World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
Tbilisi Pride in Georgia has cancelled all physical Pride events this year
GEORGIA
The organization that holds Pride events in the Georgian capital Tbilisi has announced it is cancelling all physical Pride festivities this year, in light of an increasingly hostile environment promoted by the Georgian government ahead of elections this fall.
Tbilisi Pride says in a statement posted to Facebook that they will focus their efforts instead on reaching hearts and minds, with a hope of defeating the government and ending restrictive legislation in the October election.
“We anticipated that the summer before the 2024 parliamentary elections would be filled with physical violence encouraged by the government and rhetoric filled with hate and hostility,” the statement says.
“Now, after ‘Georgian Dream’ adopted the Russian-style law on ‘foreign agents’ and announced a hate-based anti-LGBTQ legislative package alongside constitutional changes, we are even more confident in our decision. We are demonstrating the highest civic responsibility and recognize that the fight for queer rights today is inseparable from the broader people’s struggle against the Russian-style regime. This fight will inevitably end in favor of the people on Oct. 26!
We will use the coming months to bring the message of queer people to more hearts than ever before! We will explain to everyone that homophobia is a Russian political weapon against Georgian society, against the statehood of Georgia! We are patriots of this country and will always and everywhere be where our homeland calls us!”
The U.S. government slapped visa restrictions on members of the Georgian government in response to actions taken to undermine democracy in the post-Soviet nation, just as the government announced a sweeping package of anti-LGBTQ legislation it intends to pass ahead of fall elections.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a June 6 press conference in Washington that the government had slapped sanctions on “between two and three dozen” individuals who were “responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia, such as by undermining freedoms of peaceful assembly and association, violently attacking peaceful protestors, intimidating civil society representatives, and deliberately spreading disinformation at the direction of the Georgian government.”
Citing U.S. privacy law, Miller refused to name any individuals who had been sanctioned. He added that this was considered a “first tranche” of sanctions.
Georgia has been rocked with protests for weeks in response to the “foreign agents” law, which requires media and civil society groups to registers as agents of a foreign power if they receive funding from abroad.
The law was passed by the ruling Georgian Dream Party, vetoed by the president who is a member of the opposition, and then passed with a veto override on May 28.
Modeled after a similar law in Russia, the law is meant to undermine the credibility and actions of bodies that are critical of the government and has drawn fierce criticism from Georgia’s allies in the U.S. and European Union.
Georgia was recognized as a candidate country from EU membership this year, but EU leaders have warned that the law undermines European values and threatens membership negotiations.
At the same time, the Georgian government has introduced a package of anti-LGBTQ legislation also modeled after Russian laws, which it is hoping will fire up its base and divide the opposition ahead of fall elections.
Under the package of laws, the state would be forbidden from recognizing any relationship other than heterosexual relationships, restrict adoption to married heterosexual couples and heterosexual individuals, ban any medical treatment to change a person’s gender and require that the government only recognize gender based on a person’s genetic information, and ban any expression or organization promoting same-sex relationships or gender change.
The bills are meant to be introduced in parliament before the end of the summer session in July, and the government plans to hold a vote on it ahead of elections scheduled for October.
POLAND AND LITHUANIA
Bitter fights are emerging over civil union legislation in the governing coalitions that run Poland and Lithuania, with left-leaning parties insisting on improving the legal rights of LGBTQ couples and families, while more conservative parties want to maintain the status quo.
In Poland, that’s led to protracted negotiations to get a draft civil unions bill introduced, long after Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s original promise to have the law in place within his first hundred days in office. Tusk was sworn in as prime minister in December.
Tusk’s coalition includes his own centrist Civic Platform party, as well as the left-leaning Left party, and the more conservative Poland 2050 and Polish People’s Party (PSL), the latter of which mostly opposes recognizing same-sex couples. The coalition agreement left out any mention of civil unions.
The ambitious civil union bill aims to be an “all-but-marriage” type of union, complete with adoption rights, which has drawn the ire of the PSL. Negotiations within the coalition have focused on finding a way to get the PSL on board but have so far proved fruitless.
The opposition parties are even more hostile to LGBTQ rights and are not expected to support the bill in any form.
Regardless, Equalities Minister Katarzyna Kotula, who comes from the Left party and has been spearheading the bill, has given the coalition a deadline of the end of June to come to agreement. Failing that, she says she’ll introduce the bill without government support, although that will likely doom it to fail.
