The latest “Equal Eyes” compilation of LGBTI news briefs from UNAIDS includes some slight signs of progress in Indonesia, India and Malaysia, which have laws against same-sex intimacy, and in Lithuania, which has an anti-“gay propaganda” law. Continue reading
Fourteen nations and regions with large Muslim populations have laws providing for the death penalty for same-sex activity or otherwise allow such executions. Many fewer countries actually impose the death sentence — by this blog’s count, probably five of them. Continue reading
A mix of good news and bad news from around the world, assembled with help from UNAIDS’s Equal Eyes recap of the world’s LGBTI news. BAD NEWS The website of Russia‘s LGBT youth group Deti-404 (Children-404) has been blacklisted by the government’s media oversight group Roskomnadzor. This is not the first time Deti-404 has been found … Continue reading
Many signs of progress, but also many instances of ongoing persecution of LGBTI people, are contained in the following round-up of the world’s recent LGBTI-related news, most of which was excerpted with slight modifications from the UNAIDS publication Equal Eyes: Human rights Activists in Odessa, Ukraine, convinced authorities to reconsider a last-minute ban that would … Continue reading
Human Rights Watch has endorsed Iraqi Shiite clergyman Muqtada al-Sadr’s call for an end to violence against sexual minorities, reported last month on this blog. HRW issued this press release: Iraq: Cleric’s Call Against Anti-LGBT Violence Fighters Should Heed al-Sadr’s Statement; Government Should Follow Suit (Beirut, August 18, 2016) – State and non-state actors in … Continue reading
The Jordan-based online LGBTQ magazine My.Kali has introduced an Arabic edition, which provoked a strong negative response from anti-gay conservatives in the Middle East. My.Kali describes itself on Instagram as an “online social & conceptual Arab webzine [which] covers issues of LGBTQI, sexuality, & gender, through art-therapy, photography, psychology, new media.” Continue reading
Islamic leaders in Iraq and Pakistan have issued statements calling for toleration of some LGBTI people. Each announcement fell far short of what LGBTI activists know is necessary to achieve fair and equal treatment for LGBTI people, but each represented a shift toward acceptance of at least some members of the LGBTI community. However, the … Continue reading
A group of Independent Arab LGBTQ activists need your support. Located in the United States & Canada, the group of activists are working to mobilize the community in the diaspora to continue the fight against homophobia in the Arab world, and for a safer world for everyone. Leaders from around the Arab World based in … Continue reading
By Colin Stewart Ten nations with large Muslim populations have laws providing for the death penalty for same-sex activity. Only a few actually impose the death sentence. Exactly how many is a difficult question. The 2016 State-Sponsored Homophobia report from ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, lists 13-14 places that threaten … Continue reading
The number of countries with laws against same-sex sexual activity has dropped from 92 a decade ago to 75 today, according to tallies kept by ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. ILGA’s 2016 edition of its State-Sponsored Homophobia report, by Aengus Carroll, is being published today. The latest countries to repeal … Continue reading
