World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
Malaysian music festival organizers suing English rock band over on stage kiss
MALAYSIA
Rock band The 1975 is being sued by organizers of a music festival kissed a man on stage as a protest against the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws last July. The festival is seeking $2.4 million in damages alleging breach of contract after the festival was shut down by authorities.
The English rock band was headlining the Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur on July 21, 2023, when Healy delivered a performance that festival organizers Future Vibes Asia allege included drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes on stage, appearing to “spit excessively including towards the audience” and giving a “profanity-laden speech,” all of which they say was in violation of their performance contract.
“Variety” reported at the time that Healy told the crowd “I don’t see the fucking point … of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with … I’m sorry if that offends you, and you’re religious … but your government are a bunch of fucking r——. I don’t care anymore. If you push, I’m gonna push back. I’m not in the fucking mood.”
At that point, Healy kissed bassist Ross MacDonald on stage, resulting the band getting booted from the stage by government censors and banned from performing in Malaysia.
Authorities then shut down the entire festival, which still had two more days of performances by local and international acts, including American band The Strokes.
In filings in the UK High Court, Future Sound Asia is seeking $2.4 million in damages from the band, whom they say were paid $350,000 to perform.
The 1975 have not provided a response in court.
The band has also been sued separately by other artists who claim they lost opportunities and income because of the festival being shut down.
THAILAND
Thailand has become the 44th member state of the Equal Rights Coalition, an intergovernmental agency tasked with advancing the rights of LGBTQ and intersex people across the world.
Thailand is the first Asian country to join the international body, which also includes member states from Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East.
The Equal Rights Coalition was founded in 2016 under the leadership of Uruguay and the Netherlands to promote LGBTQ and intersex human rights, through forums and idea exchange with a particular focus on reducing violence and discrimination, ending criminalization of LGBTQ and intersex people, and including LGBTQ and intersex people in development projects.
Thailand has made great progress on LGBTQ rights in recent years, including legalizing same-sex marriage and adoption earlier this year, and introducing a government bill to facilitate legal gender change.
The ERC has worked to expand its own capacity this year, launching a secretariat hosted by ILGA-World in Geneva.
NEPAL
The Supreme Court of Nepal has for the first time ordered that the government recognize a transgender woman as a woman, without her having to submit to medical verification. The ruling applies only to this specific case but may set a precedent for future cases.
Human Rights Watch reported that Rukshana Kapali, a trans law student, was granted the order that she should be recognized as a woman on all government documents. Kapali has sued the government more than 50 times since 2021 in order to get her gender recognized, due to inconsistently applied rules across the country.
Although Kapali has been granted relief, other trans people will continue to have to sue to have their gender legally recognized, until the government creates a consistent regulation.
In 2007, the Supreme Court ordered the government to recognize a “third gender” or “other” option on the basis of self-identification. “Third gender” is a common way that many trans people in South Asian cultures self-identify.
However, because the government has failed to institute a clear nationwide policy around updating legal gender, many trans people face roadblocks. Some are forced to undergo surgery first, which requires travelling outside the country, and then to have invasive medical examinations in-country.
Human Rights Watch has called on the government to address this by creating a clear policy on updating legal gender based on self-determination.
“The government can and should make the system work for everyone by issuing a directive that allows people to self-identify their gender on official documents, without medical or other verification,” Human Rights Watch says in a press release.
UNITED KINGDOM
The British Medical Association has called for the government to pause implementation of the controversial Cass Review of gender care for trans youth, and a lifting of the government’s ban on the use of puberty blockers for under-18s.
The BMA, a trade union that represents nearly 200,000 doctors and medical students across the UK, has made the amid a growing anti-trans moral panic across the UK, fueled by far-right commentators, including “Harry Potter” creator J.K. Rowling, which captured the attention of the Conservative Party that governed the country for 14 years until last month.
But the new Labour government has been swift to uphold some of the previous government’s anti-trans policies, including announcing that it would move to make the ban on puberty blockers permanent.
The previous government had launched a review of trans youth care under Hilary Cass, who published her findings this spring. The Cass Review ultimately called for a move away from medical interventions for trans youth and instead proposed a model of better mental health support.
