World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
The South Korean Supreme Court last week upheld health benefits for same-sex couples
SOUTH KOREA
The South Korean Supreme Court delivered a victory for same-sex couples last week, upholding a lower court ruling that found same-sex couples must be given equal access to benefits under the country’s National Health Insurance Service.
The ruling is a landmark as the first legal recognition of same-sex couples in the East Asian nation.
The Supreme Court ruled that the NHIS refusal to provide spousal benefits to same-sex couples was unconstitutional discrimination. The ruling is final.
The case was filed by a gay couple, So Seong-wook and Kim Yong-min, in 2021 after the NHIS revoked So’s registration as a dependent of Kim and imposed a new premium. So and Kim had been a couple since 2017 and had held a marriage ceremony in 2019.
The NHIS allows married or common-law heterosexual couples to register as dependents in employer-backed insurance but had no policy recognizing same-sex couples.
The Seoul Administrative Court ruled for the NHIS in 2022, but the following year that decision was overturned by the Seoul High Court, which ruled for the couple that the denial was discriminatory.
“When I listened to the verdict, I was so moved that I couldn’t hold back my tears,” So told reporters outside the court. “It took four years to earn this dependent status. We need to fight harder to legalize same-sex marriage going forward.”
The advocacy group Marriage for All Korea said in a statement that the decision was just a first step.
“This decision brings hope to other same-sex couples living in Korean society and is a huge milestone toward marriage equality and equal citizenship for LGBTQ people. However, same-sex couples who are not legally recognized in their marriage still experience various forms of discrimination,” the statement says.
“The lengthy and arduous lawsuits that same-sex couples must endure to gain single rights as a spouse, as seen in this case, should no longer be necessary. Fundamentally, we will continue to push for a broader marriage equality movement to eliminate all institutional discrimination that hinders same-sex couples from legally marrying and fully enjoying their rights as spouses, and for LGBTQ people in Korea to enjoy equal citizenship.”
Several bills to recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions and to ban discrimination against LGBTQ people have been introduced by opposition members in South Korea’s parliament over the years, but none has progressed.
LITHUANIA
A final attempt to pass a long-stalled civil union bill before the end of the current session of Parliament came to an anticlimactic end on July 18, as the government withdrew the bill from the agenda before the final day session began.
The civil union bill had long been a bone of contention in the fractious governing coalition whose largest party is the conservative Homeland Union and includes the more progressive Freedom Party, which had made the bill a priority.
The bill passed through two readings in parliament in part with the support of leftist opposition parties, but when the opposition withdrew their support of the bill — in part to deny the government a win on the issue — the coalition no longer had enough votes to get it passed, as a segment of the Homeland Union opposed it.
Over the past month, the Freedom Party had attempted to strong-arm the Homeland Union holdouts into supporting the bill, by threatening to block Lithuania’s appointment of a European commissioner unless the party supported the bill.
In the last few days of parliament’s session before the legislature is dissolved for October elections, it seemed that the parties had come to an agreement, and the civil union bill was going to be put on the agenda for a final vote on the final day of the session.
But the opposition Social Democrats refused to play ball, once again preferring to deny the government a victory on the file, even though the Social Democrats had campaigned on supporting civil unions in the past. Without their votes, the bill would be doomed to fail.
The government withdrew the bill from the agenda rather than allow it to fail. This will allow the bill to be brought back by the new parliament in October, rather than starting the process over again.
Despite the bill’s withdrawal, anti-LGBTQ protesters met outside the parliament and burned rainbow flags. Vilnius police said they are investigating potential charges of incitement to hatred.
The two-round parliamentary election is scheduled for Oct. 13 and Oct. 27, and polling shows the Social Democrats currently hold a wide lead.
Lithuania is one of only five European Union countries that do not recognize same-sex unions. The others are Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Poland, the latter of which has proposed a civil union bill that its government hopes to pass in the fall.