A last-ditch negotiation among the coalition partners is expected to take place June 17.
Tusk has struggled to introduce other promised social reforms since taking office. A promised hate crimes and hate speech bill has yet to be introduced. In March, the president, who comes from the conservative opposition Law and Justice Party, vetoed a bill to legalize the morning-after contraception pill.
Duda has not yet revealed if he will veto a civil union bill. The coalition does not have a three-fifths majority in parliament to override a veto.
In neighboring Lithuania, tensions over a long-stalled civil union bill erupted into a dispute between coalition partners this week.
The left-leaning Freedom Party has threatened not to support the nomination of Foreign Affairs Minister Gabrielias Landsbergis to the post of European commissioner, given his party’s lack of support for the civil union bill that awaits a third a final vote in parliament.
The dispute has spilled a lot of ink in Lithuanian press, with the coalition partners debating whether or not the threat was appropriate in the circumstances.
Lithuania heads to the polls in October for parliamentary elections.
GREECE
After his party took a drubbing in EU elections last weekend, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says he is going to pause pushing forward new LGBTQ rights legislation, suggesting the new priority is changing minds rather than laws.
Mitsotakis announced his surprise support for same-sex marriage and adoption rights last year after clinching reelection, and his government passed a marriage bill in February.
But in last week’s EU elections, his party’s support dropped nearly five percentage points, while the more radical far-right Greek Solution and the anti-LGBTQ conservative NIKI party collectively gained about 10 percentage points.
Mitsotakis himself speculated to Bloomberg TV that the new same-sex marriage and adoption law passed this year alienated his party’s traditionally conservative base.
Greece is already one of the highest-scoring countries on ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map Index, thanks in large part to reforms that Mitsotakis himself ushered in. In addition to same-sex marriage and adoption, his government has banned conversion therapy, banned unnecessary surgeries on intersex children, and set up a National Strategy for the Equality of LGBTQI+ People.
Queer activists in Greece were still calling on the government to facilitate legal surrogacy and automatic parental recognition for same-sex couples, and a simplified process for transgender people to update their legal gender.
FRANCE
The far-right National Rally party is campaigning on restricting LGBTQ rights in snap parliamentary elections, with prime minister candidate Jordan Bardella supporting restrictions on surrogacy and IVF for same-sex couples.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced snap parliamentary elections after his party’s poor showing in the European Parliamentary elections last weekend. National Rally won the most votes in that election and is polling strongly ahead of the June 30 first-round vote. However, French elections are run in a two-round system, and National Rally often fails to win second-round votes as voters coalesce around a less unappealing compromise candidate to block them.
In the past, National Rally has campaigned strongly against LGBTQ rights, especially same-sex marriage, but they appear to have conceded that marriage equality is settled law.
While campaigning ahead of the EU elections, Bardella appeared on the French television show “Le Grand Oral”, where he reiterated his opposition to surrogacy.
Bardella also bitterly opposed Macron’s 2019 law which finally allowed lesbians to have access to in-vitro fertilization.
He told local television at the time, “There is no right to having children. Children have a right to have a father and a mother and this law creates children without fathers.”
National Rally’s opposition to same-sex parenting mirrors that of Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, under whose watch the Italian government has stripped parental recognition from same-sex couples and imposed criminal penalties on Italians who conceive children via surrogacy.
The first week of the truncated election has taken a number of surprising turns. The mainstream right-wing party, the Republicans, has been in turmoil since its president announced his party would consider a coalition with the National Rally, which led party members to oust him and an embarrassing schism where he barricaded himself in the party headquarters and took over the party’s social media.
And in a bit of news that may be a little on-the-nose, the National Rally has nominated a man named Guillaume Bigot as their candidate in Belfort in northeastern France.
PAKISTAN
A Pakistani man was apparently committed to a mental hospital after he attempted to open a gay bar in Abbottabad, Pakistan, this month.
The man, whose identity has not been disclosed, had apparently hoped to open the country’s first gay bar in the city of 250,000 people, about 75 miles north of Islamabad.
Abbottabad is best known in the west as the city where Osama bin Laden was found and killed by U.S. Forces in 2011.
According to the Telegraph newspaper, the man had applied to open “Lorenzo Gay Club,” which he described in his application to civic authorities for a “No Objection Certificate” as a “great convenience and resource for many homosexual, bisexual and even some heterosexual people residing in Abbottabad in particular, and in other parts of the country in general.”
