Thousands take part in Seoul LGBTQ Festival despite protests

 

Thousands of Koreans across the country took to Seoul's streets and joined in the 26th annual Seoul Queer Culture Festival in the heart of the city, one of the largest in Asia.

Jung-gu, central Seoul, was packed with festival participants clad in rainbow-colored garments and flags as some 70 promotional booths were set up in streets.

The event culminated with a pride parade from Jonggak Station to Euljiro Station, passing city landmarks including the Myeongdong Cathedral and Seoul Square. They hoisted signs with this year's slogan "We will not stop."

As in previous years, embassies from major allies of Korea participated in this year's event, as did representatives of universities from across the country.

The parade encountered a large-scale protest against the queer parade, particularly members of Christian communities who blasted gospel songs and held up signs that said, "Same-sex relationship is sin! God will judge!"

Police were dispatched adjacent to the protests to prevent possible altercations between the two groups, but no conflicts occurred outside of the jeers and boos.

Happy Pride Koreans!!!

TV celebrity Hong Seok-cheon did not miss it

Tel Aviv Pride Parade canceled again

 

Tel Aviv’s Pride Parade, one of the largest public events in Israel, has been canceled due to escalating security concerns following Israel’s overnight military offensive against Iran. The Pride Parade had been scheduled to take place on Friday June 13th.

The Israeli airstrikes targeted nuclear and military facilities in Iran and killed two top nuclear scientists and the leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Iran in response to the airstrikes launched more than 100 drones towards Israel, but the Israel Defense Forces said it intercepted them.

The Pride Parade, which typically draws hundreds of thousands of participants and spectators, has been officially postponed along with other major events, all educational activities, public gatherings and nonessential work across the country until further notice. 

Authorities, in consultation with local LGBTQ activists, last year cancelled the Tel Aviv Pride parade out of respect for the hostages who remained in the Gaza Strip after Oct. 7.

World remains split on being a good place, or not, for gay and lesbian people, but less

 

This Pride Month, new Gallup data reveal a persistent global divide in whether people believe their own communities are good places for gay and lesbian people to live. In 2024, a median of 39% across more than 120 countries said their city or area was a good place for gay and lesbian people, slightly below the 45% who said it was not.

Despite this division, global views have changed considerably over time. When Gallup began tracking these perceptions in 2007, 23% viewed their local areas as good places for gay and lesbian people rather than 55% who said it was not good places. Then, the 39% who now view their area as a good place is nearly double the 2007 percentage. 

Since 2007, many countries have introduced legal changes affecting gay and lesbian people. There has been a steady increase in both the number of countries where same-sex relationships are legal and those that recognize same-sex marriage.

Check the data and more here.

Tens of thousands attended Pride march in Bucharest demanding equality

 

Over 30,000 people joined Pride march in Bucharest, demanding civil union partnership legislation and equal rights after  presidential election last month buoyed the far right in Romania.

With music, rainbow flags and colorful balloons, the procession marched through the streets of the center of the Romanian capital in a festive and cheerful atmosphere. Held since 2005, the event marked Bucharest Pride’s 20th anniversary.

Romania decriminalised homosexuality in 2001, decades later than other parts of the EU, but still bars marriage and civil partnerships for same-sex couples. Romanian authorities ignored a 2023 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which found Romania had failed to enforce the rights of same-sex couples by refusing to recognise their relationships.

After the 2024-2025 election cycle the far right parties have gained ground, and the country registered a huge increase in hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community, more people complaining about being harassed on the streets or being attacked.

Happy pride with rights!!!

Bucharest Pride celebrates 20th anniversary!

World Pride begins in Washington despite Trump

 

WorldPride 2025 wraps up in Washington, D.C., this weekend with festivities including a parade that kicked off Saturday in one of the city's historic gay neighborhoods and conclude in front of the U.S. Capitol.

This is the first time that D.C. has hosted the international LGBTQ+ festival since WorldPride's inaugural event in Rome in 2000. The U.S. capital won the bid to host World Pride years before Trump's re-election. 

