I knew we Tucsonans are pretty proud of our fun little city, but there is a whole gay world out there full of amazing people and we should know a little about their lives. With that in mind, I present to you the Gay News section; a few of my favorite news sources talking about Gay News and Events around the world. Check back regularly for constantly updated news and information that truly matters.
The Most Followed LGBTQ News Source
Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voice
Readers criticise the response of senior officers to a damning report on racism, homophobia and misogyny in the Metropolitan police
Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, accepts the findings of the Casey report that there are systemic failings in the force. Yet he would not use the term “institutional” because he finds it “a very ambiguous term”. He admits that “we’ve got systemic failings, management failings, cultural failings” (Met police found to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic, 21 March).
He should ponder the arguments of the great anthropologist Prof Mary Douglas in her 1986 book How Institutions Think. Douglas explained that to those within an institution, it seems as natural and as invisible as the air they breathe. Special effort is needed to see by those who daily, through their efforts, generate and sustain an institution, or challenge one.
Continue reading...Less than a month after WorldPride, LGBTQ+ communities are reeling after several intimidating incidents in one week
At the start of March, Australia was the queerest place to be.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community and their families walked over the Sydney Harbour Bridge for WorldPride, joined by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese. Rainbows draped the city, eco-friendly glitter was strewn across the streets and trans and gender-diverse performers hit the stage.
Continue reading...Washington Post and KFF study found 78% of respondents said living as different gender from birth increased satisfaction in life
A large majority of transgender adults say that transitioning has made them more satisfied with their life, according to a new survey.
The survey conducted by the Washington Post and KFF, a nonprofit focusing on health issues, is the largest nongovernmental survey of transgender adults that uses random samplings.
Continue reading...Independent senator was pulled to the ground by Australian federal police in front of Parliament House
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, says an incident in which senator Lidia Thorpe was knocked to the ground, apparently by an Australian federal police officer, while protesting against an anti-trans rights rally was “disturbing and concerning”.
On Thursday Thorpe was pulled to the ground after she rushed towards a lectern at which anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull was addressing a small crowd of supporters outside Australian Parliament House in Canberra.
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Continue reading...An NHL team with a Russian player has decided against wearing special warmup jerseys to commemorate Pride night, citing an anti-gay Kremlin law that could imperil Russian athletes when they return home.
The Chicago Blackhawks, who have an additional two players with connections to Russia, will not wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys before Sunday’s game against Vancouver because of security concerns involving the law, which expands restrictions on supporting LGBTQ rights. Vladimir Putin signed the law in December.
Continue reading...Hosting of Out and Equal Workplace summit is seen as response to governor’s fight against LGBTQ+ rights in Florida
Disney is pushing back against Florida’s rightwing Republican governor Ron DeSantis’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights by hosting a major LGBTQ+ conference.
The Out & Equal Workplace summit has touted itself as the “largest LGBTQ+ conference in the world” and draws more than 5,000 attendees annually. For the next two years, the Out & Equal non-profit which focuses on LGBTQ+ workplace equality will be held at Walt Disney World in Orlando, the Miami Herald reports.
Continue reading...One is centre-right, the other a socialist. They disagreed on Thatcherism and nuclear weapons, but will being part of the same LGTBQ+ community save the day?
James, 45, Billericay, Essex
Occupation Marketing consultant
Continue reading...Drag story hours face protests and threats of violence amid push to erode LGBTQ rights in state legislatures across the US
In a sea of rainbow umbrellas, colorful hairstyles and even brighter costumes, Allison Towle loosely gripped on to her five-year-old daughter’s hand.
It was bright and cold in New York’s West Village, and the two were on their way out from a Drag Storytelling Hour.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Mark Butler says part of the issue is that vaping was allowed to “explode” so it’s a case of putting the genie back in the bottle – but he says the government is determined to do it, so the tobacco industry doesn’t win.
A parent told us last week that they found in their very young child’s pencil case, not a 16/17-year-old but a very young child’s pencil case, a vape that was deliberately designed to look like a highlighter pen. I mean, these things are insidious.
They are causing very real damage not just to the health of very young children but to behavioural issues at schools as well.
This is now the biggest behavioural issue in primary schools. I mean, this is this is an industry shamelessly marketing, not just to teenagers but to young children. When you look at these things, with pink unicorns on them and bubblegum flavors, these aren’t marketed to adults.
This is an industry that is trying to create a new generation of nicotine addicts so they get around all of the hard work. Our country and other countries have done over recent decades to stamp out smoking.
Continue reading...Proposed laws in Uganda would mean death and life imprisonment for some LGBTQ+ crimes
The UN has urged Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, to block an anti-LGBTQ+ bill that has harsh penalties for some homosexual offences, including death and life imprisonment.
“The passing of this discriminatory bill – probably among the worst of its kind in the world – is a deeply troubling development,” Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement.
Continue reading...
Since January 2023, millions of protesters have peacefully taken to the streets across France, opposing a pension reform plan that increases the retirement age by two years, to 64.
Last week, as President Emmanuel Macron appeared set to lose a parliamentary vote over the pension plan, his cabinet invoked a constitutional article to circumvent the vote. The decision angered protesters and led to violent confrontations between some demonstrators and the police. Numerous videos, pictures, and testimonies circulating on social and traditional media suggest the police have used a seemingly heavy-handed, disproportionate, and indiscriminate response.
Rights groups and independent bodies, including the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, have criticized French police for resorting to excessive force and for making preventative arrests that could amount to arbitrary deprivation of liberty. The French Defender of Rights noted on March 21 that “this practice may induce a risk of disproportionately resorting to custodial measures and fostering tensions.” According to Reporters Without Borders, “Several clearly identifiable journalists were assaulted by security forces while covering protests against” the pension reform.
On March 20, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association warned French authorities that “peaceful demonstrations are a fundamental right that the authorities must guarantee and protect. Law enforcement officers must facilitate them and avoid excessive use of force.”
Excessive use of force by police during protests is not new in France. In December 2018, Human Rights Watch documented injuries caused by police weapons during France’s “yellow vest” mobilizations and unrelated student protests, including people whose limbs were burned and maimed by presumed use of instant teargas grenades. We also documented cases in which people were shot and injured by rubber ball-shaped projectiles, and disproportionate use of chemical spray and “stingball” riot-control grenades.
As demonstrations continue, French authorities should respect the rights of protesters. They should assess whether police tactics used are necessary and proportionate, investigate allegations of excessive use of force, and hold officers responsible for abuses to account. Authorities should ensure that during demonstrations, law enforcement officials resort to force only when strictly necessary, in accordance with international standards.
Macron’s government needs to demonstrate that it is committed to the rights to freedom of speech and assembly, including the right to protest peacefully.
