World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
Huang Jie is Taiwan’s first openly gay national lawmaker
GERMANY
Rallies attended by hundreds of thousands have taken place in cities around Germany in recent days, after revelations by German investigative media outlet Correctiv that extremist far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, or AfD, has plans for the mass-expulsion of foreign nationals and including German citizens born from migrant parents.
The AfD, co-chaired by lesbian German politician Alice Elisabeth Weidel along with Tino Chrupalla, held an event at headlined by Austrian neo-Nazi activist and author Martin Sellner, where plans regarding the deportation of millions of immigrants of “foreigners,” including citizens deemed not to have adequately “assimilated” into German culture, were discussed.
The AfD has sought to distance itself from the event although Roland Hartwig, a high-ranking member of the party and personal aide to Weidel was in attendance at the far-right gathering this past in November. Hartwig has since stepped down from his position after the disclosures by Correctiv.
In the Correctiv piece, their undercover journalist exhaustively recounts the chilling details of the secret meeting. The problem according to observers and German political strategists is the fact that AfD has steadily gaining influence and popularity. The Associated Press and German Media outlet Deutsche Welle both report that the recent protests also build on growing anxiety over the last year about the AfD’s rising support among the Germans.
The AP noted that the AfD was founded as a euro-skeptic party in 2013 and first entered the German Bundestag in 2017. Polling now puts it in second place nationally with around 23 percent, far above the 10.3 percent it won during the last federal election in 2021.
Last summer, candidates from the AfD won the party’s first-ever mayoral election and district council election, the first far-right party to do so since the Nazi era. And in state elections in Bavaria and Hesse, the party made significant gains.
The party leads in several states in eastern Germany, the region where its support is strongest — including three, Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia — that are slated to hold elections this fall.
Last April Germany’s domestic spy agency has classified the youth wing of the country’s far-right AfD party as an extremist entity and a threat to democracy. The decision could deal a blow to the party, which has so far failed in its legal bids to block security agencies from observing it and its affiliates, Deutsche Welle reported.
Although the AfD party co-chair is a lesbian in a state recognized “registered life partnership” as they are termed in Germany, she has stated her opposition to discussion of sexuality prior to puberty saying that “I don’t want anyone with their gender idiocy or their early sexualization classes coming near my children.”
She has also expressed her opposition to legalization of same-sex marriage, stating that she supports protection of the “traditional family” while also supporting “other lifestyles” The AfD itself is not progressive in terms of overall recognition of LGBTQ rights. Last year, the party even proposed a new sexual education curriculum that would significantly reduce the amount of information students receive on homosexuality, DW reported.
HUNGARY
The Hungarian government is not going to change its draconian anti-LGBTQ policies and laws, and its treatment of asylum seekers and refugees despite the European Union freezing billions of Euros and funding because of the unwillingness of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to make changes.
In a press conference on Jan. 18, Gergely Gulyas, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff, told reporters there were “limits” to reaching an agreement with the EU Commission, its governing executive, since “modifying policies on LGBTQ+ and asylum rights would contradict the will of Hungarian voters,” Gulyas said.
“The Hungarian government is willing to reach an agreement with the commission, but in cases where people have expressed a clear opinion, it would be undemocratic and unacceptable,” Gulyas said, adding that there are “red lines” when it comes to reforms Hungary is willing to make.
“For Hungary, even despite the will of the European Commission, it is unacceptable to spread LGBTQ propaganda among children, and we also cannot abandon our position on migration issues,” he said.
Orbán in his speech at the 32nd Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp last July 22, castigated the EU for what Orbán defined as rejecting “Christian heritage.”
The government of the conservative ruling party of the prime minister has been feuding with the EU since passage of Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ education law in June 2021. Orbán, who has publicly proclaimed that he is a “defender of traditional family Catholic values,” has been criticized by international human rights groups as discriminating against LGBTQ people with this law which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called a “disgrace.”
“This bill clearly discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and it goes against all the values, the fundamental values of the European Union and this is human dignity, it is equality and is human fundamental rights, so we will not compromise on these principles,” said von der Leyen.
On the issue over asylum seekers, the AP reported that Hungary’s government has also implemented a policy of turning away asylum seekers at its borders and requiring them to begin their asylum process at Hungarian embassies in Serbia and Ukraine — a practice that was declared unlawful last year by the EU’s top court.
