Months after Uganda's Constitutional Court overturned its Anti-Homosexuality Act, which prescribed life in prison for many instances of gay sex, nearly identical legislation returned — this time in the Gambia.
Challenge to Ugandan anti-gay law seeks regional impact
Activists in Uganda are continuing their legal battle against the country’s now-defunct Anti-Homosexuality Law, hoping that the Tanzania-based East African Court of Justice will issue a ruling that will make clear such anti-gay laws are unacceptable throughout East Africa.
The challenge is being pursued by the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF), which provides legal assistance to LGBTI defendants in Uganda, under the umbrella of the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CSCHRCL), a coalition of 50 organizations opposed to the Anti-Homosexuality Act. Read More
Thousands of Brazilians March in Gay Rights Parade
Thousands of Brazilians took part Sunday in Rio de Janeiro's 19th Gay pride parade, speaking out against homophobia in a country that has seen years of violence targeting the gay community.
Brazil recorded 312 murders of people in the gay community in 2013. The country averages about 300 murders motivated by sexual orientation a year. Read More
LGBT Iraqis face ‘imminent risk of death’ under Islamic State
A new report just released from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and MADRE, a global women’s advocacy organization, notes the Sunni militant group has imposed a strict interpretation of Shariah law. The report documents widespread violence and death sentences carried out by ISIS for crimes of homosexual acts and warns that anyone believed to be LGBT is at "imminent risk of death."
“What makes today’s situation lethally dangerous to LGBT Iraqis is less likely to be a profound shift in Iraqi society’s values towards gender norms, but the breakdown of law and order and a rise of the law of strongmen — within the family, tribe, militia and complicit state security forces,” reads the report. “Those who translate societal hostility towards LGBT compatriots into violence, today do so with near total impunity.” Read More
Arctic Russia's LGBT community speaks: 'the danger is everywhere'
Members of the LGBT community in Murmansk speak out about living in a country where the government has declared them an enemy of the state. One organization is reaching out to help youth and adults overcome the stigma and prejudice of homosexuality and live openly. But some are finding escape from Russia is the only way to gain freedom.
My translator, Maria, trails off. “We have…a fancy word for ‘gay guy’ in Russian,” she explains, hesitating, trying to find the English equivalent for me.
“Faggot,” says a woman in a black checked shirt wearing a yin and yang necklace. But that’s actually the polite translation. “Pederast” is one of the most offensive words in Russian to use when talking about the LGBT community. If you trace back its roots, the exact English translation is child rapist. Read More
Pope invites anti-gay hate group leader to ‘traditional marriage’ summit
The Pope has invited the head of listed anti-gay hate group the Family Research Council to his summit on ‘traditional marriage’.
Pope Francis will open the ‘Complementary of Man and Woman’ conference on November 17, which brings together religious leaders from across different faiths who oppose same-sex marriage.
As well as representatives from the Catholic Church and other forms of Christianity, speakers from 23 countries will purportedly represent the views of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Taoism and Sikhism.
However, Right Wing Watch reports that anti-gay activist Tony Perkins – whose group is listed as an active homophobic hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Centre – has been invited to the Pontiff’s gathering. Read more
UNAIDS to Launch HIV Testing Campaign Across Africa in World Record Bid
The UN will conduct a multi-country HIV testing campaign in Africa to mark this year's World AIDS Day under the leadership of African national governments in close collaboration with the regional support team for Eastern and Southern Africa (RST ESA) from UNAIDS, civil society organisations, and other regional and international partners.
The initiative is seeking to break the Guinness World Record for the most number of free HIV tests carried out in multiple areas in one day. The record is currently held by Argentina, which conducted 3,733 free HIV tests in a single eight-hour period in Rosario city in commemoration of the 2012 World AIDS Day. Read More
Miz Cracker’s Guide to Halloween Drag
The wonderful holiday of Halloween—or as we like to call it at Outward, Hallowqueen!—has come back around, and with it, the temptation for gays and straights alike to try their hands at a little drag. But the road to contoured glory is paved with bad wigs and broken heels. To help you avoid the worst mistakes, we’ve resurrected this first-time-in-drags tutorial from regular contributor Miz Cracker. Read More
Dolly Parton Q&A: The Country Legend on 50 Years in Nashville and Why She Supports Her Gay Fans
On a recent fall afternoon at Nashville's NorthStar Studios, Parton is an animated conversationalist, throwing her head back and laughing often. In person, the legendary entertainer possesses a down-home, self-effacing charm -- disarming for someone who helms an empire that includes the Pigeon Forge, Tenn.-based Dollywood theme park, which annually hosts nearly 2.5 million visitors, and a valuable publishing catalog of such songs as "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You," which she took to No. 1 long before Whitney Houston. In 2014 alone, Parton's 42nd studio album, Blue Smoke, debuted at No. 2 on Top Country Albums and No. 6 on the Billboard 200 -- marking her highest-charting solo album on the latter list -- and wrapped a successful world tour that included performing for 170,000 at the United Kingdom's Glastonbury Festival. Read More
Russian lawmaker wants Finnish Tom of Finland stamps banned as ‘gay propaganda’
Gays in the Military Exhibition
From November 2009 to June 2013 documentary photographer Vincent Cianni made a series of road trips across the United States to interview and photograph roughly 100 gay and lesbian U.S. military veterans and active-duty service members. Cianni, whose work explores community, memory, and the human condition, set out to document how the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian service personnel impacted their professional and personal lives.
The culmination of this project, Gays in the Military, which features essays by Alison Nordstrom, Lt. Donald R. Bramer, and Alan M. Steinman was published with Daylight Books this May. Read More
Kenyan police arrest ‘Stories of our Lives’ producer over film licence
‘Stories of our Lives’ is a film about gay and lesbian Kenyans that was banned on allegations it promotes homosexuality. Read More