Lazarus Ikaneng Thomas, a 50-year-old gay man from Galeshewe in Northern Cape province has become South Africa’s latest victim of homophobic violence.

The province’s Department of Social Development, Youth, Women, People Living with Disabilities, Sports, Arts, and Culture said authorities discovered Thomas’s decomposing body in a home on Sept. 7 after neighbors complained of a foul smell. Thomas, who was buried at Kimberly’s Phutanang Cemetery last Friday, was reportedly strangled and had acid poured on his body.

Nontobeko Vilakazi, a member of the Department of Social Development, Youth, Women, People Living with Disabilities, Sports, Arts, and Culture’s Executive Council in the Northern Cape province, said Thomas’s murder left her shaken, especially when she saw pictures of his decomposed hand lying on the ground.

“I would firstly want to offer my condolences to the bereaved family,” said Vilakazi. “This tragic incident should never have transpired. It hurts me to see our society exhibiting so much hate.” 

“Why would someone murder someone because of who they are?” she asked. “The stigma and hatred for other people is of grave concern. As a community, we need to do better, we can’t continue like this. As a department we will be offering psychosocial support to the family, this tragic incident has left us utterly distraught.”

Sibonelo Ncanana, civil society engagement officer for OUT LGBT Well-being, echoed Vilakazi. The advocacy group said Thomas’s murder is a stark reminder of the ongoing hate crimes the country’s LGBTQ community are experiencing.

“Firstly, we would like to convey our condolences to the family. It’s really a painful tragedy that transpired,” said Ncanana. “However, over the past few months, we have witnessed a lot of hate crimes with most of the victims succumbing to the hate crimes.”

Ncanana said five people have been killed in suspected hate crimes in Eastern Cape over the last four weeks.

“It’s really worrisome,” said Ncanana. “We are running out of ideas on how to curb these hate crimes. It’s depressing and devastating.”

Inclusive and Affirming Ministries said the police should expedite their investigation of Thomas’s death.

“The LGBT community is united in demanding justice for Lazarus, we urge the police to take swift action in uncovering the truth and holding those responsible accountable,” said IAM.

South Africa is currently witnessing an unprecedented level of attacks on LGBTQ people, with many of them losing their lives. President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year signed a law that criminalizes hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but the attacks continue. 

Activists have attributed this spike in anti-LGBTQ hate crimes to the National Prosecuting Authority, the police, and other law enforcement officials who they say have not done enough to arrest and prosecute perpetrators. A small handful of people accused of carrying out homophobic attacks have been arrested and prosecuted — and some cases have dragged on for years before a verdict is reached. 

Those who are convicted do not receive maximum — or lengthy — prison sentences. Activists say these punishments enable continued homophobic attacks.

So-called “right-wing socialists” continue their calls for the government to change laws that protect the rights of LGBTQ people.

South African law fully recognizes and protects LGBTQ people, but many South Africans continue to disregard their existence.

Upwards of 60 people participated in a Pride event that activists organized in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Sunday.

A press release that Kharkiv Pride released notes 13 cars “drove along one of the city’s main avenues to raise awareness about the need to uphold human rights and secure international support for the defense and recovery of Kharkiv.”

Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second-largest city, is less than 30 miles from the Russian border in the eastern part of the country. 

Russia has repeatedly targeted the city since the Kremlin launched its war against Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. 

A Russian airstrike on March 1, 2022, killed Elvira Schemur, an LGBTQ rights activist who volunteered for Kharkiv Pride and Kyiv Pride, a group that is in the Ukrainian capital. Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, a transgender American journalist who is now a member of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, arrived in Kharkiv eight days after Schemur’s death. 

The Kharkiv Pride press release notes “several “LGBTQ+ soldiers participated in the march.”

“We need to show visibility that there are LGBTQ+ people in the army,” said Vlad, an LGBTQ soldier identified by the call sign “Sapsan,” in the Kharkiv Pride press release. “Those who attend the march represent the voices of those on the front lines and, sadly, those who are no longer with us.” 

