Fear and Loathing

Haiti's fight: As LGBT community becomes visible, anti-gay violence rises

The courtyard, tucked off a quiet road here and ringed by mango trees heavy with immature green fruit, was bedecked with a rainbow of balloons. One proclaimed “Happy Valentines Day!” though it was May. Another advertised specials at the fast-food chain Red Robin, while a third was imprinted with the Whole Foods logo. There is no Red Robin or Whole Foods in Haiti, but the energy in the courtyard of SEROvie, Haiti’s best-known LGBT health organization, had the flavor of an American gay-pride parade. Read More 

19 calamities where gays get the blame, besides Ebola

With the  the Liberian Council of Churches blaming gays for the Ebola epidemic — with no rational reason, as usual — it’s a good time for a recap of other calamities that LGBTI people have been blamed for.

More than a dozen natural disasters are on the list, each one interpreted as God’s violent response to the existence of LGBTI people or the growing acceptance of same-sex marriage. Also on the list are various murders and massacres, somehow attributed to gays who weren’t on the scene, along with some surprising accusations, such as gays’ alleged responsibility for the existence of autism and the size of Spain’s national debt. Read More

LGBT Iraqis face ‘imminent risk of death’ under Islamic State

A new report just released from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and MADRE, a global women’s advocacy organization, notes the Sunni militant group has imposed a strict interpretation of Shariah law. The report documents widespread violence and death sentences carried out by ISIS for crimes of homosexual acts and warns that anyone believed to be LGBT is at "imminent risk of death."

“What makes today’s situation lethally dangerous to LGBT Iraqis is less likely to be a profound shift in Iraqi society’s values towards gender norms, but the breakdown of law and order and a rise of the law of strongmen — within the family, tribe, militia and complicit state security forces,” reads the report. “Those who translate societal hostility towards LGBT compatriots into violence, today do so with near total impunity.”  Read More 

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Arctic Russia's LGBT community speaks: 'the danger is everywhere'

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Members of the LGBT community in Murmansk speak out about living in a country where the government has declared them an enemy of the state. One organization is reaching out to help youth and adults overcome the stigma and prejudice of homosexuality and live openly. But some are finding escape from Russia is the only way to gain freedom.

My translator, Maria, trails off. “We have…a fancy word for ‘gay guy’ in Russian,” she explains, hesitating, trying to find the English equivalent for me.

“Faggot,” says a woman in a black checked shirt wearing a yin and yang necklace.  But that’s actually the polite translation. “Pederast” is one of the most offensive words in Russian to use when talking about the LGBT community. If you trace back its roots, the exact English translation is child rapist. Read More

Fire Sweeps Through Kiev's Oldest Movie Theater During LGBT Movie

A fire has swept through the landmark Zhovten movie theatre in Ukraine's capital Kiev during the showing of an LGBT movie. Initial media reports cited movie-goers as saying the fire may have been started by arsonists who were outraged by the screening of the gay-themed film. Others suggested a connection with a business dispute that saw the movie theater fighting to avoid eviction from its building. The theatre, opened in 1931, suffered severe damage in the incident. Read More

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Dozens of anti-gay Russian nationalists swarm three gay rights activists

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Two young women and a man campaigning for gay rights in Russia were met with about 100 nationalist protesters on Sunday, who threw tomatoes and shouted anti-gay abuse. 

Dozens of nationalists gathered in the southern city of Lipetsk over the weekend to oppose a rally of three gay rights activists, a news report said.

Two young women and a man met Sunday in Lipetsk and walked to the city's central Sobornaya Ploshchad, where their demonstration for LGBT rights had been expected to take place, local news site LRNews reported. The rally was greeted by about 100 nationalists and conservative activists, as well as police officers deployed to prevent violence, the report said.

One of the rally participants, who gave her name as Reida Linn, said she and her friends wanted to draw public attention to “fighting homophobia, discrimination and violations of the Constitution and of the rights of LGBT people,” LRNews reported. Read More

Jamaica: Unchecked Homophobic Violence

LGBT Jamaicans are vulnerable to both physical and sexual violence and many live in constant fear, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. They are taunted, threatened, fired from their jobs, thrown out of their homes, or worse: beaten, stoned, raped, or killed.

The 86-page report, “Not Safe at Home: Violence and Discrimination Against LGBT People in Jamaica,” documents 56 cases of violence in which victims reported they were targeted because of their actual or perceived sexual identity. Read More

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Jamaican Coalition Wants Buggery Punished Severely

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The Coalition for a Healthy Society is urging Jamaican courts to increase punishment for the crime of 'Buggery' which has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Committee member Delroy Chuck quizzed the Coalition on whether it would accede to some flexibility in law in respect to what he described as private morality. "If two males live together, do you believe it is the business of the State to investigate what they are doing within the confines of their bedroom?" Chuck questioned.

Head of the Coalition Dr Wayne West said if he had been asked the question five years ago he would have been inclined to support the position "because I have no intention of peeping into anybody's bedroom". However, West quipped, "when your neighbour's house is on fire you better take note of it". He argued that what is taking place in the bedroom is now being forced on persons in the public square.  Read More

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Amnesty International launches report "Rule by Law: Discriminatory Legislation and Legitimized Abuses in Uganda."

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This report documents the human rights impact of three pieces of legislation: the Public Order Management Act, the Anti-Pornography Act, and the Anti-Homosexuality Act: in particular, the impact that these laws have had on the ability of civil society to organise, on discrimination against women, and on the lives of people who are or are believed to be LGBTI.  Read the report here