World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
Iraqi MPs passed bill that criminalizes same-sex relationships, transgender people
IRAQ
A law passed by the Iraqi parliament Saturday criminalizes same-sex relationships with a maximum 15-year prison sentence and also penalizes transgender Iraqis who face potential prison sentences ranging between one and three years under the new law.
MP Nouri al-Maliki told the AFP news agency that passage of the measure was delayed until after Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani’s visit to Washington earlier this month. A second MP, Amir al-Maamouri, told Shafaq News that the new law was “a significant step in combating sexual deviancy given the infiltration of unique cases contradicting Islamic and societal values.”
In a statement released by State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller noted:
“The United States is deeply concerned by the Iraqi Council of Representatives’ passage of an amendment to existing legislation, officially called the Anti-Prostitution and Homosexuality Law, which threatens constitutionally protected human rights and fundamental freedoms. The law bans same-sex relations with steep fines and imprisonment and punishes those who ‘promote homosexuality.’ Limiting the rights of certain individuals in a society undermines the rights of all.
This amendment threatens those most at risk in Iraqi society. It can be used to hamper free-speech and expression and inhibit the operations of NGOs across Iraq. The legislation also weakens Iraq’s ability to diversify its economy and attract foreign investment. International business coalitions have already indicated that such discrimination in Iraq will harm business and economic growth in the country.
Respect for human rights and political and economic inclusion is essential for Iraq’s security, stability, and prosperity. This legislation is inconsistent with these values and undermines the government’s political and economic reform efforts.”
British Secretary of State David Cameron in a statement posted to X called the law “dangerous and worrying.” He added “no one should be targeted for who they are. We encourage the government of Iraq to uphold human rights and freedoms of all people without distinction.”
GERMANY
According to German media outlet Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung, a group of professional footballers from the German Football League (Deutsche Fußball Liga) will be announcing that they are gay on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia on May 17.
PinkNewsUK reported the German outlet has quoted Marcus Urban as a source. Urban is a former footballer in Germany who came out after retiring. He was the second player worldwide to come out, only after British player Justin Fashanu in 1990. Fashanu was the only prominent player in pro English football to come out, until Jake Daniels in 2022.
Urban told Editorial Network Germany (Redaktions Netzwerk Deutschland) the move is part of an initiative in Germany in an attempt to encourage closet LGBTQ players and others working in football to come out. All clubs involved are said to have been made aware of the imminent announcement.
Urban is a co-founder of Diversero, a global community who celebrate and live diversity that he said contact with the players. Speaking about the closeted players he noted: “There is controversy there. Do I still want to wait until the world of football becomes the way I want it to be?”
COUNCIL OF EUROPE
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture has issued a set of standards and recommendations to European prisons aimed at ensuring that trans prisoners, a highly vulnerable segment of the prison population, are treated with respect and protected from the risks of ill-treatment.
In its annual report for 2023, the CPT notes that it is increasingly meeting trans persons held in prisons during its visits to states to monitor the conditions of detention of persons deprived of liberty. The CPT aims to provide guidance to governments and prison administrations, considering that European countries are currently implementing divergent policies and that there is a current debate as to how to treat transgender persons in prison.
CPT President Alan Mitchell said: “Prisons are a microcosm of society, often with amplified issues given the smaller confined settings. Transgender persons held in detention can be in a situation of vulnerability and a heightened risk of intimidation and abuse. It is concerning that a few states still deny the existence of transgender persons and make no specific provision for their treatment in prison, which may expose them to ill-treatment. Governments should put in place safeguards to protect transgender persons in detention and ensure that they are treated with dignity and care.
“The report identifies as a challenge the widely divergent criteria of placement of transgender persons throughout Europe depending on individual states’ policies. Some are based on self-identification and declaration, others on legal recognition, and a few on gender-affirming surgery. Few states have specific policies and legislation to guide prison authorities on placement of transgender persons, often done on a case-by-case basis subject to an individual risk assessment.
In line with the European Court of Human Rights case law, the CPT highlights that national legislation should provide for the recognition of persons of a gender other than that assigned by birth and not establish any pre-condition to legal gender recognition such as gender-affirming surgery. Consequently, when a person self-identifies as transgender in the prison admission procedure, this should be sufficient for the prison administration to treat the person as such.
The CPT considers that transgender persons should be accommodated in the prison section corresponding to the gender with which they identify. Although there have been a few unfortunate cases of the placement in women’s prison sections of transgender persons accused or convicted of sexual offences against women, the committee highlights that, as for any other prisoners, they should only be placed elsewhere for exceptional security or other reasons after an individual risk assessment. In addition, transgender prisoners should be consulted about their placement preference during the entry procedure and be given the option to keep their gender identity confidential.
During its visits to several states, the CPT met transgender women prisoners held in male sections who stated they did not feel safe, and some alleged having been sexually abused and assaulted by other prisoners or verbally abused by staff. In some countries, the CPT also met transgender women who reported that they were often not allowed to shower at different times as male prisoners, were humiliated by being referred to by their male names or prohibited from wearing women´s clothes.
In the CPT’s view, transgender prisoners should be allowed to dress in the clothes associated with their self-identified gender and be addressed by their chosen names by prison staff. Prison administrations should also address them by their preferred names, titles and pronouns in verbal and written communication, irrespective of official documents. Further, national and prison authorities should ensure that all prison staff is trained to understand and address the specific needs of transgender persons and the risks they are exposed to in the prison environment.
The committee urges national authorities to address the risks of discrimination of transgender persons in prison and implement policies to prevent and combat ill-treatment by prison staff and inter-prison violence and intimidation targeting them. It also provides guidance to ensure that body searches of transgender persons are not perceived as degrading by the persons concerned.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Royal Courts of Justice (Photo courtesy of the British government)
The Austen Hays Limited law firm this week launched a class action lawsuit in the High Court of Justice in London against West Hollywood, Calif.,- based Grindr, alleging that the world’s largest LGBTQ casual encounters app had violated British data protection laws.
Reuters reported that the suit claims British users’ highly sensitive information, including HIV status and the date of their latest HIV test, were provided to third parties for commercial purposes.
In a statement released to the media a spokesperson for Grindr said: “We are committed to protecting our users’ data and complying with all applicable data privacy regulations, including in the UK. We are proud of our global privacy programme and take privacy extremely seriously. We intend to respond vigorously to this claim, which appears to be based on a mischaracterisation of practices from more than four years ago, prior to early 2020.”
The Austen Hays Limited law firm’s managing director Chaya Hanoomanjee responded saying:
“Our clients have experienced significant distress over their highly sensitive and private information being shared without their consent. Many have suffered feelings of fear, embarrassment, and anxiety as a result,” Hanoomanjee said.
“Grindr owes it to the LGBTQ+ community it serves to compensate those whose data has been compromised and have suffered distress as a result, and to ensure all its users are safe while using the app, wherever they are, without fear that their data might be shared with third parties,” she added.
So far 670 people have signed up to the claim, and the firm said “thousands” more people had expressed interest in joining.
The Irish Examiner reported on Monday, April 22 that the claim against Grindr will be focused on the periods before April 3, 2018, and between May 25, 2018, and April 7, 2020, meaning newer users are unlikely to be able to join. Grindr changed its consent mechanisms in April 2020.
Grindr, based in Los Angeles, announced it would stop sharing users’ HIV status with third-party companies in April 2018 after a report by Norwegian researchers revealed data sharing with two companies.
HONG KONG
A 33-year-old trans man who has been battling authorities to change his gender from female to male on his Hong Kong ID card since he first launched legal action in 2017, and winning a verdict from the Court of Final Appeal in February 2023, has finally been able to get his new ID card this week.
In an interview with Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post journalist Lo Hoi-ying, Tse told her: “I thought to myself, I have won the lawsuit over a year ago, why do I still have to go through all of this?”
Tse, the chairman of the NGO Transgender Equality Hong Kong, also filed a separate lawsuit against the government in March for what he said was a discriminatory delay in issuing him his new ID card.
He said he would seek monetary compensation for the distress caused by the delay, which could not be forgotten even after changing his card. “Potentially in the future, if there are similar cases for the LGBTQ community, the government should not delay policy updates like this,” he said.
While Tse said that his new ID could make life easier for him and solve some surface issues, he conceded it was only a small step in the fight for trans rights, the South China Morning Post reported.
“The updated policy is not fully trans-inclusive, as measures such as submitting blood test reports for randomized checks still violate our privacy,” he said.
“There are still many hurdles for us, such as marriage. These are all issues we have to confront, which cannot be solved merely by an ID change.”
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, Shafaq News, Redaktions Netzwerk Deutschland, Office of Public Affairs for the Council of Europe, BBC News, PinkNewsUK, Irish Examiner, and the South China Morning Post.
Books
New book profiles LGBTQ Ukrainians, documents war experiences
Tuesday marks four years since Russia attacked Ukraine
Journalist J. Lester Feder’s new book profiles LGBTQ Ukrainians and their experiences during Russia’s war against their country.
Feder for “The Queer Face of War: Portraits and Stories from Ukraine” interviewed and photographed LGBTQ Ukrainians in Kyiv, the country’s capital, and in other cities. They include Olena Hloba, the co-founder of Tergo, a support group for parents and friends of LGBTQ Ukrainians, who fled her home in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha shortly after Russia launched its war on Feb. 24, 2022.
Russian soldiers killed civilians as they withdrew from Bucha. Videos and photographs that emerged from the Kyiv suburb showed dead bodies with their hands tied behind their back and other signs of torture.
Olena Shevchenko, chair of Insight, a Ukrainian LGBTQ rights group, wrote the book’s forward.
The book also profiles Viktor Pylypenko, a gay man who the Ukrainian military assigned to the 72nd Mechanized Black Cossack Brigade after the war began. Feder writes Pylypenko’s unit “was deployed to some of the fiercest and most important battles of the war.”
“The brigade was pivotal to beating Russian forces back from Kyiv in their initial attempt to take the capital, helping them liberate territory near Kharkiv and defending the front lines in Donbas,” wrote Feder.
Pylypenko spent two years fighting “on Ukraine’s most dangerous battlefields, serving primarily as a medic.”
“At times he felt he was living in a horror movie, watching tank shells tear his fellow soldiers apart before his eyes,” wrote Feder. “He held many men as they took their final breaths. Of the roughly one hundred who entered the unit with him, only six remained when he was discharged in 2024. He didn’t leave by choice: he went home to take care of his father, who had suffered a stroke.”
Feder notes one of Pylypenko’s former commanders attacked him online when he came out. Pylypenko said another commander defended him.
Feder also profiled Diana and Oleksii Polukhin, two residents of Kherson, a port city in southern Ukraine that is near the mouth of the Dnieper River.
Ukrainian forces regained control of Kherson in November 2022, nine months after Russia occupied it.
Diana, a cigarette vender, and Polukhin told Feder that Russian forces demanded they disclose the names of other LGBTQ Ukrainians in Kherson. Russian forces also tortured Diana and Polukhin while in their custody.
Polukhim is the first LGBTQ victim of Russian persecution to report their case to Ukrainian prosecutors.
Feder, who is of Ukrainian descent, first visited Ukraine in 2013 when he wrote for BuzzFeed.
He was Outright International’s Senior Fellow for Emergency Research from 2021-2023. Feder last traveled to Ukraine in December 2024.
Feder spoke about his book at Politics and Prose at the Wharf in Southwest D.C. on Feb. 6. The Washington Blade spoke with Feder on Feb. 20.
Feder told the Blade he began to work on the book when he was at Outright International and working with humanitarian groups on how to better serve LGBTQ Ukrainians. Feder said military service requirements, a lack of access to hormone therapy and documents that accurately reflect a person’s gender identity and LGBTQ-friendly shelters are among the myriad challenges that LGBTQ Ukrainians have faced since the war began.
“All of these were components of a queer experience of war that was not well documented, and we had never seen in one place, especially with photos,” he told the Blade. “I felt really called to do that, not only because of what was happening in Ukraine, but also as a way to bring to the surface issues that we’d had seen in Iraq and Syria and Afghanistan.”
Feder also spoke with the Blade about the war’s geopolitical implications.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013 signed a law that bans the “promotion of homosexuality” to minors.
The 2014 Winter Olympics took place in Sochi, a Russian resort city on the Black Sea. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine a few weeks after the games ended.
Russia’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown has continued over the last decade.
The Russian Supreme Court in 2023 ruled the “international LGBT movement” is an extremist organization and banned it. The Russian Justice Ministry last month designated ILGA World, a global LGBTQ and intersex rights group, as an “undesirable” organization.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has sought to align itself with Europe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after a 2021 meeting with then-President Joe Biden at the White House said his country would continue to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. (Zelenskyy’s relationship with the U.S. has grown more tense since the Trump-Vance administration took office.) Zelenskyy in 2022 publicly backed civil partnerships for same-sex couples.
Then-Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova in 2023 applauded Kyiv Pride and other LGBTQ and intersex rights groups in her country when she spoke at a photo exhibit at Ukraine House in D.C. that highlighted LGBTQ and intersex soldiers. Then-Kyiv Pride Executive Director Lenny Emson, who Feder profiles in his book, was among those who attended the event.
“Thank you for everything you do in Kyiv, and thank you for everything that you do in order to fight the discrimination that still is somewhere in Ukraine,” said Markarova. “Not everything is perfect yet, but you know, I think we are moving in the right direction. And we together will not only fight the external enemy, but also will see equality.”
Feder in response to the Blade’s question about why he decided to write his book said he “didn’t feel” the “significance of Russia’s war against Ukraine” for LGBTQ people around the world “was fully understood.”
“This was an opportunity to tell that big story,” he said.
“The crackdown on LGBT rights inside Russia was essentially a laboratory for a strategy of attacking democratic values by attacking queer rights and it was one as Ukraine was getting closet to Europe back in 2013, 2014,” he added. “It was a strategy they were using as part of their foreign policy, and it was one they were using not only in Ukraine over the past decade, but around the world.”
Feder said Republicans are using “that same strategy to attack queer people, to attack democracy itself.”
“I felt like it was important that Americans understand that history,” he said.
Netherlands
Rob Jetten becomes first gay Dutch prime minister
38-year-old head of government sworn in on Monday
Rob Jetten on Monday became the Netherland’s first openly gay prime minister.
Jetten’s centrist D66 party won the country’s elections last October, narrowly defeating Geert Wilders’ far-right Party for Freedom.
King Willem-Alexander on Monday swore in Jetten, who is also the country’s youngest-ever prime minister. The Associated Press notes Jetten’s coalition government includes the center-right Christian Democrats and the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy.
“Proud to be able to do this together,” said Jetten in an X post before Willem-Alexander swore him in.
COC Nederland, a Dutch LGBTQ advocacy group, in a statement said Jetten “becoming prime minister shows that your sexual orientation doesn’t have to matter.”
“You can become a construction worker, a doctor, a lawyer, and even prime minister,” said COC Nederland.
The advocacy group noted Jetten has said his government will implement its “Rainbow Agreement” that include calls for strengthening nondiscrimination laws “to better protect transgender and intersex people,” appointing more “discrimination investigators … to address violence against LGBTQ+ people and other minorities,” and introducing measures “to promote acceptance in schools.”
“COC will hold the Cabinet to that promise,” said COC Nederland.
Jetten’s fiancé is Nicolás Keenen, an Argentine field hockey player who competed in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Jetten is one of two openly gay heads of government: Andorran Prime Minister Xavier Espot Zamora came out in 2023. Gay Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs, who is the country’s head of state, took office in 2023.
Leo Varadkar, who was Ireland’s prime minister from 2017-2020 and from 2022-2024, and Xavier Bettel, who was Luxembourg’s prime minister from 2013-2023, are gay. Ana Brnabić, who was Serbia’s prime minister from 2017-2024, is a lesbian.
Former Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir in 2009 became the world’s first openly lesbian head of government. Former Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, former San Marino Captain Regent Paolo Rondelli, and former French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal are also openly gay.
Colombian presidential candidate Claudia López, who is the former mayor of Bogotá, the Colombian capital, would become her country’s first female and first lesbian president if she wins the country’s presidential election that is taking place later this year.
Ecuador
Justicia reconoce delito de odio en caso de bullying en Instituto Nacional Mejía de Ecuador
Johana B se suicidó el 11 de abril de 2023
A casi tres años del suicidio de Johana B., quien estudió en el Instituto Nacional Mejía, colegio emblemático de Quito, el Tribunal de la Corte Nacional de Justicia ratificó la condena para el alumno responsable del acoso escolar que la llevó a quitarse la vida.
Según información de la Fiscalía, el fallo de última instancia deja en firme la condena de cuatro años de internamiento en un centro para adolescentes infractores, en una audiencia de casación pedida por la defensa del agresor, tres meses antes de que prescriba el caso.
