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Fmr. Vatican ambassador: Ukraine’s Zelensky promotes LGBTQ ideology

Vigano alleges that Zelensky promulgates policies to embrace, including gender equality, abortion and the green economy

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5 years ago

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Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano as the Vatican’s papal nuncio to the United States, Christmas 2012 (Screenshot via YouTube)

ROME – Italian Catholic-Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the Vatican’s former papal nuncio to the United States, in an over 10,000 word essay published Monday, accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of catering to a “reform” agenda and using his presidency to promote “LGBTQ ideology.”

Vigano also took the Ukrainian leader to task alleging that Zelensky promulgates policies to embrace, including gender equality, abortion and the green economy. The prelate then categorized the acceptance of LGBTQ people as a leading cause for the invasion by Russia along with rhetoric echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justifications for attacking Ukraine.

The Archbishop writes that the Ukrainian President was a mediocre actor and comedian who rose to power as he blamed “deep state” forces in the United States, the European Union and NATO for triggering the current war and demonizing Russia.

Vigano claims that “Neo-Nazi movements engaged in military and paramilitary actions operate freely in Ukraine, often with the official support of public institutions.” This echoing the lies of the Russian President who invoked World War II to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying in televised remarks last week that his offensive aimed to “denazify” the country — whose democratically elected president is Jewish, and lost relatives in the Holocaust, NPR reported.

“The purpose of this operation is to protect people who for eight years now have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime,” Russian President Putin said, according to an English translation from the Russian Mission in Geneva. “To this end, we will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including against citizens of the Russian Federation.”

The Archbishop’s essay mounting a defense of Russia’s invasion followed Patriarch Kirill the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and an ally of Putin, who repeated a long-held contention that the West wants to enforce the practice of holding gay pride parades as a test of loyalty to its values, which include the acceptance of homosexuality. The Ukraine war, he said Sunday in his sermon, resulted from the eastern regions’ refusal to acquiesce.

“If humanity accepts that sin is not a violation of God’s law, if humanity accepts that sin is a variation of human behavior, then human civilization will end there,” Kirill said on the pre-Lenten celebration known as Forgiveness Sunday.

Viganò’s letter portrayed the Ukrainian leader as an E.U. puppet;

“The image of Zelenskyy is an artificial product, a mediatic fiction, an operation to manipulate consensus that was nonetheless able to create a political character in the Ukrainian collective imagination and who in reality, not in fiction, was able to seize power,” the Archbishop wrote of the Ukrainian president.

Vigano was forced to resign after he arranged Pope Francis’ controversial 2015 meeting with Kim Davis, the Rowan County Kentucky clerk who went to jail rather than comply with a court order to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

A New York Times story reported the backstory behind some of the later Vatican drama after the Pope was informed as to the true nature of Kim Davis and the meeting.  

The newspaper’s reporting suggests the rift between Francis and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who wrote a bombshell accusatory letter about Francis’ knowledge of the abuse, could have been exacerbated by Viganò arranging a meeting between Francis and Davis during his 2015 trip to the United States.

The invitation “directly challenged Francis’ inclusive message and prompted a controversy that nearly overshadowed the trip,” the Times reported. An abuse survivor who had spoken to Francis at length told the newspaper that Francis told him Viganò nearly sabotaged the trip.

“I didn’t know who that woman was, and he snuck her in to say hello to me — and of course they made a whole publicity out of it,” Juan Carlos Cruz recalled Francis saying, according to the New York Times.

“And I was horrified and I fired that nuncio,” Francis said, according to the Times article.

In July of 2020, Archbishop Viganò accused Pope Francis of heresy for promoting the “legitimization of homosexuality.”

Newsweek magazine reported: “Vigano is well known for his anti-gay views and has previously called for the pope to resign. In a recent interview with Italian journalist and Vatican expert Marco Tosatti, Vigano insisted that Pope Francis, who he refers to using his given name of Jorge Bergoglio, is involved with a plot to “corrupt” the church by promoting homosexuality.”

“For Bergoglio and his entourage sodomy is not a sin that cries out for vengeance in the presence of God, as the Catechism teaches,” said Vigano. “Bergoglio’s words on this topic – and even more the actions and words of those who surround him – unfortunately confirm that an operation of legitimization of homosexuality is currently underway.”

“Let’s not forget that the legitimization of homosexuality is part of the agenda of the New World Order – to which the Bergoglian church adheres openly and unconditionally,” he later added. “Not only for its destabilizing value in the social body, but also because sodomy is the principal instrument with which the Enemy intends to destroy the Catholic priesthood, corrupting the souls of the Ministers of God.”

 

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Brazil

Lula, Flávio Bolsonaro to face off in second round of Brazilian presidential election

Neither man received at least 50 percent of the vote on Sunday

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11 hours ago

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October 4, 2026

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From left, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro. (Photo of Lula by Celso Pupo via Bigstock; screen capture of Bolsonaro via TV Celular Flavio Bolsonaro/YouTube)

SÃO PAULO — President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face off against Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro in the second round of Brazil’s presidential election on Oct. 25 after neither man received more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round that took place on Sunday.

Bolsonaro was ahead of Lula by a 47.03-45.16 percent margin with 100 percent of the vote counted.

Lula in 2022 defeated Bolsonaro’s father, then-President Jair Bolsonaro, in that year’s presidential election.