On Jan. 17 von der Leyen said in a statement that EU funds “will remain blocked until Hungary fulfills all the necessary conditions.”
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
The European Parliament adopted a report calling on the Council of the European Union to introduce hate crime and hate speech in EU criminal law. The report was adopted on Jan. 18 with 397 votes in favor, 121 against and 26 abstentions.
EU spokesperson Kyriakos Klosidis noted that these are crimes of a particularly serious nature with a cross-border dimension, for which Parliament and council can establish minimum rules to define criminal offences and sanctions.
GCN Ireland reported that currently, each EU member state deals with hate crime and hate speech in criminal law in different ways. Some countries, including Ireland, don’t even have legislation in place to protect people from hate crime or hate speech, or have provisions that only protect certain minority groups while excluding others, such as LGBTQ people.
“Parliament calls on the commission to consider an ‘open-ended’ approach, whereby the grounds for discrimination will not be limited to a closed list, to make sure the rules cover incidents motivated by new and changing social dynamics. It underlines that freedom of expression, as critical as it is, must not be exploited as a shield for hate and stresses that misusing the internet and the business model of social media platforms contributes to spreading and amplifying hate speech.
MEPs also ask for particular consideration to be given to minors, including in bullying in schools and cyberbullying, and call for a robust framework for victims, with an intersectional approach, training for relevant professionals, and measures to ensure safe access to justice, specialized support and reparations, as well as a safe environment to increase reporting of incidents.”
The National LGBT Federation of Ireland applauded the decision by MEPs:
“We strongly welcome today’s overwhelming vote in the European Parliament calling on hate crime and incitement to be added to EU wide laws. And for LGB and trans and other groups to be fully protected across the EU.”
During the debate prior to the vote, Spanish MEP and Rapporteur Maite Pagazaurtundua said: “In addition to lacking a comprehensive European legal framework to tackle hate speech and hate crime, we are facing new social dynamics, through which the normalization of hate evolves very quickly.”
“We must protect ourselves as a society and the people who are attacked, persecuted and harassed, while responding to the radical networks and extreme polarization that provide fertile ground for behaviors that violate fundamental rights,” Pagazaurtundua continued.
“We ask the council to finally give the green light to the legislation against hate crime and hate speech at EU level, always in accordance with the principle of proportionality and guaranteeing citizens’ freedom of expression.”
UNITED KINGDOM
The privately run Gender Plus Hormone Clinic has been approved by the Care Quality Commission, the UK’S independent regulator of health and social care, to prescribe hormones to patients aged over 16.
The clinic announced that hormone prescriptions will be available to transgender and non-binary patients aged 16 and older in line with current NHS gender service specifications for adolescents and adults.
“We are thrilled to announce that we are now Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered. We are the first independent child gender care service to achieve this and our hormone clinics are officially open. Regulation by the CQC ensures health and social care services in England are safe, effective and well-led, providing compassionate, high quality care,” the clinic said in an Instagram post.
Doctor Aidan Kelly, a clinical psychologist specializing in the area of gender identity, and the director of Gender Plus told GCN [Gay Community News- Ireland] in a November essay, “First and foremost transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people need care and compassion, to be respected and to feel heard. There are sadly a higher number of psychological and social difficulties faced by these individuals and these need to be supported, but this should not be at the expense of being able to access appropriate gender healthcare.”
PinkNewsUK reported a statement on the clinic’s website reads: “Regulation by the CQC ensures health and social care services in England are safe, effective and well-led, providing compassionate, high-quality care.”
“The Hormone Clinic is the only English independent gender child care prescribing service to be regulated by the CQC.”
The announcement comes just a few weeks before the NHS’s only gender-identity service for trans minors in England and Wales is scheduled to shut down.
BBC News reports that young people seeking gender-affirming care currently face a five-year wait time for their first appointment through the NHS.
TAIWAN
A 30-year-old political independent representing the Fongshan District on the Kaohsiung City Council won election this past week to the island nation’s unicameral legislature, the Legislative Yuan, making history as Taiwan’s first openly gay legislator.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Jie was elected to the Legislative Yuan as a candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party to represent the sixth constituency [Legislative District] of Kaohsiung City.
