The Taliban have erased women from public life and continue to punish homosexuality in Afghanistan

 

The Taliban have been slashing away at women’s rights since returning to power in Afghanistan in August 2021. 

The Taliban have issued more than 70 edicts, including limiting girls to primary-level education, banning women from most professions and prohibiting them from using parks, gyms and other public places.

Among the rules, it is mandatory for a woman to veil her body at all times in public and that a face covering is essential to avoid temptation and tempting others. It is forbidden for women to look at men they are not related to by blood or marriage and vice versa.

Afghanistan’s rulers also are cracking down on the sound of women’s voices in public and prohibit women from speaking outside their homes. A woman’s voice is deemed intimate and so should not be heard singing, reciting, or reading aloud in public.

Don't forget, under the Taliban's Islamic regim, conviction of same-sex sexual conduct is punishable by death, flogging or imprisonment. They made public statements reiterating that their interpretation of sharia includes the death penalty for homosexuality.

Until when?

Read a report about LGBTQ+ persecution in Afghanistan under the Taliban here.

Countdown to same-sex couples in Thailand to tie the knot

 

King Maha Vajiralongkorn signed legislation to finalize a law to bring marriage equality to Thailand, capping off a legislative process that originated earlier this year. 

The Prime Minister of Thailand announced in November 2023 that his cabinet approved a bill to provide legal recognition to same-sex marriages. This year, Thailand’s House of Representatives approved the law in March, while the Senate passed it in June, sending it to the king.

The marriage equality law will go into effect in 120 days, paving the way for queer couples to marry by January.

The new marriage law also removes gendered references to “husband” and “wife” and establishes some adoption and inheritance rights.

Thailand is now the third country in Asia, along with Taiwan and Nepal, to extend marriage rights to LGBTQ couples.

Congratulations Thailand!!!

Freedom to Be, the new ACLU campaign

'Freedom To Be' is an initiative led by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to center the voices and experiences of trans people in America through storytelling and the creation of a large monument to be displayed on the National Mall in Washington D.C. in 2025 for Trans Day of Visibility. 

The 'Freedom To Be' campaign shows transgender people and their families from across the country finding joy and community, grounded in the basic principle that we all deserve the freedom to control our own families, bodies, and lives.

It will be a year-long, multimedia, multi-platform campaign, with a focus on long- and short-form video content, including a portrait series of trans people, digital and billboard ads, art installations created by and for trans people that will blanket the National Mall next year, and call to action surrounding a pledge to support trans youth.

The campaign couldn’t come at a more important time. The Skrmetti Supreme Court case could affirm Tennesse’s ban on gender-affirming care, eroding the medically necessary care that many trans youth depend on.

Fighting for the freedom to be loved, to be safe, to be trusted with decisions about their own health care. Watch their storytellers and how they are advocating for their freedom to be, and donate for helping, here.

Kamala Harris leads the race among LGBTQ voters

 

Vice President Kamala Harris leads the race for the Oval Office among LGBTQ voters by a wide margin. More than 70 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer voters indicating they will cast a ballot for the Democratic ticket, according to a nationwide poll.

VP Harris holds a nearly 67-point lead over Donald Trump, according to the survey from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, and an almost 70-point lead when the results are restricted to those who plan to vote. 

Data collection began two weeks after President Biden abandoned his reelection campaign and endorsed Kamala Harris and just days after she selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, as her running mate. 

About 8 percent of respondents who intend to vote said they would vote for Trump compared with 77 percent who said they would vote for Harris and Walz. The remaining share of LGBTQ adults said they planned to back a third-party candidate or did not plan on voting. 

Yes, we Kam!!!

Check the HRC Equality Magazine

President Biden gives first ever presidential interview to gay newspaper

President Joe Biden shared his thoughts and reflections in a wide-ranging sit-down interview with the Washington Blade in the Oval Office, which marked the first time in which an LGBTQ newspaper has conducted an exclusive interview with a sitting U.S. president.

Biden-Harris Administration has been hailed as the most pro-LGBTQ in American history, achieving major milestones in the struggle to expand freedoms and protections for the community.

Looking back on the movement, the president repeatedly expressed his admiration for the “men and women who broke the back of the prejudice, or began to break the back” starting with those involved in the nascent movement for gay rights that was kicked off in earnest with the 1969 Stonewall Riots.

The president has spoken publicly about his deep respect and admiration for LGBTQ people, including the trans community, and trans youth, whom he has repeatedly said are some of the bravest people he knows.

President Biden said, “I wanted an administration that looked like America,” adding, “all the LGBTQ+ people that have worked for me or with me have reinforced my view that it’s not what your sexual preference is, it’s what your intellectual capacity is and what your courage is.”

Read the whole interview here.

New inclusion guide for LGBTQ people in UK care homes

 

New guidance has been written for care homes to support inclusive care practice for older LGBTQ people in the U.K.

Researchers from the University of Kent, in collaboration with the University of Surrey and the University of Hertfordshire, have developed the free guide to help with care for LGBTQ people.

There was an urgent need for improvement and the guide offers practical tips about positive actions care staff can take. When it comes to care homes, many older LGBTQ people fear having to go back into the closet to be safe.

The care home guide was produced as part of a larger research study examining LGBTQ inclusion in care homes called CIRCLE (Creating Inclusive Residential Care for LGBTQ Elders) led by Dr Jolie Keemink from Kent’s Centre for Health Services Studies.