The application, dated May 8, also insisted that “there would be no gay (or non-gay) sex (other than kissing)” and that a notice would be posted on the wall to warn against “sex on premises.”
The applicant describes the club as “a matter of the basic human right of free association, as established in the constitution.”
Gay sex is illegal in Pakistan, which is an officially Islamic republic. A conviction would carry up to two years in prison, but the law is rarely applied as it is difficult for anyone to be openly gay in the strictly conservative country.
The application sparked considerable debate online, after a copy of the application was released to the local media. The application seen in the “Pakistan Observer” is signed by a Preetum Giani, but it is not clear if that is the applicant or a representative.
According to the Telegraph, the man was committed to the Sarhad Hospital for Psychiatric Diseases in Peshawar on May 9, and friends have been unable to reach him since. Friends who spoke to the newspaper say they are worried about his safety, but also worried for their own safety if they speak out.
The Telegraph also reports that far-right politicians in Pakistan had threatened violence and arson against the club if it had been allowed to open.
The applicant had previously told the paper that he believed it was important to stand for human rights, and that he would defend the right to open the club in the courts, in hopes that Pakistan’s courts would follow neighboring India’s lead, where gay sex was decriminalized in 2018.
SINGAPORE
A new Ipsos poll has revealed a slight majority of Singaporeans support laws banning anti-LGBTQ discrimination, and support legal recognition of same-sex couples and adoption.
The poll found that 54 percent of respondents agreed that same-sex couples should have the right to marry, and 57 percent agree they should have the right to adopt, compared to only 25 percent who oppose same-sex marriage and 30 percent who oppose same-sex couple adoption rights.
On both questions, a large number of respondents were unsure or had no opinion.
An even larger number of respondents supported anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said that LGBTQ people should have discrimination protections in employment and housing, although only 40 percent supported legislation to that effect, while 20 percent opposed it, and another 40 percent were unsure.
There are no specific anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people in Singapore.
The poll found strongest support for LGBTQ rights among younger respondents as compared to older generations.
Two years ago, Singapore repealed a colonial-era law that criminalized gay sex. But at the same-time, parliament also amended the constitution to require parliamentary approval for same-sex marriage.
These poll numbers may indicate that eventual legalization could be possible.
Afghanistan
ICC unseals arrest warrants for Taliban officials accused of persecuting LGBTQ people, women
‘For LGBTIQ+ people, this matters enormously’
The International Criminal Court this week unsealed arrest warrants for four Taliban officials in Afghanistan accused of targeting LGBTQ people, women, and others who defy the group’s strict gender norms.
The warrants the ICC unsealed on Oct. 5 are for Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani. The ICC also unsealed warrants for Education Minister Habibullah Agda and Higher Education Minister Neda Mohammad Nadim.
The ICC last year announced warrants for Akhundzada and Haqqani, as the Washington Blade previously reported.
“In the warrants of arrest, the (Pre-Trial) Chamber (II), in line with current developments in international law, found that the definition of ‘gender’ in the Rome Statute necessitates an interpretation that goes beyond a purely biological conception of sex,” reads the ICC’s Oct. 5 announcement. “It considered that it requires acknowledging the socially constructed roles, behaviors, expectations, and hierarchies traditionally associated with individuals on the basis of their sex. The Chamber considered that these societal constructs, commonly referred to as ‘gender norms,’ form part of the contextual lens through which acts amounting to gender-based persecution under article 7(1)(h) must be assessed.”
“It found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the four suspects are criminally responsible for having ordered, induced or solicited the crime against humanity of persecution, under article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute, on gender grounds against girls, women, and other persons non-conforming with the Taliban’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression; and on political grounds against persons perceived as ‘allies of girls and women,’” it adds. “These crimes are believed to have been committed on the territory of Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power on Aug. 15, 2021, and have continued until at least Jan. 20, 2025.”
The Rome Statute established the ICC, which is in the Dutch city of The Hague, in 2002 after 60 countries ratified it.
The U.S. is among the countries that do not recognize the ICC. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday announced U.S. sanctions against the ICC, which he described as a “rogue court.”
Then-ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan in January 2025 announced a request for warrants against Taliban officials over their treatment of women and other groups since they regained control of Afghanistan in 2021. It marked the first time the ICC specifically named LGBTQ people as victims in a gender persecution case before it.
A report that Outright International released in 2023 notes Taliban officials have systematically targeted LGBTQ people — especially gay men and transgender women.
