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Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia

Qatari authorities give suspended sentence to British Mexican man arrested in Grindr sting

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(Los Angeles Blade graphic)

QATAR

Manuel Guerrero AviƱa (Photos courtesy of #QatarMustFreeManuel/X)

A British Mexican man who was arrested in a Grindr sting operation has been given a six-month suspended sentence and will be deported — although the state has 30 days to launch an appeal, during which he is not allowed to leave — the BBC reports.

Manuel Guerrero AviƱa, 44, was arrested on what his family are calling trumped up drug charges in Doha in February, after being lured to a fake meeting on the gay cruising app Grindr. This week, he was handed his sentence, which includes a fine of approximately $2,700.

Guerrero, who has lived in Qatar for seven years and works for an airline, has told the BBC he is considering an appeal. 

His family has previously told the BBC that he was approached online by a man named ā€œGio,ā€ who also used the screen name ā€œMikeā€ on both Grindr and Tinder. Guerrero invited ā€œGioā€ to his apartment, but when he went to the lobby to let him in, police were waiting and arrested him. 

Police searched his apartment and allegedly found amphetamine and methamphetamine. They later administered a drug test which they say show evidence he had used the substances. 

Guerrero says the drugs were planted as part of a sting operation targeting queer people. Under threat of torture and without a translator or lawyer, he was coerced into signing a document written in Arabic, a language he doesn’t read, admitting his possession of the drugs.

He spent 42 days in pretrial detention before being given provisional release, during which time police attempted to coerce him into naming other queer people. 

Complicating his situation is the fact that he lives with HIV. While in detention, guards frequently withheld his medication, which could have enabled the virus to build up a resistance to it. He ran out of his prescription, which is not available in Qatar, in April, and has had to use a local substitute.  

Several human rights groups have criticized the lack of due process in Guerrero’s case, the evidence that he was targeted for his sexual identity, and the implication that a wider crackdown on queer people is in the works. 

ā€œThis has been about his LGBT status from the start and his desire to express that status and his identity, and that’s what this case is about,ā€ James Lynch, co-director of the human rights organization Fair Square, told the BBC. ā€œHe’s an LGBT person and he was targeted through a dating app. You don’t do that, unless that’s the thing you are focused on.ā€

Qatari officials deny that Guerrero was targeted for any reason other than the possession of illegal substances.

Following Guerrero’s arrest, Grindr began displaying a warning to users in Qatar that ā€œpolice are known to be making arrests on the app.ā€

Same-sex intercourse between men is illegal in Qatar, with potential sentences of up to three years. The law also allows a death sentence to be imposed for unmarried Muslims who have sex regardless of gender, though there are no records it has ever been carried out.

UKRAINE

(Photo courtesy of Kyiv Pride 2024)

The Kyiv City Council denied a organizers of Kyiv Pride a permit to hold the annual human rights demonstration on the city’s metro system, citing security concerns and the need to maintain service on the subway network, the Kyiv Post reports.

Kyiv Pride organizers say they still plan to go ahead with their march in the metro on June 16 even without a city permit. 

Kyiv has not held a Pride festival since the latest Russian invasion began in February 2022. The organizers of Kyiv Pride say they were inspired to hold their march on the metro system by a similar event held in the war-torn eastern city Kharkiv in 2022, where the metro was the safest place to gather during Russian bombardment.

It’s partly because the metro is used as a bomb shelter during Russian attacks that the city denied a permit for the event. The city released a statement on June 3 calling on organizers to find another venue.

ā€œIn order not to endanger the participants and passengers, and to avoid possible provocations, the city authorities cannot allow the Equality March to take place in the metro,ā€ it said.

Organizers expect up to 500 people to take part in the Pride march this year. They’re asking participants to register in advance in order to limit the number of participants who show up at metro.

In a lengthy post on Kyiv Pride’s Facebook page, the organizers underscore the importance of holding a highly visible Pride festival, even during the upheaval of wartime. 

ā€œIt is our obligation before Ukrainian queer soldiers who are also supporting the March to ensure that they return from the frontlines to a more just legal environment,ā€ the post says.

