7 countries’ LGBTI supporters, in school and out

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

News briefs about countries with anti-gay laws, excerpted with slight modifications from UNAIDS’s Equal Eyes recap of the world’s LGBTI-related news.

Sri Lanka's "Nothing But Pride" video. (Click image to watch the video.) — Sri Lanka’s “Nothing But Pride” video. (Click image to watch the video.)

MUTUAL SUPPORT

In Sri Lanka, the group Equal Ground has released a music video “Nothing but Pride,” shot entirely in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

In Indonesia, transgender Muslims, the third gender known as waria, celebrated Ramadan together outside of traditional worship centers that strictly separate women and men during prayers.

In Malaysia, LGBTI community members are speaking out against increasing violence in the country spurred, they say, by religious authorities’ push for increased power.

Journalist P Sudhakaran explores the shifting attitudes towards gender and sexual diversity in India, where gay and transgender activists may openly work abroad, but are still fearful in their own communities.

SCHOOL NEWS

Bangladesh activists demand justice for murdered trans woman

In Kenya, 19 high school students were suspended for arguing in favor of gay rights.

In Saudi Arabia, a school administrator has been jailed and the school fined $25,000 for painting a rainbow “emblems of homosexuality” on the school wall, according to an official tweet from a government agency.

In Jamaica, after meeting with LGBTI civil society groups, the Minister of Education is launching a new security manual with zero tolerance for bullying.

For more information, read the full edition of Equal Eyes.