In January, the event's organisers had projected the celebration, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of Washington's first Pride march, would attract three million visitors and contribute nearly $800 million to the local economy.

But their expectations have now dropped to about a third of their previous estimates. Hotel occupancy rates are also down compared to last year. Some international travellers are choosing to skip the biennial event over travel fears, while others are protesting Donald Trump's policies.

WorldPride is brimming with events and celebrations, musical performances, fashion shows, discussion groups and subcommunity gatherings such as Trans Pride, Latinx Pride, Youth Pride and beyond. The festival culminates with the city’s Pride Parade on June 7 and a massive rally and march from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol on June 8.

The official theme for WorldPride DC 2025 has been labeled Fabric of Freedom. More info here.

Happy WorldPride!!!

Trump orders US Navy to strip Harvey Milk name from a ship

 

Donald Trump has ordered the US Navy to strip the name of prominent gay rights activist and navy veteran Harvey Milk from a ship. 

The order to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet replenishment oiler, is in a memorandum from the office of the Secretary of the Navy. The renaming is being done to ensure alignment with Trump objectives and priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture.

The US Navy named the ship for the gay rights icon Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California. He served as a diving officer from 1951 to 1955. 

Milk won a seat on the San Francisco board of supervisors. As one of the US’s first openly gay politicians, he became a forefront figure of the gay rights movement across the country before his assassination in 1978.

Hope Will Never Be Silent!

An Open Letter to LGBTQ+ Youth by The Trevor Project

 

According to a recently leaked proposed budget, Donald Trump‘s administration is considering defunding the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which helps connects callers in a mental health crisis with specially trained counselors with similar life experiences.

The Trevor Project, a non-profit devoted to suicide prevention among LGBTQ+ youth, wrote an open letter to save LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention hotline. The open letter starts:

"We are heartbroken by the proposal to eliminate federal funding for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services — a move that will have devastating, life-threatening consequences for young people across the country. As artists, creators, and public figures, our platforms come with responsibility. And today, that responsibility is clear: we must speak out to protect the mental health and lives of LGBTQ+ youth. We will not stay silent."

Read and sign the letter here.

Same-sex marriage is constitutional in Greece

 

Greece’s top court, the Council of State, ruled that civil marriage between same-sex couples and the adoption of children by such couples are constitutional.

With a 21–6 majority of votes, the judges rejected a request to annul the provisions of law which legalized such unions and permitted adoption rights in 2024.

The Greek supreme court was responding to a case brought by three associations opposed to the law, which argued that same-sex marriage alters the traditional concept of family and disadvantages adopted children. 

The ruling emphasized that the legal recognition of same-sex marriages and related adoption rights align with constitutional principles and European case law.

Συγχαρητήρια!!!

17 EU countries sound alarm over Hungarian LGBTQ+ laws

 

17 European Union (EU) countries accused Hungary of contravening fundamental values by passing laws that target LGBTQ+ people, as tensions deepen between Budapest and a majority of member states.

Hungary’s parliament passed legislation that creates a legal basis to ban Pride marches there and lets police use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend. It also approved constitutional changes stipulating that Hungary recognises only two sexes, male and female.

"We are highly alarmed by these developments which run contrary to the fundamental values of human dignity, freedom, equality and respect for human rights," the governments of the 17 countries said in a joint statement.

They called on Hungary to revise the measures and asked the European Commission to make full use of its powers if Budapest does not do so. The Commission can take legal action against member states if it believes they are violating EU law.

The statement was backed by Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

The declaration came ahead after EU ministers examine concerns that Hungary is at risk of breaching core EU values. Read the statement here.

Half LGBT people in Russia faced violence

 

A survey of LGBT people in Russia found that almost half faced violence or the threat of violence during 2024, up 4 percent from the year before, that many feel compelled to hide their natures and suffering economically because of them, and that some want to emigrate.

Putin’s ban on what it calls “LGBT propaganda” and its attacks on the non-existent “LGBT international movement” have powered this increase in attacks on gays with many Russians concluding on the basis of these moves that attacking gays is something the government supports.

