LGBT News

The New York Times reports: Ghana’s Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that imposes jail terms on people who identify as L.G.B.T.Q. or organize gay advocacy groups, measures that Amnesty International called among the harshest on the African continent. The legislation, if signed into law by President Nana Akufo-Addo [photol, would mean that people convicted of identifying as gay could …

The Columbus Dispatch reports: An Ohio State University student is facing ethnic intimidation and other charges after he was caught on surveillance camera earlier this month urinating on a gay pride flag hanging on a home’s porch in Columbus’ Weinland Park neighborhood. Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein announced Tuesday his office has charged 20-year-old Trey Samuel Fetzer in Franklin County …

The Dallas Morning News reports: A Keller high school production of The Laramie Project — a play about the aftermath of the 1998 murder of a gay student in Wyoming — was canceled. Timber Creek High School parents received an email Friday night saying that students would no longer perform the show this spring. The email did not provide an …

The Birmingham News reports: Alabama soon could legally define what makes someone a man or a woman. “We feel that it needs to be defined because not everyone has the same version of the meaning anymore,” said Rep. Susan DuBose, who sponsored HB111. Bills in both the state House and Senate seek to define the terms “male,” “female,” “boy”, and …

The Associated Press reports: A bill that would largely ban displaying pride flags in public school classrooms was passed by the GOP-led Tennessee House on Monday after Republicans cut a heated debate short. The 70-24 vote sends the legislation to the Senate, where a final vote could happen as early as this week. The motion to cut off debate prompted …

NBC News reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on “licensed professionals” and “members of the general public” to report the parents of transgender minors to state authorities if it appears the minors are receiving gender-affirming medical care. The directive was part of a letter Abbott, a Republican, sent Tuesday to the Department of Family and Protective Services, calling on …

The BBC reports: A 28-year-old police officer has been charged with murdering missing Australian TV personality Jesse Baird and his boyfriend Luke Davies. Detectives launched a frantic search on Wednesday after the couple’s bloodied items were found in a bin near Sydney. Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, Baird’s ex-boyfriend, was being sought by police and handed himself in on Friday. Detectives say they …

NBC News reports: Authorities in Oklahoma will release video from inside the school where the family of an LGBTQ student said the teen was attacked and assaulted in a bathroom one day before their death, police said Wednesday. Hallway cameras inside Owasso High School West Campus show the student, Nex Benedict, before and after the Feb. 7 fight, Owasso Police …

The Des Moines Register reports: The Iowa Senate has passed a bill that Republicans say will protect religious freedom, but that Democrats have described as a “blank check to discriminate” against LGBTQ Iowans and others. The Senate voted 31-16 to pass Senate File 2095 on Tuesday. The legislation would say that state and local governments shall not “substantially burden” someone’s …

The Associated Press reports: South Florida prosecutors dropped criminal charges on Tuesday against a couple and their adult son who had been accused of severely beating a man who had been in a relationship with the son. Yevhen Makarenko, his wife, Inna, and their son Oleh had each been charged with attempted murder, burglary and kidnapping in the August 2021 …

The Associated Press reports: Police in Moscow were called to investigate alleged LGBTQ+ propaganda at a fan event dedicated to the cartoon series “My Little Pony,” organizers said Sunday. The Mi Amore convention was closed by organizers early Saturday after officers arrived at the venue in the Russian capital, despite police being unable to find evidence of illegal activity. “The …

USA Today reports: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito attempted an “I told you so” on Tuesday when he criticized a judge’s dismissal of potential jurors in a workplace discrimination case because they believed homosexuality is a sin. Alito said that’s exactly the type of outcome he warned against when, against his objections, the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the …

Mashable reports: A new app has just dropped for seekers of LGBTQ-owned businesses, queer-friendly artists and advisors, and inclusive community spaces — or for supporters seeking a tangible way to defy the current political tide. Launched by Everywhere is Queer, an LGBTQ business directory that gained popularity in 2022, it’s Yelp for the queer-led revolution. The just-released Everywhere is Queer …

The Catholic News Agency reports: The pastor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City said the church has offered a Mass of Reparation after a controversial irreverent funeral service was held there this week for a well-known transgender advocate. The Manhattan cathedral hosted the Feb. 15 funeral service for Cecilia Gentili, an activist who helped to decriminalize sex work …

The Associated Press reports: A top court in St. Vincent and the Grenadines upheld laws on Friday that criminalize gay sex, a blow to activists who have long decried the violence the LGBTQ+ community has faced on the conservative Caribbean archipelago. The ruling by St. Vincent’s High Court stems from a 2019 case filed by two gay men from St. …

The Texan reports: A Texas A&M University (TAMU) program that allows students to minor in LGBT studies has caught the eye of one Texas lawmaker who said the university is “spending state resources” on “liberal indoctrination.” State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) posted online about the undergraduate minor in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Studies, stating that he would …

Reuters reports: Greece’s parliament approved a bill allowing same-sex civil marriage on Thursday, a landmark victory for supporters of LGBT rights that was greeted with cheers by onlookers in parliament and dozens gathered on the streets of Athens. The law gives same-sex couples the right to wed and adopt children and comes after decades of campaigning by the LGBT community …

The Georgia Recorder reports: A controversial bill dubbed Georgia’s version of “Don’t Say Gay” moved forward in a Senate committee Tuesday after three years of work and multiple failures to move, largely over Republican opposition to the inclusion of private schools. The bill passed committee on a 6-3 party line vote during a committee meeting in which proponents were given …

Columbus’s CBS affiliate reports: Columbus police are looking into a hate crime that happened last week near The Ohio State University’s campus last Thursday. Two men were caught on camera saying homophobic slurs and vandalizing a pride flag in front of a home in the Weinland Park area of Columbus. “It was shocking but not surprising,” Sarah, who lives at …

The Associated Press reports: An LGBTQ rights activist in Poland said Tuesday that he believes it’s a “new beginning” in Poland after a host on state television apologized on air for the homophobic propaganda aired by state media in recent years. “It took me by surprise,” said Bart Staszewski, one of two activists invited on air Sunday evening when the …