World
Two transgender women attacked in Cameroon after release from prison
Angry mob beat them early on Aug. 8
A violent mob in Cameroon earlier this week attacked two transgender women after their release from prison.
Human Rights Watch reports that the mob attacked Patricia and Shakiro at around 1 a.m. on Aug. 8 in Douala, the country’s economic capital. The attackers forced them out of a taxi, “insulted and threatened them with death,” and beat them for half an hour until they fled after police officers arrived at the scene.
“I was stripped naked and hit everywhere on my body by several people. I was kicked and slapped. I had to play dead — it was the only way to survive,” Shakiro told Human Rights Watch.
Patricia and Shakiro have since filed a police report in efforts to locate their attackers and have them brought to justice.
Working For Our Wellbeing, a local LGBTQ advocacy group, posted a statement on Facebook in support of Patricia and Shakiro.
“Sexual and gender minorities are at high risk in Cameroon. The LGBTIQ+ community remains at the [brink] of … violence. This is a complete violation of the rights to private life, an insult to our constitution and democracy which binds us as citizens and protects us under one fatherland,” reads the statement.
“We are all citizens and [on] no occasion should a particular group of individuals feel entitled or that everyone should act or be like them. No one owns the monopoly of power [or] violence. This is a republic, not a system of anarchy,” added the statement.
Patricia and Shakiro in February were arrested for wearing women’s clothing and charged with attempted homosexuality, public indecency and failing to posses an identification card. Trans people in Cameroon commonly travel without ID cards because the sex marker on them is different from their gender presentation.
Human Rights Watch says inmates and prison guards beat, insulted and threatened Patricia and Shakiro during their incarceration.
The women in May were sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of 200,000 CFA ($370.)
A judge on July 16 ordered their release and an appeal to their case is expected to be heard in September.
Alice Nkom, the first French-speaking woman admitted to the Cameroon Bar Association and a fierce defender and advocate for the rights and protections of sexual and gender minorities in the country, represents Patricia and Shakiro.
Hungary
Charges against Budapest mayor for organizing Pride march dropped
Country’s new government took office last month
Hungarian authorities on Thursday dropped charges against Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony over his role in organizing the city’s 2025 Pride march.
Karácsony spoke at the event, even though then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government banned it.
More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in the march that took place on June 28, 2025. The Associated Press notes the Budapest Chief Prosecutor’s Office in January charged Karácsony with “organizing the unlawful assembly despite a prohibition order.”
Karácsony, who has been Budapest’s mayor since 2019, described himself as a “proud defendant” after his indictment.
“It seems that in this country, this is the price you pay if you stand up for your own freedom and the freedom of others,” he said in a statement, according to the AP. “If anyone thinks they can ban me, deter me, or prevent me and my city from doing so, they are gravely mistaken.”
Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.
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.
Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the Budapest Pride march to take place this year.
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 BBC notes Hungarian authorities cited the decision in their decision to drop the charges against Karácsony.
Authorities in Pécs, a city near Hungary’s border with Croatia, have also dropped charges against Géza Buzás-Hábel, who organized a 2025 Pride event.
Hungary
Hungarian authorities lift Budapest Pride ban
Country’s new government took office last month
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.
Colombia
Claudia López comes up short in Colombian presidential election
Former Bogotá mayor would have been country’s first lesbian head of government
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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