CANADA

A Catholic school board in suburban Toronto has voted to uphold its policy banning Pride flags from being displayed outside schools after a school trustee introduced a motion to revise the policy on Jan. 22.

The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board governs 151 public Catholic schools in Toronto’s western suburbs. In the province of Ontario, Catholic schools receive public funding and are allowed to promote religious teaching, but must generally follow provincial nondiscrimination law.

The board’s policy limits the flags that may be flown outside schools based on the number of flagpoles the school has. Those with one pole must fly the Canadian flag, those with two must also fly the Ontario flag, while those with three must fly a flag that is either associated with the liturgical season of the church, the school board itself, or a local Catholic charity. 

Trustee Brea Corbet had proposed that the third flagpole could be used to fly the Pride flag or other appropriate flags.

“When we remove rainbow flags or other heritage flags, we’re not protecting Catholic identity. We’re revealing institutional fragility. The rainbow flag doesn’t threaten Catholic education. Policies of exclusion do. And exclusion is a strong form of bullying,” Corbet said.

But other trustees rejected the motion. 

“The LGBTQ+ community is not our enemy. We all fall short of God’s glory. We are not judging, but we are also not promoting. We don’t want to outwardly promote, because our faith doesn’t allow us to. We are called to love all people, whatever their beliefs are. We are not discriminating against anyone,” Trustee Paula Dametto-Giovannozzi said at the meeting.

The current policy allows Pride flags to be displayed inside schools, but only during a specific “observance period” and they must be removed at other times.

“Prohibiting these flags from flying outside the board office and removing them inside schools after an observance period ends does not make school environments more welcoming, safer, more inclusive. It doesn’t,” Corbet said of the policy.

Catholic school boards in Ontario and other parts of Canada have a long history of disputes over LGBTQ inclusion, including a historic legal fight over whether a student could bring a same-sex date to prom, and an eventual political fight over whether gay-straight alliances would be allowed at Catholic schools. Pride flags have become the latest flashpoint as the school boards have lost more and more of these battles in the courts and legislatures.

UNITED KINGDOM

The iconic queer nightclub G-A-Y Bar in Soho has been put up for sale following a year of turmoil for the club and its related businesses G-A-Y Late and Heaven.

One of the best-known queer nightlife brands in London, G-A-Y has been around in some form or another since 1976, but recently it’s come under evident trouble.

In December 2023, G-A-Y Late closed, with owner Jeremy Joseph citing safety and crime issues among the reasons why he shut the bar down. Last November, the Heaven nightclub was forced to shut for several weeks when its license was pulled after one of its security guards was accused of rape.

Joseph cited the stress caused by the closure of Heaven as one reason why he’s selling G-A-Y Bar.

“I was clear to Westminster CC’s Licensing committee that if they closed Heaven for even a short time it would potentially put G-A-Y Bar at risk financially,” Joseph said in a statement posted to Instagram. “Even now after Heaven’s reopening, the damage financially and and mentally has been irreparable.”

Joseph also said that the changing nature of the gay scene has made it difficult to sustain a queer nightclub. 

“When I started G-A-Y it was always about having a venue on Old Compton Street and Canal Street, being the gayest streets in the gayest capitals. But it’s not like that anymore,” he said. 

“My goal would be for G-A-Y Bar to remain an LGBT venue and will consider franchise options, but my guts is that in the current climate, and it won’t be because Old Compton Street is not the same anymore, it has a new identity and when you look down the street, you see restaurants, cafes, take aways but the street that was the LGBT capital, is no more.”

The nightclub has been listed online with annual rent of £410,000 ($510,000).

AUSTRALIA

The classic 80s Australian film “Crocodile Dundee” is getting recut to remove an unpleasant transphobic scene ahead of a rerelease later this spring.

The 4K remastered edition of the 1986 film, titled “Crocodile Dundee: The Encore Cut” was screened at Sydney’s OpenAir Cinema on Jan 23. The new cut removes about two minutes from the film, including a scene where the titular naïve hunter played by Paul Hogan grabs a trans woman by the groin and says, “that was a guy, dressed up like a Sheila,” while another character yells a homophobic slur.

The new cut also includes an aboriginal land acknowledgment and some extended scenes.

Hogan, who was on hand for the screening, told reporters he “totally” agreed with the cuts, which had been made in the past for broadcast edits of the film.

“I heard about it years ago, it started, and it wasn’t about being woke,” Hogan said.

“They pointed out to me and said, ‘This guy is a folk hero around the world, and he shouldn’t be groping people.’ And I thought, ‘Yeah that’s right, he shouldn’t be,’ so take it out. I mean, he did it in all innocence, in naivety, but it’s better without it.”

The original “Crocodile Dundee” remains, by a wide margin, the highest-grossing Australian film of all time, and was a genuine global phenomenon. It was the second-highest grossing film at the U.S. box office in 1986 and inspired two sequels and a brief fad for all things Australian. 

PHILIPPINES

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos is pledging to veto a proposed sex education bill designed to fight teen pregnancy because he says he believes the new curriculum includes instruction for kindergarteners on how to masturbate, which, it should go without saying, it does not.

“You will teach 4-year-olds how to masturbate. That every child has the right to try different sexualities. This is ridiculous. It is abhorrent. It is a travesty of what sexual [orientation] and sex education should be to children,” Marcos told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Marcos concedes that schools need to teach children about the consequences of teen pregnancy — which has seen an alarming increase in recent years — and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, but said he does not support the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Bill currently before congress.

