Los Angeles in the mid-2000s – and more conventional drag using the avatar of SAS (Suffocated Art Specimen – how he describes himself). On 25 June he is organising the first drag conference in India, as part of Dragvanti , his online initiative to bring together drag artists from across the country.

Continue reading...

Poland: thousands turn out for Warsaw Pride march

Posted on by

Sea of rainbow flags in the capital as campaigners warn against rising tide of homophobia

Thousands marched through central Warsaw on Saturday in an “equality parade”, amid what campaigners say has been a rising tide of homophobia in Poland in recent years.

LGBT rights have become a central part of a wider struggle in the country between liberals, who stress the need for a more tolerant and inclusive society, and religious conservatives, who denounce what they say is an attempt to subvert traditional values in the predominantly Catholic nation.

Continue reading...

Pride month in Guatemala marred by killings of three LGBTQ+ people

Posted on by

Celebrations become ‘month of mourning’ after three murders in a week, with calls for urgent state reform

Guatemala’s LGBTQ+ community is in mourning after two transgender women and a gay man were murdered in less than a week during pride month.

Andrea González, a prominent activist and leader in the transgender women’s organisation Otrans Reinas de la Noche (Queens of the Night) was shot dead on 11 June in the street near her home in Guatemala City. Her murder followed the killing of another Otrans member, Cecy Ixpatá, who was assaulted and died from her injuries on 9 June in a hospital in Salamá, about 50 miles north of Guatemala City. José Manuel Vargas Villeda, a 22-year-old gay man was also shot and killed on 14 June in Morales, 150 miles north-east of the capital.

Continue reading...