LGBT News

The BBC reports: From Monday, same-sex couples will be able to register to marry, meaning the first ceremonies will take place in February. For couples who are already married, their marriage will now be legally recognised in Northern Ireland. However, those who are already in a civil partnership will not be able to convert it to a marriage at this …

The New York Times reports: Several Israeli school districts held impromptu tolerance classes on Sunday after the country’s education minister, an Orthodox rabbi, angered LGBT campaigners by implying homosexuality was unnatural. The furor over the remarks by Education Minister Rafael Peretz – who last year spoke favorably about gay “conversion therapy”, a widely discredited method – reached into the Israeli …

The Jakarta Post reports: In response to reports that the family of Reynhard Sinaga, an Indonesian convicted serial rapist in the United Kingdom, lives in Depok, West Java, the city’s mayor has instructed his administration to conduct raids against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Reynhard, a 36-year-old PhD student, was sentenced on Jan. 6 by a court …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling in Roe & Voe v. Esper that halted efforts by the Trump administration to discharge members of the Air Force because they are living with HIV. The decision will allow two active-duty Airmen living with HIV, identified pseudonymously as …

Just in via email from Carl Siciliano: To my many friends in the JoeMyGod Community, I’m announcing today that after 18 years as the Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center, I will be stepping down from that role at the end of February. I want to send a special message of thanks and gratitude to you. For more than …

Reuters reports: Brazil has requested that the international police organization Interpol help find and detain a man suspected of attacking the office of producers of a controversial Netflix movie that portrayed Jesus as gay, authorities said. An arrest warrant was issued in Brazil for the suspect authorities say threw fire bombs into the headquarters of Brazilian comedy group Porta dos …

Agence France-Press reports: Poland’s left-wing parties on Tuesday approved Robert Biedron, an openly gay politician, as their candidate in the May presidential election. The move in the conservative, predominantly Catholic country where same-sex unions are not recognised, was aimed at preserving democracy, they said. Leaders in the Lewica (Left) alliance said they chose Biedron because of his clear backing for …

NBC News reports: A federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to return a gay asylum-seeker who was deported to Chad, ruling that the government had not properly considered his asylum claim based on his status as a gay man before deporting him. Oumar Yaide arrived in the U.S. in 2009 and requested political asylum because he was …

Michigan Bridge reports: A coalition of civil rights, business and political leaders is launching a petition drive initiative to expand Michigan law by including anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender residents. Organizers who announced the effort Tuesday hope to spur action by the Republican-led Legislature, whose leaders have cited religious freedom concerns in resisting similar legislation, or put the issue …

Via press release from GLAAD: GLAAD announced 176 nominees in 30 categories, including the returning category for Outstanding Broadway Production. The Outstanding Kids & Family Programming category expanded to ten nominees as a result of an increase in LGBTQ images across the kids and family television programming and an increase in GLAAD’s work to advocate for inclusion in this genre. …

The Detroit Free Press reports: A Michigan man has been arraigned for the murder and mutilation of 25-year-old Kevin Bacon who was found dead on Dec. 28. Bacon’s body was found in Mark Latunski’s home in the 700 block of W. Tyrrell Road in Bennington Township, a half-hour west of Flint. He was hanging naked from the ceiling, according to …

The Associated Press reports: An Indonesian man described as “the most prolific rapist in British legal history” has been sentenced to life in prison with a possible release after 30 years following his conviction for sexual offences against 48 men. Authorities said the evidence against Reynhard Sinaga, 36, indicates he had many more victims, with roughly 195 men apparently having …

Duncan Osborne reports at Gay City News: An evangelical ministry that was dedicated to supporting church groups that have the eradication of homosexuality as part of their mission shut down on December 31 after operating for roughly a decade. “It’s time to say goodbye to Redemption Group Network, the non-profit organization founded to support the training and development of Redemption …

NBC News reports: Police in Rio de Janeiro have identified one of the people responsible for a gasoline bomb attack targeting satirists behind a Christmas program on Netflix that some critics have described as blasphemous. Officers carried out a search warrant Tuesday morning and found money, a fake firearm, ammunition, a “political-philosophical” shirt and computers, police said in a written …

Another action-packed year has come and gone for this here website thingy, which in a few months will mark its 16th anniversary. Unreal! I want to sincerely thank all of you, longtime JMG flying monkeys and newbies alike, for coming along on the endless Trump-zaster that 2019 has been. While the last year has seemed like nothing but an infinite …

From the Hollywood Reporter: The mysterious sexual assault lawsuit brought by an anonymous massage therapist against Kevin Spacey is ending, according to papers filed in federal court Monday. “John Doe” died, and after the accuser’s attorneys informed Spacey, the actor’s attorneys filed a notice of death in court. This began a 90-day clock for the accuser’s estate to be substituted …

Michigan Live reports: The Shiawassee County Prosecutor’s Office has authorized murder and mutilation charges against a 50-year-old Morrice-area resident in the death of 25-year-old Kevin Bacon. The prosecutor’s office released the 50-year-old man’s name on Monday, but The Flint Journal-MLive is not naming him until his arraignment. Bacon’s friend and roommate, Michelle Myers, previously told The Flint Journal-MLive that at …

The Washington Post reports: Facebook has quietly started removing some misleading ads about HIV prevention medication, responding to a deluge of activists, health experts and government regulators who said the tech giant had created the conditions for a public-health crisis. The ads at issue — purchased by pages affiliated with personal-injury lawyers and seen millions of times — linked drugs …

Canada’s Global News reports: The federal government measured how “comfortable” Canadians felt with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people playing significant roles in their lives, Global News has learned, part of what the government says was a preliminary assessment to better understand the challenges faced by Canada’s LGBTQ2 community. And the answer, so far, is encouraging: 91.8 per cent of …

The Associated Press reports: The past decade has seen a backlash against human rights on every front, especially the rights of women and the LGBT communities, according to a top U.N. human rights official. Andrew Gilmour, the outgoing assistant secretary-general for human rights, said the regression of the past 10 years hasn’t equaled the advances that began in the late …