World
Top 10 international news stories of 2021
Out Olympians, conversion therapy bans, Polish crackdown
The Biden administration’s pledge to champion LGBTQ rights abroad was the dominant international story in 2021, but anti-LGBTQ crackdowns and efforts to expand rights also made headlines around the world over the past year. Here are the top 10 international stories of 2021.
#10: Botswana Court of Appeals decriminalizes same-sex sexual relations
The Botswana Court of Appeals on Nov. 29 upheld a ruling that decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in the country.
Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO) challenged the colonial-era criminalization law.
Botswana’s High Court in 2019 unanimously ruled the law was unconstitutional. The Batswana government appealed the decision.
“Today is a momentous day in history, a victorious win in ascertaining liberty, privacy and dignity of the LGBTIQ persons in Botswana and definitely, this judgement sets precedence for the world at large,” said LEGABIBO CEO Thato Moruti after the Court of Appeals ruling.
#9: LGBTQ athletes compete in Summer Olympics
A record number of openly LGBTQ athletes competed in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, became the first out trans person to compete in any Olympics. Quinn, a non-binary trans person who is a member of the Canadian women’s soccer team, won an Olympic gold medal.
Tom Daley, a British Olympic diver who is married to Dustin Lance Black, also medaled during the games.
#8: LGBTQ activists, journalists arrested in Cuba
LGBTQ activists and journalists were among the hundreds of people who were arrested during anti-government protests in Cuba on July 11.
Maykel González Vivero, director of Tremenda Nota, the Washington Blade’s media partner in Cuba, was violently arrested near Havana’s Revolution Square during one of the protests.
Yoan de la Cruz, a gay man who live-streamed the first protest that took place in San Antonio de los Baños, remains in custody. He faces an 8-year prison sentence.
The protests took place against the backdrop of mounting food shortages, a worsening economic crisis, human rights abuses and criticism over the government’s response to the pandemic. Thousands of Cuban Americans on July 26 marched to the Cuban Embassy in D.C. in support of the protesters.
#7: Gay Games in Hong Kong remain in doubt
The 2023 Gay Games that are scheduled to take place in Hong Kong remain in doubt amid growing concerns over China’s human rights record.
Gay Games Hong Kong in September postponed the event until 2023 because of the pandemic.
Hong Kong’s National Security Law, which human rights activists say makes it easier for authorities to punish anyone in the former British colony who challenges the Chinese government, took effect in 2020. Upwards of 2 million Hong Kongers took part in pro-democracy protests the year before.
The Women’s Tennis Association has suspended tournaments in Hong Kong and throughout China in response to the disappearance of Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis star, after she publicly accused former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. Diplomats from the U.S. and other countries will also boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
“The Federation of Gay Games continues to monitor the situation in Hong Kong regarding COVID-19, the National Security Law and all other aspects that affect the safety and security of our event,” Sean Fitzgerald, co-president of the Federation of Gay Games, told the Blade in a statement after the Women’s Tennis Association announced it had suspended all of its tournaments in China. “We are committed to hosting Gay Games 11 in Hong Kong in November 2023.”
#6: Anti-LGBTQ crackdowns continue in Hungary, Poland
The governments of Hungary and Poland in 2021 continued their anti-LGBTQ crackdowns.
The European Commission in July announced legal action against Hungary after a law that bans the promotion of homosexuality and sex-reassignment surgery to minors took effect. Hungarian lawmakers in November approved a resolution that paves the way for a referendum on LGBTQ issues.
The European Commission in September threatened to withhold funds from five Polish provinces that have enacted so-called LGBTQ “free zones.” Polish lawmakers have also sought to ban Pride marches and other pro-LGBTQ events.
#5: LGBTQ candidates elected throughout the world
LGBTQ candidates won elections throughout the world in 2021.
Two transgender women — Tessa Ganserer and Nyke Slawik — won seats in the German Parliament in September. Emilia Schneider in November became the first openly trans person elected to the Chilean congress.
Victor Grajeda in November became the first openly gay man to win a seat in the Honduran congress.
