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World news links: Jan. 25

Tel Aviv named world’s ‘Best Gay City,’ British spy agency MI5 named most gay-friendly UK employer, and an Italian bishop calls for recognizing same-sex couples

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Some of the following international LGBT stories are making waves overseas:

  • American Airlines — a company with a history of strong support for the LGBT community — has named Tel Aviv the world’s ‘Best Gay City,’ over New York City, Tortono, Sao Paulo, Madrid, London, New Orleans, and Mexico City. The airlines described it as “the gay capital of the Middle East, exotic and welcoming, with a Mediterranean c’est la vie attitude” (ThinkProgress)
  • Meanwhile, Stonewall, the British counterpart of the Human Rights Campaign, has named UK’s domestic spy agency MI5 the most gay-friendly employer in the kingdom. Just a few decades ago being found to be gay would have been cause for removal from intelligence jobs in most countries (HuffPo).
  • LGBT activists in Malta have launched an educational campaign pushing for tolerance and support in the popular Mediterranean island nation (Times of Malta).
  • Paolo Urso, Catholic bishop of the Sicilian city of Ragusa has called for the civil recognition of same-sex couples (ThinkProgress).

Last week LGBT protesters gathered in ‘Red Square’ in Moscow to call for an end to the local bans on “gay propaganda” in Russian municipalities:

The Russian video description can be translated as follows:

“January 20, 2012 in Red Square detained gay activists, Piggy, Stepashka, Phil and Karkusha. Participants of the rally called for an end to bans gay propaganda in Russia and wished good night to the kids at Red Square in Moscow detained activists of Moscow Pride, Nikolai Alekseev, Alexey Kiselev and Cyril Nepomniachtchi, published in an unauthorized rally by the authorities, “Good night, mylyshi!”, Dated the second anniversary of the decision of the Constitutional Court on the constitutionality of the laws of the Ryazan region of Russia to ban propaganda of homosexuality to minors. Activists took to the Red Square at midnight under a chiming clock on the Kremlin’s Spassky Tower, when all the children in Russia need to sleep. They were holding characters in popular children’s TV program “Good night, kids!” Piggy, Stepashka, Fil and Karkushu with bright icons of Moscow Pride. Participants of the rally also carried signs “Give a gay pride parade in Red Square,” “propaganda of homosexuality is not possible. Prohibit the promotion of homophobia and the deputy feeble mind.” Earlier, the Moscow authorities have banned a gay activist shares in Pushkin Square, with reference to the position of the federal law that public events can not be conducted between 23 pm and 7 am. Organisers have promised to appeal the ban by the Constitutional Court of Russia. GayRussia.Ru”

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Hungary

Hungarian authorities lift Budapest Pride ban

Country’s new government took office last month

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Budapest Pride participants march over the Erzsebet Bridge in Budapest, Hungary, on June 28, 2025, despite an official ban. The country's new government will allow this year's Budapest Pride march to take place without restrictions. (Courtesy photo)

Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the annual Budapest Pride march to take place.

“The Budapest Metropolitan Police has approved the 2026 Budapest Pride Parade and also has issued restrictive orders in relation to three counter-demonstrations,” a Budapest Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Politico.

Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.

Hungarian lawmakers last year passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify participants. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.

More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in last year’s Budapest Pride parade. The event became one of the largest protests against then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government since he took office in 2010.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12. The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021.

The EU on May 29 announced it will release more than €16 billion ($18.59 billion) in funds to Hungary that it withheld while Orbán was in office.

The Budapest Pride march will take place on June 27.

“We will march freely in fresh air for our rights, for the democratic Hungary,” said Budapest Pride on its Facebook page.

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Colombia

Claudia López comes up short in Colombian presidential election

Former Bogotá mayor would have been country’s first lesbian head of government

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Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López speaks at the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute's International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in D.C. on Dec. 7, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López on Sunday finished fifth in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election.

López, a centrist who ran as an independent, received 225,517 votes. This figure is .95 percent of the total votes cast.

López was the Colombian capital’s mayor from 2020-2023. She was a member of the Colombian Senate from 2014-2018. López, whose wife is outgoing Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano, would have become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she would have won the election.

The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute honored López in D.C. in 2024.

“We need to listen to each other again, we need to have a coffee with each other again, we need to touch each other’s skin,” she told the Washington Blade during an interview. She hadn’t yet declared her candidacy, and did not specifically discuss her plans to run.

Runoff to take place June 21

Abrelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer who has praised U.S. President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, on Sunday finished first with 43.74 percent of the vote. Senator Iván Cepeda, a member of outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s Historic Pact party, came in second with 40.9 percent of the vote.

Neither men received a majority of votes. A runoff between them will take place on June 21.

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Ghana

Ghanaian lawmakers approve anti-LGBTQ bill

Measure that would criminalize allyship awaits president’s signature

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Ghanaian flag (Public domain photo from Pixabay)

Ghanaian lawmakers on Friday approved a bill that would, among other things, criminalize LGBTQ allyship.

Reuters reported MPs approved the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, in a voice vote after parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee backed it.

MPs in 2024 approved a similar bill, but it faced legal challenges and then-President Nana Akufo-Addo didn’t sign it. Lawmakers last year reintroduced the measure after President John Dramani Mahama took office.

The bill awaits his signature.

Rightify Ghana, a Ghanaian LGBTQ advocacy group, in a series of social media posts notes MPs passed the bill days before the 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty will take place in Accra, the country’s capital.

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