Kharkiv Pride in its press release expressed support for bills that would legally recognize same-sex couples and add sexual orientation and gender identity to Ukraine’s hate crimes law.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in August 2022 endorsed the civil partnerships bill. 

Zelenskyy in 2021 pledged Ukraine would continue to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity after he met with President Joe Biden at the White House. Ukrainian lawmakers in late 2022 unanimously approved a media regulation bill that bans hate speech and incitement based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Each group of cars carried specific messages to authorities and international partners,” said Kharkiv Pride in its press release. “Kharkiv Pride is urging the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Parliament) to pass legislation that strengthens accountability for hate crimes (Bill № 5488) and introduces registered partnerships (Bill № 9103.)”

“Activists are also appealing to European countries to help protect Kharkiv’s skies with modern air defense systems and to international partners to consider the needs of underrepresented and vulnerable groups, involving them in decision-making processes during recovery planning,” it added.

Kharkiv Pride Co-organizer Anna Sharyhina noted this year’s theme was “Together for Equality and Victory.”

“We remember every day how important Ukraine’s victory is,” said Sharyhina. “Just as important to us is the fight for equal rights and the protection of the LGBTQ+ community. People who are fighting, risking their lives, cannot be denied their rights. It is both unjust and undignified, and the war has only highlighted these challenges.” 

TONGA

A group of lawyers in the South Pacific nation of Tonga has called for the removal of newly appointed Chief Justice Malcolm Bishop because he is openly gay.

Bishop, a 71-year-old native of Wales, was appointed to the role last month. It is relatively common in small island nations for judges to be appointed from other Commonwealth countries, due to the scarcity of qualified jurists. 

Bishop has more than five decades of legal experience and has lived as an openly gay man through much of his career.

But a group of Tongan lawyers say Bishop should not serve on the bench because “his lifestyle conflicts with the law of Tonga,” and they’ve petitioned King Tupou VI to remove him. The group cites Tonga’s Criminal Offenses Act, which criminalizes sodomy with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. 

But that opposition is not universal. The Tongan Law Society has dissociated itself from the petition.

Henry Aho, a lawyer and former president of Tonga’s Leitis Association, the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, suggests a darker purpose behind the petition.

He says the group is trying “to bring to the fore that this law exists and that it ought to be used to prosecute consenting adults also.”

Neither Bishop nor King Tupou VI have responded publicly to the petition.

The sodomy law has never been enforced in Tonga, but the country’s largely Christian culture remains deeply conservative and opposed to LGBTQ rights. Efforts to lobby the government to repeal the sodomy law — a relic of the British colonial administration – have fallen on deaf ears, even as other South Pacific nations like Palau, Nauru, Fiji, and the Cook Islands have decriminalized sodomy in recent years.

The government has opposed LGBTQ rights so strongly that it is one of only five countries that has not signed or ratified the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, out of fear that it could lead to decriminalization of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The other states are Iran, Sudan, Somalia, and the Vatican. The U.S. and Palau have signed but not ratified the convention. 

AUSTRALIA

Australia’s Labor government has spun itself in circles on LGBTQ issues in recent weeks, with its latest broken promise to the country’s LGBTQ community being new hate crime legislation that does not criminalize hate speech that vilifies minority groups.

The updated legislation strengthens some of the nation’s laws against urging hate-motivated violence and by adding specific provisions for hatred motivated by race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, disability, nationality, national or ethnic origin or political opinion.

The government also introduced a separate bill that would criminalize “doxing,” which is the release of a person’s personal information with the intent to threaten, harm, or intimidate them. The law encompasses the release of a person’s private information about their sexual orientation or gender identity. Violators could get up to seven years in prison if their target is a member of a protected class.

But Labor had promised to criminalize the vilification of LGBTQ people, and that’s missing from the introduced legislation.

