World
Anti-LGBTQ crackdowns, war loom over Pride Month events
Annual Jerusalem Pride parade took place on May 30
Activists around the world are marking Pride Month against the backdrop of continued legislative attacks against LGBTQ people and war.
The annual Budapest Pride march will take place in the Hungarian capital on June 22.
Hungarian celebrities, artists and human rights activists are expected to speak at the opening of the Budapest Pride Community Festival on Friday. The event, which will end on June 23, will feature documentary screenings, panel discussions, sporting events and other gatherings.
Gay U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman during a speech he gave at a Budapest Pride reception last year criticized the ongoing crackdown against LGBTQ and intersex rights that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government has carried out.
“Pride is a particularly important event in Hungary,” Budapest Pride spokesperson Johanna Majercsik told the Washington Blade in an email. “Despite being a full member of the European Union since 2004, the Hungarian government has systematically reduced the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, and the government apparently doesn’t want to stop there, inciting people against our community, and making references about passing new anti-LGBTQ laws in the future (calling them child protection laws).”
More than 150,000 people participated in the annual Seoul Queer Culture Festival in the South Korean capital on June 1, even though authorities had denied permits to organizers.
Bangga di Bali or “Pride in Bali” will take place on the Indonesian island on June 15.
Safety concerns prompted organizers of ASEAN Queer Advocacy Week, which was to have taken place last July in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, to cancel it. Bangga di Bali on its Instagram page says the event seeks “to strengthen and boost individual and collective confidence, as well as increase solidarity between the gender diverse community and its allies in Bali.”
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in May 2023 signed his country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act that, among other things, contains a death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality.”
The Ugandan Constitutional Court last month refused to “nullify the Anti-Homosexuality Act in its totality.” A group of Ugandan LGBTQ activists have appealed the ruling.
Shemerirwe Agnes, executive director of the Uganda-based Africa Queer Network, told the Blade there are no plans to hold a national Pride event because of “significant security concerns” over the Anti-Homosexuality Act.
“This law has created a highly hostile environment for LGBTQIA+ individuals, making public gatherings and celebrations risky,” said Agnes. “Any form of public Pride event would likely attract unwanted attention and potential violence from both the authorities and the public.”
Yaga Piuson, an activist in East Africa, said LGBTQ people who live in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya and the Gorom Refugee Settlement in South Sudan plan to organize Pride events. Piuson said there will not be any Pride events outside the camps in the two countries
“It’s too bad and deadly to organize it outside the camps,” said Piuson.
Lawmakers in Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and other African countries have introduced bills that are similar to Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. LGBTQ Voice Tanzania nevertheless plans to hold a Pride event on June 29 in Dar es Salaam, the country’s largest city and commercial capital.
“Although security concerns exist, we refuse to be silenced by oppressive laws,” LGBT Voice Tanzania’s Salumu Hatibu. “We are fully prepared for any challenges that may arise.”
Kyiv Pride will on June 16 under the moniker “let’s unite for the sake of equality and victory.” It is the first time the event will take place in the Ukrainian capital since Russia launched its war in 2022.
Upwards of 10,000 people participated in the annual Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance Parade on May 30.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, with the support of LGBTQ activists, last month cancelled the city’s annual Pride parade that would have taken place roughly seven months after Hamas launched its surprise attack against southern Israel.
Jerusalem Pride participants called for the release of the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip. Omer Ohana, whose fiancé, Maj. Sagi Golan, died while fighting Hamas militants in Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, is among those who spoke.
“Out of the despair and pain, a central thing became clear — the cure for pain, sadness and loss — is the community,” said Nilly Maderer, CEO of Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, which organizes the Pride parade.
Amnesty International and Human Dignity Trust both note Gaza is among the jurisdictions around the world in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized.
The Namibian Supreme Court on June 16 is expected to issue a ruling that could repeal the country’s sodomy law. Wendelinus Hamutenya-Jeremiah, executive prime director of Gender Diversity Movement Trust noted to the Blade the country’s first Pride City Tour/Parade will take place in cities across Namibia this month.
Saint Lucia Pride is scheduled to take place from Aug. 30-Sept. 2, even though it is among the English-speaking Caribbean nations in which homosexuality remains illegal. Generation Pride took place last weekend in Sri Lanka, a former British colony with a sodomy law of which the country’s government supports the repeal.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is among those who participated in the annual Bangkok Pride Parade on June 1. A bill that would extend marriage rights to same-sex couples is expected to receive final approval in the country’s parliament later this month.
Outright International on June 1 honored Mitini Nepal, a Nepalese LGBTQ and intersex rights group, actor Billy Porter and the Adobe Foundation at their annual Celebration of Courage gala in New York. The event raised more than $900,000 for the organization.
“We’re all here because we believe in confronting formidable challenges,” said Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin. “Sometimes it feels daunting, but you show how much passionate support there is and how we can and how we will fight as long as we need to together.”
George Avni and Daniel Itai contributed to this article.
