Category Archives: LGBTQ+ rights

Supreme court rules in favor of trans woman who fled violence in Guatemala

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Estrella Santos-Zacaria will have another chance to seek asylum from sexual assault and death threats after being deported in 2008

The US supreme court ruled on Thursday in favor of a transgender Guatemalan woman fighting deportation on the grounds that she would face persecution if returned to her native country.

The unanimous decision in favor of Estrella Santos-Zacaria gives her another chance to argue that immigration officials were wrong to reject her bid to remain in the US.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html.

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North Dakota governor signs bill allowing teachers to ignore students’ pronouns

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Measure also requires teachers to tell parents if student is trans and bars them from using bathroom matching their gender

North Dakota’s governor has signed a bill into law that allows public school teachers and state government employees to ignore the pronouns their transgender students and colleagues use, the governor’s office announced on Monday.

The new law, signed by the Republican governor, Doug Burgum, also requires teachers to tell a parent or legal guardian if the student is transgender. It also prohibits transgender students from using the appropriate bathroom without prior approval from a parent or guardian.

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Victorian government urged to act as more drag events cancelled in wake of threats from far-right

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Advocates say cancellations may embolden anti-LGBTQ+ groups to target other events and state needs stronger anti-vilification laws

LGBTQ+ advocates are urging the Victorian government to do more to protect the queer community after threats from far-right groups led to five Melbourne drag events being cancelled in the past six months.

They say that while cancellations may protect people at an individual event, calling them off may embolden anti-LGBTQ+ groups to target other events.

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Uganda’s parliament passes mostly unchanged anti-LGBTQ bill

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Bill retains harshest measures of legislation adopted in March, including death penalty for certain same-sex acts

Uganda’s parliament has passed a mostly unchanged version of one of the world’s strictest anti-LGBTQ+ bills after President Yoweri Museveni asked that certain provisions from the original legislation be toned down.

Despite four amendments, the bill retains most of the harshest measures of the legislation adopted in March. Those include the death penalty for certain same-sex acts and a 20-year sentence for “promoting” homosexuality, which activists say could criminalise any advocacy for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer citizens.

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Montana governor lobbied by non-binary son to reject anti-trans bills

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David Gianforte, who uses he/they pronouns, said they urged father Greg to stand up against ‘unjust, immoral’ legislation

The son of the Republican governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, met their father in his office to lobby him to reject several bills that would harm transgender people in the state, the Montana Free Press reported.

David Gianforte told the paper they identify as non-binary and use he/they pronouns – the first time they disclosed their gender identity publicly. They told the outlet they felt an obligation to use their relationship with their father to stand up for LGBTQ+ people in the state.

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Montana Republicans bar transgender lawmaker from the statehouse floor

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Zooey Zephyr will be able to vote remotely, however the decision has drawn protests that brought the legislature to a halt

Montana Republicans have barred the transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr from the statehouse floor for the rest of the session after she told colleagues they would have “blood on your hands” if they voted to ban gender-affirming medical care for trans children.

Under the terms of the punishment, Zephyr will still be able to vote remotely but will be unable to participate in debates for the remainder of the 90-day legislative session. The Democratic representative had been forbidden from speaking for the past week over her comments, which Republicans said violated decorum.

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Edinburgh University cancels film screening after trans rights protest

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Adult Human Female, which asserts that women are defined solely by biological sex, stopped after activists block entrances

The screening of a controversial film asserting that women are defined solely by their biological sex has been cancelled by Edinburgh University after trans rights activists occupied entrances to the venue.

The screening of the documentary Adult Human Female was organised with the university’s support after a previous event in December was prevented from taking place when protesters confronted audience members and occupied a screening room minutes before it was due to be shown.

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UK government funding anti-LGBTQ+ organisation in Uganda, says report

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The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, which is openly homophobic, is a direct recipient of UK aid money

The UK government is helping to fund the work of a virulently homophobic religious organisation in Uganda, whose leaders have backed a proposed law that would make identifying as gay a criminal offence, a report has found.

Analysing official data given to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), the report by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change (IJSC) found a “staggering” number of connections between anti-LGBTQ+ organisations in Uganda and international aid donors, including the UK.

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North Carolina: Mark Robinson attracts scrutiny as extremist in Republican race

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Lieutenant governor has achieved national notoriety over views on LGBTQ+ rights, guns, abortion and more

The Republican lieutenant governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson, formally entered the race for governor at a rally on Saturday.

The sharp-spoken social conservative, who has made controversial remarks about LGBTQ+ rights, guns and abortion, said North Carolina needed a leader like him who can relate to the challenges and desires of working people.

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Trans woman starring in award-winning documentary fatally shot in Atlanta

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Rasheeda Williams, who performed as Koko Da Doll, killed in third fatal shooting of trans woman in the city this year

Rasheeda Williams, an Atlanta-based transgender woman who features in a forthcoming documentary that highlights the stories of four Black transgender sex workers in New York City and Georgia, was fatally shot in this week, the film’s publicist said on Friday.

Williams, 35, who performed under the name Koko Da Doll, was killed on Tuesday evening at a shopping center in the south-west of the city. It was the third fatal shooting of a transgender woman in the city since the beginning of the year, Atlanta police said in a statement.

