Category Archives: LGBTQ+ rights

Israeli politician suggests doctors could refuse to treat gay patients

Posted on by

President condemns anti-LGBTQ rhetoric after comment by Orit Strook, which she later said referred to certain procedures

A suggestion by one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming ministers that Israeli doctors should be allowed to refuse treatment to LGBTQ patients on religious grounds has heightened fears that the new government poses an unprecedented threat to gay rights.

The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, has weighed in to condemn the growing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, saying: “The racist pronouncements of recent days against the LGBTQ community and other sectors of the public make me extremely worried and concerned.” The president, whose post is largely ceremonial but who commands a degree of authority, added that such rhetoric undermined Israeli “democratic and moral values”.

Continue reading...

Israel’s LGBTQ+ community fear for future under far-right government

Posted on by

Elements of Netanyahu-led coalition have been openly hostile and rolling back of some gay laws is on agenda

The prospect of the far right joining government after Israel’s recent election has left the country’s LGBTQ+ community fearing for the future.

Elements of the incoming coalition led by the prime minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu have not hidden the fact that they are hostile to Palestinians and LGBTQ+ people.

Continue reading...

Texas attorney general sought data on gender changes to state IDs

Posted on by

Ken Paxton requested the public safety department for the numbers, but it was never given due to accuracy problems

The office of Republican Texas attorney general Ken Paxton this summer sought data on how many people had changed the gender information on their driver’s licenses, according to a newspaper report published on Wednesday that civil rights attorneys described as worrying.

The Washington Post reported that public records obtained by the newspaper do not indicate why Paxton’s office made the request to the Texas department of public safety (DPS). The head of the driver’s license division told colleagues in June to compile the “total number of changes from male to female and female to male for the last 24 months”.

Continue reading...

Biden says he’s ‘all in’ on Africa’s future at leadership summit – as it happened

Posted on by

President commits to strengthening Africa’s food supplies, tackling climate and partnering to take on rising global power

Back at the House oversight hearing into anti-LGBTQ+ violence, Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) says her group has recorded an alarming surge in hate-related killings:

Over the last 10 years, the campaign has tracked over 300 incidents of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people. In 2022 so far, we’ve recorded the murder of 35 people.

It’s fueled by nearly unfettered access to guns, political extremism and rhetoric that is deliberately devised to make our community less safe, less equal, and less free. Violence has become a lived reality for so many in our community.

We should have societal guilt for taking too long to deal with this problem. We have a moral obligation to pass and enforce laws that can prevent these things from happening again. We owe it to the courageous, young survivors and to the families who lost part of their soul 10 years ago to turn their pain into purpose.

A few months ago, I signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law. We’ve reined in so-called ghost guns which have no serial numbers and are harder to trace. We’ve cracked down on gun trafficking and increased resources for violence prevention.

Continue reading...

Barbados’ top court strikes down laws that criminalize gay sex

Posted on by

Third nation in conservative Caribbean region to do so this year, in pivotal moment for those who have long fought against such laws

A top court in Barbados has struck down colonial-era laws that criminalize gay sex, becoming the third nation in the conservative Caribbean region to do so this year.

The ruling issued Monday by the Barbados high court is a pivotal moment for activists and non-profit organizations who have long fought against such laws on the eastern Caribbean island, including one that demands up to a life sentence for gay men found guilty of having sex.

Continue reading...

‘Toxic rhetoric’: marriage equality plebiscite offers ugly lessons for Indigenous voice to parliament referendum

Posted on by

Support and self-care will be vital during the campaign, which could stir up ‘perfect storm for fear and hate’

From the age of five Keenan Smith knew they felt different, lacking the sense of ease other children in country Australia took for granted and bristling at being pushed towards rough and tumble sports and toy trucks and guns.

“I didn’t like the same things that boys would use in that age group, things like sports and those traditionally gendered things,” the Wirangu, Mirning and Kokatha person says.

Continue reading...