Huang obtained 113,670 votes, or 51.01 percent of the vote, while her main rival, the Kuomintang’s Chen Mei-ya, a five-term city councilor, received 93,750 votes, or 42.07 percent, according to the final vote count released by the Central Election Commission.
English Language Media Outlet Focus Taiwan reported:
Thanking voters for their support and her campaign team for their hard work, the young politician said the “Kaohsiung spirit” — the willingness to give young, hardworking people opportunities to serve — had prevailed.
Winning the election is not the end, but the beginning of responsibility, she said.
“I will continue to safeguard [the wellbeing of] Kaohsiung and work to make it a place that shines internationally,” she added.
Focus Taiwan reported that in April 2023, Huang shared her coming out experience with the public. She said that she had not come out publicly when first starting her political career, but after she did, some voters had told her that she had given them courage.
Huang added that people campaigning for her recall had attacked her for being gay, which made her realize that there still needed to be advancements in Taiwan’s society in terms of ensuring equality for all and that she hoped to promote that through her involvement in politics.
NEPAL
Sunil Babu Pant, a Nepali human rights activist, monk, and former politician who served as a member of the Nepalese Constituent Assembly, was appointed the first-ever cultural emissary for LGBTQ-inclusive tourism in Nepal by Nepal Tourism Board at an event held at its office in the capital city on Jan. 19.
In a statement issued by the Nepal Tourism Board announcing his appointment, the board said, “This title has been conferred on Pant for his continued dedication and passion for initiating inclusivity and diversity within the tourism industry in Nepal.”
The board also noted in its certificate of appointment: “Pant’s role as cultural emissary holds significance in advocating for LGBTIQA+ tourism. By taking on this position, you have the opportunity to create a positive impact on both local and international levels, inspiring others to embrace the principle of equality and acceptance.”
“As a cultural emissary, we believe you will raise more awareness about the LGBTIQA+ issues, encourage LGBTIQA+ friendly policies and promote LGBTIQA+ friendly destinations and experiences,” the board stated.
“Your expertise and influence will undoubtedly contribute to the growth of pink tourism and help create a more inclusive and diverse travel industry,” the board added.
“I am grateful to the NTB for this opportunity,” Pant told the Himalayan News Service. “I will promote Pink Tourism along with justice and equality for the LGBTIQA+ communities in Nepal, in Asia, and around the world.”
Pant is the executive director of Mayako Pahichan Nepal and the former executive director, CEO, and founder of Blue Diamond Society, the first LGBTQ+ rights organization in Nepal.
Additional reporting by Correctiv, the Associated Press, Deutsche Welle, M1, GCN Ireland, Agence France-Presse, the BBC, PinkNewsUK, Focus Taiwan and the Himalayan News Service.
Cuba
Cuba bajo presión y sin respuestas
Cubanos no hablan en términos geopolíticos. Hablan de sobrevivir
Las tensiones entre Estados Unidos y Cuba han vuelto a subir de tono. No es algo nuevo, pero este momento se siente distinto. Las medidas más recientes desde Washington buscan cerrar aún más los espacios financieros del gobierno cubano, limitar sus fuentes de ingreso y presionar sectores clave de la economía. No es simbólico. Es una política directa.
Desde Estados Unidos, el mensaje es claro. Se busca provocar cambios que no han ocurrido en más de seis décadas. También hay un componente interno, una presión política que responde a sectores del exilio que llevan años exigiendo una postura más dura. Todo eso forma parte del escenario.
Pero esa es solo una parte.
Del lado cubano, la respuesta sigue un patrón conocido. El gobierno habla de agresión externa, de guerra económica, de un embargo que se endurece. Cada medida se convierte en argumento para reforzar su narrativa y cerrar filas. No hay espacio para reconocer errores propios. Todo apunta hacia afuera.
Mientras tanto, la vida en la isla va por otro camino.
La crisis energética que hoy vive Cuba no empezó con estas medidas. Lleva años acumulándose. El sistema eléctrico está deteriorado, sin mantenimiento suficiente, con fallas constantes. Los apagones no son nuevos. Lo que ha cambiado es la frecuencia y la duración.
Durante años entró petróleo a Cuba, especialmente desde Venezuela. Hubo acuerdos. Hubo suministro. Y aun así, la vida del cubano no mejoró. La electricidad seguía fallando, el combustible seguía racionado, el transporte seguía siendo un problema diario.
