Botswana: BONELA welcomes NACA’s overtures to gays, prostitutes

The Botswana Network on Ethics Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) has welcomed the decision by the government to spread the HIV/AIDS message to marginalised groups, including the gay community and commercial sex workers. In an interview, BONELA executive director, Cindy Kelemi said her organisation had been calling for such intervention “for more than a decade” but no one had been willing to listen.

“We see it as a milestone that finally government is reaching out to minority groups.  We applaud government for taking such a step,” she said. Read More 

Arkansas Legislature Passes Bill Allowing LGBT Discrimination

The Arkansas legislature gave its final thumbs-up Friday to a bill that will block cities and counties from enacting antidiscrimination laws that protect LGBT people. The Arkansas House of Representatives voted decisively, 57-20, for SB202, with seven members voting present. Having already cleared the state Senate Monday, the bill now heads to the governor’s desk.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson told BuzzFeed News in a statement he will let the bill take effect. By neither vetoing nor signing the legislation, he said, “I am allowing the bill to become law.”
The bill’s sponsor, Republican State Sen. Bart Hester, said this week that he sponsored the measure to create consistent policies across Arkansas that will attract business, and because he was infuriated that cities were attempting to expand civil rights laws for LGBT people. Read More

Inside The Last-Ditch Conservative Campaign To Target LGBT Americans

In this progressive climate, the battle has shifted to the state level, where conservatives are waging a last-ditch campaign to target LGBT Americans. Two months into 2015, the volume of legislation that allows religion to be used for discrimination is already higher than the total for 2014. 

The legislation introduced so far tends to fall into three broad categories: bills that could facilitate discrimination on the basis of religious freedom, bills that specifically target officials who marry same-sex couples and bills that would allow anyone to refuse to recognize a couple's marriage based on religious beliefs.  Read More
 

US: Lawmakers introduce bill to promote LGBT rights worldwide

The International Human Rights Defense Act, spearheaded by Sen. Edward Markey and Rep. Alan Lowenthal would appoint a special envoy within the U.S. Department of State to coordinate efforts to prevent discrimination and advance the rights of LGBT people worldwide.

“With the rights of the LGBT community under attack around the globe, we must stand hand-in-hand with them in the struggle for recognition and equality everywhere," Markey said.  Read More 

Nepal: Government ready to amend anti-gay legal provisions

Minendra Rijal, Nepal's minister for information and communication, has said the government is ready to amend discriminatory legal provisions against sexual minorities.

However, Rijal said equality could not be achieved through legal advancement and policies only, but also required changes in society's attitudes and behavior: 'I urge the community to stand up and take a lead.'  Read More

Poland: Transgender politician to run for President

Poland’s first openly transgender lawmaker, Anna Grodzka, plans to run for President. There are currently no openly transgender heads of state in the world, meaning that Grodzka – who is already the world’s only elected transgender MP – would make history again if successful. Read More

Colombia: LGBT advocate participates in peace talks

The head of a LGBT Colombian advocacy group took part in peace talks between his country’s government and a rebel group. Caribe Afirmativo Director Wilson Castañeda was among the six Colombian human rights advocates who participated in a meeting between representatives of President Juan Manuel Santos’ government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

“We do not want a post-conflict period to generate closets where people are once again stigmatized, made invisible and continue living in fear,” he said, noting LGBT Colombians should be explicitly included. “As Colombians we hope to leave the closet behind, to be able to live without fear of difference.”  Read More 

Editorial: Why gay rights is a development issue in Africa, and aid agencies should speak up

The question often facing development agencies is whether or not to wade into a controversial debate on a country level, which could aggravate the authorities that give them their license to operate, when promoting gay rights is often not perceived to be ‘mission critical’ to their job – delivering services, running development programmes etc.  Read More

For LGBTQ Russians, Too Much and Too Little Law

 In recent weeks, Russian authorities have shown their unwillingness to enforce legislation when LGBTQ life is involved. Anti-gay activist Timur Isayev is alleged to have gotten 29 teachers fired for being gay by collecting and sending “evidence” to their employers. 

What recent weeks have really shown is that there is both too much and too little law for LGBTQ citizens and residents of Russia. Their lives are legislated, but they are not protected. Russian officials put the gay community under a microscope while drafting discriminatory laws, but turn away from them when it comes to enforcing pre-existing ones that are intended to protect the lives of all Russians.  Read More

Two gay activists announce plans to run in the 2016 Uganda elections

Two LGBTI rights activists have made public their intentions to run for political office in the upcoming 2016 elections. Moses Kimbugwe, currently the Programs Director at Spectrum Uganda and Mboode Willy Senior, a gay activist, have announced that they will be running for elective office and have started online campaigns.

The announcements bring to mind the daring efforts of Kenya’s LGBTI activist, David Kuria, who announced he would be running for the 2012 Kiambu Senatorial seat. However, a few months to the elections, Kuria stopped campaigning allegedly over threats he received on account of his sexuality.  Read More

Activists want Gambia’s president banned from USA

A coalition of fourteen organisations joined forces to write to President Obama requesting the United States hold “President Yahya Jammeh and his associates accountable for their deplorable human rights record,” particularly with regard to LGBT people in the Gambia.

Their letter stated: “It is not too late for the United States to send President Jammeh and his regime a clear and unequivocal message: human rights violations will not be tolerated, and the U.S. government will respond with actions, as well as with strong condemnation.” Read More

India's first transgender mayor wins election by over 4000 votes

History has been made in India after a transgender candidate won a mayoral election in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh Municipal Corporation. Independent candidate Madhu Kinnar defeated her opposition by 4357 votes on 4 January, beating the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Mahaveer Guruji to become mayor of Raigarh.

The win is a historic occasion for the LGBT population in Raigarh, which lies west of the India-Bangladesh border. However homosexuality still remains a criminal offence in India, with those caught in sexual acts imprisoned.  Read More