Nephew calls Republican who tearfully opposed gay marriage bill a homophobe

Posted on by

Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler voted against bill protecting same-sex marriage but Andrew Hartzler, who is gay, was unimpressed

The backlash to the Republican member of Congress who broke down in tears in her opposition to the same-sex marriage bill has included a familiar face – her nephew, who has called the lawmaker a “homophobe”.

On Thursday, Vicky Hartzler, a Republican representative from Missouri, shed tears as she urged colleagues in the US House of Representatives to vote against the Respect for Marriage Act, which forces states without marriage equality laws to recognize LGBTQ+ marriages from other states.

Continue reading...

The £100m Qatar whitewash: how UK advertisers put profit before protest

Posted on by

Like the players, brands have in the end shied away from confrontation with the hosts during the World Cup

More than £100m will be spent by brands hoping to cash-in on World Cup fever, but when it comes to taking host Qatar to task over its human rights record protest marketing has taken a back seat to sales targets.

In the run-up to kick off of the football tournament in Qatar criticism of the gulf state was akin to shooting at an open goal.

Continue reading...

Man charged with threatening doctor for providing care to trans patients

Posted on by

Matthew Jordan Lindner of Texas is alleged to have harassed and threatened to kill a doctor at Fenway Institute center in Boston

A Texas man has been charged with threatening a Boston doctor for providing medical care to transgender patients and gender-nonconforming children.

On Friday, the US attorney’s office in Massachusetts said Matthew Jordan Lindner, 38 and from Comfort, Texas, was arrested and charged with one count of transmitting interstate threats.

Continue reading...

Saudi film festival claim of ‘zero censorship’ fails to win over critics

Posted on by

Organisers say accusation Red Sea event is a ‘reputation laundering tool’ for Riyadh smacks of western hypocrisy

A glitzy international film festival in Saudi Arabia has laid out the red carpet for a host of famed actors and directors, promising a “zero-censorship” event that will feature LGBTQ+ themes despite being held in a country where homosexuality is criminalised.

Only five years since the hardline Gulf monarchy lifted a decades-old ban on cinemas, the Red Sea international film festival launched 10 days of screenings on Thursday. Guests include the Lebanese actor and director Nadine Labaki, as well as fellow directors Guy Ritchie and the Oscar winner Spike Lee.

Continue reading...

Largest queer health center in the US midwest to lay off 15% of staff

Posted on by

Staff cuts at Chicago’s Howard Brown Health could squeeze care as attacks on LGBTQ+ and trans healthcare have escalated

Howard Brown Health, a nonprofit community health center in Chicago that is the largest provider of health and wellness care for the LGBTQ+ community and people living with HIV in the US midwest, has announced it wants to lay off at least 100 employees, or about 15% of staff.

The layoffs were proposed as voluntary in the first instance, but the company says “a reduction in workforce is required”, suggesting that if 100 volunteers are not found then layoffs will be compulsory.

Continue reading...

Tokyo same-sex marriage ruling ‘a step forward’, say campaigners

Posted on by

Court rules same-sex marriage ban is constitutional but says lack of legal protection is human rights violation

A court in has ruled that Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional, but said the lack of legal protection for same-sex couples violated their human rights, a step welcomed by equality campaigners.

Japan is the only G7 nation that does not allow same-sex marriage and its constitution defines marriage as based on “the mutual consent of both sexes”. The conservative ruling party of the prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has shown no interest in legalising same-sex marriage, although polls show a majority of voters support it.

Continue reading...

Singapore lifts gay sex ban but blocks path toward marriage equality

Posted on by

LGBTQ+ advocates welcome repeal of British colonial-era law while expressing dismay as parliament backs existing definition of marriage

Singapore’s parliament has decriminalised sex between men, but has amended the constitution to effectively block full marriage equality.

The British colonial-era law penalised sex between men with up to two years in jail, although the statute was not actively enforced.

Continue reading...

