Uganda Report of Violations based on Sex Determination, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

The impetus behind the Uganda Report on Violations Based on Sex Determination, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation is the conviction that no violation of rights or dignity based upon an individual’s actual or perceived sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation should go undocumented or unacknowledged.

By setting stringent evidentiary standards, and by erring on the side of caution when considering cases for inclusion in this report, the research team has been able to demonstrate conclusively that human rights violations against sexual minority groups are in fact taking place in Uganda. Read More

Two out of five gay Nepalis harassed on public transport

More than one-third of LGBTI Nepalis have reported discrimination or abuse in three or more public settings, according to a recent study. 

'While Nepal is often cited as a progressive country in Asia having guaranteed equal rights and recognition of sexual and gender minorities through a landmark Supreme Court verdict in 2007, Nepal’s progress in protecting the rights of these minorities and implementing the verdict has been limited,' said Edmund Settle, UN Development Program policy advisor. Read More

When Coming Out Is a Death Sentence: The Rising Tide of Violence Against LGBT Iraqis

Joint briefings by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, MADRE, and the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq published last week expose targeted violence against LGBT Iraqis. Long a persecuted group, LGBT Iraqis experience high levels of violence that is based on the stigma Iraqi society places on differences in sexual orientation and gender expression, and a broad intolerance of those differences. Read More

Militants Stone to Death Two 'Gay Men' in First Homosexual Execution

Members of terror group Islamic State (Isis) have stoned to death two men in Syria after alleging they were gay.  According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), this is the first execution that the militants have carried out against homosexuals. 

Activists on social media said that the dead men were opponents of IS and that the group had used the allegation as a pretext to kill them. Read More

Love in exile

In 2010, Tiwonge Chimbalanga, a transgender woman, was imprisoned in Malawi for getting engaged to a man. Pardoned and freed, she now lives in exile in South Africa. The international campaign to secure her pardon and resettlement in South Africa represented a triumph for the global cause of LGBT rights. But for Chimbalanga, who unexpectedly found herself on the front lines of an intensifying battle over these rights in Africa, there is little sense of victory. Mark Gevisser reports on an uneasy triumph for the global LGBT rights movement. Read More

As Jamaica Reviews Its Homosexuality Ban, a Top Newspaper Is Waging an Anti-Gay Campaign

Something is going on at The Jamaica Observer, the daily newspaper in the Caribbean island nation. LGBT rights have featured heavily in its pages over the past six months and, although the paper claims to support balanced journalism, critics note that some of the content has been overtly anti-gay — even going so far as to claim that gay men are killing each other and deliberately portraying the murders as homophobic.

The island nation is currently experiencing heightened social tension over the LGBT rights debate as Jamaicans — encouraged by religious and conservative groups — voice their objections towards a government-led select committee review of the Sexual Offences Act, which could potentially lead to a parliamentary vote on decriminalising same-sex relationships.  Read More
 

Iran Representative to the UN: Under no circumstances do we recognize the rights of homosexual citizens

During the UN session of the 2014 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Iran, member states presented a total of 291 recommendations to the Islamic Republic of Iran, including 11 that addressed sexual minorities.

As an example, Iceland recommended repealing laws that criminalise consensual same-sex sexual relations; amend laws and policies that treat homosexuality as a mental disorder and outlaw forced sterilisation and reparative therapies against LGBT individuals. 

In response, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the Head of the Human Rights Council of the Judiciary in Iran, stated that under no circumstances will the Islamic Republic of Iran “accept imposing a lifestyle under the banner or umbrella of human rights”, indicating that the lifestyle of LGBT individuals in no circumstances or arguments can be legitimized and justified. Read More

Choir stages singalong, 'Safe to Sing,' on Manchester trams after homophobic attack

A lesbian and gay choir staged a mass singalong on Manchester’s tram network after homophobic thugs attacked two young gay men who were singing songs from the musical Wicked on a night out.

The event – entitled Safe to Sing – started with about 80 singers boarding trams in the city centre on Monday evening to belt out tunes including Somewhere, from West Side Story, and Petula Clark’s Downtown – with the main refrain changed to “Canal Street”, the heart of Manchester’s gay village. Read More

LGBT migrants face abuse, discrimination in Mexico

In 2013, Mexican immigration officials near the Guatemalan border took into custody Ender Manuel Martínez, an LGBT rights advocate from El Salvador, when he tried to apply for asylum because of death threats he said he received in his Central American homeland because of his activism and sexual orientation.

He alleges authorities at the facility housed him with those who were mentally ill, did not allow him to bathe, forced him to sleep on a damp floor and demanded “sexual favors” from him in exchange for better food. Officials transferred Martínez to another detention facility, but he was still subjected to sexual harassment and anti-gay discrimination and was denied emergency healthcare.

Mexican law bans anti-gay discrimination, but the country’s immigration statutes do not include LGBT-specific protections. Read More

Over 50% of gay population in Taiwan have suffered partner abuse

As many as over 50 percent of gay and lesbian Taiwanese have suffered abuse at the hand of their intimate partners, and nearly 10 percent of victims have never sought outside help, a new survey conducted by The Modern Women's Foundation has suggested.

The Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association said that many LGBT people in Taiwan do not seek assistance in abusive situations because they are afraid of being "outed" or have no trust in formal institutions. Read More

Total of Gambia’s anti-gay arrests reaches 8

A police sweep of suspected LGBT people continued in Gambia, with a total of five men, three women and one teenage boy all in custody, according to the Fatu Radio website, run by Fatu (Fatou) Camara, a journalist and former Gambian official.

Gambia secret police reportedly went door-to-door with the teenager so he could identify more people suspected of being gay or lesbian. Read More

Steve Jobs memorial torn down in Russia after current Apple CEO Tim Cook comes out as gay

A Russian group of companies ordered the destruction of a memorial tribute to late Apple founder Steve Jobs after the technology giant’s current CEO, Tim Cook, came out as gay last week.

ZEFS, which originally had the six-foot monument in the shape of an iPhone erected outside a college in St Petersburg in January to pay homage to the achievements of Jobs following his death from cancer in 2011, has since taken the decision to dismantle it: “After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy, the monument was taken down to abide to the Russian federal law protecting children from information promoting denial of traditional family values.” Read More