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☆ In an annual survey, more than 40% of LGBTQ youth said they considered suicide in the past year, and that anti-LGBTQ legislation was making it worse
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that works to prevent suicide among LGBTQ youth, interviewed more than 28,000 people for its annual survey. More than 40% of LGBTQ youth say they considered suicide in the last year, the survey revealed. Respondents said laws passed on the state level, and public lobbying at the national level, have worsened their mental health. "This is a public health crisis — and it's preventable," Kasey Suffredini, a vice president at The Trevor Project, said in a press release. Almost a quarter of the LGBTQ youth surveyed said they had been physically threatened or hurt because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

☆ Putting the Brutality of a Prize Fight on the Met Opera Stage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Many in the crowd of 7,500 were begging” the referee to intervene, The Times reported. The referee, Ruby Goldstein, was later exonerated by the State Athletic Commission. The opera’s second act deals with the fallout from the fatal punches, and Griffith’s later life, including a brutal beating he received outside a gay bar. (The conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin emerges in the pit for the second act in a boxer’s hooded robe.) Helping to make it look accurate was Michael Bentt, a former professional world champion who served as the opera’s boxing consultant.

The Justice Department said the law violated the U.S. Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment, which promises equal protection. The Justice Department also said it was asking the court to issue an immediate order to prevent the law from going into effect on July 1. But many medical associations have said the law is transphobic and that gender-affirming care can be life-saving. Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed the ban into law last month along with a separate measure restricting drag performances in public. Several other U.S. states have banned gender-affirming care for minors, and over the last several weeks groups have sued over laws adopted in Utah, Florida, Indiana and Arkansas.

☆ Mpox outbreak was wake-up call for smallpox preparation, vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Bavarian Nordic CEO Paul Chaplin said the rapid spread of mpox last year was a wake-up call for the company, which is based in Denmark. Bavarian Nordic's Jynneos vaccine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to protect against both pathogens. Bavarian Nordic will finish delivering an order of 5 million Jynneos doses for the U.S government in the first half of this year. Bavarian Nordic estimates that the potential demand for the mpox vaccine could reach tens of millions of doses. "If you can reengineer a related virus like horsepox, you can engineer variola, which is the smallpox virus that infects humans," he said.

☆ LGBTQ Ugandans live in fear as new law looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A British colonial-era law bans gay sex, and members of the community are often victims of violence and discrimination. One resident contrasted the current atmosphere with 2013, when parliament passed a bill that strengthened penalties for same-sex relations. After parliament passed the bill, she deleted her Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter accounts. Other LGBTQ Ugandans said they were taking security precautions like changing the routes they use to travel between home and work and carrying pepper spray. For LGBTQ Ugandans living abroad, the new reality is also clouding their prospects of coming home.

☆ It might be time to break up with your work wife or husband — the concept is 'outdated' and exclusionary, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Work spouses are close colleagues who rely on each other for support in the workplace. But is it appropriate to have a non-romantic work wife or husband? A poll conducted in March for Newsweek by Redfield & Wilton Strategies found a generational divide in opinions on work spouses. "I have never seen, for instance, a male-female pair of close friends at work called 'work spouses' if one or both of them are gay," they told Insider. She said that while it's fine to have close relationships at work, the heteronormative terms can be restrictive.

But many medical associations have said the law is transphobic and that gender-affirming care can be life-saving. The new lawsuit says depriving transgender youth of medically necessary care will have devastating consequences for them and their families. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three families with transgender children and a Memphis-based doctor who performs gender-affirming procedures. Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed the ban into law last month along with a separate measure restricting drag performances in public. Several other U.S. states have banned gender-affirming care for minors, and over the last several weeks groups have sued over laws adopted in Utah, Florida, Indiana and Arkansas.

