‘Nightmare is over’: Polish election result brings relief for LGBTQ+ people

Community looks tentatively to future as party that sought to demonise them is unlikely to retain power

For the past eight years, fear and anxiety has threaded through much of Bart Staszewski’s daily life. As a gay man living in Poland, he found himself increasingly under attack by a government that had sought to depict the LGBTQ+ community as a threat to the nation and its children, fuelling prejudices and hate crimes across the country.

But since last month’s election pointed to a possible route to power for opposition parties, Staszewski has been gripped by a wave of relief. “It’s like I’m breathing fresh air for the first time in eight years,” he said. “After years of hate against people like me, the nightmare is over.”

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Dismay as South Korea upholds military ‘sodomy law’ for fourth time

Activists deplore ‘distressing setback for equality’ as court backs law against ‘indecent acts’ between military personnel

South Korea’s constitutional court has upheld two anti-LGBTQ+ laws including the country’s notorious military “sodomy law” for the fourth time, in a ruling activists are calling a setback for equality rights.

The court, in a five-to-four vote, ruled that article 92-6 of the military criminal act, which prescribes a maximum prison term of two years for “anal intercourse” and “any other indecent acts” between military personnel, even while on leave and consensual, was constitutional in response to several petitions challenging the law.

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Japan court rules mandatory sterilisation of people officially changing gender unconstitutional

Judges reject requirement for trans people to remove reproductive organs for state-recognised gender change

Japan’s top court has ruled that a legal clause requiring people to undergo sterilisation surgery if they want to legally change their gender is unconstitutional.

Several international organisations including the European court of human rights, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and UN had said the requirement was discriminatory and infringed on human rights.

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‘The fight will continue’ for India’s LGBTQ+ campaigners for equal marriage

Homosexuality was decriminalised in 2018 but the supreme court has declined to change marriage laws

Utkarsh Saxena had been secretly planning the proposal for weeks. He had secretly measured his boyfriend’s finger while he was sleeping and bought a pair of matching steel rings from a Delhi market. They had been together for 15 years, having fallen in love on the university debating team, and Saxena felt optimistic that this would be an auspicious moment to ask the love of his life to marry him – the same day that India’s supreme court ruled on whether same-sex couples would be allowed to get married.

Yet when the verdict came out on Tuesday, Saxena’s heart broke. Even as India’s chief justice, DY Chandrachud, spoke of India’s long history of LGBTQ+ people and their right to equality, he ruled that changing marriage laws was beyond the scope of the court and that marriage was not a fundamental right. It was the job of parliament, not judges, to make such decisions, Chandrachud said.

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India’s supreme court declines to legally recognise same-sex marriage

Judges say decision should be made by parliament but stress that such unions should not face discrimination

India’s top court has declined to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages, saying it is beyond its scope and should be decided by parliament, but emphasising that queer relationships should not face discrimination by the state.

The marriage ruling will be a disappointment for LGBTQ+ people in India, who had hoped the supreme court judges would recognise their constitutional right to marriage equality.

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Canada province uses constitutional override to advance pronoun legislation

Saskatchewan invokes clause to push through controversial bill requiring parental consent for children to change pronouns

The Canadian province of Saskatchewan has invoked a rare constitutional mechanism to shield controversial gender pronoun legislation from legal challenges – a decision critics say violates the rights of minors.

On Monday, Saskatchewan’s legislative assembly started debate on Bill 137, which outlines the rights parents have as the “primary decision-maker” in their child’s education. Among the most controversial is the provision requiring parental consent before school staff use a desired gender identity or gender-related preferred name if the student is under the age of 16. The bill also says that if obtaining parental permission could cause harm to the child, the principal will connect the student with support to develop a plan to come out to their parents.

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‘Live out loud’: US Black queer activists fight against ‘tactics of erasure’

Queer people of color are frequently overlooked in the fight for equality, but inroads into the corridors of power are being made

On the 60th anniversary of the 1963 march on Washington this summer, a few Black queer advocates spoke passionately before the main program about the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ+ rights. As some of them got up to speak, the crowd was still noticeably small.

Hope Giselle, a speaker who is Black and trans, said she felt the event’s programming echoed the historical marginalization and erasure of Black queer activists in the civil rights movement.

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Dylan Mulvaney says woman-of-the-year award ‘means so much more’ after Bud Light backlash

Attitude magazine celebrates TikTok star who collaborated with beer maker who left her high and dry after conservatives boycotted

After gaining Attitude magazine’s first-ever woman of the year award, US trans activist Dylan Mulvaney said receiving such recognition from the UK-based LGBTQ+ publication “means so much more” after a substantial transphobic backlash undermined her Bud Light advertisement.

“No matter how hard I try or what I wear, or what I say, or what surgeries I get, I will never reach an acceptable version of womanhood by those hateful people’s standards,” Mulvaney said in social media videos that showed her accepting the award this week. “But as long as I have the queer community that sees me for my truth – I’m gonna be OK.”

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Inquest into deaths of five trans and gender-diverse Victorians to investigate emotional support services

Suspected suicides of the five who were undergoing gender affirming processes to be examined starting next month

Emotional wellbeing support for transgender people will be investigated as part of a coronial inquiry into the suspected suicides of five people who were undergoing gender affirmation processes before their deaths.

The Victorian coroners will next month begin a four-day inquest into the deaths of five transgender and gender-diverse people between 2020 and 2021.

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Biden pays tribute to Matthew Shepard, 25 years after anti-gay hate-crime death

President says university student, 21, who died days after being tied to a fence and beaten, was murdered ‘simply for being himself’

Joe Biden has marked the 25th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, a gay 21-year-old University of Wyoming student who died six days after he was beaten by two young men, tied to a fence, burned and abandoned in a remote part of the state.

