Category: Openly

Articles LGBTQ+ News Life News Openly Politics Trans

LGBTQ+ groups alarmed by UK review of migrant trans recognition

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Trans migrants in Britain could face increased harassment and discrimination if the government proceeds with plans to stop recognising legal gender change documents from some other countries, LGBTQ+ rights activists said. Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, told parliament this week that the government intended to remove recognition from some countries as their gender change requirements were no longer as rigorous as the British system. Cianán Russell, a senior policy officer at Brussels-based pan-European LGBTQ+ group ILGA-Europe, said the lives and safety of trans people were “being used as a political…

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Articles Elon Musk LGBTQ+ News Life News Openly Twitter

Twitter exodus: Is Mastodon a safer alternative for LGBTQ+ users?

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Could Mastodon rival Twitter as a safer social media platform for the LGBTQ+ community? Millions flocked to the microblogging platform last year following tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter. LGBTQ+ users raised particular concerns over Musk unpicking several of Twitter’s policies against hate speech and online harassment, while also reinstating users banned for sharing anti-LGBTQ+ views. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The changes in Twitter policy led to a flood of people seeking alternative social media, with many migrating to Mastodon. Rather…

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Africa Articles Elon Musk LGBTQ+ News Life News Openly Twitter

LGBTQ+ Africans fight Twitter hate speech after Elon Musk’s takeover

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LGBTQ+ rights groups across Africa said they are offering online safety training and trauma counselling to users after seeing a rise in hate speech since Elon Musk took over the platform. Campaigners from Ghana to Nigeria and Uganda fear the recent increase in anti-gay posts on Twitter – which included people being outed, vilified, blackmailed and even threatened with death – will drive LGBTQ+ Africans off the microblogging site. “Twitter has become a really important forum for the LGBTQ community in many African countries. Even with all the increasing hate,…

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Articles Gay propaganda law LGBTQ+ News Life News Openly Russia

Russian LGBTQ+ museum closes after new law bans ‘gay propaganda’

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The founder of Russia’s only LGBTQ+ museum said he was forced to close its doors on Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin signed a law expanding restrictions against what lawmakers call “gay propaganda”. The new legislation effectively bans all LGBTQ+ expression in public or in media, as Moscow tightens a crackdown on open discussion of sexual and gender minorities. “Closing the museum is a personal tragedy, but not only (that): this is the tragedy of my people and my homeland,” said museum founder Pyotr Voskresensky, 37, in text messages. Doctor and…

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America Articles Chase Oliver Georgia LGBTQ+ News Life News Openly United States USA

Georgia runoff: The ‘armed and gay’ Libertarian behind the rematch

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If there is one person responsible for Tuesday’s midterms election runoff in the U.S. state of Georgia that will decide the final Senate seat it is Chase Oliver. The gay Libertarian Party candidate’s 2.1% vote in last month’s midterms race stopped his Republican and Democrat rivals from reaching the 50% threshold they needed to win the seat, but he told Openly he had no wish to play kingmaker in the runoff. Oliver, 37, has refused to advise his 80,000 voters on who to support when they return to the polls…

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Articles LGBTQ+ News Life News Openly US US election US midterm elections

US midterm elections: Why is the LGBTQ+ community worried?

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Gay, bisexual and transgender Americans fear their rights are at risk as the United States goes to the polls for midterm elections on Tuesday. Republicans stand a strong chance of taking control of the US House of Representatives, while Democrats retain a slim hope of keeping a majority in the Senate. The vote will see a record number of LGBTQ+ candidates stand for office. But many LGBTQ+ groups fear that Republican gains could lead to a rollback of rights, from gay marriage to trans inclusion in sport and discussion of…

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Articles Lesbian LGBTQ+ families LGBTQ+ News Life News Openly

Lesbian parents fight to expand LGBTQ+ family rights in EU court

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A lesbian couple who went to the European Union’s top court to force Bulgaria to recognise same-sex parents officially said they hope their legal battle brings new rights for families across the continent. Their daughter – identified only as Sara – has been left stateless after Bulgarian officials said they would only recognize the girl’s birth mother in a case that rights groups say highlights inequalities faced by many LGBTQ+ parents. “Families come in many varieties. This type of discrimination should not be tolerated,” Kalina, the Bulgarian mother of Sara,…

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Articles Belgrade EuroPride LGBTQ+ News Life News Openly Pride Serbia

Violence mars Serbia’s Belgrade Pride, but LGBTQ+ marchers hope for change

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Despite right-wing protestors clashing with police in the Serbian capital Belgrade’s first ever EuroPride on Saturday, LGBTQ+ marchers said they hoped the event would mark a turning point in the conservative country’s attitudes towards the gay and transgender community. Several thousand people marched through Belgrade to mark the end of EuroPride week, an event staged in a different European city each year. Clashes between religious and right-wing groups and the police marred the start of the march. However, LGBTQ+ people at EuroPride said they hoped change was underway in Serbia,…

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Afghanistan Articles Kabul LGBTQ+ News Life News Openly

Escape from Kabul: Part I – Life of a gay man in Afghanistan

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In September 2021, Openly published the diary of a gay man based in Kabul, one month after the Taliban took full control of Afghanistan. The impact of the diary, written over one week, was enormous, with British lawmaker John Nicolson reading from it during a parliamentary debate on LGBTQ+ Afghan refugees. But what happened to the diarist, a former English teacher who had lost his job and was then hiding from possible death at the hands of the new Islamist regime? A year on from the fall of Kabul on…

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Articles LGBTQ+ News Life Marriage News Openly Singapore

Singapore decriminalises sex between men, but is marriage doomed?

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Singapore will decriminalise sexual relations between men but has no plans to allow same-sex marriage and will seek to enshrine the current ban in the constitution, the prime minister said on Sunday. Announcing the move, Lee Hsien Loong said repealing the rarely enforced Section 377A of the penal code – which dates from colonial times – “was the right thing to do”. But stressing his government’s continued support for the traditional, heterosexual definition of marriage, Lee said his administration believed “marriage should be between a man and a woman”. Singapore…

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