At a press conference Saturday in Nairobi, Kenya, President Obama said countries should not discriminate based on sexual orientation. Responding to a question on the treatment of gay and lesbians in Kenya, which rights groups have called dismal, and President Kenyatta has called a non-issue, Obama said, “Similarly, with respect to the rights of gays…
Members of the Berlin faction of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) voted against gay marriage in a poll Friday, denting hopes the chancellor’s staunch opposition could be swayed. According to a report in The Local, the CDU announced Friday that 45 percent of its members voted against gay marriage while 35…
Today, the European Court on Human Rights ruled that all signatories to the European Convention of Human Rights – including countries like Turkey and Russia, where discrimination and violence against LGBT people has recently made headlines – should recognize same-sex partnerships. This ruling, which could impact 47 countries, and 800 million people, is a major…
Last weekend, while Americans celebrated a victorious ruling at the Supreme Court, riot police disbanded a Pride parade in Istanbul, Turkey. According to Boysan Yakar, a Turkish LGBT activist and former HRC fellow, riot police used water cannons and rubber pellets to disperse Istanbul’s 13th annual pride parade, writes Adrian Gonzalez on the HRC Blog. “Our…
Today, the Kyrgyzstan National Assembly voted to pass new and discriminatory anti-LGBT legislation during its second reading. The legislation passed through an initial reading in October, but had been stalled until today’s vote. Another parliamentary vote is required before the legislation is submitted to Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, whose signature is necessary for the legislation…
KAMPALA, Uganda, —The Imitation Game, the film, which explores LGBT issues in post-war Britain, was shown within the EU-Africa Film Festival in Kampala, Uganda, one of the most anti-LGBT countries in the world. Both male and female homosexual activity is illegal. Under the Ugandan Penal Code, “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” between two…
In contrast to Rome’s well-attended LGBT pride festival last weekend, and support of same-sex civil unions by Italy’s Lower House of Parliament, the Pope Sunday stressed the importance of children having heterosexual parents. Addressing around 25,000 followers from the diocese of Rome, the pope said the differences between men and women are fundamental and “an…
Support for marriage equality in Australia’s business community is growing exponentially with 154 of Australia’s biggest household brands featured in a full page ad in Saturday’s Weekend Australian Magazine, a threefold increase on the 53-strong statement published in The Australian a fortnight ago. Advocates say the fact an ever-increasing number of local, national and global…
MANCHESTER, UK — Transport for Greater Manchester, the company that runs the city’s Metrolink tram network has received dozens of complaints after a form for signing up to use wi-fi on the network included a ‘transgender’ option. The Manchester Evening News reports that the form, required for signing up to use the free wi-fi service,…
A transgender woman who was a prominent activist in El Salvador has been murdered. In a press release, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) stated that Francela Méndez “… was killed by unknown persons on May 30, 2015, when she was at a friend’s house, who was also killed.” Méndez, a trans woman and…