UNITED KINGDOM
The newly elected Labour government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer included a ban on conversion therapy in the King’s Speech that opened parliament on July 17, indicating that the bill will be a priority item during the session.
The King’s Speech is a tradition in UK politics, where the monarch reads a speech prepared by the government outlining its priorities for the upcoming session of parliament, usually lasting about a year.
During the election campaign, Starmer had pledged to back a transgender-inclusive ban on the abusive practice of conversion therapy, an issue which has become a political lightning rod in the UK over the past decade as a wave of anti-trans hysteria has gripped the media and much of the political class.
The previous Conservative government had pledged to ban conversion therapy six years ago but failed to bring a bill forward after floating the idea that the bill would allow conversion therapy for trans youth.
The UK LGBTQ advocacy group Stonewall praised the commitment to a conversion therapy ban in a statement.
“We welcome the new government’s commitment to banning conversion practices. Each day that these abusive practices remain legal, our communities are put at risk,” the statement says. “The government needs to urgently publish a comprehensive bill to ban these abhorrent practices once and for all.”
But the new government’s approach to trans issues is not entirely praiseworthy.
Two weeks ago, new Labour Secretary of State for Health Wes Streeting announced that his government was defending and extending a ban on puberty blockers for trans youth that was put in place by the Conservatives. That action has been denounced by trans activists and legal experts.
JAPAN
A trans woman is suing for the right to change her legal gender without first divorcing her wife, in a challenge to the nation’s laws surrounding both same-sex marriage and gender recognition.
The woman, who has not been identified, is in her 50s and has been in a long-term marriage to her wife, who is in her 40s, and neither partner wants to divorce. While she has legally changed her name to a woman’s name, her identification still lists her as “male,” which forces her to have uncomfortable conversations outing her trans status whenever she needs to show official documents.
Since 2003, it has been possible for trans people to update their legal gender in Japan, but only if they are unmarried. That essentially forces any married trans person to divorce their partner if they want to update their gender.
In 2010, the Japanese Supreme Court upheld the requirement that trans people be unmarried to update their legal gender, calling the situation “reasonable” and saying it did not violate the constitution.
But the woman’s lawyers believe the legal situation has changed.
Since 2021, several district courts across Japan have found that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. While that has not yet legalized same-sex marriage, these cases will eventually be decided by the Supreme Court. If the court agrees with the lower courts that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, then it should also find the divorce requirement for trans people to be unconstitutional.
Yoko Mizutani, one of the woman’s lawyers, says this case may also contribute to legalizing same-sex marriage.
“Many of those concerned have resigned to the notion that if same-sex marriages are not recognized, the unmarried requirement of the act will not change. If we win this petition, it could also help resolve the issue of same-sex marriage.”
SPAIN
The Constitutional Court has provisionally blocked an anti-LGBTQ law passed by the government of the Madrid Community that stripped a number of legal protections from LGBTQ people; citing constitutional, discriminatory, and jurisdictional issues.
Last year, the local government, which is led by the right-wing People’s Party and supported by the far-right Vox party, passed a bill that stripped legal recognition of trans youth, stopped allowing legal gender change without a medical diagnosis, allowed anti-LGBTQ discrimination and authorized conversion therapy.
Despite these legal protections being stripped at the local level, national laws still afforded LGBTQ people all of these rights and protections.
The national government, which is currently led by the left-wing People’s Socialist Party, filed for the injunction against the law, which it called unconstitutional, which the Constitutional Court has accepted.
Advocacy groups are demanding the Trump-Vance administration not to deport two gay men to Iran.
MS Now on Jan. 23 reported the two men are among the 40 Iranian nationals who the White House plans to deport.
Iran is among the countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death.
The Washington Blade earlier this month reported LGBTQ Iranians have joined anti-government protests that broke out across the country on Dec. 28. Human rights groups say the Iranian government has killed thousands of people since the demonstrations began.
