Tag: homosexuality

The Caribbean countries of Trinidad and Tobago held their first ever Pride Parade. According to LoopTT, the parade was a high point in a month’s worth of events held by the Trinidad and Tobago Pride Arts Festival. More than a hundred people, decked out in a rainbow of colors, walked down Tragarete Road in Port of Spain and walked all the way to Rust Street, St, St Clair. “The visibility we share here, today, is going to shine a light on...

Police officers used tear gas, dogs, and batons to split up people participating in Istanbul’s 16th Anuual Pride March this Sunday. Despite the march going on for more than a decade, Istanbul’s governor banned the march for the fourth consecutive year. Last year, the governor cited concerns about “public order” and the “security of citizens and tourists” after an ultranationalist group threatened the march. https://twitter.com/ChristensenLene/status/1013435220534677505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1013435220534677505&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Finstinctmagazine.com%2Fpost%2Fistanbul-pride-marchers-ran-tears-after-police-violently-dispersed-crowd That said, it is illegal for the governor to ban the march no matter what his public...

The small landlocked African country of eSwatini had its first gay pride march. Yesterday, around 500 people turned up to march in Mbabane, the country’s largest city, while wearing rainbow colors or shirts that said, “God is Love.” “We are thrilled to see this happening today,” said Lisa Peterson, U.S. Ambassador to eSwatini, to the South China Morning Post. “Just to refer you to the words spoken by Martin Luther King Jnr that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’. Some...

A Tunisian commission has called for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the North African country. The 230-page proposal, which was published on Wednesday, detailed the current lack of equal rights for many groups in the country. Groups that were highlighted in the proposal included women, gay men and the wider LGBT community. Led by the President of Tunisia, Beji Caid Essebsi, the commission called for the removal of the death penalty in Tunisia, equal rights for women, and the decriminalisation of homosexuality. Tunisia...

Here’s an inspiring story to start off the week with some positivity. This weekend, the first ever LGBTQ+ pride in a refugee camp took place. Rainbow flags flew and demonstrators marched through Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp. The organizers of the event were from Refugee Flag Kakuma, and most of the participants were LGBTQ+ refugees who fled from neighboring Uganda. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda. The Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act was passed in Dec. 2013, inciting a punishment of life in prison for...

Root for equality at tonight's match Russia - Saudi Arabia When audiences come to watch the first game of the World Cup tonight (14 June), there will be a secret LGBTI message hidden in plain sight. The first game will be between Russia and Saudi Arabia, two countries which prosecute against the LGBTI community. Using this link, fans will see a gay couple kissing with the Russian and Saudi Arabian flags on their cheeks. It is similar to the way Snapchat and Pokemon...

It seems our fears have come to fruition as Indonesia is gearing up to officially make homosexuality illegal. We’ve been watching the country’s increased hostility towards LGBTQ people in the past two years or so. To go along with that increase in social intolerance towards LGBTQ people, the government has become exceedingly volatile when it came to the treatment of its citizens. Now, it seems the politicians are preparing to make homosexuality officially illegal, so that they don’t have to use...

LGBT rights advocates say they will fly rainbow flags in the stadium in spite of the threats LGBT soccer fans heading to the World Cup in Russia have already been warned not to publicly display affection, and members of the transgender community told to bring a friend with them to the bathroom to avoid attacks. Now there are reports of anti-LGBT Russians threatening violence against the community. Joe White of LGBT soccer fan group Pride in Football said it has received...

Hasan Atik's nomination comes at a time when the situation for LGBTI people in Turkey is 'deteriorating' An openly gay man has been nominated to run for a seat in Turkey’s upcoming snap elections. The People’s Democratic Party (HDP) included Hasan Atik on its list of candidates for the 24 June election. Atik has long campaigned for LGBTI and HIV rights. He will run for a seat in the north-west province of Edirne. The HDP is a left-leaning political group, known to be...

Young recruit alleges he faced homophobic abuse during bizarre hazing rituals A New York City firefighter recruit was told to have sex with a stripper to prove he wasn’t a ‘faggot’, a lawsuit alleges. Michael Troina, a former FDNY employee, claimed members of Ladder Co 1/Engine Co 7 subjected him to vicious ‘hazing rituals’. The lawsuit suggests colleagues stomped on his bunker gear, smeared peanut butter on his car and superimposed his face on a picture of a crying baby. Troina alleges he...

“Personally, I do not judge anyone," said Police Commander Parfait Nana. "However, Cameroon has laws to enforce.” Police arrested 25 men on suspicion of homosexuality Friday night in Cameroon, where same-sex activity is punishable by a fine and up to five years in prison. Seven suspects were arrested at Mistral, a gay bar in the capital city of Yaoundé—including a dancer, a waiter, and a security guard. Authorities then raided a gay movie theater in the Emombo neighborhood, picking up an...

Ex-LGBTQ activists held a rally this weekend in Washington, D.C., which was attended by 36 people. The “Freedom March,” organized by Voice of the Voiceless, was held this past Saturday at the National Sylvan Theater. Voice of the Voiceless is an ex-LGBTQ group that has advocated for conversion therapy on college campuses. The Freedom March was “an opportunity for those of us who have a new life with Jesus to come together in fellowship and praise Him for the love and...

An Ohio woman who claims that fermented cabbage juice can ‘cure’ or reverse homosexuality is under scrutiny from the state’s attorney general’s office. Jillian Epperly, 44, also claims that the juice drink can reverse the ageing process, autism, and Down syndrome, regrow limbs and organs, and notes that “the LGBT lifestyle is a possible mutation of the reproductive system that sends mixed signals to the brain.” Epperly says that the root of all disease is a gut parasite called candida, and...