Bear Grylls. (Mike Pont/WireImage) Survival expert and chief scout Bear Grylls has said that the movement must learn from its homophobic, racist founder Robert Baden-Powell. It was announced last week that a statue of Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting movement, is set to be removed from Poole Quay because it’s feared to be on a
LGBTQ
Liz Truss gives a speech at think-tank ‘Onward’ on March 19, 2019 in London. (PLuke Dray/Getty Images) Topping off a dispiriting few years for trans Britons, vital plans to reform legislation around legally changing one’s gender have been reportedly abandoned. But ministers hope to, nevertheless, “placate” the LGBT+ community by introducing a state ban on
Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco’s death spared outcry for typifying the failures of the criminal justice system for trans women of colour. (Facebook/Polanco family attorney) Officers swung open the iron doors of the cell of Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco and called her name. They believed the Latinx trans woman was simply asleep while in solitary confinement. She was
Startling video showed a gang of far-right white-supremacists flashing Nazi salutes during a riot to defend a statue of Winston Churchill, who famously defeated the Nazis. (Screen capture via Twitter) Waving Union Jack flags, occasionally wearing face masks, almost always sipping beer and flashing Nazi salutes, an angry far-right mob made its way through London,
Takaya Honda and Matt Wilson play David and Aaron in Neighbours. (Channel 5) Neighbours star Takaya Honda, who plays David Tanaka in the soap, has spoken about his character’s trailblazing storyline of becoming a foster parent in a same-sex relationship. Tanaka’s character David married Aaron Brennan in 2018, making them the first couple to have a
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) Joe Biden spearheaded a blistering backlash against the Trump administration that on Friday (June 12) “cruelly” erased precious healthcare protections for trans patients less than two weeks into Pride Month. The Department of Health and Human Services finalised a rule that effectively means gender identity
Donald Trump holds an LGBT+ Pride flag given to him by supporter. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty) On the four year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting – when a man laid siege onto a queer Latinx club killing 49 people, many LGBT+ – the Trump administration Friday evening (June 12) brutally rolled-back healthcare protections for trans patients. …Happy
Hungarian trans couple Tamara Csillag and Elvira Angyal. (Tamara Csillag/ Facebook) A Hungarian trans couple have described their life in limbo, after the country’s government passed a cruel and devastating law to legally erase them. Evaluations of Hungarian trans people’s applications to have their gender or name changed have been withheld since 2018, a ban
Alyssa Kayhil and Anhlinh Trinh were reunited after three months apart (Screenshot: New York Post) When the coronavirus pandemic kept a nurse apart from her girlfriend for three months, she enlisted the help of her neighbours to make their reunion unforgettable. Alyssa Kayhill is a musician who’s been working on the front lines as a
People attend a Sunday mass in the Sanctuary of Montenero while social distancing on May 10, 2020 in Livorno, Italy. (Laura Lezza/Getty) A group of Italian Catholic bishops has attacked proposed legislation against homophobia and transphobia, claiming it would make “expression of a legitimate opinion” a crime. Employment discrimination based on sexual orientation was made
Gay men in Ghana are being hunted down through dating apps like Grindr (MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty) Gay men in Ghana are being targeted on Grindr by catfishing conmen who “steal, abuse and blackmail” them, an African LGBT+ group has warned. Sex between men is illegal in Ghana and punishable by up three years in prison, so
JK Rowling attends the press preview of ‘Harry Potter and The Cursed Child” at Palace Theatre on July 30, 2016 in London, England. (Rob Stothard/Getty Images) JK Rowling has revealed that she has a history of sexual assault, but has used it to argue against the rights of trans women to use single sex spaces.
