Gus Kenworthy was terrified about the consequences of coming out as gay in 2015 but the American skier says that his decision prompted a huge outpouring of unexpected support and has allowed him to compete without the weight of the world on his shoulders. Kenworthy, an Olympic silver medal winner in the ski slopestyle at…
As advocates for LGBTQ employees push to reverse appellate rulings that they’re not protected against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, a Louisiana federal judge held that a heterosexual employee who was fired after she posted an anti-LGBTQ comment on Facebook cannot claim reverse discrimination or retaliation at the hands of her LGBTQ…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ended the first legal challenge to a Republican-backed Mississippi law that permits businesses and government employees to refuse to serve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people because of their religious beliefs. The justices left in place a June ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…
(Reuters) A federal judge in Washington on Monday blocked President Donald Trump from banning transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, handing a victory to transgender service members who accused the president of violating their constitutional rights. The transgender service members sued in August to try to block the ban, which had not yet…
(Reuters) After years of refusing to address rumors about his sexuality, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey said on Sunday he has chosen to live his life as a gay man. Spacey, 58, who won Oscars for “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty,” made the declaration in a post on Twitter. He apologized to fellow actor Anthony…
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) Transgender political candidates scored wins in the first U.S. elections since Donald Trump became president, a sign of their growing acceptance in parts of the country, experts said on Wednesday. Five transgender candidates were victorious, among them a woman who won a heated race for state legislature in Virginia, the…
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) The number of lesbian, gay and transgender characters on U.S. television shows have reached record highs, and campaign group GLAAD said on Thursday that their stories were more important than ever given moves in the United States to roll back LGBT acceptance. In its annual report on diversity on the small screen,…
LISBON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) Sexual harassment scandals sweeping from Hollywood to other industries globally highlight the need to have more women, gay and black people in power at a time when minority rights are being rolled back, LGBTQ campaigners said on Tuesday. U.S. filmmaker Dustin Lance Black, an lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) activist…
CAIRO (Reuters) An Egyptian lawmaker is introducing a draft bill that would imprison those engaging in or promoting same-sex relations, a copy of the draft seen by Reuters on Thursday showed. Amnesty International said the bill is “another nail in the coffin for sexual rights in Egypt” and should be scrapped. It would introduce sentences…
HONG KONG (Reuters) Hong Kong will host the 2022 Gay Games, fighting off bids from cities in the United States and Mexico to become the first Asian city to stage the sports and cultural event. The games are expected to attract more than 15,000 participants and provide a HK$1-billion ($128-million) boost to the economy, the…
BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) Michelle Suarez, Uruguay’s first transgender senator, is already considered elderly. She has made it to 34 – a rarity in a country where transgender people tend to die young. A veteran trailblazer for LGBT rights, she helped draft a bill that legalized same-sex marriage in 2013 and became the first transgender…
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) An exclusive London gentlemen’s club has defied its 150-year-old tradition as a male-only bastion by allowing a woman to join – but only because she was born a man. The Savile Club in swanky Mayfair in central London has never accepted women since it opened in 1868, but bent its rules…
ATHENS (Reuters) Churches in a western Greek region will ring funeral bells to protest a new law that makes it easier for people to change their legally recognized gender. Greece’s parliament passed a law which allows people over 15 to change their gender on official documents with a court ruling, without requiring medical tests or…
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Days after a long-running Indonesian television comedy aired, its producers got a letter from the broadcast commission warning that a male character in the show was “dressed and behaving like a woman” and could violate broadcasting standards. “We evaluated the show…we immediately reminded our staff to be careful because we are minimizing…
CAIRO (Reuters) Sarah Hegazy has been jailed, beaten by inmates, and could face a life sentence in an Egyptian prison if found guilty of “promoting sexual deviancy” and other charges tied to her alleged crime: waving a rainbow flag at a concert. The 28-year-old denies waving the flag but is one of 57 people arrested…