Putin also submitted an amendment to Russia’s constitution to enshrine marriage as between a man and a woman in a conservative update to the country’s founding document.

The survey by the Coming Out Rights Group and the Sphere Foundation is available here.

Shame on you Putin!!!

Gus Kenworthy plans to participate in the Olympic Games again

 

Gus Kenworthy says he has reignited his love for skiing and will aim to reach his fourth consecutive Winter Olympics at Milano Cortina 2026.

The news arrives more than three years after the last Games in Beijing, where Kenworthy finished eighth in the halfpipe final. He said beforehand that it would be his last competition.

However, the 33-year-old has now revealed how he informed his management team two months ago that he was returning to training for the first time since 2022, and that his head coach on the Great Britain team had encouraged him to chase another Games.

“It’s this Olympics or nothing. I’m never going to have this opportunity again,” he told.

Gus Kenworthy came out in 2015, and its memorable kiss then boyfriend Matthew Wilkas, before qualifying at Winter Olympics in Pyeongyang' 2018, was a historic televised smooch that went viral on social media.

A new memorial for gay victims of persecution in Paris

 

The city of Paris inaugurated a memorial dedicated to people persecuted for being homosexual during the Second World War but also "throughout history", mayor Anne Hidalgo said.

The monument, by artist Jean-Luc Verna, consists of an large star-shaped structure made of steel. The three-ton installation was erected near the Bastille in central Paris to mark International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT).

"Recognition means to say 'this happened' and to say 'we don't want this to happen again'," Hidalgo said. "We must fight against denial and trivialisation," she said, adding: "Today there are powerful and extremely dangerous headwinds that would like to deny this kind of diversity."

According to historians' estimates, between 5,000 and 15,000 people in Europe were sent to concentration camps by the Nazi government for being homosexual.

Never forget!

The citizens' initiative to ban conversion therapies in the EU has collected over 1 milion signatures

 

The European citizens' initiative to ban on conversion practices in the European Union collected over one milion signatures.

Objectives: To call on the European Commission to propose a binding legal ban on conversion practices targeting LGBTQ+ citizens in the European Union (EU).

Conversion Practices are interventions aimed at changing, repressing or suppressing the sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression of LGBTQ+ persons.

Such practices, due to their discriminatory, degrading, harmful and fraudulent nature have been qualified as torture by the United Nations, and are currently being banned in a growing number of States.

The EU plays a key role in the protection of fundamental rights and should take actions to fight against all inhuman practices. The Commission should propose a directive adding conversion practices to the list of euro-crimes and/or amend the ongoing directive on equality (2008) to include a ban on these practices.

All member states should introduce a ban on conversion practices or review their current ones. Check and sign the initiative in the European Commission's register here.

GLAAD Social Media Safety Index 2025 has been released

 

Major social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and X have failed to protect LGBTQ+ users from hate and harassment, in part, because they intentionally rolled back previous safety practices, the advocacy group GLAAD explains in its annual Social Media Safety Index.

Using their Platform Scorecard, GLAAD’s team assessed X, Meta (Instagram, Facebook, Threads), TikTok, and YouTube. The scorecard assigns numeric ratings to each platform with regard to LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression. Elon Musk's X received the lowest score at 30 out of 100, while TikTok came in highest at 56. Meta's Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Google's YouTube were in the 40s.

What the GLAAD report makes clear is it’s not as easy as simply wading through the bullshit to continue using these social media platforms. The plethora of hate speech would take a toll on those with even the strongest constitutions. And their proliferation of misinformation is ensuring that the hate spreads even further.

Check the full publication here.

Bookstore's employees quit after purge on LGBTQ books

 

Several employees said they quit their jobs after a manager directed them to remove LGBTQ+ titles from the shelves of a popular independent Florida bookstore. 

The Bodacious Bookstore & Cafe in downtown Pensacola reportedly received a complaint recently about obscene content on a gift card. “Recently, we reviewed parts of our inventory after receiving emails from parents – some with photos of sexually graphic and vulgar content – who were surprised to find certain books in our store,” they said in a statement.

