This year’s Pride is one of reflection as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. While we’ve certainly come a long way since our first march was born from the Stonewall Riots of 1969 and we continue to make progress – despite backlash in some countries – progress has simply not come fast enough in other parts of the world.
In a historic vote, on May 17, 2019, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT), the Parliament of Taiwan voted to legalise same-sex marriage, becoming the first country in Asia to do so.
Ricky Nathanson, a trans woman who was persecuted for using a ‘ladies only’ toilet in her home country of Zimbabwe, is to be awarded the Felipe de Souza Award, which recognises the courage and activism of grassroots groups and individuals, at Celebration of Courage 2019 in New York City on Tuesday, May 7.
Referendum fails to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in Romania. LGBT+ people in Romania won an impressive victory on Sunday, October 7, as an initiative to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in Romania failed to garner enough votes to move any further in the political process.
THE Supreme Court of India made the historic decision to repeal the ban on same-sex relations on September 6. The colonial-era Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code made sexual behaviour “against the order of nature” illegal and punishable by imprisonment and served as a model for similar laws across the British Colonial Empire.
The US Supreme Court has upheld President Donald Trump’s travel ban which in the name of national security and ‘counter-terrorism,’ strictly limits travel to the USA from five majority Muslim nations as well as North Korea and Venezuela.
HADI Damien, the organiser of this year’s Beirut Pride, was arrested last month by Lebanese authorities and forced to sign a document cancelling all remaining Pride events in the country or face criminal and misdemeanour charges for encouraging debauchery and offending public morality.
Today, a Court of Appeals in Kenya, led by a 5 judge bench, ruled that forced anal examinations are contrary to the law. Forced anal examinations have largely been used to “prove” whether or not a man is homosexual in countries where homosexuality is criminalised. This practice has been decried by organisations across the globe as dehumanising and as amounting to torture, not to mention being discredited by the scientific community as holding no value as proof.
Last week, Bermuda became first in the world to legalize and then revoke same-sex marriage legislation. Same-sex couples no longer have equal rights to marry and are only able to access a civil union – a step backwards for equality.
Leading LGBT+ human rights defender, Ali Erol, co-founder of Kaos GL Association, Turkey’s first registered LGBT organisation, was released from detention yesterday, February 6.