“To include the so-called ‘woke’ absurdities are abhorrent to me — and I’m already guaranteeing, this would not be passed into a law if this bill is passed in that form,” he said. “I guarantee all parents, teachers, and children: I will immediately veto it.”

The allegations about the subject matter of the proposed sex ed seems to come from a religious group led by a former chief justice, which has popularized the false claim that the bill would require schools to provide lessons on “bodily pleasure” and “sexual rights.” These bogus claims about sex education are familiar tropes pushed by religious conservatives across the world.

But Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who authored the bill, has fought back hard against the allegations.

“Mr. President, with all due respect, it’s clear that even the word ‘masturbation’ is not in the bill. It also did not mention ‘try different sexualities,’” Hontiveros said in a statement.

Hontiveros says she’s willing to accept amendments to get the bill passed.

A law that extends marriage rights to same-sex couples in Thailand took effect on Thursday.

Media reports indicate hundreds of same-sex couples tied the knot across the country once the law took effect. The Bangkok Post reported Bangkok Pride and authorities in the Thai capital organized a mass wedding that took place at a shopping mall.

“Today, the rainbow flag is proudly flying over Thailand,” said Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on X.

Thai lawmakers last year approved the marriage equality bill. King Maha Vajiralongkorn signed it last September.

Thailand is the first country in Southeast Asia to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Same-sex couples can legally marry in Taiwan and Nepal.

As mpox cases continue to surge in Uganda, LGBTQ rights organizations have raised concerns over its “troubling increase” among the queer community and have advised it to be on high alert.  

The Uganda Key Populations Consortium, an LGBTQ rights organization, working closely with the Health Ministry and Kampala Capital City Authority and other government bodies to stem the spread of mpox, has warned that queer people in semi-urban areas are the most affected.   

“These communities have expressed valid concerns regarding stigma and discrimination which may deter individuals from seeking necessary medical attention,” UKPC Director General Richard Lusimbo said.  

Uganda has recorded 512 new mpox cases in the last two weeks, bringing the total number of cases to 2,127 and 12 deaths, as the Health Ministry confirmed on Tuesday. The World Health Organization’s latest multi-country report on the mpox outbreak, released on Jan. 11, indicates that Uganda has recorded 1,552 cases and 12 deaths since the disease was first reported last July..      

The WHO report places the capital Kampala with the highest number of mpox diseases spread through community transmission with an infection incidence of 45 cases per 100,000 people, followed by the Wakiso and Nakasongola districts.

“Cases have been reported in at least 49 percent (71 out of 146) of districts in the country, but the epidemic remains largely concentrated in and around Kampala,” the WHO report reads. “So far, only clade Ib MPXV, linked to the outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been detected in the country, and current evidence indicates that transmission of the virus is occurring exclusively through close, physical human-to-human contact.” 

People between 20-29 are the most affected group, with sexual contact as a major mode of transmission among sex workers and men who have sex with men.

The UKPC has issued an urgent health advisory to the queer community as it collaborates with the Health Ministry and KCCA in responding to the mpox transmission through immediate and long-term actions, including integrating its response with ongoing HIV prevention and care strategies. 

Lusimbo, whose organization has also partnered with WHO and the Most At Risk Populations Initiative, a local health NGO, to stem the spread of mpox stated a unified preventive approach that is inclusive and effective is vital for the health and safety of all Ugandans.   

“The fear of stigma and discrimination can exacerbate the situation by hindering effective response and treatment efforts,” Lusimbo said. 

He noted that the fight against mpox in Uganda is not just limited to managing a health crisis. It also offers the queer community an opportunity to advocate for the rights and dignity of the marginalized groups. 

The UKPC last week unveiled an online survey on the mpox epidemic targeting queer people in Uganda to reliably understand its impact on them and their knowledge about the disease. 

“Mpox continues to disproportionately affect mostly our community, especially female sex workers and their clients, and men who have sex with men,” the survey reads. “As the national secretariat and coordinating body for key populations, UKPC, in partnership with KCCA, has been leading important discussions on the disease’s public health implications in areas where the impact is most notable.”

The report states the survey data will help develop tailored, inclusive, and equitable interventions for the LGBTQ community. The survey also seeks to provide specific numbers of queer people who have contracted mpox and those who have died from the disease.

Uganda Minority Shelters Consortium Coordinator John Grace attributed the lack of data about queer people affected by mpox to privacy concerns, stigma, and discrimination against the community by the homophobic public and state authorities tasked with enforcing anti-homosexuality laws. He said the Anti-Homosexuality Law has created a significant barrier for queer people to report such abuses.

“This makes it difficult to ascertain the true extent of stigma and discrimination or the impact of misinformation about transmission methods,” Grace said.  

Grace also noted the collaboration between LGBTQ organizations and healthcare providers in tackling mpox has been “inconsistent.” 

“While some providers have been welcoming and supportive, others demonstrate a lack of awareness or sensitivity regarding the specific needs of the LGBTQ+ community,” he said.

Despite the homophobic climate in Uganda amid the fight against mpox, Grace noted many LGBTQ organizations have proactively disseminated accurate information to educate queer people about the disease’s prevention within their communities through educational campaigns and safer sex practices.