Following a review instigated by a meeting with the store’s owner, unnamed former and current employees said interim store manager Beth O’Connor directed employees to remove over 60 titles from the store.

Employees told roughly half of the titles removed from the shelves contained LGBTQ+ content. The titles removed included the Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman, and lesbian tennis icon Billie Jean King’s All In and Elliot Page’s Pageboy memoirs.

A spokesperson for the bookstore, denied there was a purge of LGBTQ+ titles, but instead, a review of titles was done to ensure children are not exposed to titles that might not be age-appropriate.

This bookstore's decision reminds me the unacceptable Russian anti-gay propaganda law with the same shaming purpose "to protect" children from "non traditional sexual values". No excuse!!

Pope Leo XIV on LGBTQ rights, the best we could have hoped for

 

By Liam Stack in The New York Times,

Pope Leo XIV ascended to the papacy on Thursday with little public record on L.G.B.T.Q. issues, a signature concern of his predecessor, Pope Francis, as well as a source of deep conflict between liberal and conservative Catholics.

Nevertheless, proponents of greater inclusion for gay and transgender people in the church said they were cautiously optimistic, even if they might not know much about the man who will now lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. Until today, few people believed an American pope was a possibility.

“We are sitting here Googling everything we can about the new pope,” said Francis DeBernardo, who runs New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based group that promotes L.G.B.T.Q. inclusion in the church. “I think he is the best we could have hoped for.”

Read the full article here.

Pope Francis was in favor of LGBTQ rights

Nonbinary Bella Ramsey has no problem with gendered award categories

 

The “Game of Thrones” star Bella Ramsey, who identifies as nonbinary and prefers they/them pronouns, thinks there’s some value in gendered award categories.

Ramsey will almost certainly earn an Emmy nomination this year for their portrayal of Ellie in season 2 of HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama “The Last of Us.”

Despite their gender identity, Ramsey said that they “didn’t find it insulting” to be included in the Outstanding Lead Actress category last time they received an Emmy nod for the show in 2023.

“I think it‘s so important that the recognition for women in the industry is preserved,” Ramsey said. “But then like, where do nonbinary [and] gender nonconforming people fit into that? I don’t know."

Although Ramsey has given the topic a lot of thought, they aren’t particularly concerned with people getting their own pronouns correct.

“Suddenly I had to choose what pronoun I wanted people to write about me with,” Ramsey recalled. “I was so stressed about it, because I didn’t know, and I didn’t really care. I find the whole thing quite stressful still.”

Ramsey added: “I’ve never been strict about they/them [pronouns], because I think I just don’t really care. I’m very comfortable in who I am, but I know how important it is for other people. But for me, it‘s not that important.”

SCOTUS upholds Trump's transgender military ban

 

The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Donald Trump to implement his ban on transgender people serving in the military.

The justices granted an emergency request from the Trump Administration to lift a nationwide injunction blocking the policy while litigation continues. The court's brief order noted that the three liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated they would have denied Trump's request for a stay.

The case was filed by a group of seven transgender service members and one transgender person who wishes to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.

There are just over 4,000 transgender people currently serving in the military, according to Defense Department data, though some activists put the figure at much higher. There are around 2.1 million active service members in total.

"No more trans @ DoD," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X. In a separate Defense Department post, before the decision was issued, Hegseth was seen in a video saying: "No more dudes in dresses. We are done with that s---."

In a joint statement, Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, groups representing the transgender service members challenging Trump’s ban, called the ruling “a devastating blow” to trans troops “who have demonstrated their capabilities and commitment to our nation’s defense.” 

“By allowing this discriminatory ban to take effect while our challenge continues, the Court has temporarily sanctioned a policy that has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice,” the groups said.

Let's wait for the final sentence, but it does not looks well.

Mean Goals, a great gay sports comedy

 

Mean Goals is a great gay sports comedy from writer-director Ahuatl Amaro. The short film wears its eclectic influences on its jersey sleeve (that title is a nod to Mean Girls), but breaks new ground by featuring an all queer, Latine cast.