Entonces la pregunta sigue siendo la misma.
Si el petróleo estaba entrando, ¿por qué nada cambiaba?
¿Dónde fue a parar ese recurso?
¿Dónde está el dinero que generó?
Hoy se habla de restricciones al petróleo como si fueran la causa principal de la crisis. No lo son. Empeoran una situación ya frágil, pero no la explican completamente.
Hay una historia más larga que no se puede ignorar.
Lo mismo ocurre con las brigadas médicas.
Durante años se presentaron como un gesto de solidaridad internacional. Y en muchos casos lo fueron. Médicos cubanos trabajaron en condiciones difíciles, salvaron vidas, sostuvieron sistemas de salud en otros países. Eso es real.
Pero también funcionaron como una de las principales fuentes de ingreso del Estado cubano.
Muchos de esos profesionales no recibían el salario completo por su trabajo. Una parte significativa quedaba en manos del gobierno. En algunos casos, ni siquiera tenían control sobre el dinero que generaban.
Y hay algo más duro.
Si uno de esos médicos decidía no regresar a Cuba, ese dinero no llegaba a su familia. Se quedaba retenido.
Hoy varios países están revisando o cancelando esos acuerdos. Y otra vez, la respuesta oficial es señalar hacia afuera. Pero la pregunta sigue siendo inevitable.
¿Se está perdiendo un modelo de cooperación o un sistema que dependía del control sobre sus propios profesionales?
Dentro de Cuba, la conversación suena diferente.
La gente no habla en términos geopolíticos. Habla de sobrevivir. De cómo llegar al final del día. De los apagones, de la comida que no alcanza, del transporte que no aparece, de una vida que cada vez se hace más difícil.
Hay quienes miran las medidas de Estados Unidos con cierta expectativa. No porque quieran más escasez, sino porque sienten que el sistema no cambia por sí solo. Hay una sensación de estancamiento que pesa.
Pero esa expectativa convive con una realidad concreta.
Las sanciones no golpean primero a quienes toman decisiones. Golpean al ciudadano común. Al que hace la fila. Al que pierde la comida por falta de electricidad. Al que no tiene cómo moverse.
Esa es la contradicción.
El gobierno cubano pide solidaridad internacional. Y la recibe. Países que envían ayuda, organizaciones que se movilizan, voces que defienden a la isla.
Pero hay otra pregunta que también está ahí.
¿Esa ayuda llega realmente al pueblo?
La falta de transparencia en la distribución de recursos es parte del problema. Porque no se trata solo de lo que entra, sino de lo que realmente llega a quienes lo necesitan.
Reducir lo que pasa en Cuba a un conflicto entre dos gobiernos es no querer ver el cuadro completo.
Aquí hay responsabilidades compartidas, pero no iguales.
Estados Unidos ejerce presión con efectos reales sobre la economía cubana. Eso no se puede negar. Pero dentro de la isla hay un sistema que ha tenido décadas para corregir, para abrir, para responder a su gente, y no lo ha hecho.
Esa parte no se puede seguir esquivando.
Yo escribo esto como cubano. Desde lo que vi, desde lo que viví y desde la gente que sigue allá tratando de resolver el día.
Porque al final, más allá de lo que se diga entre gobiernos, la realidad es otra.
Cuba hoy está más apretada, sí. Pero también lleva años arrastrando problemas que nadie ha querido enfrentar de verdad.
Y mientras eso siga así, da igual lo que venga de afuera. El problema sigue estando adentro.
Iran
LGBTQ groups condemn Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization
Ceasefire announced less than two hours before Tuesday deadline
The Council for Global Equality is among the groups that condemned President Donald Trump on Tuesday over his latest threats against Iran.
Trump in a Truth Social post said “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran did not reach an agreement with the U.S. by 8 p.m. ET. on Tuesday.
Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death.
Israel and the U.S. on Feb. 28 launched airstrikes against Iran.
One of them killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran in response launched missiles and drones against Israel and other countries that include Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and Cyprus.
Gas prices in the U.S. and around the world continue to increase because the war has essentially closed the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway that connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil passes.
Trump less than 90 minutes before his deadline announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran that Pakistan helped broker.