Trans activists and medical researchers criticized the report for its selective review of studies and lack of consultation with trans patients, which they have said give the impression that the review was designed to come to a conclusion that would effectively bar young people from transitioning or forcibly detransition them.
A government spokesperson has rebuffed the BMA’s call for a pause on implementation of the Cass Review while it completes its own research.
“NHS England will be implementing Dr. Cass’s recommendations so that children and young people get the safe, holistic care and support they need. We do not support a delay to vital improvements from the NHS to gender services,” a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told the BBC.
The ban on puberty blockers had also been challenged in court by the advocacy group TransActual, but a judge ruled last week that the ban was lawful.
Cuba
Trans parent charged with kidnapping, allegedly fled to Cuba with child
Cuban authorities helped locate Rose Inessa-Ethington
Federal authorities have charged a transgender woman with kidnapping after she allegedly fled to Cuba with her 10-year-old child.
An affidavit that Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jennifer Waterfield filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah on April 16 notes the child is a “biological male who identifies as a female” and “splits time living with divorced parents who share custody” in Cache County, Utah.
Waterfield notes the child on March 28 “was supposed to be traveling by car to” Calgary, Alberta, “for a planned camping trip with his transgender mother, Rose Inessa-Ethington, Rose’s partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington, and Blue’s 3-year-old child.”
The affidavit notes the group instead flew from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Mexico City on March 29. Waterfield writes the Inessa-Ethingtons and the two children then flew from Mérida, Mexico, to Havana on April 1.
The 10-year-old child called her biological mother on March 28 after they arrived in Canada. The custody agreement, according to the affidavit, required Rose Inessa-Ethington to return the child to her former spouse on April 3.
“Interviews of MV [Minor Victim] 1’s family members provided significant concerns for MV 1’s well-being, as MV 1 was born a male, however, identifies as a female child, which is largely believed to be due to manipulation by Rose Inessa-Ethington,” reads the affidavit. “Concerns exist that MV 1 was transported to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty.”
The affidavit indicates authorities found a note in the Inessa-Ethingtons’ home with “instruction from a mental health therapist located in Washington, D.C., including instruction to send the therapist the $10,000.00 and instructions on gender-affirming medical care for children.”
The affidavit does not identify the specific “mental health therapist” in D.C.
A Utah judge on April 13 ordered Rose Inessa-Ethington to “immediately” return the child to her former spouse. The former spouse also received sole custody.
“Your affiant believes that due to the extensive planning and preparation exhibited by both Rose Inessa-Ethington and Blue Inessa-Ethington to isolate MV 1 and take MV 1 to Havana, Cuba, without notifying or requesting permission from MV 1’s mother indicates they are likely not planning to return to the United States,” wrote Waterfield.
The affidavit notes Cuban authorities found the Inessa-Ethingtons and the child.
A press release the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah issued notes the Inessa-Ethingtons “were deported from Cuba” on Monday “with the assistance of the FBI.”
The couple has been charged with International Parental Kidnapping. The Inessa-Ethingtons were arraigned in Richmond, Va., on Monday. The press release notes a federal court in Salt Lake City will soon handle the case.
The New York Times reported the child is now back with their biological mother.
“We are grateful to law enforcement for working swiftly to return the child to the biological mother,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak of the District of Utah in the press release.
The case is unfolding against the backdrop of increased tensions between Washington and Havana after U.S. forces on Jan. 3 seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January 2025 issued an executive order that directed the federal government to only recognize two genders: male and female. A second White House directive banned federally-funded gender-affirming care for anyone under 19.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year in the Skrmetti decision upheld a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors.
Cuba’s national health care system has offered free sex-reassignment surgeries since 2008.
Activists who are critical of Mariela Castro, the daughter of former President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTQ issues as director of Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education, have previously told the Washington Blade that access to these procedures is limited. The Blade on Wednesday asked a contact in Havana to clarify whether Cuban law currently allows minors to undergo sex-reassignment surgery.
Australia
Australia lifts additional restrictions on LGBTQ blood donors
Gay, bisexual men, trans people in long-term monogamous relationships can now donate
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service (Lifeblood) has lifted additional restrictions on LGBTQ people who want to donate blood.
The Star-Observer, an Australian LGBTQ newspaper, reported new Lifeblood rules that took effect on Monday will allow “gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term monogamous relationships to donate blood and platelets for the first time.”