Tenoch (Abraham Rodriguez) joins an LGBTQ soccer team to bond with his dying father (Dave Silva) over their shared passion for the sport. But his desire to win his father’s approval is quickly eclipsed by a new obsession once he discovers the team is filled with mean soccer gays: he must now build a rival team to crush them at the Gay World Cup.

“Soccer, romance, locker room banter, and mean gays—this film has it all,” said star Abraham Rodriguez. “Mean Goals is unlike any sports comedy film out there as it combines comedy, action, and queer Latino leads all in one. It’s been a privilege to work with so many talented LGBTQ+ and POC actors and filmmakers.”

Watch the trailer below:

Robert De Niro voices support for trans daughter

 

Hollywood legend Robert De Niro has not hesitated for a second to support his daughter Ayrin, who has come out as transgender. "I loved and supported Aaron as my son, and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter. I don't know what the problem is, I love all my children," the actor told. 

Ayrin proclaimed her gender identity in an interview, and she is one of the seven children of Robert. In her interview, Airyn shared insights about what motivated her to go through with her gender reassignment surgery. She started receiving hormone therapy in November 2024.

She also expressed gratitude towards her parents for keeping her out of the limelight. Airyn said her parents told her they wanted as normal a childhood as possible for her. The interview also touched upon how she was 'femme-presenting' in her teenage years and how she wanted to maintain her femininity further.

Airyn also told that she’s pursuing a career as an actress and model, just like her mom, in hopes of being an “inspiration for at least one other person like [her] who is black, who is queer, who’s not a size extra small.”

De Niro shares Airyn and her twin brother Julian with actress Toukie Smith. The two-time Oscar winner also has five other children, including his most recent baby, Gia, whom he welcomed in 2023 with his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen.

Poland abolishes all LGBT-free zones in the country

 

Poland has officially abolished its last remaining “LGBT-free” zone in the country in a win for queer rights, six years after the policy was first introduced.

The zones were initially introduced by the former right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government. In 2019, around 100 local municipalities in Poland stated that their constituency was LGBT-free zone, around a third of Poland.

In 2020, the European Parliament passed a resolution that strongly condemned the concept of LGBT-free zones. It called on Poland to firmly condemn LGBT discrimination and to revoke resolutions attacking LGBT rights, and instructed the European Commission to ensure that European funds are not being used for discriminatory purposes.

In October 2023, the majority of voters in Poland’s general election supported opposition parties that promised to reverse democratic backsliding. Two months after, Poland's parliament voted in favour of Donald Tusk becoming prime minister, putting an end to eight years of right-wing rule and repairing the relationships with allies, including the European Union.

The new Poland government approved bill to add sexual orientation, gender, age and disability to the categories covered by Poland’s hate crime laws. The justice ministry told that, under the proposed legislation, cases of public insult motivated by bias against the protected groups or of incitement to hatred against those groups can be punishable by up to three years in prison.

Recently, they also presented a bill to introduce legally recognised partnerships for same-sex couples. 

Well done Poland!!!

Poland’s parliament elected pro-EU Donald Tusk as prime minister

Heartstopper will say goodbye with a movie

Netflix has officially announced that the hit series Heartstopper, starring Kit Connor (Nick) and Joe Locke (Charlie), will conclude with a feature film, thus not returning for a full fourth season.

A release date has not been revealed for the Heartstopper movie finale, but filming will begin this summer 2025.

Heartstopper is about Charlie, an openly gay anxious boy, and Nick, a kind-hearted rugby player. They both go to the same school and when they meet, they immediately have a connection.

Before being a TV series, it was also a successful comic created by Alicce Oseman in 2016. After three years and 1 million books sold, there was talk of a television adaptation. After season 1, season 2 and season 3, Heartstopper will say goodbye with a movie. 

Thanks for this sensational story!!

Trans people will be part of Pope Francis' funeral

 

A group of transgender people will be among the roughly 40 individuals selected by the Vatican to offer a final send off to Pope Francis before he is interred in the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore on Saturday.

According to organizers, the group will stand on the steps of the basilica, each holding a white rose, to pay homage to the late pope. In addition to representatives from the transgender community, the group will include migrants, prisoners and others representing communities close to the pope’s heart.

Bishop Benoni Ambarus said that the decision to include this group of people in the pope’s send off is symbolic of his concern for the most marginalized.

Pope Francis, who died on April 21, addressed LGBTQ issues in a manner that rattled many traditional Catholics and raised the expectations of progressives. 

In 2023, Francis became the first pope to officially back the repeal of legislation criminalizing homosexuality. More than 60 countries criminalize same-sex activity; the death penalty is the punishment in a dozen jurisdictions. Being homosexual is "not a crime," Francis told.

Rest in peace!

UK Supreme Court rules legal definition of man and woman is based on biological sex

The U.K. Supreme Court ruled that the legal definitions of “man” and “woman” are based on a person’s “biological sex” as assigned at birth. The Court issued its ruling with a unanimous 5-0 decision, and the anti-transgender activists hailed the decision.

For Women Scotland (FWS), an anti-trans advocacy group, challenged changes to Scotland’s Gender Recognition Act, arguing to the U.K.’s highest court that Scotland should not be allowed to include trans women who have gender recognition certificates (GRCs) as “women” for the purposes of meeting gender equity quotas on public boards. 

The five justices largely sided with FWS in their decision, writing that including cis and trans women in the same legal sex category “would cut across the definitions of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ and thus the protected characteristic of sex in an incoherent way.”

“The meaning of the terms 'sex', 'man', and 'woman' — as used in the U.K.’s Equality Act 2010, which bars discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender reassignment — refer to biological sex, as any other interpretation would render the Equality Act 2010 incoherent and impracticable to operate,” the Court ruled.

The Court’s decision undercuts the central purpose of the Gender Recognition Act and goes against 20 years of equality law in the U.K.

Eismayer: a true story of a forbidden love in the army

 

In 2014, David Wagner stumbles across an article about Eismayer in an Austrian newspaper and is immediately captivated by the story: the most terrifying training officer in the Austrian Armed Forces falls in love with a recruit, eventually accepting his proposal and marrying him in full dress uniform in the barracks courtyard. What an idea for a movie.

Sergeant Major Eismayer (Gerhard Liebmann) is known and feared as the toughest training officer in the Austrian Armed Forces, ruthless with recruits and unwavering in his discipline, order and macho toughness. But when he starts to fall in love with Falak (Luka Dimić), a new recruit who unashamedly embraces his homosexuality, Eismayer’s closeted existence is shaken to the core. 

To a man like Eismayer, loving another man cannot be reconciled with the understanding of what a model soldier should be. Will he choose to protect his badass tough guy image over all else, or can he follow his heart and his true desire? 

The movie won the Grand Prize of the International Critics' Week, the autonomous and parallel section organised by the National Syndicate of Italian Film Critics during the 2022 Venice Film Festival.

Watch the trailer below:

Love Against The Odds: Age Gap

 

"You can take away our ages and we’re just two guys that fell in love.” Mike and Aaron are happily married, but they just happen to have a massive 37 year age difference. As society judges them, they use their YT Channel Queer Daze to show how proud they are of their love, but with end of life paper work being signed, is age just a number?

One episode of Love Against the Odds features Aaron, age 29, and Mike, age 66, and highlights the 37-year age gap in their relationship. 

The 10-minute episode featured below paints a picture of their relationship. How they met, how they fell in love, how their relationship progressed, their struggles, their triumphs and all the stupid questions they get asked on a weekly basis. Namely “is that your son?”

The true is simple. Aaron is married in his 20’s to Mike who’s in his 60’s. How lucky Mike must be to have found true love so young, and how lucky Aaron is to have finally found true love. Congratulations!!

Watch the episode below:

Two Afghan LGBT+ activists arrested by Taliban at risk of execution

 

The Taliban have arrested and imprisoned two leading underground Afghan LGBT+ activists, Maryam Ravish, a lesbian, and Abdul Ghafoor Sabery, a trans woman who goes by her chosen name Maeve Alcina Pieescu. Their lives are in grave danger and at risk of execution.