Rebekah Wolf of the American Immigration Council, which represents the two men, told MS Now her clients were scheduled to be on a deportation flight on Jan. 25. A Human Rights Campaign spokesperson on Tuesday told the Blade that one of the men “was able to obtain a temporary stay of removal from the” 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the other “is facing delayed deportation as the result of a measles outbreak at the facility where they’re being held.”
“My (organization, the American Immigration Council) represents those two gay men,” said American Immigration Council Senior Fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick in a Jan. 23 post on his Bluesky account. “They had been arrested on charges of sodomy by Iranian moral police, and fled the country seeking asylum. They face the death penalty if returned, yet the Trump (administration) denied their asylum claims in a kangaroo court process.”
“They are terrified,” added Reichlin-Melnick.
My org @immcouncil.org represents those two gay men. They had been arrested on charges of sodomy by Iranian moral police, and fled the country seeking asylum. They face the death penalty if returned, yet the Trump admin denied their asylum claims in a kangaroo court process.
They are terrified.
— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) January 23, 2026 at 8:26 AM
Reichlin-Melnick in a second Bluesky post said “deporting people to Iran right now, as body bags line the street, is an immoral, inhumane, and unjust act.”
“That ICE is still considering carrying out the flight this weekend is a sign of an agency and an administration totally divorced from basic human rights,” he added.
Deporting people to Iran right now, as body bags line the street, is an immoral, inhumane, and unjust act. That ICE is still considering carrying out the flight this weekend is a sign of an agency and an administration totally divorced from basic human rights. www.ms.now/news/trump-d…
— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) January 23, 2026 at 8:27 AM
HRC Vice President of Government Affairs David Stacy in a statement to the Blade noted Iran “is one of 12 nations that still execute queer people, and we continue to fear for their safety.” Stacy also referenced Renee Good, a 37-year-old lesbian woman who a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, and Andry Hernández Romero, a gay Venezuelan asylum seeker who the Trump-Vance administration “forcibly disappeared” to El Salvador last year.
“This out-of-control administration continues to target immigrants and terrorize our communities,” said Stacy. “That same cruelty murdered Renee Nicole Good and imprisoned Andry Hernández Romero. We stand with the American Immigration Council and demand that these men receive the due process they deserve. Congress must refuse to fund this outrage and stand against the administration’s shameless dismissal of our constitutional rights.”
Central America
Dignidad para vidas LGBTQ en Centroamérica
Embajada canadiense en El Salvador se presentó ‘Historias de vida desde los cuerpos y territorios de la disidencia LGBTIQ+’
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — “A los 16 años, mi papá me echó”. Esa frase directa, sin adornos ni concesiones, es parte de una de las historias más impactantes del libro “Historias de vida desde los cuerpos y territorios de la disidencia LGBTIQ+”, presentado el 23 de enero. El testimonio pertenece a Estrella Cerón, mujer trans salvadoreña, cuya vida quedó marcada por la expulsión familiar y la violencia cotidiana ejercida contra su identidad.
Estrella relata que fue descubierta abrazando a un muchacho en la panadería que pertenecía a su familia, lugar donde también trabajaba. La respuesta fue inmediata: no le permitieron cambiarse de ropa ni llevar sus pertenencias. Salió “sucia, con olor a grasa, sin zapatos”. Su padre lloró al verla irse, pero no la detuvo. “Así ándate”, le dijo. Ese episodio no solo marcó su historia personal, sino que hoy se convierte en un reflejo de una realidad compartida por muchas personas trans en El Salvador y la región.
Durante la presentación del libro, Cerón tomó la palabra y compartió lo que significó volver a su historia frente a otras personas. Reconoció que no fue un proceso sencillo, pues implicó enfrentarse a recuerdos profundamente dolorosos.