☆ Uganda: Leading scientists urge President Museveni to veto anti-LGBT bill
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Catherine Nicholls | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A group of leading global scientists and academics have signed an open letter urging Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to veto a hardline bill criminalizing homosexuality in the country. The Anti Homosexuality Bill 2023, which was passed by Ugandan lawmakers in March, is set to be either signed into law or vetoed by the president on Thursday. Before the bill was passed almost unanimously last month, President Museveni called on scientists to establish whether homosexuality was natural or learned. The letter has been signed by 15 leading scientists around the world, from countries including South Africa, the United States, Canada, the UK, Kenya, and Australia. Under the Anti Homosexuality Bill 2023, it would be a crime to even identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer.

☆ Twitter removes transgender protections from hateful conduct policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Twitter appears to have quietly rolled back a portion of its hateful conduct policy that included specific protections for transgender people. The policy previously stated that Twitter prohibits “targeting others with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category. The change to the hateful conduct policy is one of a number of updates Twitter has made to its safety and content moderation practices since Elon Musk took over the company last fall. LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD called out the hateful conduct policy change in a Tuesday statement. The billionaire tried to assuage advertisers about Twitter’s approach to hateful conduct at a marketing conference Tuesday, saying, “If somebody has something hateful to say, it doesn’t mean you should give them a megaphone,” according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

☆ How Gay Men Saved Us From Monkeypox - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Ina Park | Dan Savage | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

We know gay sex has been unfairly blamed for everything from natural disasters to the fall of Rome. But in their efforts to avoid stigmatizing the community, health authorities and the media failed to effectively warn gay and bi men. Ignorant of the threat as the virus spread, gay and bi men couldn’t take steps to protect themselves and their partners. Gay party promoters canceled long-planned events and individual gay men temporarily deleted hookup apps from their phones and reduced their sexual contacts. They acknowledged the realities of gay sexuality and its breadth of expression, using the actual language gay men use when discussing sex with each other.

☆ Uganda’s anti-gay bill is the latest and worst to target LGBTQ Africans
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Aditi Bhandari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +14 min

Same-sex activity in Africa is punishable by … Map of the 32 African countries where same-sex activity is illegal. Same-sex activity in Africa … Map of the 22 African countries where same-sex activity is legal. In 1993, Guinea-Bissau became the first African country to legalise LGBTQ activity when it adopted a new Penal Code that didn’t include any laws criminalising it. Country Constitutional protection Broad protections Employment Hate crime Incitement Marriage or civil union Adoption Angola No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Botswana No No Yes No No No No Cape Verde No No Yes Yes No No No Gabon No No No No No No No Guinea-Bissau No No No No No No No Lesotho No No No No No No No Mozambique No No Yes No No No No Sao Tome and Principe No No Yes Yes No No No Seychelles No No Yes No No No No South Africa Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes YesNote: Broad protections include laws protecting against discrimination in at least 3 of 4 categories: the provision of goods and services, housing, healthcare and education. Namibia and Mauritius criminalise same-sex activity, but around 35% of respondents said they would dislike having a gay neighbour.

☆ Twitter appears to limit visibility of tweets containing words like 'trans,' 'gay,' and 'queer' sent over DM
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter is appearing to limit the visibility of tweets that include terms to describe gender identity and sexual orientation. In DMs, tweets with the words "gay," "queer," and "trans" showed up as URLs; others populated into an easier-to-read format. The move could be a departure for Elon Musk, who often criticizes social media content moderation and censorship. In Insider's test tweets that included the words "trans," "transgender," "gay," "lesbian," "queer," "bisexual," and "intersex," the messages appeared as a URL link rather than in a preview format. As part of the test, Insider also sent 2 additional test tweets: one containing the word "guns" and one that included the word "drugs."

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday temporarily blocked a law restricting drag performances in public from going into effect, saying it was likely "vague and overly-broad" in its restriction of speech. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, in February, had signed the bill passed by the state's legislature that was meant to go into effect on Saturday. The judge said the state had failed to justify with a compelling interest the restrictions it aimed to impose. The Tennessee bill was part of an upswing in recent months in Republican efforts to regulate the conduct of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Much of the debate in Tennessee has been over whether drag is inherently a sexually explicit art form.

