LGBT News

Reuters reports: Police in Georgia said on Saturday they had arrested more than 25 people after ultra-nationalist protesters attempting to derail the premiere of an award-winning movie about gay love clashed with security forces. A few hundred demonstrators blocked the road outside a cinema in the capital’s city center on Friday ahead of the first screening of “And Then We …

The South China Morning Post reports: Five men in Malaysia were sentenced to jail and canings on Thursday by an Islamic court for attempting to have gay sex, local media and a rights group said. Sodomy and same-sex acts are illegal under Islamic law in Muslim-majority Malaysia, although convictions are rare. The Selangor Shariah High Court sentenced four men to …

The Cayman Compass reports: The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of the government, overturning Chief Justice Anthony Smellie’s previous ruling that legalised same-sex marriage in the Cayman Islands. At the same time, however, the court ordered government to “expeditiously” provide Chantelle Day and her partner, Vickie Bodden Bush, with legal status equivalent to marriage, according to …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration on Wednesday sued Gilead Sciences, a pharmaceutical company that sells H.I.V.-prevention drugs that can cost patients up to $20,000 a year, accusing the company of earning billions from research funded by taxpayers without paying taxpayers back. The government said the company infringed upon patents owned by the Department of Health and Human …

Newsweek reports: The director of a judicial activist group has written U.S. Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito a letter demanding they recuse themselves from upcoming Supreme Court cases concerning LGBT rights, after the pair posed for pictures with the president of anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage (NOM). The liberal group Take Back the Court advocates adding …

Politico reports: Elizabeth Warren Tuesday released a detailed plan to tackle the needs of the military and veterans that pledges to roll back Trump administration policies that bar transgender troops and to not deport non-citizens who have served in uniform, or their families. The Massachusetts senator who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination maintains her first step as president would …

Deutsche Welle reports: German Health Minister Jens Spahn unveiled a draft law on Monday that largely bans “conversion therapy” for LGBT+ people. The practice will be completely banned for all youths under the age of 18, the newspapers of the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) reported, citing a copy of the draft law. The law stops short of a complete ban, however, …

New York’s 1010 WINS reports: Gov. Cuomo said today that New York State would go to court to block a Trump administration proposal that would allow adoption and foster care agencies to turn away members of the LGBTQ community who want to give kids a home. “This proposal isn’t just discriminatory and repugnant to our values—it’s also heartless and dumb …

Now breaking on Twitter…. “Today, the Trump Administration issued a proposed rule that would strip existing protections for sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, religion, and for individuals in same-sex marriages in all programs and grants administered by Health and Human Services.” Updates to follow shortly…. Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: The Department of Health & Human Services went …

CBS News reports: A St. Louis County police sergeant who said the department passed him over for promotions because he is gay was awarded $19 million in a discrimination lawsuit. Sgt. Keith Wildhaber, who filed the lawsuit against the St. Louis County Police Department in 2017, said he was told to “tone down your gayness” if he wanted to be …

Via press release from Christian Newswire: “Formers” (those who no longer identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning) representing every state in the Union have selected 15 Former LGBTQ people to travel to Washington, D.C. October 28 – November 1 to address concerns about LGBTQ-focused legislation such as bill H.R. 5, which passed in the House in May. Although …

The Irish Post reports: Same-sex marriage and abortion are set to become legal in Northern Ireland for the first time. The changes are the result of amendments to a routine Commons Bill on the governance of Northern Ireland tabled by Labour Party backbenchers Conor McGinn and Stella Creasy. McGinn put forward a proposal calling for Westminster to legislate for same-sex …

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: Sydney has won the right to host the international WorldPride event in 2023 after defeating Montreal and Houston in a vote in Athens on Sunday. Members of the worldwide InterPride network voted for Sydney to host the event in 2023, which will coincide with the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham …

The Associated Press reports: A proposed conversion therapy ban in Utah is in danger of being derailed after The Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints came out in opposition, just months after it said it wouldn’t stand in the way of a similar measure under consideration. The church said in a statement that the regulatory rule prohibiting Utah …

Eater London reports: Chick-fil-A, the controversial American fast food brand, famous as much for its donations to anti-LGBTQ organisations as it is for fried chicken sandwiches, is being forced to close its first U.K. restaurant. It opened only eight days ago. The company, which appeared to be at the beginning of a major European expansion, opened at the Oracle shopping …

The South China Morning Post reports: A Hong Kong court on Friday turned down the city’s first judicial challenge for same-sex marriage and civil union partnerships, but urged the government to “undertake a comprehensive review” to save time and money from court actions arising from discrimination. Court of First Instance judge Mr Justice Anderson Chow ruled against a lesbian woman …

CNN reports: A Georgia school district has reversed its transgender-friendly bathroom policy after board members, staff and students were threatened, the school board said in a news release. Pickens County School Board changed its policy this week, citing “death threats, student harassment and vandalism of school property” in the news release. The policy had allowed transgender students to use restrooms …

Via press release: GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, announced participants wearing purple or going purple online today for Spirit Day in a united stand against bullying and show of support for LGBTQ young people. Since the inaugural Spirit Day in 2010, GLAAD organizes hundreds of celebrities, media outlets, brands, landmarks, sports …

Reuters reports: Uganda will not impose the death penalty for gay sex, a presidential spokesman said today, after major aid donors said they were monitoring a plan by the African nation to reintroduce a bill colloquially known as “Kill the Gays”. Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo last Thursday said the government planned to re-introduce an anti-homosexuality bill in …

Reuters reports: Poland’s ruling conservative nationalist party won parliamentary elections on Sunday, a result that likely will lead it to seek to exert even more control over the country’s judiciary and deepen a showdown with the European Union. Preliminary results showed the Law and Justice party won about 44% of the vote, giving it a majority in the 460-seat lower …