Taliban officials have subjected them to physical and sexual assault as well as arbitrary detention. The Outright International report also notes Taliban authorities have carried out public floggings for alleged same-sex sexual relations, and have collected intelligence on LGBTQ activists and community members.
Artemis Akbary, executive director of the Afghanistan LGBTIQ Organization, on Oct. 5 described the additional arrest warrants as “huge.”
“For LGBTIQ+ people, this matters enormously,” he said. “It strengthens the understanding that gender persecution can also capture persecution based on non-conformity with imposed gender roles, identities, and expressions.”
“This is an important development for accountability in Afghanistan, and potentially far beyond it,” added Akbary.
Central America
Alianza para la Inclusión fortalece la defensa de derechos LGBTQ en Centroamérica
Se implementa el proyecto en Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras
Promover, proteger y defender los derechos humanos de las personas LGBTQ en Centroamérica es el propósito del proyecto “Alianza para la Inclusión: hacia la promoción de derechos LGBTIQ+ en Centroamérica”, una iniciativa subvencionada por la Unión Europea, Global Gateway, Oikos Cooperação e Desenvolvimento y Camões — Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, que articula esfuerzos en Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras.
El proyecto, cuya implementación se desarrolla entre 2025 y 2028, busca fortalecer a organizaciones, liderazgos comunitarios y redes regionales frente a contextos marcados por la discriminación, la violencia y la reducción del espacio cívico.
A través de procesos de formación, atención integral, protección, fortalecimiento organizativo, incidencia y articulación regional, la iniciativa procura generar condiciones más seguras y dignas para que las personas LGBTQ puedan ejercer plenamente sus derechos.
Formación y fortalecimiento de liderazgos
Durante los primeros 18 meses de ejecución, el proyecto ha desarrollado acciones de formación y acompañamiento, otorgado subvenciones a colectivos comunitarios, impulsado estrategias de seguridad integral y respaldado procesos regionales de articulación e incidencia.
Uno de los resultados reportados es la participación de 489 personas LGBTQ de Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras en procesos formativos relacionados con la desnaturalización de la violencia, organización e incidencia. Asimismo, 41 personas líderes LGBTQ de El Salvador y Guatemala fortalecieron sus capacidades para la formulación de proyectos.
Para Pedro Campos, coordinador de Oikos — Cooperação e Desenvolvimento en El Salvador, estos procesos tienen una dimensión que trasciende lo técnico.
“Desde hoy estamos cada día más convencidas y convencidos de que la gestión de proyectos más que técnica o administrativa es esencialmente humana. Nunca debemos olvidar que la persona en toda su diversidad es el centro de nuestro quehacer. Y si un día la empatía y el amor nos abandonan, habremos perdido la esencia de nuestro trabajo”.
La formación también ha significado una oportunidad para fortalecer liderazgos comunitarios. Josh Hernández, persona no binaria y codirectore de Espacios Seguros El Salvador, destaca el impacto que tuvo su participación.
“Esta experiencia me ha fortalecido como activista y como parte de una organización comunitaria, y me ha permitido ampliar mi visión y soñar con nuevas actividades que contribuyan a construir una cultura de paz en nuestra sociedad salvadoreña”, comenta Hernández.
Atención integral para personas LGBTQ en situación de vulnerabilidad
En El Salvador, uno de los componentes del proyecto se ha enfocado en brindar atención integral a personas que enfrentan situaciones de violencia, discriminación o vulnerabilidad.
A través de COMCAVIS TRANS, el proyecto permitió atender a 128 personas, mediante servicios psicosociales, legales y de resguardo temporal en su albergue.
La atención incluyó orientación para activar mecanismos de denuncia y medidas de protección, además de contención emocional, manejo de crisis y acompañamiento para la estabilización de condiciones básicas.
La experiencia también se ha extendido a Honduras. Loren López, directora ejecutiva de la Asociación de Mujeres Lesbianas y Bisexuales LITOS, resaltó el valor de generar espacios seguros para mujeres lesbianas, bisexuales y personas LTBQ (lesbianas, trans, bisexuales y queer).
“Me quedo con la satisfacción de haber contribuido a crear espacios donde una mujer LTBQ+ pueda sentirse segura, escuchada y reconocida, sin tener que esconder quién es. Esta experiencia fortaleció a LITOS y nos dejó nuevas herramientas y posibilidades para seguir trabajando por los derechos y la eliminación de la discriminación”, agrega López.
