The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and ILGA World (the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association) jointly announced the launch of the International Pride Awards. The 2024 award categories are: 1) movement building in the face of hostility; 2) celebrating diverse lives; 3) emerging leader; 4) lifelong pursuit of equality; and 5) extraordinary ally. This year’s awardees will be announced at an event on Nov. 13 in Cape Town, South Africa, in a special event during the 31st ILGA World Conference. For more information, including how to nominate, visit the International Pride Awards website.
In an amicus brief to that country’s Supreme Court, Human Rights Watch stated that South Korea’s National Health Insurance Service should extend benefits to same-sex partners. The court is currently considering if the agency has discriminated against a same-sex couple who was refused dependent benefits. In 2023, the Seoul High Court ruled in favor of the couple, concluding that the refusal to extend benefits constituted discrimination based on sexual orientation. The health agency appealed to the Supreme Court.
The French Senate, by a vote of 180-136, adopted a bill aimed at regulating medical practices involving the care of minors suffering from gender dysphoria, per the Public Senat. The text received the support of some of the centrist elected officials and the two RN senators. Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio—the LR senator who sponsored the bill—clarified her intentions. “This text is neither a transphobic text, nor a desire to psychiatrize trans identity, nor an attack on the rights of the child,” she said before criticizing “the attacks by activist associations which operate like many of activist associations: through threats and intimidation.” Environmentalist senator Melanie Vogel—who has a trans niece—said, “The real problems you have are that trans people exist and you can do nothing to prevent it and no law can do it.”
A gay man who claims Grindr misused his HIV-positive status has accused the tech platform of treating his personal medical data like “a piece of meat,” The Guardian noted. The man is one of nearly 1,300 people who have joined a civil lawsuit against the U.S.-owned company in the UK high court that alleges the misuse of private information of Grindr users, including details about their HIV status and when they were last tested. London law firm Austen Hays says info about Grindr users’ ethnicity and data relating to their sex life and sexual orientation may have also been shared.
On a related note, Columbian national Brandon Conrado-Gamboa—who preyed on his Grindr dates before drugging and robbing them—received a sentence of 11 years in a British jail, PinkNews reported. Conrado-Gamboa’s victims were targeted through the app between Dec. 31, 2022 and Jan. 9, 2023 in Brentford, Hampton, Hounslow and Bromley. A suspected accomplice, Nelson Alexander Escobar Porras, is believed to be in Barcelona, Spain.
In Namibia, LGBTQ+-rights advocates hope an upcoming High Court ruling will decriminalize gay sex by overturning the colonial-era sodomy law, Context noted. “The courts [are] our last hope and our beacon of liberation,” Equal Namibia co-founder Omar van Reenen said. LGBTQ+-rights advocate Friedel Dausab brought the appeal against Namibia’s long-standing sodomy law, arguing the criminalization of sodomy and related offenses was unconstitutional.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights does not want intersex athletes in the country to lower their hormone levels as a requirement to compete in any sport, The Washington Blade reported. “The measures shall not require a person to alter their biological hormonal composition as a condition to participating in any sporting activity or program,” reads the bill. The new guidelines, if approved, would contradict the World Athletics Council’s 2018 regulations that similarly bar female trans athletes from participating in international competitions, such as the Olympic Games. Some top female trans athletes banned from competing in the Olympic events from the World Athletics regulations due to their high natural testosterone levels include Kenya’s Margaret Wambui, South Africa’s Caster Semenya, Niger’s Aminatou Seyni and Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba.
Karla Sofia Gascon—the first transgender woman to be awarded the best actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival—filed a legal complaint over a “sexist insult” from a far-right politician after her win, The Guardian noted. Gascon and her co-stars jointly received the accolade for their performances in French auteur Jacques Audiard’s Mexico-set narco musical Emilia Perez. After her win, French far-right politician Marion Marechal, granddaughter of National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, posted on X (formerly Twitter): “So a man has won best actress. Progress for the left means the erasure of women and mothers.” Marechal responded to the legal complaint, saying, I will not be prevented from continuing to say what is the truth.”
Nyan and Mae, a queer couple from Myanmar, were married in front of thousands at the annual Pride parade in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, KPVI noted. The couple was denied the chance to celebrate their union in their homeland, so they decided to have the symbolic union in Thailand instead. The Thai parliament is expected to finalize same-sex marriage legislation later this year, possibly as soon as October.
In the UK, hundreds attended the funeral of Brighton “master of drag” Miss Jason, PinkNews reported. Jason Sutton, who performed as Miss Jason for more than three decades, died on April 22 at age 56 following an illness. On Facebook, Legends, which live-streamed the event, described Miss Jason as “a beacon of brilliance in the Brighton LGBTQ+ community” and a “master of drag.”
Also in the UK, the religious group Christian Concern launched a petition to stop what it called “ugly” and “divisive” LGBTQ+ flags from going on display in London’s Regent Street for Pride month, per PinkNews. Said petition claims that Pride flags make “everyone who doesn’t support the whole LGBTQ+ agenda feel unwelcome.” The group particularly objects to the colors of the trans flag being included on the Progress Pride flag.
Indonesia’s parliament is proposing changes to its broadcast law that would bar investigative journalism and LGBTQ+ content, Reuters reported. The development prompted criticism from civil-society groups and filmmakers over restrictions to press freedom and creative expression. Changes to the 2002 broadcast law were first discussed in 2020 but the details in the latest revisions have spurred concern, with Indonesia’s Press Council saying it would undermine media independence. In addition, the measure seeks to ban content displaying violence, mysticism, LGBTQ+ or “negative behavior or lifestyles that potentially harm the public.”
British synth-pop band Bronski Beat—which counts gay musicians Jimmy Sommerville and the late Steve Bronski among its co-founders—is having its song “Smalltown Boy” reissued 40 years after its debut, with DJ and producer ABSOLUTE reworking the tune, a press release noted. London Records will be reissuing “Smalltown Boy” in several physical formats, including a numbered, colored 7-inch, transparent CD single; a music-box edition; and a new range of “Smalltown Boy” T-Shirts, available July 26. Pre-order is available via the Official Bronski Beat store at https://bronskibeat.tmstor.es/.
Cate Blanchett was at the Cannes Film Festival to promote Proof of Concept—an accelerator program she co-founded last year to elevate the perspectives of women, trans and nonbinary people by financially backing their short “proof-of-concept” films, Variety noted. “Their point of view, in whatever story, in whatever genre they tell it, will be different from somebody who has grown up [as a] white, middle-class male,” she said. “It’s a different perspective. They’ll put the camera in a different place in the room. And I think that’s really exciting.” Blanchett added, “Any time that I personally have advanced in my career, it is when I have taken risks. And it’s just that a lot of our male counterparts in the industry are applauded for their risks and their bravery. And they’re given $100 million and all the male actors are taking incredible risks that may not have worked, but God!”
Rapper Nicki Minaj was arrested and later fined in The Netherlands, Deadline noted. She was arrested for suspicion of carrying marijuana in her personal belongings while at the airport en route to Manchester, UK, for a scheduled performance. Marijuana is legal in the Netherlands; however, flying with the drug is illegal as the airplane is considered under federal jurisdiction. At one point, she tweeted, “now they said they found weed & that another group of ppl have to come here to weigh the pre-rolls. Keep in mind they took my bags without consent. My security has already advised them [that] those pre-rolls belong to him. Oh yea & the pilot wants me to take my [Instagram] post down.” She apologized to fans for postponing the show, per CNN.
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