OneLove armband sends ‘very divisive message’, says Qatar official

Posted on by

Head of World Cup organising committee says he sees rainbow armband as protest against Islamic values

The head of Qatar’s World Cup organising committee has accused teams who wanted to wear the OneLove armband at the World Cup of sending a “very divisive message” to the Islamic and Arab world.

Hassan al-Thawadi’s comments came as the UK sports minister Stuart Andrew said he would wear the rainbow-coloured armband at the England v Wales match on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Netanyahu strikes Israeli coalition deal with far-right homophobic leader

Posted on by

Ex-PM poised to form one of most hardline religious and nationalist governments in country’s history

The former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has struck a coalition deal with a far-right leader known for his homophobic rhetoric and disparaging remarks about non-Orthodox Jews, a sign of the prospective government’s hardline makeup.

Netanyahu’s Likud party announced on Sunday that the agreement named Avi Maoz, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Noam party, as a deputy minister, whose portfolio includes an office bolstering Jewish identity among Israelis.

Continue reading...

Man who helped stop shooter at Colorado gay club ‘wanted to save family I found’

Posted on by

Navy member Thomas James was one of two men who prevented gunman from doing more harm after he killed five people

A member of the US Navy who was injured while helping prevent further harm during a shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado last weekend said on Sunday that he “simply wanted to save the family that I found”.

Petty officer 2nd class Thomas James made his first public comments on the shooting in a statement issued through Centura Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, where James is recovering from undisclosed injuries suffered during the attack.

Continue reading...

Lesbians historically seen as ‘fair game’ in Sydney, advocate tells gay hate inquiry

Posted on by

Carole Ruthchild said gay women ‘couldn’t be out and open and not get a bad response’ in the past

Lesbians were seen as “fair game” if they weren’t in the company of a man and faced violence when they turned down sexual advances, an inquiry into unsolved LGBTQ+ deaths has been told.

In the years after New South Wales decriminalised homosexuality in 1984, Carole Ruthchild said lesbians still faced severe backlash simply for being themselves.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Colorado Springs shooting shows LGBTQ+ people facing ‘different kind of hate’

Posted on by

Co-owner of Club Q, where five people were killed, says targeting of drag event is linked to hate fostered by lies about the community

The co-owner of the Colorado Springs gay nightclub that was the scene of a mass shooting believes the attack is a reflection of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment that has evolved from prejudice to incitement.

Authorities haven’t said why the suspect allegedly opened fired at the club on Saturday, killing five people and wounding 17 others. The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, has not entered a plea or spoken about the incident but is facing possible hate crime charges.

Continue reading...

Lauren Boebert accused of hypocrisy over prayers for LGBTQ+ club shooting

Posted on by

Far-right Republican congresswoman has record of anti-LGBTQ+ statements that advocates call ‘dangerous’

LGBTQ+ advocates in the US have criticized the far-right Colorado Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert as a hypocrite in light of her past anti-LGBTQ+ statements after she offered prayers to the victims of the recent Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs.

The shooting at the LGBTQ+ club that left five dead took place on the eve of the Transgender Day of Remembrance. ACLU-Colorado’s senior policy strategist and trans activist Anaya Robinson called Boebert’s condolences “disingenuous”, and blamed incendiary comments about the community for such tragedies.

Continue reading...

BBC’s Alex Scott wears rainbow armband for England World Cup match

Posted on by

Pundit opts to wear OneLove armband in apparent gesture of solidarity with LGBTQ+ people in Qatar

The BBC pundit Alex Scott wore a rainbow armband as she presented coverage of England’s first match of the Qatar World Cup, in an apparent gesture of solidarity with LGBTQ+ people in a country where same-sex relationships are illegal.

Her decision to wear the OneLove armband – which officially represents a stand against all forms of discrimination – came hours after the England and Wales teams decided not to wear the same armbands after being informed that players could receive yellow cards for breaching Fifa rules on clothing.

Continue reading...