La seguridad integral como herramienta de protección
En contextos donde quienes defienden derechos pueden enfrentar diferentes tipos de riesgos, el proyecto ha incorporado la seguridad integral como un componente fundamental.
Durante 2026, 140 personas LGBTQ pertenecientes a seis organizaciones participaron en procesos de formación sobre seguridad integral, abordando dimensiones físicas, digitales y emocionales.
Como resultado, seis organizaciones elaboraron y consolidaron sus propios planes de seguridad integral, incorporando medidas de prevención y respuesta ante riesgos físicos y digitales, con especial énfasis en la protección de información sensible, el uso seguro de plataformas digitales y la gestión de incidentes en entornos virtuales.
Incidencia para transformar políticas y garantizar derechos
La iniciativa también ha acompañado procesos de incidencia y litigio estratégico en Guatemala.
La Asociación LAMBDA, junto con la Comisión Presidencial por la Paz y los Derechos Humanos (COPADEH), acompañó una consulta nacional con personas LGBTQ para contribuir a la elaboración de una Estrategia Nacional para las personas LGBTQ, cuyo proceso se encontraba en elaboración y cuya aprobación se esperaba para finales de 2026.
Asimismo, en julio de 2026 fue presentada ante la Corte Constitucional de Guatemala una acción de inconstitucionalidad como parte de una estrategia nacional de litigio estratégico orientada a la aprobación del matrimonio igualitario. Al cierre de la actualización de resultados de este año, el proceso permanecía pendiente de resolución.
El acompañamiento jurídico también ha permitido apoyar procesos individuales relacionados con el reconocimiento de la identidad.
Uno de estos casos es el de Paula Escobar, mujer trans guatemalteca acompañada por LAMBDA en el proceso de cambio de nombre en sus documentos de identidad.
“Ha sido el paso más grande de mi vida, pues me libró de momentos incómodos y de dar explicaciones para ser reconocida como la mujer que soy”.
De acuerdo con el testimonio, la organización se encargó de la gestión legal y aproximadamente seis meses después obtuvo una respuesta favorable.
Redes regionales para ampliar el alcance de la defensa de derechos
La articulación regional constituye otro de los componentes del proyecto. La iniciativa ha apoyado a redes latinoamericanas que buscan fortalecer y posicionar el trabajo de organizaciones LGBTQ.
Entre ellas se encuentra la Alianza Centroamericana y del Caribe de Hombres Trans, que articula organizaciones y personas transmasculinas de Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica y Panamá.
Durante su primer año, ALICAHT desarrolló su Plan Estratégico y Reglamento Interno 2025-2030, además de su identidad gráfica y sitio web.
Otro proceso regional respaldado fue el III Congreso Regional de CORPORA en Libertad, realizado en Guatemala en diciembre de 2025. El encuentro reunió esfuerzos orientados a fortalecer la defensa, promoción y garantía de los derechos humanos de las personas LGBTQ privadas y exprivadas de libertad en América Latina y el Caribe.
El espacio permitió fortalecer la articulación regional y compartir experiencias y estrategias frente a los desafíos que enfrentan las personas LGBTQ dentro y fuera de los sistemas penitenciarios.
Ari Vera, fundadora de CORPORA, ha destacado la importancia del trabajo en red como una herramienta para generar transformaciones y fortalecer las capacidades colectivas.
Inclusión más allá de las palabras
Durante el Foro “El Impacto de Incluir”, uno de los planteamientos centrales fue que la inclusión requiere transformaciones concretas y no únicamente el uso de conceptos o siglas.
Jason García, técnico PMA de Monitoreo, Evaluación y Aprendizaje para Oikos El Salvador, señaló una de las barreras que persisten en los proyectos. “Una de las barreras en los proyectos es que son binarios y no se reconocen las otras identidades”.
Desde esta perspectiva, un proyecto inclusivo no se limita a utilizar la palabra inclusión o incorporar las siglas LGBTQ, sino que requiere revisar prácticas, metodologías, mecanismos de participación y formas de reconocer la diversidad.
Como parte de este proceso también se preparó una guía práctica que sistematiza instrumentos y mecanismos del Sistema Internacional de Derechos Humanos, destacando su importancia histórica en la ampliación y protección de derechos.
La compilación fue presentada en la X Conferencia de la Red ILGA LAC y en el 18º Encuentro de la Red Centroamericana de Intercambio Académico en Derechos Internacionales, realizado en la Universidad de El Salvador.
