World
Iranian authorities reportedly arrest lesbian woman
Sarah taken into custody on Oct. 27 when trying to enter Turkey
Iranian authorities have reportedly arrested a lesbian woman as she tried to leave the country.
The Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network in a series of tweets said members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on Oct. 27 arrested the woman, who the group identified as Sarah, in West Azerbaijan province “while crossing the border and going to Turkey.”
Reports indicate police in Iraqi Kurdistan detained Sarah for three weeks after she spoke with BBC Persian about the treatment of LGBTQ people in the region. The reports further note Sarah entered Iran in order to enter Turkey and ask for asylum.
The Tasnim News Agency in Iran on Nov. 6 reported the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps had arrested several people for allegedly “forming a female trafficking gang and supporting homosexuals” in the area where Sarah had been arrested.
“Sarah had to cross the Iranian border to escape to Turkey and save herself,” said the Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network in a tweet.
در دست نیست.
ساره برای فرار به ترکیه و نجات خود مجبور شده بود در بخشی از مسیر از مرزهای ایران عبور کند، او با توجه به شرایط موجود و احتمال دستگیری هنگام عبور از مرز، ساعاتی قبل از رفتن به سمت ترکیه، با شفافیت و شجاعت بسیارویدئوهایی تهیه کرده و برای یک pic.twitter.com/n7vOXCzQMI— 6Rang (@6rangiran) December 8, 2021
The Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network on Monday said in another tweet that Sarah “still lacks a lawyer and her detention is renewed every two weeks.”
“Sarah’s children are denied access to their mother, and Sarah is denied access to her family in person,” reads the tweet.
ساره هنوز از داشتن وکیل محروم است و هر دو هفته یکبار بازداشت وی تمدید می شود. فرزندان ساره از ملاقات با مادرشان محروم هستند و ساره نیز از ملاقات حضوری با خانواده محروم است.
📍https://t.co/fsnCxoX06f— 6Rang (@6rangiran) December 13, 2021
Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death.
Ali Fazeli Monfared’s relatives in May reportedly kidnapped and beheaded him in Ahvaz, a city in Iran’s Khuzestan province after they discovered he was gay. The State Department described the murder as “appalling.”
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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PHOTOS: Hagerstown Pride