ā€œBacked by society, the historic same-sex partnerships law and the law on hate crimes dropped from the parliament’s priority list. We must seize the opportunity to remind the government that ensuring dignity and equality for all Ukrainian citizens is not a second-tier priority. Organizing an LGBTQ+ civil rights march in Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian [sic] invasion is a complex and courageous endeavor.ā€

ITALY 

Alessandro Monterosso and Alec Sander (Photo courtesy of Monterosso’s Facebook page)

An Italian couple is planning to challenge social conventions even as they challenge the bonds of the earth itself, by becoming the first gay couple to get married in outer space.

Alessandro Monterosso, a 33-year-old health software entrepreneur, and Alec Sander, a 25-year-old recording artist, will exchange vows in 2025 aboard a private spaceflight offered by the U.S. company Space Perspective. 

Space Perspective is not yet in commercial operation, but its website says it will offer bespoke experiences aboard a luxury capsule that is lifted to the edge of space by a hydrogen-filled balloon at a speed of 12 miles per hour.

Monterosso and Sander have booked a whole capsule for them and six guests at a cost of $125,000 per person, an even $1,000,000 total. They say they are not seeking sponsors.

Monterosso and Sander first met in Padua in 2017, and they dated for four years until Sander broke it off because it was difficult to date while Monterosso was still in the closet. A year later, they met up again and Monterosso asked Sander to marry him. Sander agreed, but he didn’t immediately know that his fiancĆ© wanted to hold the wedding in space.

ā€œI was planning the trip as a civilian, to fulfill my childhood desire to become an astronaut. When I came into contact with the aerospace agency we relied on, it came naturally to me to ask:Ā but can I also get married in space?ā€ Monterosso told theĀ Corriere della Sera newspaper.

ā€œIt seemed like such a romantic idea. I had struggled so much to accept myself as homosexual, not because I wasn’t sure, but because of the social context, and I told myself that now I would have to tell the whole world how I felt. Firstly because I know that there are many people who experience what I experienced, and then to confirm the infinite love I feel for Alec,ā€ he says. 

But Monterosso and Sander have a political message behind their space wedding as well. Same-sex marriage is not legal in Italy, and its current far-right government has cracked down hard on same-sex parents.

ā€œCouples like us are not always well regarded in Italy. In other places in the world, they are even illegal. In Russia we are considered terrorists. Well, we just want to say that it’s time to normalize everything and amplify this message as much as possible. And if it is therefore so difficult to get married on Earth, then we are going to do it in space, with a galactic wedding whose aim is precisely to normalize these loves,ā€ Monterosso says. ā€œThe message is aimed at people, because even today we still feel eyes on us if we hold hands while walking down the street. But if people normalize, politics must adapt.ā€

Monterosso and Sander already have their sights set on more distant shores.

ā€œFor our 20th anniversary, we are aiming for Mars,ā€ Monterosso says. 

AUSTRALIA

Sydney Mardi Gras 2024 (Photo courtesy of the New South Wales government)

The government of New South Wales issued a historic apology this week to queer people who were persecuted under old laws that criminalized same-sex intercourse.

New South Wales decriminalized same-sex intimacy in 1984, one of the last Australian states to do so. Forty years later, it has become the last state to issue an apology for criminalizing queer people, after all other states did so in 2016 and 2017.

Delivering a speech in the state parliament, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said he ā€œrecognizes and regrets this parliament’s role in enacting laws and endorsing policies of successive governments’ decisions that criminalized, persecuted and harmed people based on their sexuality and gender.

Minns’s apology acknowledged people were harmed by these laws even if they weren’t directly charged or convicted under them.

ā€œTo those who survived these terrible years, and to those who never made it through, we are truly sorry. We’re sorry for every person convicted under legislation that should never have existed. For every person that experienced fear as a result of that legislation.

ā€œEveryone who lost a job, who lost their future, or who lost the love of family and friends. We are very sorry for every person, convicted or otherwise, who were made to live a smaller life because of these laws,ā€ he said.

People who had been convicted under New South Wales’s old sodomy laws have been eligible to have the convictions expunged since a law change in 2014.

Minns’ government recently passed a ban on conversion therapy in March, making New South Wales the fourth jurisdiction in Australia to do so.

The state’s only openly gay MP, Independent Alex Greenwich, says that the apology has to be followed by more action to promote equality.

He’s put forward his own bill that would close a loophole in anti-discrimination law to ban discrimination by religious schools against LGBTQ students and teachers, and would allow trans people to change their legal gender without having to undergo a medical procedure.

ā€œI rise as the only openly gay member of the Legislative Assembly to contribute to this apology,ā€ Greenwich said in the state parliament. ā€œI am one of only two in this chamber’s 186-year-old history. This in itself shows how much work we need to do.ā€

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Bolivia

Trans Bolivian Senate candidate hopes to make history

Luna HumƩrez running to represent La Paz Province

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Luna HumƩrez (Courtesy photo)

Luna HumĆ©rez has made history in Bolivia as the first transgender woman to run for a seat in the country’s Senate.

“We are making history, my candidacy is a bet on human rights,ā€ HumĆ©rez told the Washington Blade.

She hopes to represent La Paz Province under the banner of SÚMATE, a center-left political movement that includes presidential candidate Manfred Reyes Villa. 

ā€œIt is important to occupy these spaces and demonstrate that beyond our identity we have the capacity,” said HumĆ©rez.

With a trajectory of more than 15 years as an activist for trans rights in Bolivia, HumƩrez is not a new figure in the public arena. A lawyer by profession and president of the Organization of Transvestites, Transgender and Transsexual Women of Bolivia known by the acronym OTRAF, she has been one of the main promoters of a trans rights law in the country. HumƩrez is also the first trans woman in Bolivia to enter into a civil marriage after authorities legally recognized her gender identity.

HumƩrez is the founder of Casa Trans Pamela Valenzuela, a refuge and community center in La Paz.

Aware of the need to advance protections for sexual and gender diversities, HumƩrez has proposed a legislative platform that focuses on the control and effective enforcement of laws.

ā€œBolivia is full of laws, regulations that are obsolete, however they have a mandatory compliance,ā€ she said, noting reforms should improve accessibility and respond to marginalized groups’ specific needs.

HumĆ©rez’s platform is ā€œfull rights for all, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity.ā€

Facing a campaign from a historically marginalized identity, HumĆ©rez recognizes the resistance, but also celebrates the support. 

“My candidacy also speaks of the fact that there is a large number of Bolivians who have been left behind because of discriminatory bias,ā€ she told the Blade. ā€œI have so many anecdotes, which began with those who trusted me, among them are my sisters in struggle, human rights activists, political activists, animal activists, environmentalists, and others with whom we formed ties, mostly young people who also have the desire to take flight and change the country for the better. They are my other family and I am very grateful to them.”

HumĆ©rez proposes, in addition to a gender rights and diversity agenda, a platform with seven focuses — legal, political, economic, productive, social, moral, and territorial — and five immediate actions. These include:

  • An ā€œimmediate injectionā€ of $10 billion to stabilize the economy and create the flow of dollars
  • Reestablish order throughout the country; guaranteeing freedom of protest without interfering in economic development
  • Create one million ā€œdecent and well-paid jobsā€ that would allow ā€œtalented young peopleā€ to remain in the country
  • ā€œAct firmlyā€ against corruption
  • ā€œPromote real authority for each departmentā€ that would decentralize the government

Regarding LGBTQ youth in Bolivia, the lawyer and activist envisions a future where “the freedom that every human being has to choose their sexual orientation and gender identity with equal opportunities must be guaranteed.ā€Ā 

ā€œI notice that the youth today understood this, and now it is necessary to have spaces of accessibility and participation without any consideration,ā€ said HumĆ©rez. ā€œThe State must guarantee through its instances this accessibility. We need a Bolivia that is more plural, inclusive and in brotherhood.”

HumĆ©rez concluded the interview by noting her family’s humble beginnings.

ā€œI know what deprivation is and I know what it is like not to have enough bread to put in one’s mouth,ā€ she said. ā€œIf my life has been to help as many people as possible, being in there I will be able to help much more. I am an example of overcoming and showing that anything is possible. Do not judge me by my identity, but by my capacity.ā€

The country’s general elections will take place on Aug. 17. 

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India

India’s first transgender healthcare clinic reopens

Mitr Clinic closed after losing USAID funding

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(Photo by Rahul Sapra via Bigstock)

A U.S. Agency for International Development funding freeze in January forced the closure of India’s Mitr Clinic, the country’s first transgender healthcare facility, disrupting critical services for a vulnerable population. 

Six months later, the clinic has reopened as Sabrang Clinic, reviving access to essential care for the transgender community.

Major Indian corporations, including some of the nation’s largest multinationals, stepped up with substantial financial support. Their backing has enabled Sabrang Clinic to resume its mission of delivering specialized, stigma-free medical services.

The former Mitr Clinic on May 2 reopened as the Sabrang Clinic. YR Gaitonde Center for AIDS Research and Education, an HIV/AIDS service organization, manages the facility.

The Sabrang Clinic sparked controversy in the U.S. when U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) in February denounced its USAID funding, arguing that American taxpayer dollars should not support trans healthcare initiatives abroad. President Donald Trump amplified the criticism, labeling the agency’s spending on such programs as ā€œwastefulā€ and aligning with his administration’s broader push to curb federal support for gender-affirming care. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt further fueled the debate, citing the clinic’s funding as part of a pattern of USAID’s ā€œradicalā€ expenditures, while House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) echoed the sentiment, decrying similar international projects as misaligned with American priorities.

Elon Musk, who until May led the Department of Government Efficiency, added to the controversy surrounding the clinic. 

ā€œThat’s what American tax dollars were funding,ā€ he said in a Feb. 28 X post. 

His remark, made before his departure from the Trump-Vance administration, spotlighted the clinic’s USAID support, intensifying debates over its role in delivering trans healthcare in India.

The Washington Blade on Feb. 27 detailed how the USAID funding freeze crippled Mitr Clinic’s operations, spotlighting the broader fallout for South Asian LGBTQ organizations. 

The Blade noted the clinic, a vital resource for trans healthcare in India, faced abrupt closure alongside groups in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, as the freeze slashed support for programs addressing HIV/AIDS, mental health, and gender-based violence, leaving thousands without access to essential services.

The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and USAID in 2021 launched Program ACCELERATE, spearheaded by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, to establish Mitr Clinic in Hyderabad in Telangana State. As India’s first comprehensive healthcare center for the trans community, the facility offered tailored medical services, including HIV/AIDS treatment and mental health support, filling a critical gap in the region’s healthcare landscape.

Sabrang Clinic serves a critical role for India’s estimated one million trans people, a population facing a disproportionate HIV/AIDS burden. 

A 2019 Reuters report noted a 3.1 percent HIV prevalence among trans people, translating to roughly 31,000 individuals living with the virus, compared to the national adult rate of 0.26 percent. Similarly, a 2021 UNAIDS report cited a 3.8 percent prevalence, suggesting approximately 38,000 trans people with HIV/AIDS. 

Internal reports indicate the clinic since it opened in 2021 has served more than 3,000 patients. It has become a model of community-led care that fosters trust and addresses the unique health needs of trans people in Hyderabad.

When USAID funding cuts forced Sabrang Clinic’s closure, scores of people and LGBTQ community members in Hyderabad were left without access to reliable, stigma-free healthcare. Undaunted, the clinic’s trans-led team pivoted to virtual consultations and medication delivery, sustaining critical support for patients until corporate funding revived operations.

Tata Trusts, a philanthropic arm of India’s Tata conglomerate, in April pledged to fund the clinic for three years.

The Hindu, a leading Indian English-language newspaper, reported the trust committed approximately $18 per person a year to sustain the clinic’s operations. This contrasts with the earlier USAID program, which had provided about $23 per person each year.

Tata Trusts covers the salaries of Sabrang Clinic’s core medical staff, while its leadership positions are jointly funded by Tata and the clinic’s parent organization. The clinic is now pursuing partnerships with additional donors to expand its trans-focused healthcare services.

ā€œWe are elated to continue this service, as we have always believed that sexual minorities deserve respect and their right to self-expression,ā€ said YRGCARE Chief Operating Officer A.K. Srikrishnan. ā€œThat’s why we launched Mitr Clinic under Project ACCELERATE in 2021, and it operated until January 2025. The Trump administration’s USAID funding withdrawal forced a shutdown, but we have no comment on that. Fortunately, with great vigor, we secured support from Tata Trusts to sustain Sabrang Clinic. The name change to Sabrang, also called ā€˜Help for All,’ was simply to reposition the brand, with no deeper logic attached.ā€

Srikrishnan told the Blade that YRGCARE will aim to raise additional crowdfunding and support if the current funding proves insufficient to maintain the same level of services at the clinic. Srikrishnan also thanked Tata Trusts for its support.

ā€œWe want to expand it throughout the country given the choice,ā€ said Srikrishnan. ā€œIf someone were to tell us, ā€˜Can you run it across the country?’ we would certainly love to do it.ā€ 

ā€œSexual minorities are a reality, and however much someone wishes them away, they exist and need to exist with the respect and rights they deserve,ā€ added Srikrishnan. ā€œWe do not differentiate between local and foreign contributions; when we needed it most, Tata Trusts stepped in and helped. So we are certainly grateful to them.ā€

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Spain

Spanish women detail abuses suffered in Franco-era institutions

Barcelona-based photographer Luca Gaetano Pira created ‘Las Descarriadas’ exhibit

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Luca Gaetano Pira's 'Las Descarriadas' exhibit profiles women who suffered abuses in Franco-era institutions. (Photo courtesy of Luca Gaetano Pira)

A Barcelona-based photographer, audiovisual artist, and activist has created an exhibit that profiles Spanish women who suffered abuse in institutions that Gen. Francisco Franco’s dictatorship established.

Luca Gaetano Pira, who is originally from Italy, spoke with women who the regime, which governed Spain from 1936-1975, sent to Women’s Protection Board institutions.

The regime in 1941 created the board the country’s Justice Ministry oversaw.

Franco named his wife, Carmen Polo, as the board’s honorary president. Then-Prime Minister Felipe GonzĆ”lez fully dissolved the board in 1985, a decade after Franco’s death.

Gaetano’s exhibit is called “Las Descarriadas” or “The Misguided Women” in English.  

“These are women who were detained between 1941 and 1985 for reasons that are unthinkable today: being lesbian, poor, pregnant out of wedlock, rebellious, politically active … or simply considered ‘morally suspect,'” Gaetano noted to the Washington Blade.

Groups affiliated with the Spanish Catholic Church ran these institutions. Gaetano pointed out they were “presented as social assistance centers.”

“In reality, they were spaces of punishment and forced reeducation, where isolation, unpaid work, and psychological violence were the norm,” he said. “Many of the survivors are still alive. Their testimonies are powerful, urgent, and of extraordinary current relevance.”

The regime sent more than 40,000 women to Women’s Protection Board institutions.

“Despite its seemingly benevolent name, it was in fact one of the most powerful instruments of moral and social control over women during and after the dictatorship,” notes the exhibit. “Under the guise of care and re-education, this institution functioned as a repressive apparatus that punished women who deviated from the ideal feminine model imposed by Franco’s regime: submissive, obedient, married, and dedicated to motherhood within the Catholic family structure.”

The Spanish Catholic Church last month issued a public apology, but Gaetano described it as “very soft” and noted “the women did not accept it.” Gaetano also compared the Women’s Protection Board institutions to Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries.

The Associated Press notes tens of thousands of “fallen” women were sent to the laundries that Catholic nuns operated in Ireland from the 18th century until the mid-1990s. Then-Irish Prime Minister Edna Kenny in 2013 issued a formal apology for the abuses that women suffered in the laundries and announced the government would compensate them.

The Spanish government has yet to offer compensation to the women abused in Women’s Protection Board institutions.

“My work focuses on recovering the historical memory of marginalized communities, particularly through the portrayal of survivors of institutional violence and the use of archival materials,” Gaetano told the Blade, noting he has also sought to highlight the repression that LGBTQ people suffered during dictatorships in Portugal and Latin America.

Gaetano’s exhibit can be found here:

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