Cooperación centrada en las personas
Los resultados alcanzados durante los primeros 18 meses reflejan una estrategia que combina formación, atención directa, protección, fortalecimiento institucional, incidencia y construcción de redes.
Para la Unión Europea, colocar a las personas en el centro constituye un elemento fundamental de la cooperación. Duccio Bandini, embajador de la Unión Europea en El Salvador, expresó “Desde la Unión Europea seguiremos apostando para una cooperación que pone en el centro a las personas. Porque el verdadero impacto de influir se mide en vidas transformadas, en derechos conquistados y en sociedades que celebran con orgullo su diversidad”.
Con una implementación prevista hasta 2028, la Alianza para la Inclusión continúa articulando organizaciones nacionales y redes latinoamericanas para fortalecer capacidades y generar herramientas que permitan a las personas y organizaciones LGBTQ enfrentar los desafíos de sus contextos y avanzar en la promoción, protección y defensa de los derechos humanos.
Más allá de las cifras y los productos alcanzados, el proyecto coloca en el centro una premisa: la inclusión se construye cuando las personas pueden participar, organizarse, defender sus derechos y vivir su identidad con dignidad y seguridad.
Brazil
Transgender woman elected to Brazilian Chamber of Deputies
Thabatta Pimenta is first trans person from northeast Brazil elected to Congress
SÃO PAULO — Voters in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Norte state on Sunday elected a transgender woman to the country’s Chamber of Deputies.
Natal Municipal Councilwoman Thabatta Pimenta, who is a member of the Green Party, won with 92,743 votes. She is the first trans woman from northeast Brazil elected to the country’s Congress.
Pimenta became emotional when she was speaking to her supporters after she won. Her brother Ryan, who has cerebral palsy, was by her side.
“This victory belongs to the people of Rio Grande do Norte,” she said. “It is a victory built from the ground up … the people themselves rose up, and you saw the result: today they elected the first female travesti federal deputy from northeast Brazil.”
Pimenta will join Erika Hilton, a travesti member of the leftist Socialism and Liberty (PSOL) party who was a sex worker before her election to the São Paulo Municipal Council, and Duda Salabert, a trans woman and fellow PSOL member from Minas Gerais state, in the Chamber of Deputies.
Hilton on Sunday won re-election with 1,596,472 votes, the most any female member of Congress has received in Brazilian history. Dudabert also won re-election with 215,192 votes.
“Thank you Minas Gerais,” said Dudabert on social media after she won re-election.
❤️ REELEITA!!! Obrigada Minas Gerais! Com muito trabalho, aumentamos nossa votação! Muito orgulho em ser, pela segunda eleição consecutiva, a terceira candidatura mais votada de Minas Gerais para o cargo de deputada federal. E mostramos novamente que é possível fazer uma campanha “lixo zero”- sem imprimir santinhos, bandeiras ou adesivos. Muito feliz! Obrigada Minas ! Obrigada Brasil
— Duda Salabert 5️⃣0️⃣5️⃣0️⃣ (@DudaSalabert) October 5, 2026
Five openly bisexual Chamber of Deputies candidates also won their races on Sunday.
• Guilherme Cortez, a PSOL member in São Paulo state
• Dandara Tonatzin, a member of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party in Minas Gerais
• Anielle Franco, a Workers’ Party member in Rio de Janeiro state
• Maria Marighella, a Workers’ Party member in Bahia state
• Giovana Mondardo, a Brazilian Communist Party member in Santa Catalina state
Fabio Félix, a gay PSOL member of the Chamber of Deputies who represents the Federal District in which Brasília, the country’s capital, is located won re-election with 224,224 votes. Rick Azevedo, a gay PSOL member from Rio de Janeiro state, won his Chamber of Deputies race.
Daiana Santos, a lesbian Brazilian Communist Party member who represents Rio Grande do Sul state in the Chamber of Deputies, won re-election with 114,315 votes.
Two lesbian women won their Chamber of Deputies campaigns.
• Rosa Amorin, a Workers’ Party member from Pernambuco state
• Bella Gonçalves, a Workers’ Party member from Minas Gerais who is a member of the Belo Horizonte Municipal Council
Samanda de Lula, a lesbian Workers’ Party member, will represent Rio Grande do Norte in the Brazilian Senate.