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Uganda’s president refuses to sign new hardline anti-LGBTQ+ bill

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Yoweri Museveni sends bill imposing death penalty for homosexuality back to parliament for reconsideration

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has refused to sign into law a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill that imposes the death penalty for homosexuality, requesting that it be returned to parliament for reconsideration.

The decision was announced on Thursday after a meeting between the president and ruling party MPs who resolved to return the hardline bill to the national assembly “with proposals for its improvement”.

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Ron DeSantis threatens prison near Disney theme park in latest retaliation

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After being humiliated by its outgoing board, the Florida governor has hit upon another idea to punish the company

Ron DeSantis has unveiled the latest act of retaliation against Disney for speaking out against his “don’t say gay” law: he’s threatening to build a new state prison next to the company’s central Florida theme parks.

The Republican governor dropped the suggestion at a hastily convened Monday lunchtime press conference, at which he laid out steps the state legislature would take to try to regain control over Florida’s largest private employer.

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‘Something special’: same-sex couple wed in UK year on from fleeing Ukraine

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Yulia and Tetiana knew they would have to marry abroad – but never in the context of an invasion

Yulia and Tetiana had spent a while deliberating over a date for their wedding before they decided it had to be 1 March – exactly a year to the day they fled the war in Ukraine.

“That date should be a sad anniversary, the anniversary of us leaving our old life behind, but we decided to rewrite this story and made it our special anniversary,” said Tetiana, 42. “We lost a lot and there is a lot of evil in this world, but we’ve turned that evil into something good.”

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Biden proposal forbids US schools from outright bans on transgender athletes

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Proposed rules require any decisions to restrict trans people from competing to involve important educational objectives

The Biden administration has released a proposal that would forbid schools and colleges across the US from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes competing in sports.

But teams could create some limits in certain cases – for example, to ensure fairness, according to the proposal, which did not go into extensive detail about the term.

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Effort to repeal Texas sodomy law advances with bipartisan support

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Senator Ted Cruz among those backing repeal of law criminalising homosexual conduct was ruled unconstitutional in 2003

Texas lawmakers are edging closer to repealing the state’s sodomy ban, two decades after the law was ruled unconstitutional.

A state house committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to pass a bill that would repeal the 1973 law criminalising homosexual conduct, which been unenforceable since it was deemed unconstitutional by the US supreme court in 2003.

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Ugandan president calls on Africa to ‘save the world from homosexuality’

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Museveni says homosexuality is ‘danger to procreation of human race’ at Entebbe conference hosted by US anti-LGBTQ+ hate group


The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, has called on African leaders to reject “the promotion of homosexuality”, suggesting he will sign into law a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which was passed by parliament last month.

The bill, which imposes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and life imprisonment for “recruitment, promotion and funding” of same-sex “activities”, has been widely criticised internationally, with the UN high commissioner for human rights urging the president not to sign it.

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‘It’s like we don’t exist’: Japan faces pressure to allow same-sex marriage

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Diplomats add their voices to Japanese campaigners in demanding LGBTQ+ rights as Hiroshima prepares to host the G7 summit

Akane Kousaka and her partner live in fear of the day when one of them falls ill or is injured in an accident. The LGBTQ+ couple have a “partnership certificate” issued by their ward office in Tokyo, but it comes with none of the legal guarantees afforded married heterosexual couples – including the right to visit a spouse in hospital.

“We might be able to get special permission, but we shouldn’t have to rely on other people’s goodwill … it’s not right,” Kousaka told the Observer. Other countries were leaving Japan behind, she added.

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Battle brews over LGBTQ+ books in Louisiana libraries

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State’s attorney general faces backlash after releasing report saying LGBTQ+ voices might be silenced in libraries

Louisiana’s attorney general – a Republican gubernatorial candidate – is receiving backlash from LGBTQ+ activists after releasing a report recently that they say might silence LGBTQ+ voices in libraries.

The brewing fight over censorship in Louisiana’s libraries has opened a new front in the culture war pitting political conservatives and the LGBTQ+ community. Far rightwingers across the US tried hundreds of times last year alone to ban more than 1,600 books with themes of gender or sexuality from public libraries, schools and universities, saying they wish to protect children from accessing them. But LGBTQ+ activists say there is no evidence that such material is readily available for children without the bans or that it primes minors to be harmed, and they are instead a tactic for conservatives to silence voices which offend their cultural values.

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Pauline Hanson calls on Mark Latham to apologise for ‘disgusting’ homophobic tweet

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Independent Alex Greenwich does ‘not intend to engage’ with One Nation MP’s comment aimed at him, but others spring to his defence

The One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has called on Mark Latham to apologise for comments about the sexuality of fellow state MP Alex Greenwich that left the New South Wales environment minister, Penny Sharpe, “physically sickened”.

Latham, the NSW One Nation leader, made the comments on Twitter on Thursday morning in response to an article in which Greenwich called Latham “a disgusting human being”. The article was about LGBTQ+ protesters being targeted outside an event Latham spoke at earlier this month.

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Australian LGBTQ+ advocates call for stronger legal protection after attacks

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Patchiness and exemptions of anti-vilification laws based on gender and sexuality leave queer community vulnerable, advocate says

LGBTQ+ advocates are calling for stronger legal protections following a series of attacks against Australia’s queer community.

Earlier this month neo-Nazis held a banner reading “destroy paedo freaks” at a rally in Melbourne attended by trans rights activists, and days later an LGBTQ+ group said they were attacked by a mob while protesting outside a Sydney church.

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