Dr Keemink said: "Research shows that the older LGBTQ population is expected to rely more heavily on social care than their heterosexual counterparts, because they are less likely to have children and more likely to experience a lack of social support".

Downloadable and printable formats of the guide, as well as a video version, can be found on here.

Around half of LGBTQ people experience discrimination at work in US and UK

A new study from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law showed that 47% of LGBTQ workers in the U.S. have experienced discrimination at some point during their careers.

The study, looked at a survey of LGBTQ workers about their experiences in the workplace in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Bostock v. Clayton County decision in 2020, which granted employment protections to LGBTQ people.

Considering 46% of LGBTQ people are not out to their supervisor, and 20% are not out to any of their coworkers, the results show 47% of the LGBTQ employees say they have experienced discrimination, and 42% have experienced harassment.

The rates of discrimination are the worst for trans and nonbinary workers, with 55% of them having experienced discrimination.

Besides, 72% of respondents said that they had heard negative comments, slurs, or jokes about LGBTQ people at work at some point in their lives. And 36% had heard negative comments about the LGBTQ community within the past year.

Recently, a similar survey published by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) suggested more than half (52%) of LGBTQ people in UK reported being bullied or harassed at work, in the last five years.

Read the Williams Institute study here.

Thousands demands more LGBTQ rights in Serbia

 

Several thousand of LGBTQ supporters turned out for the Pride march in Belgrade, where organizers said their demands that the government pass laws to recognize same-sex unions and gender identity remain their top priorities.

Marchers waved rainbow flags as they walked along a route secured by a heavy police presence behind a colorful banner with the phrase "Pride Means People" in Serbian. Several beat drums, while others held posters with phrases such as, “No one is free until everyone is free,” and, “Love wins.”

Four government ministers, including Tanja Miscevic, who is in charge of Serbia's EU integration, took part. "It is a matter of protection of a part of citizens who must be equal in law with other citizens," she said.

The march ended without any incidents after passing by the Serbian parliament building and the building that houses the presidency, pointing out the discrimination and violence faced by LGBTQ people.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Serbia in 1994, but LGBT people say they still experience repression and violence. Human Rights Watch warned in a report in early 2024 that LGBTQ people in Serbia face intolerance, threats, and violence.

Pride is people!

Anti-LGBTQ policies continue in Florida by Republican DeSantis

 

The Florida’s tourism marketing site quietly took down part of its website dedicated to attracting LGBTQ visitors.

For years, LGBTQ travelers have flocked to cities and towns like St. Petersburg, Key West and Sarasota, which have been welcoming to them. Visit Florida’s website once contained a robust marketing section on its website that once promoted Pride events and popular destinations for LGBTQ travelers.

For example, the site had dedicated pages promoting Florida’s top 10 gay beaches and LGBTQ-friendly destinations. But anyone who had the page bookmarked and tries to go to that section now will end up at a generic "Things To Do" page instead.

Although no one has been able to pinpoint exactly when the pages were removed, it had happened sometime this summer. Some residents, activists and people in the local tourism industry said that erasing the pages sends the message that LGBTQ travelers aren’t welcome in the state.

Asked Republican Gov. DeSantis about, he simply said: “Our view as a state is we are the best place to visit, we’re welcome to all, but we’re not going to be segregating people by these different characteristics.”

Ever since the known "Don't Say Gay" law was passed, DeSantis has turned Florida into a test kitchen for anti-LGBTQ restrictions that have since spread to other Republican states.

Biden-Harris’ Administration issued a strong statement against this anti-LGBTQ legislation in Florida. Secretary Pete Buttigieg replied this is an absolutely dangerous legislation: “And the reason is that it tells youth who are different or whose families are different that there’s something wrong with them out of the gate".

Enough is enough, DeSantis!!

Luca Guadagnino and Daniel Craig bring 'Queer' to Venice Film Festival

 

Queer is an 2024 gay romance drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes, based on the 1985 novel by William S. Burroughs. Set in 1940s Mexico City, the film follows an outcast American expat William Lee (Daniel Craig) who becomes infatuated with a beautiful younger man called Eugene (Drew Starkey).

The movie, in its first half, is a luscious barbed comedy of liberation, punched along by its anachronistic music choices (Nirvana, Prince, New Order). Lee, who calls himself a “man of independent means” (he has family money), is content to live this life of pleasure and indolence, to revel in his addictions. The Mexico City queer scene we see is both squalid and a kind of paradise. The men share their cruising stories and bitch at each other with bitter understanding.

In its second half, turns into a very different movie, a trippy road comedy about the search for mind-altering transcendence, because Lee wants to find the fabled hallucinogen yage, or ayahuasca, because he’s heard it gives the user telepathic powers and he wants to discover what Eugene really thinks and feels about him. Even as film sinks into a kind of torpor, it is also a fulfillment of the film’s vision of Burroughs, and of queer love.

Asked about the film, Craig said “I always felt that Burroughs had a very public face, and I wanted to know what the private part of him was like,” said Craig, who spoke to a few people who knew him. “I think in ‘Queer’ you sort of see more of that than you do in his other books.”

“There’s nothing intimate about filming a sex scene … we just wanted to make it as touching and as real and as natural as we possibly could,” Craig said. “Drew is a wonderful, beautiful, fantastic actor to work with. We kind of had a laugh. We tried to make it fun,” he added.

Queer premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, in-competition for the Golden Lion, and the movie earned 11-minute ovation.

Watch the trailer below: