Canada: Sexual assaults in Ottawa linked to hookup apps

Capital Pride and the GLBT Ottawa police liaison committee are teaming up to respond to a series of sexual assaults involving men who met on hookup apps.

Mauricio Olivares, Capital Pride’s newly-hired festival producer, attended a committee meeting on April 20 to discuss recent sexual assaults targeting male victims. “I know of at least five cases in the last two months,” he said. “From what we’ve discussed with other people and other community members, we realize the number is actually much higher than that.”

By collaborating with the liaison committee and local agencies, it’s important to rally the community so that survivors know they’re not alone and they can access local resources whether they report the assault or not, Olivares said. As hookup apps and dating websites have become more popular, perpetrators are using the cloak of anonymity to victimize others, Olivares said.  Read More

Pakistan: Enabling dissent, defying silence – In memory of Sabeen Mahmud: Yaminay Chaudhri and Mariam Sabri

Unidentified gunmen have killed Pakistani women's activist Sabeen Mahmud in a targeted shooting that also left her mother in intensive care. Two friends in Pakistan respond to the tragic assassination of Sabeen Mahmud, director of ‘The Second Floor’ (T2F) – a space that hosted many wonderful conversations and brave events for marginalized communities, including women and LGBTI groups.

Sabeen was shot 4 times as she was going home after an event dedicated to a public discussion of disappearances and human rights violation in Balochistan. Read More

Australia: Unexpected challenges for LGBs in outer metropolitan areas

Lesbian, gay and bisexual Australians living on the outskirts of major cities experience similar levels of discrimination and social isolation to those living in rural and remote areas. This surprise-finding is from the first nationwide survey comparing the experiences of LGB communities in a range of metropolitan and rural locations.

The survey found those in rural-remote and outer metropolitan areas experienced similar levels of 'minority stress' such as internalised homophobia, concealment of sexuality from friends and concern regarding disclosure of their sexuality. Compounding this disadvantage, LGBs in rural areas and outer city areas also reported reduced social support relative to their urban peers, including less involvement in an LGB community. 

The findings reinforce those of past research, indicating that LGBs living in rural and remote Australia experience a greater likelihood of risk factors linked to adverse mental health outcomes including substance abuse and suicide.Those in outer metropolitan areas also reported increased social isolation, something not seen among the rural sample. Read More 

Russia: Clashes and flash mobs on the Day of Silence in St. Petersburg

LGBT activists and their allies held two Day of Silence rallies aimed at eliminating discrimination, hatred and violence against sexual minorities. One march included call outs to banned LGBT teens support project “Children-404″. Another rally from Vosstaniya Square to the Kazansky Cathedral involved participants with their mouths covered with red tape.

There were several unsuccessful attempts to disrupt the events, but thanks to nearby police officers, the rallies continued and peace was kept. Read More

South Africa: Bisexual woman gang raped because of her “lifestyle”

In another horrific LGBTI hate crime, a 30-something bisexual mother of three in Limpopo has reportedly been raped by a group of men who said they wanted to show her that her “lifestyle is wrong.”

Activist Cindy Molefe, from the group Limpopo LGBTI Proudly Out, told Mambaonline that the woman, Abby*, who has often worked with the organisation canvassing for LGBTI rights, was brutally attacked on Saturday night.  Read More

Cameroon: Outing ends in homelessness

The story of Aris, 26, will resonate in the minds of all those who have suffered violent setbacks after their homosexuality was suddenly revealed to their family.

Makékéné, is a village on the line dividing the Central region of Cameroon, and the Western region. It is there, in March 2015 that Aris, launched an SOS to his friends back in Yaoundé, the country’s political capital, to tell them the drama that transformed his life a few weeks earlier.

Aris, unwittingly, was outed by his younger brother, with whom he lived.  And for this student, smoothly promoted to a bright future, everything in his life collapsed for one reason … he is gay. Read More

Russia: Court authorizes closure of LGBT teen support group's website

A court in St. Petersburg has authorized the government to block the social-network page of an online support group for LGBT teenagers in Russia.

A lawyer for Deti-404 (Children-404), Maria Kozlovskaya said that the group had been preparing for a court hearing on the issue on April 6.

But when the activists arrived in court on April 6, she said, they were told that a decision had already been made on March 25 to include the group's page on the social network VKontakte on a list of banned websites.  Read More

Turkey: University student attacked while bystanders watch

Kafkas University student and LGBTI activist Birkan Perincek has been the victim of a homophobic attack by a group of 4-5 people.

Perincek said that he did not report the assault to the police because of past experiences with discrimination by the police based on his sexual orientation. He recounted that, in the past year, when his computer was stolen, instead of finding the offender, the police had directed him questions such as “Who have you slept with from the organization?”  Read More 

US: Transgender teen who fought bullying online commits suicide

Taylor Alesena, a transgender teen that candidly documented her struggles with loneliness and bullying at a San Diego-area high school on YouTube, died April 2nd in an apparent suicide. The 16-year-old Fallbrook High student took her own life during spring break, the school district confirmed.

Max Disposti, the executive director of the area's LGBTQ Resource Center, said that Alesena was frequently cyber-bullied and called names by her peers, even as her YouTube channel became an inspiration to others facing a similar ordeal. "[Alesena] felt unsafe, she felt beat up every day she needed to go to school," Disposti said. Alesena's suicide comes one month after another transgender teen named Sage who frequented the LGBTQ Resource Center killed himself.  Read More

UK: Murder detectives appeal for information over death of transgender escort found beaten and strangled in flat

Murder squad detectives are appealing for people who knew a “high class” transgender escort to come forward after she was found beaten and strangled in west London. Vanessa Santillan, 33, was found dead inside a £400,000 first-floor flat in Fulham. 

Ms Santillan, a glamour model and escort who is originally from Mexico, has a personal website which describes herself as “one in a million” and states: “I’m a Ts girl visiting from MIAMI FL.” It is understood she has spent the last few years as a high-end call girl and made regular trips to London.   Read More 

Pakistan: Transgender person gang-raped, two killed

Armed men in northwest Pakistan abducted and gang-raped a transgender person after killing two others in a pre-dawn incident, police said. The incident took place in the Yar Hussain neighbourhood of Swabi district, where the group was returning home after performing a music and dance show at a wedding party.

Sajjad Khan, district police chief of Swabi in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the men were waiting for them in a field and tried to abduct all of them but they refused.

“The attackers opened fire after the refusal. One transgender and one drummer died on the spot while another was wounded,” Khan said. The armed men then abducted one transgender who was released hours later after being raped by four persons, Khan said.  Read More

India: Gay sex ban in India stirs violence, blackmail, and abuse

When Rajan was followed by two men into a public toilet in Mumbai and forced to perform oral sex on them, the 31-year-old gay marketing professional realised this was the beginning of the end of his short-lived sexual freedom.

"They knew I was gay. They were watching me and waiting. They filmed the whole thing and threatened to tell the police," Rajan, who did not want to disclose his full name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Then they took me to an ATM and made me withdraw all the money I had which was 15,000 rupees ($240)... Even though society has not fully accepted us, the law was there to protect us. But now we are scared."

Rajan is one of thousands from India's LGBT community who've faced persecution after the reinstatement of a colonial-era law banning gay sex. Read More