Belarus
Belarusian lawmakers approve bill to crackdown on LGBTQ rights
Country’s president known as ‘Europe’s last dictator’
Lawmakers in Belarus on Thursday approved a bill that would allow the government to crack down on LGBTQ advocacy.
The Associated Press notes the bill 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 Thursday.
President Alexander Lukashenko is expected to sign it.
Belarus borders Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Lukashenko — known as “Europe’s last dictator” is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kazakhstan is among the countries that have enacted Russian-style anti-LGBTQ propaganda laws in recent years.
Vika Biran, a Belarusian LGBTQ activist, is among those arrested during anti-Lukashenko protests that took place in 2020 after he declared victory in the country’s presidential election.
Kenya
Kenyan advocacy groups launch LGBTQ voter mobilization campaign
As Kenya prepares for next year’s August general election, local queer rights groups have joined Gen Zers in also mobilizing their members to register as voters.
The groups’ drive began ahead of the electoral commission’s official launch of a one-month nationwide mass voter registration on March 30, targeting 6.5 million new voters to bring the total to more than 28 million.
The groups — led by the Initiative for Equality and Non-Discrimination (INEND) and Galck+ — note that politics is not optional, but rather it is “our responsibility” to use the ballot to put an end to bad leadership and discriminatory laws against them.
“Voting is one of the most powerful ways we exercise our autonomy and remind the State that our human rights are not ‘Western imports’; our struggles for housing, employment, safety, and dignity are fundamentally Kenyan issues,” INEND states.
It reminds queer individuals that the nation entrusts them with an identity card at age 18 as a recognition of their ability to make decisions, follow laws, and take responsibility for the country’s future.
INEND also notes that despite this honor, LGBTQ people get kicked out of their homes due to homophobia, are discriminated against at work, and face violence in public places due to the punitive laws that the same State legislates.
“As queer Kenyans, our vote matters,” INEND states. “Our voice belongs in the democratic and governance conversations, and true democracy includes everyone.”
Some voter mobilization initiatives the queer lobby groups have been using include ‘Queering the Ballot’ Podcasts on civic participation, dubbed ‘Your Vote is Your Future’. The topics explored include how laws shape their lives, the relationship between lived experiences of common citizens, discrimination fatigue, distrust in government systems, and voter apathy.
The groups through the mobilization drive hope to create a queer voting bloc to actively participate in restructuring and reconstructing the existing governance system they argue has been a problem for them. They maintain the queer community navigates a system that was not built for them from its questioning of their right to exist, yet the Kenyan Constitution clearly states that no citizen should be discriminated against based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Court of Appeal next month will hear a case challenging the constitutionality of provisions in Kenya’s Penal Code that criminalize consensual same-sex relationships among adults. The appeals court postponed the case after adjourning on Feb. 4, its first substantive hearing since the High Court judgement in 2019.
“Change requires more than pointing fingers. It requires reflection, action, and showing up, especially at the ballot box as LGBTQ Kenyan citizens and declaring that this is our country, our business, and we can no longer watch from the sidelines,” INEND states.
The group notes that they want a governance system that embraces queer people as they go about their daily lives without any form of homophobic discrimination, harassment, or arrests. Queer people are therefore urged to pick the right leaders who listen to them in Kenya’s six elective positions, from the president down to the local government representatives, as their decisions while in power affect them.
“It is very irresponsible for any human being, even around the world, to assume that they don’t have political responsibility. It is easy and sounds fancy to say ‘I don’t like politics,’ but it does not make one good as it makes one abandon their political responsibility as a citizen,” INEND states.
The groups are also concerned with the existing homophobia among Kenyans, especially whenever they join them in street protests against the government’s punitive measures or advocating for change. However, they maintain that the LGBTQ community won’t be left behind despite being marginalized in society, yet they are the most affected group when the government raids people’s pockets for taxes.
“Now we are moving from the margins to the centre of this political conversation early enough to ensure that our community sees the sense because if we live in a country that doesn’t work, we will be the most affected,” INEND states.
INEND, with the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Galck+, last November launched the second Queering the Ballot Campaign and the 2024 Situation Report on queer participation in Kenya’s democracy.
The report surveyed 14 of the country’s 47 local governments, whose key findings affirm that queer Kenyans are not outsiders to democracy but its heartbeat.
“The title ‘Our Vote, Our Future: LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Democratic and Governance Processes’ in Kenya is an ode to the spirit of the queer movement in Kenya; unshaken in the face of adversity, determined in its pursuit of justice, and unrelenting in demand to be seen, heard and counted in democratic and political processes,” reads the report forwarded by former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga.
The report calls on Parliament, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the County Assemblies, and every Kenyan to make inclusion not symbolic but systemic.
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, will visit Hungary next week.
An announcement the White House released on Thursday said the Vances will be in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, from April 7-8.
JD Vance “will hold bilateral meetings with” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The announcement further indicates the vice president “will also deliver remarks on the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary.”
The Vances will travel to Hungary less than a week before the country’s parliamentary elections take place on April 12.
Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The Associated Press notes polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.
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