Mariam, 19, and Maeve, 23, were set to escape Kabul on a Mahan Airlines flight to Iran with Mariam’s same-gender partner, Parwen Hussaini, aged 20, on 20 March 2025, with the aid of Roshaniya, the Afghan LGBT+ network.

The Peter Tatchell Foundation in London publicises their plight and press for their release: “We ask all human rights organizations (especially Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International) and LGBT+ organizations (especially OutRight International, ILGA Asia, Stonewall, Rainbow Railroad, and Human Rights Campaign) to please help us spread the word about the arrest of Mariam and Maeve and pressure the Taliban regime to to release these two brave LGBT+ Afghan human rights defenders."

The Taliban returned to power following the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, instituting an immediate return to its interpretation of Sharia law. Under Taliban rule, homosexuality is forbidden and women are required to have a male chaperone if they wish to leave their homes.

Since then, LGBTQ+ Afghans have been tortured, stoned to death, sexually assaulted, and forced into heterosexual marriages, among other atrocities, while a large number of members of the LGBT community lost their lives due to suicide. 

The Taliban have also 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. 

A 2022 report and video by Human Rights Watch ashowed the desperate situation of LGBTQ people in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

Big protest in Budapest against Orbán's ban on Pride march

 

Thousands of Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest to signal their disdain for the government’s ban on Pride marches.

Hungay prime minister Orbán passed legislation banning pro-LGBTQ+ marches as part of his continued legislative campaign against the community.

Under the so-called “child protection” law, allows districts in Hungary to fine Pride organisations and attendees for hosting marches or LGBTQ+ events. 

Budapest Pride, one of the LGBTQ+ organisations affected by the bill, said in a statement that the move is “not child protection, this is fascism.” And they added "We will not let Hungary’s largest regular human rights demonstration be banned!!

This year, Budapest Pride is marking its 30th anniversary.

Celebrating Trans Day of Visibility 2025

 

Today is Trans Day of Visibility, and we honour the strength, resilience, and beauty of the trans community. Now more than ever, it’s crucial to uplift and amplify trans voices!

Utah is the first state to ban pride flags in public buildings

 

Utah became the first state to ban LGBTQ+ pride flags in schools and other public buildings in the U.S. Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill banning unsanctioned and the law is set to come into effect on May 7. 

The pride flags will not be the only ones impacted by the law. It will also prohibit flags with political slogans and affiliations like Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again.” 

While Utah is known for its large religious populations, the change in legislation is expected to raise tensions between the government and the state’s large LGBTQ+ community in Salt Lake City. Multiple rainbow flags have been illuminated onto buildings across Salt Lake City in protest of the legislation since it was first announced.

Sadly, this decision is setting a precedent that may soon see other states in the U.S., and comes after the new Trump's Administration policies against LGBTQ+ comunity. During Trump's first term, U.S embassies were denied to fly rainbow flags throughout June in honour of LGBT Pride Month.

We won't be erased!!!

Spartacus Gay Travel Index 2025 is out

 

The Spartacus Gay Travel Index, which has been published since 2012, provides travellers with information about the situation of LGBTQ+ rights in a total of 216 countries and regions. 

In partnership with Booking.com, this index aims to balance the rights of local LGBTQ+ communities with the interests of queer tourists.

In 2025, Canada, Malta, Spain, Portugal, and, for the first time, Iceland lead the ranking. Close behind are Germany and New Zealand, sharing sixth place, followed by Australia, Norway, Uruguay, and Switzerland, which all rank eighth.

U.S. has fallen to 48th place, as a result of the new administration under Donald Trump, who has already begun severely restricting transgender rights at the national level. 

Another nation dropping on the index is Georgia, which is suffering from Russian influence under Putin. It has plummeted from 109th to 162nd place due to anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

At the bottom of the ranking, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iran, and Saudi Arabia continue to share last place at rank 210, just as they did in 2023.

Check the Index of 2025 here.