“We the undersigned human rights, humanitarian, civil liberties, faith-based and environmental organizations, think tanks and experts are deeply alarmed by President Trump’s threat regarding Iran that ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ if his demands are not met. Such language describes a grave atrocity if carried out,” reads the statement that the Council for Global Equality more than 200 other organizations and human rights experts signed. “A threat to wipe out ‘a whole civilization’ may amount to a threat of genocide. Genocide is a crime defined by the Genocide Convention and by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as committing one or more of several acts ‘with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, racial or religious groups as such.'”
The statement states “the law is clear that civilians must not be targeted, and they must also be protected from indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks.”
“Strikes on civilian infrastructure — such as the recent attack on a bridge and the attacks President Trump is repeatedly threatening to carry out to destroy power plants — have devastating consequences for the civilian population and environment,” it reads.
“We urge all parties to respect international law,” adds the statement. “Those responsible for atrocities, including crimes against humanity and war crimes, can and must be held accountable.”
The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice, Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP, MADRE, and the Robert and Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center are among the other groups that signed the letter.
Hungary
Vance speaks at Orbán rally in Hungary
Anti-LGBTQ prime minister trailing ahead of April 12 vote
Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday urged Hungarians to support Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the country’s April 12 elections.
“We have got to get Viktor Orbán re-elected as prime minister of Hungary,” Vance told Orbán supporters who gathered at Budapest’s MTK Sportpark.
Vance and Orbán on Tuesday met before they held a press conference in Budapest. Orbán also spoke at the rally.
The U.S. vice president after he took to the stage called President Donald Trump, who told the crowd he is “a big fan of Viktor” and is “with him all the way.” Vance, as he did during Tuesday’s press conference with Orbán, criticized the European Union.
“We want you to make a decision about your future with no outside forces pressuring you or telling you what to do. I’m not telling you exactly who to vote for, but what I am telling you is that the bureaucrats in Brussels, those people should not be listened to,” said Vance. “Listen to your hearts, listen to your souls, and listen to the sovereignty of the Hungarian people.”
Vance in his speech noted “across the West, we’ve got a small band of radicals” who, among other things, “condemn children to mutilization and sterilization in the name of gender care.” Vance also criticized a “far-left ideology given quarter in university circles, in the media, and in our entertainment industry, and increasingly among bureaucrats on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Vice President JD Vance speaks at MTK Sportpark in Budapest, Hungary, on April 7, 2026
Orbán has been in office since 2010. He and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
A Hungarian activist with whom the Washington Blade previously spoke said it is “impossible to change your gender legally in Hungary” because of a 2020 law that “banned legal gender recognition of transgender and intersex people.” Hungarian MPs the same year effectively prohibited same-sex couples from adopting children and defined marriage in the country’s constitution as between a man and a woman.
The European Commission in 2022 sued Hungary, which is a member of the EU, over the country’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law.
Hungarian lawmakers in March 2025 passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
Upwards of 100,000 people last June defied the ban and marched in Budapest’s annual Pride parade.
Polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party ahead of the April 12 election. Vance at Tuesday’s rally told Orbán supporters that he and Trump “want you to make a decision about your future with no outside forces pressuring you or telling you what to do.”
“I’m not telling you exactly who to vote for, but what I am telling you is that the bureaucrats in Brussels, those people should not be listened to,” said Vance. “Listen to your hearts, listen to your souls, and listen to the sovereignty of the Hungarian people.”
“Unlike some of the leadership of Brussels, I’m not threatening you or telling you that we’re going to withhold funds to which you’re legally entitled,” he added. “You will make the decision about Hungary’s future.”
Magyar on Tuesday appeared to dismiss Vance’s comments.
“No foreign country may interfere in Hungarian elections. This is our country. Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow, or Brussels — it is written in Hungary’s streets and squares,” said Magyar on his X account.
A spokesperson for the Háttér Society, a Hungarian LGBTQ rights group, told the Blade that neither Magyar, nor his party have reached out to the organization.
The spokesperson said the group does not “campaign directly for them or for any other political party.” The Háttér Society, however, is encouraging LGBTQ Hungarians to vote.
“Ahead of election day, we will encourage everyone on our social media channels to go out and vote, as this is the only way we can act against a system that has been working against the LGBTQI community for many years,” said the spokesperson.
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