PRETORIA/CAPE TOWN, March 31 (Reuters) - South Africans took to the streets of Pretoria and Cape Town on Friday to protest against a Ugandan law passed last week that makes it a criminal offence to be openly LGBTQ. Singing and waving flags, demonstrators called on Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, not to sign it. "Queer people don't owe anyone anything, but we also deserve to live just like everyone else. You can't strip all our rights. Reporting by Catherine Schenck and Esa Alexander, Writing by Rachel Savage Editing by Giles ElgoodOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Hong Kong transgender protesters say government is not abiding by landmark ruling
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Jessie Pang | Thomson Reuters | Jessie Pang Joined Reuters In After An Internship. She Covers Hong Kong With A Focus On Politics | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Tyrone SiuHONG KONG, March 31 (Reuters) - A group of Hong Kong transgender people staged a small protest on Friday against a delay by authorities in changing the gender indicated on their identity documents, saying they have yet to be fully recognised despite a landmark court ruling in February. "The government is using administrative tactics to deliberately delay the whole process," Tse told Reuters. Another protester, Emery Fung, 28, who has a gender marker change application pending, said he had not been given a timeline despite trying to ask the authorities numerous times. The department would not confirm whether it had suspended applications for gender marker changes since the ruling, as reported by media, nor say how many people were affected. 'HUGE PRESSURE'Kelley Loper, an expert in human rights law at the University of Hong Kong, criticised the government's failure to implement the decision swiftly.

☆ Corporate giants say anti-LGBT law would hurt Uganda's economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NAIROBI, March 29 (Reuters) - A coalition of international companies, including Google (GOOGL.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O), on Wednesday denounced anti-LGBTQ legislation passed by Uganda's parliament last week, warning it would damage the East Africa country's economy. The Open for Business coalition said the legislation, which criminalises identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, would curb investment flows and deter tourists. Open for Business said in a statement the new law would undermine companies' ability to recruit a diverse and talented workforce. "Either they violate the law in Uganda or they are going against international standards of corporate responsibility as well as human rights laws of the countries in which they are headquartered," she said. Among the coalition's members, Google, Mastercard (MA.N) Unilever (ULVR.L), Standard Chartered (STAN.L), PwC and Deloitte (DLTE.UL) have operations in Uganda.

☆ Kamala Harris starts Africa tour in Ghana, announces security aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Francis Kokoroko | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Akufo-Addo reiterated that he was concerned about Wagner's presence in West Africa. Several countries across West Africa and the Sahel region have been struggling to quell Islamist insurgencies that have caused humanitarian disasters and fuelled discontent -- contributing factors to military coups in Mali and Burkina Faso. "We appreciate your leadership in response to recent democratic back-sliding in West Africa," Harris told Akufo-Addo. [1/5] U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo during her week-long trip to Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia, in Accra, Ghana March 27, 2023. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko 1 2 3 4 5After Ghana, Harris will head to Tanzania and Zambia.

☆ Factbox: Legal hurdles faced by LGBT+ people in Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Africa accounts for nearly half of the countries worldwide where homosexuality is outlawed, according to the review, which was last updated in December 2020. - Life imprisonment is the maximum penalty for same-sex relations in Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, while jail terms of up to 14 years are possible in Gambia, Kenya and Malawi. - Broad protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation exists in three countries: Angola, Mauritius and South Africa. - South Africa is the only African country where gay marriage is legal and where the constitution protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation. However, South Africa has high rates of rape and homophobic crime.

☆ Uganda passes a law making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KAMPALA, March 21 (Reuters) - Uganda's parliament passed a law on Tuesday making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ, handing authorities broad powers to target gay Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence. The new law appears to be the first to outlaw merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ), according to rights group Human Rights Watch. In addition to same-sex intercourse, the law bans promoting and abetting homosexuality as well as conspiracy to engage in homosexuality. Violations under the law draw severe penalties, including death for so-called aggravated homosexuality and life in prison for gay sex. In recent weeks, Uganda authorities have cracked down on LGBTQ people after religious leaders and politicians alleged students were being recruited into homosexuality in schools.

