LGBT News

ABC News reports: Two men in Indonesia’s Aceh province were publicly caned dozens of times Tuesday for consensual gay sex, a punishment that intensifies an anti-gay backlash in the world’s most populous Muslim country and which rights advocates denounced as “medieval torture.” More than a thousand people packed the courtyard of a mosque to witness the caning, which was the …

The Iceland Monitor reports: A gay couple traveling around Iceland, taking in its nature and culture, are the protagonists of a new video advertisement from Icelandair. The company’s brand manager says it’s natural and important to show diversity, Gay Iceland reports. Jón Skafti Kristjánsson, brand manager at Icelandair a customer-oriented airline and travel service company serving 44 gateways in Europe …

The Shanghaiist reports: Spring is here and love is in the air as dozens of elderly parents flock to the park, desperate to find a suitable partner for their still unmarried sons and daughters. Parents carry with them signs listing all the important details of their marriageable children — their height, salary, age, education level, but notably not their sexuality. …

The Associated Press reports: Indonesian police detained dozens of men including several foreigners in a weekend raid on a gay sauna in the capital, another sign of growing hostility to homosexuality in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. Police spokesman Argo Yuwono said 141 men were detained for questioning in the raid Sunday evening on the gym and sauna in …

Radio Free Europe reports: A protest march organized by Moldova’s LGBT community on May 21 in the capital, Chisinau, was halted after just several hundred meters as police sought to avert a confrontation with participants in a counterprotest made up of “Orthodox priests and believers.” Scores of participants in the LGBT march, who were wearing white shirts with the logo …

The Dallas Morning News reports: The Texas House voted late Sunday on a bill that will keep transgender public school children from using the restroom that matches their gender identity. The measure, a Republican deal on the “bathroom bill,” passed the GOP-dominated chamber by a vote of 91-50. It needs one more vote to officially pass the House. If the …

Gallup reports: Americans are about evenly divided on whether new civil rights laws are needed to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Fifty-one percent of U.S. adults say such laws are needed, while 46% say they are not. These data, from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll conducted May 3-7, come as Democratic members of Congress plan to reintroduce …

The Guardian reports: Canada’s government has said it will formally apologise to the thousands of Canadians who suffered injustices during a decades-long campaign to root out homosexuality from the military and public service, bringing it in line with a longstanding demand by advocates. The apology is expected to take place in early autumn. Public consultations are under way – led …

J. Lester Feder reports at Buzzfeed: The United States has declined visas to gay Chechens fleeing a wave of kidnappings, torture, and disappearances in the semi-autonomous Russian region, according to the organization Russia LGBT Network. A group of around 40 Chechens are now in hiding in other parts of Russia, Russia LGBT Network spokesperson Svetlana Zakharova told BuzzFeed News, and …

Former Vice President Joe Biden marked today’s International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia with a stirring op-ed published by the Washington Post. An excerpt: Progress doesn’t happen by chance. It happens because good people come together and demand change. And any person of conscience, regardless of their religious or partisan beliefs, should be able to agree: Violence against any person, …

Via press release: Today the Human Rights Campaign praised Nevada Republican Governor Brian Sandoval for signing into law Senate Bill (SB) 201 — legislation protecting LGBTQ youth in the state from the dangerous and discredited practice of so-called “conversion therapy.” HRC also commended State Senator David Parks for sponsoring the bill and shepherding it through to the Governor’s office. “No …

AL.com reports: Alabama’s special election to fill a U.S. Senate seat has a new and unexpected candidate. Michael Hansen, the openly gay executive director of Alabama environmental advocacy group Gasp, announced on social media that he is seeking the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Luther Strange and vacated in January by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “Let’s not kid ourselves, …

The Raleigh News & Observer reports: Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday morning he will soon announce an executive order addressing protections for the LGBT community. The Democratic governor made the remark to a sympathetic audience in Washington, D.C., where he said he would also continue to fight against discrimination and push for voting rights and education funding. “My goal is …

Gallup reports: Sixty-four percent of U.S. adults say same-sex marriages should be recognized by the law as valid. Although not meaningfully different from the 61% last year, this is the highest percentage to date and continues the generally steady rise since Gallup’s trend began in 1996. The latest update, from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll conducted May 3-7, comes …

Caitlyn Jenner has told a British chat show that she’s so very upset with Trump, she’s considering a run for Congress. As a Republican, of course. The BBC reports: The ex-Olympic athlete, who changed her name and transitioned to living as a woman aged 65, said Mr Trump was being “influenced by people around him”. Jenner said her life was …

Lexington’s NBC affiliate reports: The Kentucky Court of Appeals has ruled a Lexington business was within its rights when it refused to print shirts for Lexington’s Gay Pride Festival. The owner of Hands on Originals argued that he refused to print the shirts for the 2012 festival because it was against his religious beliefs. Later, the Human Rights Commission ruled …

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who as Georgia governor once held a public prayer vigil for rain, has responded to Trump’s recent religious liberty executive order by issuing a letter authorizing USDA-inspected plants to post any anti-LGBT materials they like. Perdue’s edict likely arises from the case of the West Michigan Beef Company, whose CEO Don Vander Boon reacted to the …

Gallup reports: Americans continue to express an increasingly liberal outlook on what is morally acceptable, as their views on 10 of 19 moral issues that Gallup measures are the most left-leaning or permissive they have been to date. The percentages of U.S. adults who believe birth control, divorce, sex between unmarried people, gay or lesbian relations, having a baby outside …

CNN reports: The latest treatments for HIV mean that young people living with the virus could live up to a decade longer, a new study says. The paper, published Wednesday, found that 20-year-olds who started with antiretroviral therapy in 2010 are predicted to live up to 10 years longer than those who first underwent similar treatment in 1996 — when …

The BBC reports: Five gay rights activists have been detained in Moscow as they tried to deliver a petition to the office of Russia’s prosecutor general. Police said they were held because their action was unauthorised. The activists said more than two million people had signed the petition to investigate alleged torture and detentions of gay people in the Russian …