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Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Canada
Three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna cancelled after attack plot uncovered
BULGARIA
Parliament rushed through passage of a Russia-style “LGBT propaganda” law Aug. 7 in a marathon session that was marked by speeches that queer activists have denounced as bordering on hate speech, and that sparked protests around the capital.
The vaguely worded law bans “propaganda, popularization and encouragement, directly or indirectly, of ideas and views connected to nontraditional sexual orientation or to gender-identifying different from the biological,” in Bulgarian schools. The law does not prescribe any specific punishment for infractions.
The bill was introduced by the Revival Party, which maintains strong ties to Russia’s government, but passed with surprising support from the pro-European Union center-right GERB party. Altogether, 159 MPs voted for the bill, while only 57 voted against it, mostly from the reformist We Continue the Change Party.
Bulgaria is currently without an elected government, as June national elections yielded a hung parliament. Fresh elections are scheduled for Oct. 20 — Bulgaria’s fifth election in three years. Parties are likely using the threat of “LGBT propaganda” to shore up votes.
Nevertheless, the passage of the law sparked protests from queer, women, and human rights groups around the capital, Sofia, calling on President Rumen Radev to veto the law.
“This is the first step in making non-traditional sexual orientation a crime. I consider this absolutely unacceptable and out of the spirit of what we strive to be as a country and society,” Ivan Ivanov, a protestor at the Aug. 7 rally, told Euronews.
Anti-LGBTQ “propaganda” laws have been spreading since Russia passed its law in 2013. Hungary and Lithuania have laws restricting LGBTQ speech in schools or around children, but Bulgaria is the first EU country to pass such a law since the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Lithuania’s law breached the European Convention in January 2023.
Other countries considering such laws right now are Georgia and Kazakhstan. Several African states have also recently passed or are considering laws criminalizing promotion of LGBTQ rights, including Uganda, Ghana, Namibia, and Liberia. Increasingly, similar laws are also being passed in Republican-led U.S. states.
AUSTRIA
Local organizers Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour cancelled three dates in Vienna after authorities arrested two suspected extremists on charges that they planned to attack a concert.
Swift had been scheduled to play at the Ernst Happel Stadium on Aug. 9, 10, and 11.
Authorities said they had arrested a 19-year-old main suspect in Ternitz, about 50 miles south of Vienna, and a second 17-year-old suspect in the capital.
Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of Austria’s Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, says the 19-year-old had been radicalized in the direction of the Islamic State, and that they had found material related to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda at the home of the 17-year-old.
Haijawi-Pirchner says that the suspect was employed by a company providing services at the concerts and was planning to use knives or self-made explosives to “kill as many people as possible” at the concert.
Initially, promoters said the concerts would go ahead with extra security provided by the national police, but the dates were quickly cancelled hours later.
Promoters Barracuda Music said all tickets would be automatically refunded within 10 business days.
The concert dates had been sold out for months, with an estimated 170,000 people expected to attend.
This isn’t the first time an Islamic extremist has allegedly targeted a pop concert. In 2017, an extremist suicide-bombed an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, killing 22 people and wounding more than 100.
CANADA
The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from alt-right figure Jordan Peterson of the decision by the College of Psychologists of Ontario requiring him to undergo social media training or risk losing his license to practice.
Peterson, who rose to international prominence for his strident opposition to a transgender rights bill passed by the Canadian government in 2017, has become a darling of the alt-right movement for his writings and social media posts advancing frequently misogynistic and transphobic views on women, masculinity, and gender identity, as well as general antipathy to other left-wing issues.
In 2022, the College of Psychologists found that his posts may be “degrading” and call into question his ability as a psychologist and bring the profession disrepute. It ordered he undergo social media training.
Peterson sought judicial review, but he lost at lower courts. The Supreme Court did not give reasons why it dismissed the appeal. Peterson was ordered to pay costs.
Initially, Peterson said he would continue to fight the order, somehow, but days later his lawyer had told CBC that Peterson would attend the training.
The case has divided rights groups in Canada, with the LGBTQ advocacy group Egale intervening on behalf of the College of Psychologists of Ontario, while the Canadian Civil Liberties Union intervened on behalf of Peterson, arguing that professional associations shouldn’t regulate speech unrelated to the profession.
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who has also courted the alt-right and far right in Canada, also posted in support of Peterson.
“Another government bureaucracy threatens to ban a Canadian from practicing his profession because he expressed political opinions the state doesn’t like,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The College of Psychologists of Ontario is not a government bureaucracy. It is a professional association.
BELGIUM
Former Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo spoke out against transphobia in an open letter after the current deputy prime minister raised alarms this week by recommending a transphobic book on his social media channels.
Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval of the center-right Reformist Movement was accused of transphobia after he posted on X praise of the book “Transmania: Investigation into the Excesses of Transgender Ideology” by Marguerite Stern and Dora Moutot.
The book, originally published in France, is full of conjectures and conspiracy theories asserting that trans people aren’t real and that they are associated with pedophilia. It has become a symbol of the far right in France since it was published in April 2023.
Clarinval defended his post to the Brussels Times.
“This book gives a broader view of the transgender issue,” he said.
Di Rupo, who was Belgium’s first openly gay prime minister and now serves as a member of the European Parliament, wrote an open letter calling for conservatives and liberals to agree to protect all people’s rights in the wake of the controversy.
“In this reactionary climate, it is essential to emphasize that the freedoms granted to transgender people in no way diminish the freedoms of other citizens. The extension of rights and freedoms to some never diminishes those of others,” Di Rupo writes.