☆ Uganda passes bill banning identifying as LGBTQ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The new law appears to be the first to outlaw merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ), according to rights group Human Rights Watch. In addition to same-sex intercourse, the law bans promoting and abetting homosexuality as well as conspiracy to engage in homosexuality. Violations under the law draw steep penalties including death for so called aggravated homosexuality and life in prison for gay sex. I support the bill to protect the future of our children," said lawmaker David Bahati during debate on the bill. In recent weeks Uganda authorities have cracked down on LGBTQ individuals after religious leaders and politicians alleged students were being recruited into homosexuality in schools.

☆ 10 qualities that bisexual people find attractive, according to science
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Kelly Burch | Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

About 4% of Americans identify as bisexual, meaning they're attracted to more than one gender. Brendon Urie, Cardi B, and Halsey are among celebrities who have said they don't identify as either straight or gay. Frazer Harrison/Todd Williamson/NBCU Photo Bank/Karwai Tang/Getty ImagesThat's according to a 2021 survey, and it's up from just 1% in 2010. There's limited research around what bisexual people find attractive. Here are the qualities that Crowe, Ogle, and limited studies suggest bisexuals are most attracted to.

☆ Powerful Indian Hindu group backs government's opposition to same-sex marriage recognition
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - The ideological parent of India's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has backed the government position against recognising same-sex marriage, months after raising hopes with supportive comments on gay rights. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP government has opposed recognising same-sex marriage and urged the Supreme Court to reject challenges to the current legal framework lodged by LGBT couples. "Marriage can only take place between persons of opposite genders, we agree with the government's stance on same-sex marriage," the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Dattatreya Hosabale, a top official of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), as saying. Although Bhagwat had not referred specifically to same-sex marriage, his comments could force the government to reassess its opposition, a junior minister in the federal government and a senior BJP leader had said at the time. The RSS, established in 1925, is a powerful Hindu group estimated to have millions of active members across India and overseas.

☆ Canada repeals historic laws targeting women, LGBTQ community
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Molly Cone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TORONTO, March 7 (Reuters) - Canada has expunged historic indecency and anti-abortion laws targeting women and the LGBTQ community, the government said on Tuesday, in a criminal justice system reform that will allow people convicted under such offences to clear their records. She said the government recognizes that past laws and regulations were unjust and compromised the freedoms of LGBTQ communities and women. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have used indecency laws to raid gay nightclubs and bathhouses across Canada, charging customers, employees and performers. In 1981, some 286 men were charged under these outdated laws in Toronto for being at a bawdy house. The anti-abortion law has been outdated since 1988 when the Supreme Court of Canada named the law unconstitutional.

☆ Tennessee governor will sign bills restricting drag, transgender youth treatment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jonathan Allen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said he would sign into law bills that passed the legislature last week banning gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth and restricting drag performances in public. Lee said the drag bill, which comes into effect April 1, would protect children from being "potentially exposed to sexualized entertainment, to obscenity." Modern drag performances, which have long flourished in LGBT venues before becoming a more mainstream entertainment in recent years, typically do not involve nudity. One of the bills Lee will sign bans doctors from providing gender-affirming medical treatment, such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery, for transgender minors. The Tennessee bills are part of an upswing in recent months in Republican efforts to regulate the conduct of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.

☆ Tennessee takes lead in Republican effort to restrict drag shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Jonathan Allen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Tennessee lawmakers will debate on Thursday whether to restrict drag performances in public or in front of children, one of more than a dozen bills limiting drag advanced by Republican politicians in at least 15 states in recent months. They see the bills as part of a Republican effort to advance laws limiting LGBT people's conduct across the country. Drag performances typically do not involve nudity or stripping. Established in 2015, Drag Story Hour, in which costumed drag performers read to children, has expanded to at least 20 states. Drag performers say they are just as able to tailor their act to their audience as other artists, like an actor who might appear in both a sexually explicit R-rated movie and in a children's movie.

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