Openly gay Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Idan Roll is the youngest person in his country’s new government that formed in June after long-time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ouster. Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz is also openly gay.
#4: Efforts to ban conversion therapy gain traction
More countries moved to ban so-called conversion therapy in 2021.
A Canadian law that prohibits the widely discredited practice in the country will take effect in January.
French lawmakers on Dec. 15 approved a bill that would ban conversion therapy in their country.
Measures to prohibit conversion therapy are also before legislators in Finland and New Zealand. The British Parliament in 2022 is expected to debate a bill that would ban conversion therapy in England and Wales.
Brazil and Malta are two of the countries that already ban conversion therapy.
#3: VP Harris acknowledges anti-LGBTQ violence as cause of migration
Vice President Kamala Harris throughout 2021 acknowledged that anti-LGBTQ violence is one of the “root causes” of migration from Central America.
Harris in June raised the issue during a meeting with Visibles Executive Director Daniel Villatoro, Ingrid Gamboa of the Association of Garifuna Women Living with HIV/AIDS and other Guatemalan civil society members that took place in Guatemala City. State Department spokesperson Ned Price, who is openly gay, a few weeks earlier told the Blade that protecting LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers is one of the Biden administration’s global LGBTQ rights priorities.
Immigrant rights activists who remain critical of the Biden administration’s immigration policy note Title 42, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rule that closed the Southern border to most asylum seekers and migrants because of the coronavirus pandemic, remains in place. The so-called Remain in Mexico policy that forces asylum seekers to pursue their cases in Mexico has also been reinstated under a court order.
“To be a trans person is synonymous with teasing, harassment, violence and even death,” Venus, a transgender woman from La Ceiba, Honduras, told the Blade in July during an interview in the city.
#2: LGBTQ Afghans desperate to flee after Taliban regains control
LGBTQ Afghans remain desperate to flee after the Taliban regained control of the country on Aug. 15.
Two groups of LGBTQ Afghans that Stonewall, Rainbow Railroad and Micro Rainbow evacuated with the help of the British government arrived in the U.K. in the fall. Some of the Afghan human rights activists who Taylor Hirschberg, a researcher at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health who is also a Hearst Foundation scholar, has been able to help leave the country since the Taliban regained control of it are LGBTQ.
A Taliban judge in July said the group would once again execute gay people if it were to return to power in Afghanistan. Rainbow Railroad and Immigration Equality are among the groups that continue to urge the Biden administration to do more to help LGBTQ Afghans who remain inside the country.
#1: Biden commits U.S. to promoting LGBTQ rights abroad
The Biden administration in February issued a memorandum that committed the U.S. to promoting LGBTQ rights abroad.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price, who is gay, in May told the Washington Blade the decriminalization of consensual same-sex sexual relations is one of the five global LGBTQ rights priorities for the Biden administration.
The White House in June named then-OutRight Action International Executive Director Jessica Stern as the next special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ rights abroad. The State Department in October announced it would issue passports with an “X” gender marker.
National
LGBTQ Catholic groups slam Trump over pope criticism
‘Moral truth and compassion always overcome ignorant hate’
LGBTQ Catholic groups have sharply criticized President Donald Trump over his criticisms of Pope Leo XIV.
Leo on April 13 told reporters while traveling to Algeria that he had “no fear of the Trump administration” after the president described him as “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” in response to his opposition to the Iran war. (Trump on the same day posted to Truth Social an image that appeared to show him as Jesus Christ. He removed it on April 13 amid backlash from religious leaders.)
Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, during a Fox News Channel interview on the same day said “in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on with the Catholic church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.” Vance on April 14 once again discussed Leo during an appearance at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Ga., saying he should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Miguel Díaz; and Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are among those who have criticized Trump over his comments. The president, for his part, has said he will not apologize to Leo.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” said Leo on Thursday at a cathedral in Bamenda, Cameroon.
Francis DeBernardo is the executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic organization. He told the Washington Blade on Thursday that Trump’s comments about Leo “are one more example of the ridiculous hubris of this leader (Trump) whose entire record shows that he is nothing more than a middle-school bully.”