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus says the two laws “respond to the increasing prevalence of hate speech and hateful conduct in our society.”

Vilification laws already exist in several Australian states, but a national law would protect queer Australians in the states that don’t have them — Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and the Northern Territory.

This is the latest policy flip on LGBTQ issues from the Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Last month, the government caused controversy when it announced that it would not count LGBTQ people in the 2026 national Census, contrary to their election manifesto. The government eventually reversed its announcement, first saying it would ask a question about sexual orientation, then saying it would also add a question about gender identity.

Albanese’s government also came under fire earlier this year for walking back a promise to close an exception to discrimination law that allows religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students and teachers.

In a positive development, the government of South Australia state announced it would introduce a law to ban conversion therapy this week, modeled after legislation passed in several other states. After it passes, only Western Australia, Tasmania, and Northern Territory would lack laws against conversion therapy.

Western Australia’s government had announced plans to ban conversion therapy in 2022, but this week announced that they will not have time to pass a bill to ban it until after state elections next year.

JAPAN

Pressure is increasing on Japan’s government to recognize same-sex couples, as four more prefectures began same-sex partnership registries this month.

Fukushima, Yamaguchi, Niigata, and Shima, with a combined population of about 7 million people, bring the total number of prefectures issuing partnership certificates to same-sex couples to 30 out of Japan’s 46 prefectures. They’re home to more than 66 percent of Japan’s population of 125 million.

Partnership certificates help same-sex couples access local services, but otherwise hold no legal status and confer no rights or obligations on the parties. That’s made it difficult for same-sex couples to access national services or uphold their rights regarding inheritance, parenting, and taxation.

Even though polls suggest a majority of Japanese people support equal rights for same-sex couples, the deeply traditional national government has continued to oppose expanding marriage rights.

A series of court cases filed across the country have sought to have the ban on same-sex marriage declared unconstitutional. But while five out of six district courts that have heard the cases found the ban unconstitutional, they have all refused to allow same-sex marriage outright. 

Appeals to those cases are ongoing, with one appeal to be heard in the Tokyo High Court on Sept 26, a ruling in a separate Tokyo case expected to be handed down Oct. 30, a ruling from the Nagoya High Court expected on Nov. 5, and a ruling from the Fukuoka High Court expected on Dec. 13.

It’s likely the issue will ultimately be decided by Japan’s Supreme Court.

Japan is in the midst of selecting a new prime minister, after incumbent Fumio Kishida announced he was resigning as leader of the governing Liberal Democratic Party last month. None of the leading candidates for leadership has endorsed same-sex marriage except for Taro Kono, who is currently polling far behind other candidates. The leadership election is scheduled for Sept. 27. 

FINLAND

A citizen’s initiative to ban so-called conversion therapy in Finland appears to have the support of a clear majority of lawmakers but is still unlikely to pass into law due to opposition from two conservative parties that are part of the ruling coalition.

Last week, the chair of parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, Juho Eerola, announced he was indefinitely suspending consideration of the initiative due to purported leaks to the media on the issue. Eerola comes from the far-right Finns Party, which opposes the initiative and LGBTQ rights generally.

The Finns are joined by the Christian Democrats in opposing the conversion therapy initiative. Leaders of both parties put out a statement saying the initiative would not pass during the life of the current parliament, which is expected to last until 2027.

The two parties are in a four-party coalition with the National Coalition Party and the Swedish People’s Party. While both of the latter parties support the conversion therapy ban, the coalition agreement does not mention it.

The left-leaning opposition Social Democrats, Left Alliance, and Green League all support banning conversion therapy as well. Together, those five parties have 125 votes out of 200 members of parliament — and several members of the Center Party are also supportive.

Under Finnish law, a citizen’s initiative must be considered by parliament if it gathers more than 50,000 signatures. Groups supporting a ban submitted 52,000 signatures in November 2023.