More Than Half of Gay and Bisexual Men Say a Doctor Has Never Suggested HIV Testing

American gay men and their doctors aren’t talking enough about sex, and that’s making it harder to control the spread of H.I.V.  That’s the conclusion of a new survey of gay and bisexual men by the Kaiser Family Foundation. It found that 47 percent of the men have never discussed their sexual orientation with their doctors, and 56 percent have never been advised by a doctor to be tested for H.I.V. Read More

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Thousands demonstrate in France to defend "traditional family values"

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Protesters took to the streets in Paris and Bordeaux to demonstrate against medically assisted procreation techniques for lesbian couples and surrogacy. According to Ludovine de la Rochere, president of Manif Pour Tous that organised the demonstration, such techniques must be "fought at all costs.” Manif pour Tous fought against the adoption of same-sex marriage in France last year.  Read More

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Teen's Suicide Highlights Struggle of LGBT Colombians

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Two photos — one haunting, the other simply poignant — published separately last weekend by two Spanish-language news groups tell the story of Colombian society's urgent need to reconcile its religiously conservative culture with acceptance and respect for its LGBT men, women, and children.

The first photo is of a handsome young Colombian who committed suicide recently, after his teachers and school administrators allegedly harassed him because he was gay. The second shows his mother, Alba Reyes, with solemn eyes narrowed to a point of focus that only mothers of lost children know. Read More

Religious Perceptions Of LGBT People In Uganda

When we talk about the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Uganda, it tends to always be in terms of religion-based oppression, violence and murder. However, are the voices that often rise to the top when same-sex attraction in Uganda is discussed truely representative of religious leaders as a whole in this African nation? This is the question documentary photographer Daniella Zalcman sought to explore through her new portrait series "Faces of Faith." Read More 

Nigerian archbishop defends gays, criticizes Western intervention

Earlier this year, Nigeria adopted a law that hands out 14-year sentences to anyone entering a same-sex union and bans public displays of affection between homosexual couples. At the time, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama announced the Church’s support for the legislation. But now the archbishop said the Church only supported the elements of the law that set out that marriage is between a man and a woman. 

“We are not supporting the criminalisation of people with different sexual orientations,” Archbishop Kaigama stressed. “We would defend any person with homosexual orientation who is being harassed, who is being imprisoned, who is being punished.” Read More

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Uganda judge received death threats for striking down anti-gay law

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President Museveni signalled he is having second thoughts over tough anti-homosexuality legislation, arguing the impoverished east African nation needed to consider the impact on trade and economic growth. Saying he only signed off on the anti-gay law earlier this year because he wanted to protect children and stop people being “recruited” into homosexuality, he now worries the law could lead to a trade boycott which would hurt Uganda.

A Ugandan judge has revealed she has received death threats after annulling the anti-gay law earlier this year. Solomy Bossa Balungi has said she has received numerous attacks from the public after she helped with the ruling the Anti-Homosexuality Act must be nullified.


On 1 August, the Constitutional Court found speaker Rebecca Kadaga had acted ‘illegally’ in rushing the anti-gay legislation through parliament.  Read More

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Thailand Hits Party Scene To Combat HIV Rates Among Gay, Bisexual Men

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Bare-chested male models strutted through the glitzy ballroom in Bangkok to the beat of house music while dozens of young gay men waited anxiously, working up the nerve to have a blood test. Once touted as an HIV success story, Thailand is now faced with infection rates in its gay population comparable to those in Africa's AIDS hotspots. Read More

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Egyptian men arrested declared ‘not gay’ after exam, will appear in court in November

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A group of Egyptian men arrested on the accusation that they are gay were subjected to invasive medical exams intended to show whether they engaged in homosexual activity. Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat ordered the men detained and “physically examined” after an online video emerged showing the men attending what appeared to be a same-sex marriage ceremony on a Nile riverboat. They are set to appear in court on November 1st.

Egypt's LGBT community began a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #stopjailinggays. Read More

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India government asks Supreme Court to clarify pro-trans ruling

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The government says transgender rights should not be extended to gay people and asked the Supreme Court to clarify the definition of transgender so that it would not include gay people.

In April the Supreme Court recognized transgender people as a third sex and a socially and educationally backward class, entitled to education and employment quotas as well as the rights to marriage, adoption, divorce, succession and inheritance. The same court recriminalized homosexuality in December last year. Read More

Study finds more gay men now die of suicide than HIV

New research suggests that suicide has surpassed HIV as a leading cause of death among gay and bisexual men in Canada. The study examines suicide and HIV-related mortality data from Statistics Canada, the Canadian Community Health Survey and other sources from 2000 to 2011. Read More