LONDON – A group of up to 17 countries led by Belarus has blocked a plan to include the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender communities in a new urban strategy drawn up by the United Nations, according to sources close to negotiations. Thompson Reuters Foundation published the story Oct. 11-12. The headline was: … Continue reading
Widespread official persecution of LGBTI people continues in Egypt, as described in this excerpt from a Public Radio International article: In much of the Middle East, it’s getting more dangerous to be gay Just after it became known in June that the attacker of Orlando’s Pulse nightclub had pledged allegiance to ISIS, Egypt’s foreign ministry … 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
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
Public recognition of the human rights of LGBTI people remains rare in the many Middle Eastern and North African countries that still have laws against same-sex intimacy. In most of those countries, even advocacy of those rights is unusual. Such advocacy is mostly underground, online or abroad for Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, Syria … Continue reading
Ten nations with large Muslim populations have laws providing for the death penalty for same-sex activity. How many actually impose the death sentence is a difficult question. According to the 2015 State-Sponsored Homophobia report from ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association: In relation to death penalty, eight States officially legislate for … Continue reading
The number of countries with anti-homosexuality laws is currently 75, according to the latest tally from ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. That’s down one from earlier this month, when the African nation of Chad was incorrectly included in the list. This blog now lists a total of 79, including four … Continue reading
The arc of history is trending toward justice for LGBTI people worldwide, judging by the latest tallies from ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. In an encouraging change from 2006, when the ILGA report listed 92 countries with laws prohibiting sexual acts between consenting same-sex adults, ILGA in its 10th annual … Continue reading
Second of two articles about the challenge of breaking through emotional barriers that people erect between themselves and victims of persecution who act or look unlike them. This article, by activist/commentator Scott Long, focuses on the difficulty keeping relatively affluent Westerners’ interest in non-white victims of repression, particularly in news coverage of Egypt. The previous … Continue reading