“Fue doloroso hablarlo, sentí como un muro que fui rompiendo a poco a poco, saliendo adelante y pues hasta el día de hoy me siento más empoderada y más fuerte”, expresó. Sus palabras resonaron entre las y los asistentes, evidenciando que narrar la propia vida puede convertirse en un acto de sanación y afirmación personal.
Este momento público subrayó uno de los ejes centrales del proyecto: el derecho de las personas LGBTQ a contar sus historias en sus propios términos, sin miedo y con dignidad.
Rostros de la Equidad: un proyecto regional de memoria y justicia
La presentación de las publicaciones se realizó en el marco del proyecto Rostros de la Equidad, impulsado por COMCAVIS TRANS, con el apoyo de OIKOS y la Embajada de Canadá en El Salvador. El evento reunió a activistas, representantes de organizaciones sociales, cooperación internacional y público en general.
Como parte de este proyecto se presentaron dos materiales: el libro “Historias de vida desde los cuerpos y territorios de la disidencia LGBTIQ+” y el glosario vivencial y de conceptos sobre la diversidad sexual y de género. Ambos productos buscan aportar a la visibilización, sensibilización y defensa de los derechos humanos de las personas LGBTQ en Centroamérica.
El proyecto se concibió como un proceso colectivo, regional y participativo, en el que las voces protagonistas fueran las de quienes históricamente han sido marginadas.
El libro de historias de vida se distancia de la lógica del simple recopilatorio de testimonios. Tal como lo expresa su prólogo, se trata de “un acto de memoria, reparación, justicia personal y colectiva”. Su objetivo es mostrar voces que han resistido al silencio y al miedo, y que hoy deciden narrar sus verdades.
Las historias incluidas atraviesan experiencias de expulsión familiar, discriminación, violencia institucional, migración forzada y exclusión social. Sin embargo, también dan cuenta de procesos de resistencia, organización comunitaria, reconstrucción personal y esperanza.
En ese equilibrio entre dolor y dignidad, el libro se convierte en una herramienta política y pedagógica que interpela a la sociedad y a las instituciones.
Junto al libro se presentó el glosario vivencial y de conceptos sobre la diversidad sexual y de género, una propuesta que busca ir más allá de las definiciones tradicionales. El glosario no se limita a explicar términos, sino que los conecta con experiencias reales de personas LGBTQ.
Cada concepto está atravesado por el derecho a la identidad, el reconocimiento y la dignidad. De esta forma, las palabras dejan de ser etiquetas para convertirse en relatos vivos que reflejan cuerpos, territorios e historias concretas.
Las organizaciones impulsoras señalaron que el glosario pretende ser una herramienta accesible para procesos formativos, educativos y comunitarios, aportando a una comprensión más humana de la diversidad sexual y de género.
El respaldo internacional y el valor de la resistencia
Durante la presentación, la embajadora de Canadá en El Salvador, Mylène Paradis, reconoció el trabajo de COMCAVIS TRANS, OIKOS y de todas las personas que hicieron posible Rostros de la Equidad.
“Las historias de vida reunidas en este libro nos recuerdan que resistir no es solo sobrevivir, sino también afirmar la propia existencia, reclamar derechos y construir esperanza incluso en contextos adversos”, afirmó Paradis, destacando la importancia de apoyar iniciativas que promueven la justicia social y los derechos humanos.
Su intervención subrayó el valor político de la memoria y el papel de la cooperación internacional en el acompañamiento de procesos liderados por organizaciones locales.
Un proceso regional de escucha y construcción colectiva
El libro y el glosario son el resultado de una consulta a 10 personas LGBTQ: cuatro de Guatemala, dos de El Salvador y cuatro de Honduras. Además, se realizaron grupos focales en cada uno de estos países para profundizar en las experiencias compartidas.
El proceso inició en agosto de 2024 y concluyó con la presentación pública de los resultados en enero de 2026. Para las organizaciones participantes, este trabajo evidenció la necesidad de generar espacios seguros de escucha y diálogo en la región.