Shepard’s death has long been memorialized as a hate crime that helped fuel the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Lamenting “a brutal act of hate and violence that shocked our nation and the world”, Biden, in a statement on Thursday, said Shepard was murdered “simply for being himself”.

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Restrictions on gay men donating blood should be scrapped, Queensland health minister says

Exclusive: Shannon Fentiman urges federal government to ‘expedite’ applying individual risk assessments to donors, in line with the UK, Canada and US

The Queensland health minister has called on the federal government to consider scrapping restrictions that prevent most gay and bisexual men from donating blood.

In Australia, sexually active gay men, bisexual men, transgender women and some non-binary people who have sex with men – including those in long-term relationships – are unable to donate blood unless they abstain from sex for three months.

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Greece’s gay Syriza leader says he told of plans to become parent to ‘stir’ debate

Stefanos Kasselakis says he wanted to open up the subject of same-sex couples having children

Greece’s first openly gay political party leader says he was deliberately trying to “stir stagnant waters” and tackle the taboo subject of same-sex couples having children when he announced he and his partner planned to become parents through surrogacy.

Weeks after his unexpected election to the helm of the main opposition left-wing Syriza, Stefanos Kasselakis insisted his comments had aimed to give the issue visibility in a nation where LGBT rights were rarely publicly discussed.

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Donatella Versace hits out at Italian government’s anti-gay policies

LGBTQ groups laud fashion designer for speech in which she said ‘minority voices’ were under attack

Gay rights groups in Italy have praised Donatella Versace for speaking out against the government’s anti-gay policies in a heartfelt and personal speech while receiving a fashion award.

“Our government is trying to take away people’s rights to live as they wish,” Versace said on Sunday night, citing in particular a government policy that allows only the biological parent in same-sex couples to be officially recognised as the parent. “They are restricting our freedoms,” she said.

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Suella Braverman criticised by Labour over ‘deeply divisive’ migration speech – as it happened

Home secretary argued that ‘uncontrolled’ migration poses ‘existential challenge for institutions of the west’

The Sun is carrying a story today saying Rishi Sunak’s “decision to stall the net zero ban on selling new petrol cars has seen him catch up eight points in the polls”. It is based on the results of this Deltapoll poll.

For a more considered view, it is worth reading this article in the i by Prof Sir John Curtice, Britain’s leading psephologist. He says the impact of the net zero speech on the polls has been much more modest. Here is his conclusion.

Whatever the popularity of the measures, if, as has been alleged, Mr Sunak’s motivation was to try to reduce Labour’s lead, it looks as though he has so far reaped little reward. Four polls of voting intention conducted after last Wednesday’s announcement have so far been published. Between them they put Labour’s lead on 17 points – just a point below the polling average shortly before last week’s drama.

Moving the polls is, it seems, just as difficult as dealing with climate change.

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Tories urged to condemn Braverman for gay persecution comments on refugees

UK home secretary in US to call for rewriting of UN asylum rules so they are ‘fit for the modern age’

A Labour MP has urged LGBTQ+ Conservatives to condemn Suella Braverman’s speech, in which she will say that Britain should not grant asylum to people who simply express a fear of persecution for being gay.

Ben Bradshaw, a former minister, made the call before a speech the home secretary is due to make in the US, where she will make her case for the rewriting of key international refugee rules so they are “fit for the modern age”.

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California governor signs bills boosting protections for LGBTQ+ people

Gavin Newsom signs bills a day after controversial veto on parental support of their child’s gender identity

The California governor, Gavin Newsom, signed several bills on Saturday aimed at bolstering the state’s protections for LGBTQ+ people, a day after the Democrat issued a controversial veto that was criticized by advocates.

The new laws include legislation that focuses on support for LGBTQ+ youth. One law sets timelines for required cultural competency training for public school teachers and staff, while another creates an advisory taskforce to determine the needs of LGBTQ+ students and help advance supportive initiatives.

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Eternal: 90s stars cancel full-band reunion over reported trans rights clash

Representative for Louise Redknapp says sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett refused to play Pride events due to trans people ‘hijacking’ gay community

Chart-topping British girl group Eternal have cancelled a planned full-band reunion due to an alleged difference in views on transgender rights.

A representative for singer Louise Redknapp, who went on to have a successful solo career, confirmed reports that she had left the reunion due to a clash in values with sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett.

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China fuels global surge in mpox cases as LGBTQ+ stigma hampers response

WHO says China facing ‘sustained community transmission’ of virus first detected as imported case last year

China is fuelling a global surge in mpox cases, accounting for the majority of new cases reported in September, according to the World Health Organization.

The number of weekly cases reported globally increased by 328% in the week to 10 September, data shows. Most of that rise came from China, where more than 500 new cases were reported in August. The WHO said China was experiencing “sustained community transmission” of the virus, which was first detected as an imported case in September last year.

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Nashville elects Tennessee’s first openly transgender politician

Olivia Hill, 57, a military veteran, joins the Nashville city council in historic election

A transgender woman won election to a seat on Nashville’s city council, becoming the first openly transgender person to be voted into political office in Tennessee.

Olivia Hill, 57, secured one of the four open at-large seats on the metro council of Nashville, a politically liberal city in an overwhelmingly conservative state.

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Man arrested in connection with homophobic attack outside London nightclub

The suspect, 19, has been held on suspicion of two counts of grievous bodily harm after two men were stabbed in Clapham on 13 August

A 19-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a homophobic attack outside a nightclub in south London in which two men were stabbed, police have said.

Two men were taken to hospital after the incident in Clapham on 13 August. They have since been discharged.

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