Rio de Janeiro Municipal Councilwoman Mônica Benício, who is a PSOL member, came up short in her bid for the Senate. Her then-partner, Rio de Janeiro Municipal Councilwoman Marielle Franco, and her driver, Anderson Gomes, were assassinated on March 14, 2018.
Fabiano Contarato, a gay senator from Espíritu Santo who is a member of the Workers’ Party, also lost his re-election bid.
“I receive the election results with respect and serenity,” he said on social media. “The popular will is sovereign, and democracy must always be respected.”
Jean Wyllys is a gay former member of the Chamber of Deputies who previously represented Rio de Janeiro state. He resigned in 2019 and fled Brazil after he received death threats. Wyllys this year ran to represent São Paulo state in the Chamber of Deputies, but he did not win his race.
VoteLGBT, an organization that seeks to increase LGBTQ representation in Brazilian politics, noted 529 openly LGBTQ candidates ran in the election. The group on Sunday more than 30 of them won their races across the country.
Natasha Ferreira, a Workers’ Party member, became the first travesti elected to public office in Rio Grande do Sul when she won a seat in the state’s Legislative Assembly. Voters in other states across the country also elected more than 20 LGBTQ candidates to their respective Legislative Assemblies.
• Keka Bagno, a bisexual PSOL member, was elected to the Federal District Legislative Chamber
• Açucena, a lesbian Workers’ Party member, was elected to the Espíritu Santo Legislative Assembly
• Fabricio Rosa, a gay Workers’ Party member, was elected to the Goiás Legislative Assembly
• Iza Lourença, a bisexual PSOL member, was elected to the Minas Gerais Legislative Assembly
• Tiago Botelho, a gay Workers’ Party member, was elected to the Minas Gerais Legislative Assembly
• Flávio Brasileiro, a gay Workers’ Party member, was elected to the Paraíba Legislative Assembly
• Dani Balbi, a trans Brazilian Communist Party member, was elected to the Rio de Janeiro Legislative Assembly
• Verônica Lima, a lesbian Workers’ Party member, was elected to the Rio de Janeiro Legislative Assembly
• Dani Monteiro, a bisexual PSOL member, was elected to the Rio de Janeiro Legislative Assembly
• Jean Volpato, a gay Workers’ Party member, was elected to the Santa Catarina Legislative Assembly
• Linda Brasil, a trans PSOL member, was elected to the Sergipe Legislative Assembly
• Sofia Favero, a trans PSOL member, was elected to the São Paulo Legislative Assembly
• Paula Nunes dos Santos, a bisexual PSOL member, was elected to the São Paulo Legislative Assembly
• Ediane Maria, a bisexual PSOL member, was elected to the São Paulo Legislative Assembly
• Monica das Pretas, a bisexual PSOL member, was elected to the São Paulo Legislative Assembly
• Duda Hidalgo, a bisexual Workers’ Party member, was elected to the São Paulo Legislative Assembly
• Rodrigo Mar, a bisexual Workers’ Party member, was elected to the São Paulo Legislative Assembly
• Thainara Faria, a bisexual Workers’ Party member, was elected to the São Paulo Legislative Assembly
• Keit Lima, a bisexual PSOL member, was elected to the São Paulo Legislative Assembly
Lula and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father is former President Jair Bolsonaro, will face off in the presidential election’s second round on Oct. 25.
Center for Black Equity honors leaders, activists at BE. Gala
In ‘The Lost Brontë,’ a complicated lie can lead to danger
CAMP Rehoboth Block Party returns Oct. 18
Essential queer horror classics for Halloween
Solidarity beyond the parade: the actual cost of Pride
10 years later, we still can’t shake Barry Jenkins’s ‘Moonlight’
‘Some Like It Hot’ a wild ride at renovated Bernard Family Theatre
D.C.’s LGBTQ homeless facilities face possible hit from Trump funding cuts
Trump uses anti-trans slur against Democratic Senate candidate
U.S. int’l trade negotiator, consultant James Bedore dies at 82
-
Movies5 days ago10 years later, we still can’t shake Barry Jenkins’s ‘Moonlight’
-
Theater5 days ago
‘Some Like It Hot’ a wild ride at renovated Bernard Family Theatre
-
District of Columbia5 days ago
D.C.’s LGBTQ homeless facilities face possible hit from Trump funding cuts
-
2026 Midterm Elections4 days ago
Trump uses anti-trans slur against Democratic Senate candidate
