Musical 'Fun Home' Sweeps 2015 Tony Awards, Makes History

Fun Home, a musical based on the best-selling graphics memoir by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, swept the 2015 Tony Awards last night in an unexpected and history-making move, usurping more traditional song-and-dance fare like contender An American in Paris.

Emotionally complex and entirely riveting, Fun Home examines Bechdel's relationship with her father, Bruce Bechdel, a funeral parlor director who was a closeted homosexual and carried out secret affairs with younger men during the course of her upbringing. Juxtaposed with this is the story of Bechdel's realization of her homosexuality, as well as the aftermath of Bruce's suicide four months after her coming out during her college years. Read More 

Palestine: Documentary Oriented

New talent Jake Witzenfeld takes a look at the LGBT community of Tel Aviv in his directorial debut, Oriented. The documentary takes place over 15 months, through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2014, and follows three Palestinian friends living in Tel Aviv as they face struggles with their nationality and sexuality.

Khader, son of a notorious Muslim mafia family lives with his Jewish boyfriend, David. Although legally Israeli, Fadi doesn’t identify as such and doesn’t feel he has the right to call himself a Palestinian. Instead he just defines himself as Arab. Naim struggles with coming out to his parents, something he feels empowered to do whenever he’s in Tel Aviv, but anytime he goes home, his return is met with crippling insecurities. Read More 

Science alone can’t shift anti-gay prejudice in Africa

South Africa was the first country in the world to include protection on the grounds of sexuality in its constitution. It remains a marked contrast to many of its African neighbours, which have either retained colonial laws against homosexual behaviour or, in some cases, introduced or strengthened such laws.

Thus it is not surprising that a report such as the Diversity of Human Sexuality, Implications for Policy in Africa should come from the Academy of Science South Africa.

The report provides a clear and rigorous summary of the current state of the science on diverse sexuality. But given the strength of anti-gay sentiment in Africa, whether it will be able to influence politicians is far from certain. Read more

Cambodia's LGBT community finds its voice

Cambodia, a country known for its abysmal human rights record and gender inequality, is now home to a print magazine geared toward the LGBT community and its allies. Q Cambodia, the country's first gay magazine, seeks to entertain, inform and bring more visibility to the community through interviews, stories and photos of both local Cambodians and foreigners, according to Sorel Thongvan, editor-in-chief of the magazine.

Thongvan, who was born in France to Khmer parents and lived in the United States and Cambodia, said he noticed something was missing within the LGBT community when he returned to Cambodia to live in 2012, so he decided to bridge that information gap with Q. Read More

Why anti-gay sentiment remains strong in much of Africa

This article is part of a series The Conversation Africa is running on issues related to LGBTI in Africa. You can read the rest of the series here.

Of the 76 countries that still criminalise same-sex relationships and behaviour, 38 are African. Recent surveys also show that the overwhelming majority of people who live in Africa strongly disapprove of homosexuality. This is even the case in South Africa, the only country on the continent that has legalised same-sex marriage.

Last month, socially conservative Ireland voted convincingly to legalise same-sex marriage. It became the first country where the people, as opposed to the courts or parliament, decided to legalise same-sex marriage. Ireland is now one of 20 countries globally that permit gay marriage. Fifteen years ago, such marriage was not legal anywhere in the world.

What the science is saying

Africa’s strong anti-homosexuality sentiment, harsh laws and active discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people warrant exploration. Read more

UK: Stars campaign to keep Human Rights Act

Imitation Game star Benedict Cumberbatch is among a number of stars who have recorded videos celebrating the Human Rights Act – amid government plans to scrap it.

David Cameron has pledged to “once and for all” repeal the Human Rights Act, and during the State Opening of Parliament today, the Queen confirmed “proposals” for a British Bill of Rights, which is expected to replace the law. Read More 

Australia: What it's like to grow up transgender and Aboriginal

Kai Clancy of the Wakka Wakka and Wulli Wulli nations on his life and including Aboriginal transgender identities in future transgender and gender-diverse initiatives:

I'm Kai, I'm 19 years old and I currently live in Melbourne. I am also a transgender male, meaning my mind didn't match with the gender given to me at birth. I transitioned at the age of 18, during my first year of university.

It isn't something I woke up one day and decided to do, as a joke. It isn't something that has grown on me in my late teen years, nor is it a teenage identity crisis. These are all assumptions I've had thrown at me during the last two years I've transitioned. To be quite frank, I was only four years old when I suggested I wasn't like the other kids, that I was born into the wrong body or something didn't happen right with me when I was developing. Read More 

Brazil: Photo series denounces pain caused by prejudice in small towns

Being gay in a country town in Brazil can be an oppressive experience -- an oppression of feeling, relating and being. In places far from the cultural energy and multiplicity common in urban centers, different people may not be accepted -- either by force of tradition or by lingering prejudice.  See More 

Amsterdam: "Inside Out - Portraits of Cross Gender Children"

In the last twelve years, the Dutch photographer Sarah Wong has documented life and experiences of a group of children suffering from gender dysphoria , they had passed the stage of transition - or were going through - to the conquest of self.  See More

South Africa: Documenting love, loss and identity in LGBT community

Since 2006, Zanele Muholi, has documented fellow members of the LGBT community as part of a series titled “Faces and Phases,” which aims to challenge homophobia and transphobia by recording black South Africa’s queer culture and visual history. See More

American Samoa: The Triumph of a transgender World Cup star

Jaiyah Saelua, who became the first ever transgender World Cup player in 2014, says Caitlyn Jenner “gave me hope.” She’s looking forward to 2018—without Sepp Blatter as FIFA president. Thanks to Caitlyn Jenner appearing on the cover of Vanity Fair and Sepp Blatter resigning from the presidency of FIFA, the first-ever transgender World Cup soccer player is enjoying a doubly sunny few days.

“It’s been a good start to the week,” 27-year-old Jaiyah Saelua said.

Saelua is a star player for the American Samoa men’s team, once called the worst in the world. She was instrumental in its first ever international victory, defeating Tonga in a 2014 World Cup first round qualifying match. Read More

International Olympic Committee responds to petition to revoke Caitlyn Jenner's Olympic medal

A petition is circulating to revoke an Olympic medal from Caitlyn Jenner, who recently revealed her “true self” in  stunning Vanity Fair photoshoot. 

In a rare move, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has issued a statement touching upon Jenner's transition.

Typically, the IOC is slow to address controversies arising from the public sphere —most recently, the committee dragged its heels to tackle Russia's anti-gay propaganda law in the months leading up to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, until the international pressure made it impossible to remain quiet. However, the traction gained by the petition apparently struck a nerve in the usually tight-lipped organization. 

IOC communications director, Mark Adams said: "Bruce Jenner won his gold medal in the 1976 Olympic Games and there is no issue for the IOC." Read More