La dimensión regional del proyecto permite identificar patrones comunes de violencia, pero también estrategias compartidas de resistencia y organización.
Georgina Olmedo, encargada del área de formación y nuevos liderazgos de COMCAVIS TRANS El Salvador, destacó que el libro busca reconocer las historias que atraviesan las personas LGBTQ.
“Son historias marcadas por la resistencia, la dignidad, el aprendizaje y toda la esperanza”, señaló, subrayando que muchas de estas vivencias continúan siendo invisibilizadas en el discurso público.
Para Olmedo, visibilizar estas narrativas es un paso necesario para transformar las realidades de exclusión y violencia que enfrenta esta población.
Escuchar sin juzgar: el valor del acompañamiento
Desde OIKOS, Jason García resaltó que el libro incluye voces de Guatemala y Honduras, lo que le otorga un carácter regional. Señaló que fue un honor conocer historias de personas que se atrevieron a contar lo que nunca antes habían contado.
García explicó que muchas de las personas participantes expresaron estar cansadas de ocultar quiénes son y que, durante el proceso, encontraron por primera vez espacios donde fueron escuchadas sin ser juzgadas.
“Cada historia que se comparte es un recordatorio de que ninguna violencia puede apagar la dignidad de una persona”, afirmó, destacando los procesos de sanación y reconstrucción que emergen incluso en contextos adversos.
Marielos Handal, integrante del equipo de OIKOS que acompañó la investigación, compartió una reflexión sobre los retos que implicó construir estas publicaciones. Las entrevistas, explicó, dejaron nudos en la garganta, silencios densos y muchas preguntas abiertas.
Entre ellas, cómo continuar escribiendo después de escuchar relatos de abandono, rechazo y violencia sistemática; cómo narrar sin revictimizar, sin simplificar ni maquillar la verdad, pero tampoco explotarla.
Estas preguntas atravesaron todo el proceso editorial, marcando el cuidado con el que se construyeron tanto el libro como el glosario, priorizando siempre la dignidad de las personas participantes.
Palabras que se convierten en dignidad colectiva
La presentación cerró con un llamado a leer estas publicaciones no desde la lástima, sino desde la responsabilidad colectiva de reconocer las deudas históricas con las personas LGBTQ en Centroamérica.
Historias de vida desde los cuerpos y territorios de la disidencia LGBTQ y su glosario vivencial se consolidan como documentos necesarios en un contexto marcado por la exclusión, pero también por la lucha, la memoria y la esperanza.
En cada relato, como el de Cerón, queda claro que narrar la propia historia es un acto profundamente político: contar lo vivido no borra el dolor, pero lo transforma en palabra, memoria y dignidad compartida.
Russia
Russia designates ILGA World an ‘undesirable’ group
Justice Ministry announced designation on Jan. 21
Russia has designated a global LGBTQ and intersex rights group as an “undesirable” organization.
ILGA World in a press release notes the country’s Justice Ministry announced the designation on its website on Jan. 21.
The ministry’s website on Tuesday appeared to be down when the Washington Blade tried to access it. ILGA World in its press release said the designation — “which also reportedly includes eight other organizations from the United States and across Europe” — “has been confirmed by independent sources.”
“ILGA World received no direct communication of the designation, whose official reasons are not known,” said ILGA World.
The Kremlin over the last decade has faced global criticism over its crackdown on LGBTQ rights.
ILGA World notes Russians found guilty of engaging with “undesirable” groups could face up to six years in prison. The Russian Supreme Court in 2023 ruled the “international LGBT movement” is an extremist organization and banned it.
“Designating human rights groups ‘undesirable’ is outlandish and cynical, yet here we are,” said ILGA World Executive Director Julia Ehrt. “But no matter how much governments will try to legislate LGBTI people out of existence, movements will stay strong and committed, and solidarity remains alive across borders. And together, we will continue building a more just world for everyone.”
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