Emma Watson restored the eroding hopes of Harry Potter fans Wednesday night (June 10) when she shattered her dayslong silence towards JK Rowling and her tirade of anti-trans tweets. While the British author of the beloved children’s series issued a meandering essay that nobody asked for on her opinions towards trans rights – many based
A trans EastEnders actor has said JK Rowling is “invalidating the identity of people who look up to her” – but said she should only apologise if she actually means it. Riley Carter, who played Kyle Slater on the BBC soap, made his comments during an appearance on Loose Women yesterday (June 9). Carter told
Trans Harry Potter fans have told PinkNews how “tired” they are after JK Rowling made recent comments on trans people – but they refuse to have the community they’ve built sullied by her “hate”. Jackson Bird first started reading Rowling’s books when he was nine years old, shortly after Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
A Black Lives Matter protest in Washington DC. (GettyYasin Ozturk) A leading LGBT+ rights organisation has said that the Black Lives Matter movement must do more for murdered Black trans women. Widespread protests against ongoing police brutality in the wake of the murder of George Floyd have spread across America. But the Human Rights Campaign
Jonathan Van Ness (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic) and JK Rowling (Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/WireImage) Jonathan Van Ness has slammed JK Rowling over her recent anti-trans Twitter comments. The Queer Eye star criticised Rowling’s views on trans people and the timing of her comments as people around the world focus their energies on the Black Lives Matter movement. “Trans
JK Rowling left LGBT+ Harry Potter fans heartbroken with a string of anti-trans tweets – but the signs were there all along. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Severus Snape, a cisgender male character, is depicted wearing a dress. The moment, which occurs in both the 1999 book and its corresponding 2004 film,
Merritt Corrigan. (WPA Intelligence/ Twitter) A new member of Donald Trump’s administration previously said that America is in the clutches of a “homo-empire” that pushes a “tyrannical LGBT+agenda”. Merritt Corrigan was recently appointed by Trump as deputy White House liaison at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), America’s foreign aid agency. The new Trump
Jonathan Ross has built a storied career from jokes that earn him as much praise as they do scrutiny. (Ian Gavan/Getty Images) In 2008, British talk show Jonathan Ross host was known for two things: His plump pay-cheque and sometimes lewd language. While the TV presenter provided the grist for critics of the BBC when
Katie Leung (L) has reacted to the firestorm caused by JK Rowling’s comments on the trans community. (Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty) In the wake of criticism pelting JK Rowling over her comments on trans people this Saturday (June 6), Harry Potter readers reignited the debate over the author’s racial stereotyping in her books and Katie Leung
Madonna at London’s Black Lives Matter protest, June 6. (Twitter) Madonna showed up to a Black Lives Matter march on crutches to protest racism, chanting “No justice, no peace” in central London. The pop star and longtime LGBT+ ally, on crutches because of a recent knee injury, was reportedly at the June 6 Black Lives
Justice Smith posted photos of him with boyfriend Nicholas L Ashe after chanting ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’ at a New Orleans protest. (Instagram) Jurassic World actor Justice Smith has come out as queer by sharing photos of him and his boyfriend in solidarity with Black Trans Lives Matter. Smith, 24, shared the powerful statement on
Donald Trump inexplicably entered the arena to the Village People at a rally in India in February 2020. (Getty) Village People lead singer Victor Willis has told US president Donald Trump to stop playing their music at his rallies. This is a marked change of tune from the band, who in February 2020 said they
In 2016, after a long fight from LGBT+ activists, gay sex was finally made legal in the Central American country of Belize. That change would never have happened without the tireless campaigning of Caleb Orozco. As executive director of the United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM), Orozco filed a case with the country’s Supreme Court in
Protesters gather for a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Paris, France, on June 2. (Pierre Suu/Getty Images) Police officers in France have been caught privately sharing hundreds of racist, sexist and homophobic messages. The messages were shared in a private Facebook group, which is made up of more than 8,000 police officers, gendarmes (paramilitary police)
LA Pride’s Black Lives Matter solidarity march has been widely condemned by activists after it was alleged that organisers are working with police. LA Pride was cancelled almost two months ago due to the coronavirus pandemic, but organisers announced this week that they intended to replace it with a Black Lives Matter march. However, the
Billy Porter has said that “LGBT+ Black folks are people too” in a passionate speech about racism and discrimination in the United States. The Pose star addressed anti-LGBT+ prejudice within the Black community in a video posted today (June 5), and spoke about the violence faced by Black trans women. “As a Black queer man
Bob the Drag Queen during Pride Month 2019, when the world was a little different. (Getty) Like many Black people in recent days, Bob the Drag Queen has been forced to have some uncomfortable conversations with friends who had remained silent on the Black Lives Matter uprising. “I called a couple of them and they
Steve King, a controversial Iowa congressman known for his openly racist, homophobic views, has just lost his bid to secure a 10th term in office. You might remember Steve King as the man who offered to marry gay people to his lawnmower. Or the man who claimed evidence for gay parenting is “fake” like global