Despite opposition, Parliament takes stock of LGBT equality in new report

Today the European Parliament voted its annual report on fundamental rights in the European Union. The report includes an extensive overview of the situation for LGBT people, and recommendations to reach European equality standards laid down in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Among other recommendations, MEPs ask that Member States guarantee thefreedom of movement of same-sex couples, their

Ugandan President: ‘Gay sex gives you worms and all gay people are prostitutes’

The President of Uganda on signing into law a bill harshening penalties for those arrested for being gay, made ludicrous claims that gay people give each other worms through sex, and that people are only gay because they have sex for money. President Museveni signed the bill in front of politicians and reporters on Monday

Malawi Muslims call for death penalty for homosexuals

The Muslim Association of Malawi has called for homosexuality to be made a capital crime in the face of efforts to decriminalize homosexuality in the Southeast African nation. Malawian President Joyce Banda pledged to decriminalize homosexuality on taking office in May of 2012 but later backtracked – saying it was up to the people of her country to

Sochi 2014: Vladimir Luxuria arrested for holding ‘Gay is OK’ banner

Europe’s first openly transgender parliamentarian detained at Winter Olympics amid controversy surrounding gay rights. A prominent Italian gay rights campaigner and former MP has been arrested in Sochi while watching the Winter Olympics with a banner reading “Gay Is Ok” in Russian, two activists have said. Vladimir Luxuria, a television personality and actor who became Europe‘s first openly transgender parliamentarian

Uganda PM: Anti-gay bill will be ‘fully debated’

President Yoweri Museveni has reportedly days before he decides to assent or send the Anti-Homosexuality Bill back to parliament. Uganda’s Prime Minister has said the Anti-Homosexuality Bill will be ‘fully debated’ before it becomes law. Amama Mbabazi has hinted the draconic legislation, originally known as the ‘Kill All The Gays’ bill before the death penalty

MP Gražulis proposes to forbid adoption for same sex couples

The chair of the Seimas group of Order and Justice Party in Lithuania Petras Gražulis proposed to forbid adoption for couples of the same sex, The Baltic Course reports, with reference to the news agency ELTA. MP Gražulis registered a draft amendment to the Children’s Rights Protection Law. According to the draft law, “it is forbidden for

Canada has cancelled a scheduled state visit following Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to approve a draconian anti-gay bill. The decision to cancel President Jonathan’s state visit to Canada was communicated through the Nigeria High Commissioner to the Supervising Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Viola Onwuliri who in turn passed on the message to the

Gay Russian protester arrested for unfurling rainbow flag at Olympic torch relay

Pavel Lebedev, of Voronezh, which is 560 miles north of Sochi, unfurled the rainbow flag as the torch passed through his hometown. The Sochi Winter Olympics will begin on 7 February and have already caused an international outcry as Russian President Vladimir Putin in June signed a bill into law banning the “promotion of non-traditional

Gay ‘prisoner of conscience’ dies in Cameroon

A Cameroonian man who was jailed for sending a text message to another man saying ‘I’m very much in love with you’ and labeled a ‘curse’ by his family has died. Roger Jean-Claude Mbédé, 34, died on Friday (10 January) in Cameroon after his family removed him from hospital where he was seeking treatment for

Al-Qaida kills another Yemeni man suspected of being gay

25-year-old Waleed Saleh Awedan is at least the 35th person murdered by Al-Qaida linked militants on suspicion they are homosexual in Yemen in the last two years. A motorcycle riding gunman has shot dead a 25-year-old Yemeni man on Monday over suspicions he was a homosexual. Waleed Saleh Awedan was shot near his home in