The new policy defines “long-term monogamous relationships” as those that are at least six months.
All potential donors — regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity — will answer the same questions about recent sexual activity.
“Previous donor rules prevented many people from the LGBTQIA+ community from donating blood or platelets if they’d had sex within the past three months,” said Lifeblood CEO Stephen Cornelissen in a press release that announced the new policy. “These latest changes mean many gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term, monogamous relationships will become eligible to donate blood or platelets for the first time.”
Lifeblood in 2025 ended its blanket ban on sexually active LGBTQ people from donating blood.
Rodney Croome, an Australian LGBTQ activist who is the spokesperson for Let Us Give, a campaign that has championed the changes, donated blood on Monday.
“After three decades of advocacy, and for the first time in my life, I was able to donate blood today,” said Croome in a Facebook post that showed him donating blood. “From today, gay men, and bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men, are able to give blood without the traditional three month abstinence period. All donors are now asked the same questions about sex regardless of the gender of our sexual partners.”
Croome in the post said “there are still problems with the new donor regime,” but said Let Us Give will continue to work with Lifeblood.
“Those who may have not been monogamous in the recent past should not be subject to a six month wait time,” he wrote. “Three months is considered more than enough in the UK, US and Canada. It should be here too. People on PrEP and trans people also face continued barriers. Let Us Give will continue to work towards greater equity in donation.”
European Union
Top EU court strikes down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law
Ruling issued days after voters outed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
The European Union’s top court on Tuesday struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law.
Hungarian MPs in 2021 approved Act LXXIX of 2021.
“It shall be forbidden to make accessible to persons who have not attained the age of 18 years advertisement that depicts sexuality in a gratuitous manner or that propagates or portrays divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality,” it reads.
The European Commission in 2022 challenged the law. Sixteen EU countries — Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden — joined the lawsuit. The European Parliament also supported it. Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, for his part, said his government would defend the law.
The EU Court of Justice heard the case in 2024.
A press release that announced the ruling on Tuesday said Hungary “acted in breach of EU law.”
“The court finds, for the first time, a separate infringement of Article 2 TEU (Treaty on European Union), which lists the values on which the (European) Union is founded and which are common to all the Member States,” it reads. “The aspects of the amending law targeting content which portrays or promotes deviation from the self-identity corresponding to the sex assigned at birth, gender reassignment, or homosexuality constitute a coordinated series of discriminatory measures which are in breach, in a way that is both manifest and particularly serious, of the rights of non-cisgender persons — including transgender persons — or non-heterosexual persons, as well as the values of respect for human dignity, equality and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.”
“Consequently, that law is contrary to the very identity of the (European) Union as a common legal order in a society in which pluralism prevails,” notes the press release. “Hungary cannot validly rely on its national identity as justification for adopting a law which is in breach of the values referred to above.”
The Háttér Society, a Hungarian LGBTQ rights group, said the ruling “is a milestone for the protection of human rights in the European Union, and it is also a historic victory for LGBTQI people in Hungary.”
The court issued its ruling nine days after Péter Magyar ousted Orbán in Hungary’s elections.
Orbán took office in 2010.
He and his government faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown that included laws that banned Pride events and other public LGBTQ events. (Upwards of 100,000 people last June denied the prohibition and marched in Budapest’s annual Pride parade.)
“Those amendments constitute a particularly serious interference with several fundamental rights protected by the (EU) Charter (of Fundamental Rights), namely the prohibition on discrimination based on sex,” notes the court’s press release.
The EU since Orbán took office has withheld upwards of €35 billion ($41.2 billion) in funds to Hungary in response to concerns over corruption, rule of law, and other issues. Magyar has said he will work with Brussels to unfreeze the money.
ILGA-Europe Deputy Director Katrin Hugendubel urged Maygar’s government to repeal the law.
“With this ruling, the CJEU (The EU Court of Justice) is confirming what we have been saying for six years,” said Hugendubel. “There is now no excuse for the Commission not to require Hungary to quickly withdraw the law. Hungary cannot enter a post-Orbán era without repealing this legislation, including the Pride ban.”
“If Péter Magyar truly aims to be pro-EU, he must place this at the top of his agenda for his first 100 days in office, as an essential part of his EU facing reforms,” added Hugendubel.
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