Drag performer Conchita Wurst’s performance and win in 2014 caused quite a stir for the annual song contest popular among LGBT people.
But Wurst is hardly the first from the community to have Eurovision spur them to the public eye. See More
WNET, PBS Digital Studio Debut Web Series To Explore LGBTQ Issues
A new web series aims to take a thoughtful, no-holds-barred look at gender identity, "to tell their own stories about being queer and trans" as opposed to "just people talking about queer and trans communities." Newly released episode two: Host Kristin Russo sits down with writer, musician, filmmaker and performer, Vivek Shraya, about bisexual erasure and his experience identifying as bisexual. Shraya also discusses his new book “She of the Mountains,” a bisexual love story based on his life experiences. Read More
Dolce & Gabbana comments trigger public outrage--and uncomfortable silence
In an interview with the Italian magazine Panorama, designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of Dolce & Gabbana had some contentious things to say about same-sex families and children born of IVF: “You are born to a mother and a father, or at least that’s how it should be,” Mr. Dolce said. “I call children of chemistry, synthetic children. Rented uterus, semen chosen from a catalog.”
Outrage was swift. Read More
Japan: Lawmakers form nonpartisan group to support LGBTs ahead of 2020 Olympics
To avoid a repeat of the Russian anti-gay law controversy at last year's Sochi Games, lawmakers established a group to rid Japan of discrimination against sexual minorities ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The nonpartisan body includes Liberal Democratic Party member Hiroshi Hase, a former vice education minister; Komeito member Masaaki Taniai, vice chairman of the party's Policy Research Council; and Democratic Party of Japan member Goshi Hosono, chairman of the party's Policy Research Committee.
"As it hosts the Olympic Games, there is no doubt that Japanese society will be questioned on how it treats its sexual minorities," Hase said. "We must substantiate the principles described in the basic plan of the Games." Read More
UK: Rugby players get naked to support LGBT domestic violence hotline
Rugby players at Kings College London have gotten naked for a great cause -- to support an organization that helps victims of LGBT domestic violence, an issue that gets little attention.
The players and the student newspaper Roar News have teamed up on a calendar, with proceeds going to help Broken Rainbow UK. At least one in four lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people experience domestic violence, the newspaper reported, and Broken Rainbow is facing funding cuts. Read More
Australia: Sri Lankan cricket fan displays homophobic banner at World Cup
A Sri Lankan cricket fan has been roundly condemned by his countrymen for waving a placard labeling Glenn Maxwell a ‘fag’ at a world cup match in Sydney after a photo made rounds on Sri Lankan social media.
Politician Malsha Kumaranatunge, and the daughter of a former sports minister, said cricket was a game you played with respect, most importantly for your opponents.
'Holding placards like this, insulting players of the host country, in their own soil, is not only disrespectful to the people of Australia but reflects us Sri Lankans in a poor light,' she wrote on Facebook. 'Using homophobic terms to insult opposing players or anyone is unacceptable. Cricket is for everyone. Whether you are Sinhalese,Tamil or Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu, rich or poor, gay or straight. Respect.' Read More
Uganda: Based on a true story
On the 13th of February 2015 a movie based on a true story about an outed LGBTI person in Kampala was premiered registering a good attendance. Members from the Ugandan lgbti community and the allies graced the occasion. Based on a true story, Vida a gay man and an employee of one of the leading advertising firms in the city faces one of the hardest moments of his lifetime when his name and photo appear in a newspaper tabloid among other gays and lesbians with the paper calling for hanging these lgbti people. Read More
Unearthed Letter From Freud Reveals His Thoughts On Gay People
In 1935, Sigmund Freud penned a response to a mother who had asked him for help with her gay son. Despite the broader perceptions of homosexuality at the time, Freud took a different approach, telling the woman it's "nothing to be ashamed of."
"I gather from your letter that your son is a homosexual. I am most impressed by the fact that you do not mention this term for yourself in your information about him. May I question you why you avoid it?" he wrote. "Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation; it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function, produced by a certain arrest of sexual development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them." Read More
Apple unveils racially diverse emoji in 5 skin tones and same-sex couples
Apple is adding racially diverse emoji to its OS X desktop operating system.
The software's emoji keyboard will include characters in five skin tones based on the Fitzpatrick scale, a recognised standard used by dermatologists that moves the icons away from previously much-derided racial stereotypes. Read More
Samira Wiley Won An LGBT Visibility Award And Her Speech Is Truly Beautiful
Out gay Orange is the New Black actress Samira Wiley received the Visibility Award at the 2015 Human Rights Campaign North Carolina Gala last weekend And she gave a BEAUTIFUL speech.
Wiley spoke about kids growing up in intolerant families, her own positive family experience, and what it means to her to be proudly and visibly gay.
“As I sit and I listen to these stories pour out of people, my first thought is often how little we must think of ourselves, to only accept tolerance,” she said.
"What about acceptance? What about celebration, and love, and embracing difference, rather than merely tolerating it? What might happen if we raise the bar higher?" Read More
Jamaican music branded as ‘Hate Music’
Amid continuous cancellations of shows for several of dancehall and reggae’s top international acts, J-FLAG’s (The Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays) executive director, Dane Lewis, is inviting reggae and dancehall artists and their management team to an open discussion on the issues faced by the entertainment industry where homophobic music is concerned.
Recently, artist manager Copeland Forbes expressed that the state of the industry has been consistently deteriorating due to songs that have been produced and performed over the years which call for discrimination and violence against gays and lesbians. In the article, Forbes stated, “You (artists) don’t need to address them (homosexuals) because a lot of them are in the record companies and you are shaking their hands and you don’t even know. Leave that alone, homosexuality existed before you and it will be here when you’re gone. You don’t need to bring that inna yuh music.” Read More
Orebro HK, Swedish Hockey Team, Shows LGBT Support In The Coolest Way & Gives Everyone A Reason To Celebrate Sports
For one Swedish hockey team, simply winning a game isn't enough — they need to really get their fans in on the celebratory action as well. Goalie Julius Hudacek of Örebro HK, based in Örebro, Sweden, has made it a habit after every victory to give the team's supporters a warm show of thanks by taking to the ice once more and treating them to a hilarious display of athletic buffoonery (past activities have included playing leap-frog, juggling, cross-country skiing, and dressing up as Santa and letting a teammate drag him around the ice).
But it seems that both goalie and team have outdone themselves this time: on Saturday, Hudacek and the Örebro squad donned rainbow-striped jerseys for their game against the Frölunda Hockey Club and celebrated their win afterward by dancing to the Village People's "YMCA," in support of the region's LGBT Pride Night. Read More