Tag: activist

A well-known activist that helps LGBTI Nicaraguans in exile has been arrested by police in Nicaragua. According to reports, Ulises Rivas was arrested in a town called Comalapa, roughly 125 kilometres east of the country’s capital of Managua. The police have accused him of robbing a woman and a cell phone video given to the

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian police said on Thursday they had detained a man over the fatal stabbing of an LGBT activist near her home in St Petersburg and were not treating the murder as a hate crime. Elena Grigoryeva, 41, was stabbed eight times in the face and back on Saturday night by an assailant whom she knew following an argument between them, the Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes, said in a statement. It did not name...

The phone call that would change M.’s life came one spring evening in 2018. “You’re on the list,” the baritone voice on the other end of the line said.The caller identified himself as a member of the military and accused M. of indecent behavior. “We need to cleanse our republic of these people,” the voice said. The man didn’t say the word — he didn’t have to. M. knew the voice on the phone was implying he...

According to Russian news outlet Fontanka, Grigoryeva’s body was found by a passerby in the bushes near her home in the city of St Petersburg around 5pm on Sunday 21 July. She had been stabbed multiple times. It’s believed she may have been targeted after her name and details appeared on a website encouraging users to “hunt” down LGBTQ activists in a “game” based on the ‘torture porn’ horror movie franchise Saw. Just three days before she was killed, Grigoryeva posted...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian activist for LGBT rights who was fatally stabbed in St Petersburg had regularly received death threats and reported them to police, who did nothing to protect her before she was murdered, a fellow campaigner said. Elena Grigoryeva, 41, was found dead with multiple knife wounds on Sunday evening, according to a statement from the Investigative Committee, the state body that investigates major crimes. “Recently she had been a victim of violence and was...

A Russian LGBTQ activist was fatally stabbed in St. Petersburg Sunday night after her name was posted on a website that encourages people to “hunt” LGBTQ activists. Yelena Grigoryeva was reportedly stabbed by a “40-year-old resident of Bashkortostan.” The suspect has been detained by police, reports Russian newspaper Fontanka. The 41-year-old was active with Russia’s Alliance of Heterosexuals and LGBT for Equality and other activist causes, according to the Russian LGBT Network. Grigoryeva was worried about her safety after she discovered her...

Hong Kong police locked down the city centre on Sunday as it braced for yet another mass protest over an extradition bill that has plunged the Chinese-ruled financial hub into crisis and triggered violent clashes. Tens of thousands are due to march from Victoria Park in the bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay to Wan Chai, just one metro station away, after police shortened the route, citing safety concerns. Rally organisers lost their appeal to have the march route end in...

President Trump met with human rights activist Nadia Murad, an Iraqi who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for speaking out about her rape and torture while in Islamic State captivity, for several minutes in the Oval Office on Wednesday, reports the Washington Post. Murad implored the president to help her Yazidi ethnic minority return to Iraq while standing beside a seated Trump, who “mostly avoided eye contact with Murad.” Murad, who now lives in Germany, explained that the...

SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Two of Puerto Rico’s top government officials resigned on Saturday following the publication of a bombshell group chat in which Governor Ricardo Rossello and his closest allies exchanged controversial messages that have led to widespread calls for Rossello to also step down. The political turmoil comes at a critical stage in the U.S. commonwealth’s historic bankruptcy and as its officials seek billions of dollars in funding from the federal government for healthcare and for...

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren told a room full of liberal activists on Saturday that the party needs to fully embrace polices such as higher taxes on the wealthy, wiping out student loan debt and criminal justice reform if they want to win the White House. The 70-year-old U.S. senator from Massachusetts said these ideas are not only supported by the activists gathered at the Netroots Nation conference in Philadelphia, the largest annual gathering of...

Pidgeon Pagonis (they/them)  Intersex American activist, writer, and artist Pagonis is on the forefront of the conversation about intersexuality and the opposition to nonconsensual intersex medical intervention. Soon after discovering they were intersex, Pagonis began advocating and educating others on intersex identity and the issues facing those in the community through their YouTube videos and documentary, A Normal Girl. Pagonis has been honored by the Obama White House as a Champion of Change in 2015, and more recently was featured on...

An Atlanta officer is under investigation after being caught on camera calling a man a “fa**** ass n****.” On January 26, actor and activist Sir Page, known professionally as Sir Maejor, was near the Five Points Station in Atlanta, Georgia. Page, who's the President of the local chapter of Black Lives Matter and appeared on "American Horror Story: Coven," called the police to report two illegally parked cars blocking traffic. While we don't know what happened between that and the moment recorded...

Well this has been quite the week for super hottie actor Darren Criss! This Wednesday the Glee alum made his epic return to the small screen on the hit FX series American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, and now, thanks to a sweet and sassy Instagram post, we know that Criss is officially engaged to his girlfriend of over seven years, Mia Swier! While my dream of waking up in Criss' arms every morning in our bed...

An actor and gay activist from Los Angeles, Matt Palazzolo, died earlier this week while hiking in Australia. Palazzolo was a longtime member of the West Hollywood Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board, a member of the Christopher Street West Board and active in community activism. Palazzolo was vocal and dynamic during the Proposition 8 demonstrations in California in 2008. According to ABC News in Australia, Palazzolo was found over a thousand feet from the trail that took them on a...