“Finally, it is important to remember that the freedoms we enjoy today are the fruit of fierce struggles, countless political battles and incalculable human tragedies. They are indeed heroic struggles, often marked by great suffering and sacrifice, that have shaped the free world in which we live in the West. Whether it is the fights for civil rights in the United States, for gender equality, for the rights of LGBTQIA+ people or for freedom of expression, they have all been driven by the same unwavering will: That of defending the dignity, freedom and respect of the human being in all its complexity.”
Belarus
Belarusian lawmakers approve bill to crackdown on LGBTQ rights
Country’s president known as ‘Europe’s last dictator’
Lawmakers in Belarus on Thursday approved a bill that would allow the government to crack down on LGBTQ advocacy.
The Associated Press notes the bill would punish anyone found guilty of “propaganda of homosexual relations, gender change, refusal to have children, and pedophilia” with fines, community labor, and 15 days in jail.
The House of Representatives, the lower house of the Belarusian National Assembly, last month approved the bill. The Council of the Republic, which is the parliament’s upper chamber, passed it on Thursday.
President Alexander Lukashenko is expected to sign it.
Belarus borders Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Lukashenko — known as “Europe’s last dictator” is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kazakhstan is among the countries that have enacted Russian-style anti-LGBTQ propaganda laws in recent years.
Vika Biran, a Belarusian LGBTQ activist, is among those arrested during anti-Lukashenko protests that took place in 2020 after he declared victory in the country’s presidential election.
Kenya
Kenyan advocacy groups launch LGBTQ voter mobilization campaign
As Kenya prepares for next year’s August general election, local queer rights groups have joined Gen Zers in also mobilizing their members to register as voters.
The groups’ drive began ahead of the electoral commission’s official launch of a one-month nationwide mass voter registration on March 30, targeting 6.5 million new voters to bring the total to more than 28 million.
The groups — led by the Initiative for Equality and Non-Discrimination (INEND) and Galck+ — note that politics is not optional, but rather it is “our responsibility” to use the ballot to put an end to bad leadership and discriminatory laws against them.
“Voting is one of the most powerful ways we exercise our autonomy and remind the State that our human rights are not ‘Western imports’; our struggles for housing, employment, safety, and dignity are fundamentally Kenyan issues,” INEND states.
It reminds queer individuals that the nation entrusts them with an identity card at age 18 as a recognition of their ability to make decisions, follow laws, and take responsibility for the country’s future.
INEND also notes that despite this honor, LGBTQ people get kicked out of their homes due to homophobia, are discriminated against at work, and face violence in public places due to the punitive laws that the same State legislates.
“As queer Kenyans, our vote matters,” INEND states. “Our voice belongs in the democratic and governance conversations, and true democracy includes everyone.”
Some voter mobilization initiatives the queer lobby groups have been using include ‘Queering the Ballot’ Podcasts on civic participation, dubbed ‘Your Vote is Your Future’. The topics explored include how laws shape their lives, the relationship between lived experiences of common citizens, discrimination fatigue, distrust in government systems, and voter apathy.
The groups through the mobilization drive hope to create a queer voting bloc to actively participate in restructuring and reconstructing the existing governance system they argue has been a problem for them. They maintain the queer community navigates a system that was not built for them from its questioning of their right to exist, yet the Kenyan Constitution clearly states that no citizen should be discriminated against based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Court of Appeal next month will hear a case challenging the constitutionality of provisions in Kenya’s Penal Code that criminalize consensual same-sex relationships among adults. The appeals court postponed the case after adjourning on Feb. 4, its first substantive hearing since the High Court judgement in 2019.
“Change requires more than pointing fingers. It requires reflection, action, and showing up, especially at the ballot box as LGBTQ Kenyan citizens and declaring that this is our country, our business, and we can no longer watch from the sidelines,” INEND states.
The group notes that they want a governance system that embraces queer people as they go about their daily lives without any form of homophobic discrimination, harassment, or arrests. Queer people are therefore urged to pick the right leaders who listen to them in Kenya’s six elective positions, from the president down to the local government representatives, as their decisions while in power affect them.
“It is very irresponsible for any human being, even around the world, to assume that they don’t have political responsibility. It is easy and sounds fancy to say ‘I don’t like politics,’ but it does not make one good as it makes one abandon their political responsibility as a citizen,” INEND states.
The groups are also concerned with the existing homophobia among Kenyans, especially whenever they join them in street protests against the government’s punitive measures or advocating for change. However, they maintain that the LGBTQ community won’t be left behind despite being marginalized in society, yet they are the most affected group when the government raids people’s pockets for taxes.
“Now we are moving from the margins to the centre of this political conversation early enough to ensure that our community sees the sense because if we live in a country that doesn’t work, we will be the most affected,” INEND states.
INEND, with the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Galck+, last November launched the second Queering the Ballot Campaign and the 2024 Situation Report on queer participation in Kenya’s democracy.
The report surveyed 14 of the country’s 47 local governments, whose key findings affirm that queer Kenyans are not outsiders to democracy but its heartbeat.
“The title ‘Our Vote, Our Future: LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Democratic and Governance Processes’ in Kenya is an ode to the spirit of the queer movement in Kenya; unshaken in the face of adversity, determined in its pursuit of justice, and unrelenting in demand to be seen, heard and counted in democratic and political processes,” reads the report forwarded by former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga.
The report calls on Parliament, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the County Assemblies, and every Kenyan to make inclusion not symbolic but systemic.
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, will visit Hungary next week.
An announcement the White House released on Thursday said the Vances will be in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, from April 7-8.
JD Vance “will hold bilateral meetings with” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The announcement further indicates the vice president “will also deliver remarks on the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary.”
The Vances will travel to Hungary less than a week before the country’s parliamentary elections take place on April 12.
Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The Associated Press notes polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.
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