The Brazilian Supreme Court last year sentenced Bolsonaro — who repeatedly targeted LGBTQ Brazilians and other groups while in office — to more than 27 years in prison for his role in an attempted coup that saw thousands of his supporters storm the Congress, presidential palace, and the Supreme Court itself on Jan. 8, 2023. Bolsonaro is currently serving his sentence at his home in Brasília, the country’s capital, because of his poor health. His son has pledged to pardon him if he becomes the country’s next president.

Lula, who leads Brazil’s leftist Workers’ Party, was Brazil’s president from 2003-2010.

Sergio Moro, a judge who Jair Bolsonaro later tapped as his government’s Justice and Public Security Minister, in 2017 sentenced Lula to 9 1/2 years in prison after his conviction on money laundering and corruption charges that stemmed from Operation Car Wash. 

The Supreme Court in November 2019 ordered Lula’s release.

A Brazilian Workers’ Party supporter campaigns outside a Metro station in Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema neighborhood on Oct. 3, 2026. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva heads the party. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

VoteLGBT, an organization that seeks to increase LGBTQ representation in Brazilian politics, noted 529 openly LGBTQ candidates ran in this year’s election. More than 100 of them are either transgender or travesti.

The Washington Blade will cover the results of these races when they become available.

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Turkey

House Democrats urge White House to confront Turkish government over anti-LGBTQ crackdown

More than 60 lawmakers signed letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Published

3 days ago

on

October 2, 2026

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(Photo by Lora Sutyagina/Bigstock)

More than 60 House Democrats on Thursday called upon the Trump-Vance administration to confront the Turkish government over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.

Turkish authorities last month detained dozens of people during raids that targeted the country’s LGBTQ community, advocacy groups, and HIV/AIDS service organizations. Journalists were among those taken into custody outside an Istanbul courthouse on Sept. 15 during a protest against the raids that are part of the government’s “My Family Is Safe” campaign.

Council for Global Equality is among the groups that organized a protest outside the Turkish Embassy in D.C. on Sept. 18.

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U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Sept. 21 during a U.N. LGBTI Core Group event that took place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly specifically referenced Turkey.

The Core Group is a group of U.N. member states that have pledged to support LGBTQ and intersex rights.

The U.S. withdrew from the Core Group after the Trump-Vance administration took office. The White House has not publicly commented on Turkey’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown.

“These developments warrant an urgent diplomatic response from the United States to protect the rights of freedom of expression, association, and assembly for all Turkish citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” reads the letter the lawmakers sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “We therefore urge you to use all available channels to raise these concerns directly with the Turkish government; press for the immediate release of those arrested and detained for their legitimate human rights activities; and ensure that the U.S. Embassy in Ankara closely monitors related judicial proceedings.”

“We further urge the Department to press Turkish authorities to cease efforts to criminalize LGBTQI+ organizations and advocacy and to affirm the right of all people to peacefully assemble,” it adds.

Arizona Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari and U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) spearheaded the letter. House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); House Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.); Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.); Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride, and U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, are among the 65 House Democrats who signed the letter.

“The United States must be a leader in defending human rights and what is happening in Turkey demands an urgent diplomatic response. It’s absolutely appalling to see LGBTQI+ people and the organizations that stand up for their rights be targeted by the (President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan regime,” said Ansari in a press release. “I stand proudly with the LGBTQI+ community here and abroad and will continue to fight for their right to live openly, freely, and without fear, anywhere and everywhere.”

The press release notes the Human Rights Campaign, the Council for Global Equality, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America support the letter.

“Turkey’s attacks on its LGBTQI+ community are a disturbing reminder that the fight for equality and human rights does not stop at our borders. No one should be silenced or detained for simply being who they are or peacefully demanding dignity and freedom,” said HRC Government Affairs Senior Director Jennifer Pike Bailey. “We are grateful to Representatives Ansari and Titus for recognizing that the fight for LGBTQI+ equality is global and that, even amid the many challenges facing our community here at home, we cannot turn our backs on LGBTQI+ people facing persecution abroad.”

A State Department spokesperson on Friday told the Washington Blade that “as a matter of policy, we do not comment on congressional correspondence.”

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Serbia

Ana Brnabić becomes world’s first openly lesbian head of state

Former Serbian prime minister succeeded President Aleksandar Vučić on Monday

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5 days ago

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September 30, 2026

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Acting Serbian President Ana Brnabić (Photo public domain)

Ana Brnabić on Monday became the world’s first openly lesbian head of state after Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić resigned.

Brnabić was the country’s prime minister from 2017-2024. She was most recently the president of the Serbian National Assembly.

Vučić resigned ahead of parliamentary elections that will take place on Oct. 25. Media reports indicate Vučić could become Serbia’s next prime minister if his Serbian Progressive Party can successfully form a new government. Brnabić until then will be the country’s acting president.

Former Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who became his country’s first openly gay head of government in 2017, praised Brnabić.

“Congratulations to Ana Brnabić on becoming the world’s first lesbian head of state (president of Serbia),” said Varadkar on social media. “She visited while in her previous office and is a friend of Ireland.”

Former Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir in 2009 became the world’s first openly lesbian head of government. Former San Marino Captain Regent Paolo Rondelli in 2022 became the world’s first openly gay head of state.

Andorran Prime Minister Xavier Espot Zamora, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, and Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs are openly gay. Former Luxembourgish Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, former French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, and former Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo are also gay.  

Varadkar was Ireland’s prime minister from 2017-2020 and again from 2022-2024.

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