Con la sentencia, este caso es uno de los primeros en el país en reconocer actos de odio por violencia de género, delito tipificado en el artículo 177 del Código Orgánico Penal Integral (COIP).
El suicidio de Johana B. ocurrió el 11 abril de 2023 y fue consecuencia del acoso escolar por estereotipos de género que enfrentó la estudiante por parte de su agresor, quien constantemente la insultaba y agredía por su forma de vestir, llevar el cabello corto o practicar actividades que hace años se consideraban exclusivamente para hombres, como ser mando de la Banda de Paz en el Instituto Nacional Mejía.
Desde la muerte de Johana, su familia buscaba justicia. Su padre, José, en una entrevista concedida a edición cientonce para la investigación periodística Los suicidios que quedan en el clóset a causa de la omisión estatal afirmó que su hija era acosada por su compañero y otres estudiantes con apodos como “marimacha”, lo que también fue corroborado en los testimonios recogidos por la Unidad de Justicia Juvenil No. 4 de la Fiscalía.
Los resultados de la autopsia psicológica y del examen antropológico realizados tras la muerte de Johana confirmaron las versiones de sus compañeras y docentes: que su agresor la acosó de manera sistemática durante dos años. Los empujones, jalones de cabello o burlas, incluso por su situación económica, eran constantes en el aula de clase.
La violencia que recibió Johana escaló cuando su compañero le dio un codazo en la espalda ocasionándole una lesión que le imposibilitó caminar y asistir a clases.
Días después del hecho, la adolescente se quitó la vida en su casa, tras escuchar que la madre del agresor se negó a pagar la mitad del valor de una tomografía para determinar la lesión en su espalda, tal como lo había acordado previamente con sus padres y frente al personal del DECE (Departamento de Consejería Estudiantil del colegio), según versiones de su familia y la Fiscalía.
#AFONDO | Johana se suicidó el 11 de abril de 2023, tras ser víctima de acoso escolar por no cumplir con estereotipos femeninos 😢.
Dos semanas antes, uno de sus compañeros le dio un codazo en la espalda, ocasionándole una lesión que le imposibilitó caminar 🧵 pic.twitter.com/bXKUs9YYOm
— EdicionCientonce (@EdCientonce) September 3, 2025
“Era una chica linda, fuerte, alegre. Siempre nos llevamos muy bien, hemos compartido todo. Nos dejó muchos recuerdos y todos nos sentimos tristes; siempre estamos pensando en ella. Es un vacío tan grande aquí, en este lugar”, expresó José a Edición Cientonce el año pasado.
Para la fiscal del caso y de la Unidad de Justicia Juvenil de la Fiscalía, Martha Reino, el suicidio de la adolescente fue un agravante que se contempló durante la audiencia de juzgamiento de marzo de 2024, según explicó a este medio el año pasado. Desde entonces, la familia del agresor presentó un recurso de casación en la Corte Nacional de Justicia, que provocó la dilatación del proceso.
En el fallo de última instancia, el Tribunal también dispuso que el agresor pague $3.000 a la familia de Johana B. como reparación integral. Además, el adolescente deberá recibir medidas socioeducativas, de acuerdo al artículo 385 del Código Orgánico de la Niñez y Adolescencia, señala la Fiscalía.
El caso de Johana también destapó las omisiones y negligencias del personal del DECE y docentes del Instituto Nacional Mejía. En la etapa de instrucción fiscal se comprobó que no se aplicaron los protocolos respectivos para proteger a la víctima.
De hecho, la Fiscalía conoció el caso a raíz de la denuncia que presentó su padre, José, y no por el DECE, aseguró la fiscal el año pasado a Edición Cientonce.
Pese a estas omisiones presentadas en el proceso, el fallo de última instancia sólo ratificó la condena para el estudiante.
Transmission DC breathes new life into a storied sound space
Criteria for supporting a candidate in D.C.
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
Moving doc ‘Come See Me’ is more than Oscar worthy
The global cost of Trump’s foreign aid ideology
PHOTOS: Cupid’s Undie Run
US Embassy in Mexico issues shelter in place order for Puerto Vallarta
Sweat DC expands to Shaw
2026: prices, pace, and winter weather