“LGBTQ+ adults were often bullied as children, and they have learned the lesson that bullies act when they feel frightened or threatened,” said DeBernardo. “But secular power does not threaten the Vicar of Christ, and Pope Leo’s response illustrates this truth perfectly.”
DeBernardo added Trump “is obviously frightened that Pope Leo, an American, has more power and influence than the president on the world stage.”
“Like most Trumpian bullying, this strategy will backfire,” DeBernardo told the Blade. “Moral truth and compassion always overcome ignorant hate. Trump’s actions are not an example of his power, but of his impotence.”
Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, an LGBTQ Catholic organization, echoed DeBernardo.
“He [Trump] has demonstrated throughout both presidencies that he doesn’t understand the basic concepts of any faith system that is founded on the dignity of human beings, the importance of common good,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade on Thursday during a telephone interview. “It’s just appalling.”
Duddy-Burke praised Leo and the American cardinals who have publicly criticized Trump.
“The pope’s popularity — given how much more respect Pope Leo has than the man sitting in the White House — is a blow to his ego,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade. “That seems to be a sore sport for him.”
“It’s such an imperialistic world view,” she added.
Leo ‘is the real peacemaker’
The College of Cardinals last May elected Leo to succeed Pope Francis after his death.
Leo, who was born in Chicago, is the first American pope. He was the bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015-2023.
Francis made him a cardinal in 2023.
Juan Carlos Cruz — a gay Chilean man and clergy sex abuse survivor who Francis appointed to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors — has traveled to Ukraine several times with Dominican Sister Lucía Caram since Russia launched its war against the country in 2022. Cruz on Thursday responded to Trump’s criticism of Leo in a text message he sent to the Blade from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
“I am in Ukraine under many attacks,” said Cruz. “Trump is an asshole and has zero right to criticize the Pope who is the real peacemaker.”
Belarus
Belarusian president signs bill to allow LGBTQ rights crackdown
Alexander Lukashenko known as ‘Europe’s last dictator’
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday signed a bill that will allow his government to crack down on LGBTQ advocacy.
The measure that Lukashenko, who is known as “Europe’s last dictator” and is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, signed would punish anyone found guilty of “propaganda of homosexual relations, gender change, refusal to have children, and pedophilia” with fines, community labor, and 15 days in jail.
The House of Representatives, the lower house of the Belarusian National Assembly, last month approved the bill. The Council of the Republic, which is the parliament’s upper chamber, passed it on April 2.
Belarus borders Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Kazakhstan is among the countries that have enacted Russian-style anti-LGBTQ propaganda laws in recent years.
The European Commission in 2022 sued Hungary, which is a member of the EU, over its anti-LGBTQ propaganda law. Hungarian voters on April 12 ousted Viktor Orbán, a Putin ally who had been their country’s prime minister since 2010.
Senegal
Senegalese court issues first conviction under new anti-LGBTQ law
Man sentenced to six years in prison on April 10
A Senegalese court has issued the first conviction under a new law that further criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual relations.
The Associated Press notes the court in Pikine-Guédiawaye, a suburb of Dakar, the Senegalese capital, on April 10 convicted a 24-year-old man of committing “acts against nature and public indecency” and sentenced him to six years in prison.
Authorities arrested the man, who Senegalese media reports identified as Mbaye Diouf, earlier this month. The court also fined him 2 million CFA ($3,591.04).
Lawmakers in the African country on March 11 nearly unanimously passed the measure that increases the penalty for anyone convicted of engaging in consensual same-sex sexual relations from one to five years in prison to five to 10 years. The bill that Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko introduced also prohibits the “promotion” or “financing” of homosexuality in Senegal.
MassResistance, an anti-LGBTQ group based in the U.S., reportedly worked with Senegalese groups to advance the bill that President Bassirou Diomaye Faye signed on March 31.
“This prison sentence is unlawful under international law,” said Human Rights Watch on Wednesday. “Senegal is bound by treaty obligations that protect every person’s right to dignity, privacy, and equality.”
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