World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
Man arrested in Qatar during Grindr sting operation released, back in UK
QATAR
A British-Mexican man who was arrested in a Grindr sting operation in Qatar has been released and has returned to the U.K., following more than six months in and out of prison while his case was heard and appealed.
Manuel Guerrero Aviña, who had lived in Qatar for seven years, was arrested in February after arranging to meet a man on the Grindr app. When he went down to his lobby to meet the man, he was detained by police, whom he says planted meth amphetamines on him and charged him with drug possession.
Guerrero says his arrest was due entirely to his being a gay man — gay sex is illegal in Qatar and carries a possible penalty of up to three years imprisonment, with a death sentence possible if the accused is a Muslim. However, Qatari authorities say that the arrest was strictly due to the alleged possession of drugs.
While in detention, Guerrero says was denied access to a lawyer or translator and was pressured into naming other gay men with whom he had relations.
He was also kept in solitary confinement once authorities learned he is HIV positive, and denied regular access to his medication.
His case generated international headlines and saw intervention by politicians from both the UK and Mexico, as well as several human rights and civil society groups.
In June, he was given a 6-month suspended sentence and ordered deported, a decision that Guerrero appealed unsuccessfully.
On Aug. 11, a group lobbying for Guerrero’s release posted a statement to X, saying that Guerrero was “flying free” to London.
“As we write these letters, Manuel flies free to London, far from the Qatari dictatorship that tortured and criminalized him for being gay and living with HIV,” the statement from QatarMustFreeManuel says.
“To the people of Mexico and the people of the United Kingdom, to the LGBT community, to the media, to the solidarity and hearts that accompany us, the Manuel Guerrero Committee, Manuel and his family thank you for your tireless support in this emblematic struggle against injustice, against homophobia, and in favor of human rights for all people.”
Guerrero is in London undergoing medical treatment for the abuse he suffered in Qatari prison, including possible complications related to being denied his HIV medications. After that, he plans to return to Mexico.
BULGARIA
President Rumen Radev has signed a controversial bill banning “LGBT propaganda” in schools into law, sparking international condemnation and multiple protests across the country.
The bill, which was rushed through parliament with minimal consultations earlier this month, 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 new law has clearly been inspired by similar laws enacted in Russia, Lithuania, and Hungary in recent years, and was pushed by a political party with strong ties to Moscow.
The law has drawn criticism from NGOs and multinational organizations, including the Council of Europe, the UN Human Rights Office, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, and ILGA-Europe.
Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, has seen multiple protests against the law since it was passed on Aug. 7. Including from LGBTQ groups, feminist organizations, health organizations, and human rights groups.
Some activist groups opposed to the bill are calling on the European Union to take action against Bulgaria over the bill, calling it a violation of the fundamental rights and values of the union. They’re seeking to have the EU freeze funds that would normally go to Bulgaria, including for education and culture.
“This law is not just a Bulgarian issue — this is a Russian law that has found its way into the heart of Europe,” Rémy Bonny, executive director of the LGBTQ rights group Forbidden Colours, told Politico. “The European Commission must step in and hold Bulgaria accountable.”
Last year, 15 EU countries joined a lawsuit against Hungary over its similar anti-LGBTQ law.
So far, the European Commission — the executive branch of the EU — has requested more information on the law from the Bulgarian minister of education.
Friction with the EU could also stall Bulgaria’s long-hoped dream of joining the Eurozone, which it was hoping to do next year.
Bulgaria is heading to new parliamentary elections in October, after politicians elected in June were unable to form a government. It’ll be country’s fifth election in three years.
RUSSIA
A Russian artist who was released during the Aug. 1 prisoner exchange between Russia and Western countries has announced plans to marry her long-term partner now that they are settled in Germany, where same-sex marriage is legal.
Sasha Skochilenko, 33, was arrested in St. Petersburg weeks after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, for replacing price tags in stores with anti-war messages. She was charged with extremism and making false statements about the military and eventually sentenced to 7 years in prison.
At the beginning of her detention, she was denied visitation or communication with her partner Sofya Subbotina. As they weren’t married, Russian authorities deemed her a witness to Skochilenko’s supposed crimes.
Eventually, she was allowed brief visitation rights, which became a lifeline for Skolichenko, who suffers from several medical conditions that were exacerbated by her stay in prison. Skolichenko has celiac disease and couldn’t digest the food she was given in prison.
Skolichenko was finally convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison in November 2023. She had filed an appeal and a request for a presidential pardon but made no progress with either.
In July, she was suddenly transferred to a prison in Moscow, and then on Aug 1, she was flown to Ankara, Turkey, where the prisoner exchange was made.
In all, Russia and Belarus released 16 people, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and several of Russia’s opposition figures. In turn, eight Russians were released by the United States, Germany, Poland, and Norway, most of whom were known Russian spies.
From Turkey, Skolichenko was flown to Germany. Subbotina followed the next day, as soon as she heard the news.
The pair are settled for now in Koblenz but have not yet decided where in Germany they’d like to settle permanently.
Skolichenko plans to return to making art, while Subbotina wants to join a human rights organization to continue to work for political prisoners in Russia.
They had talked about getting married back in Russia, but that wasn’t possible as Russia does not recognize same-sex unions and has led a severe crackdown on LGBT rights advocacy in recent years.
Now that they live in Germany, they finally plan to tie the knot.
“We don’t know how or in which city we will do it, but that’s the plan,” Skochilenko told The Associated Press.
CHINA
In what some are hailing as a historic decision, a Chinese court for the first time recognized that a child can have two mothers in awarding visitation rights to a child born to a lesbian couple that since broke up.
The two women married in the U.S. in 2016 and conceived two children via IVF the following years. The embryos were made from one of the women’s eggs and donor sperm, and each woman carried one of the children.
When the couple broke up in 2019, the woman who is the children’s genetic mother denied her former partner, Didi, visitation rights and moved from Shanghai to Beijing.
Didi, sued for custody in 2020. She finally won a partial victory in May.
Chinese law does not recognize same-sex couples or same-sex parents, so children of same-sex parents are generally only recognized as belonging to the biological parent. But because Didi gave birth to her daughter, she was recognized as her mother, even though she has no genetic link to her.
The court granted her the right to make monthly visits to her daughter, and she made her first visit to her in more than four years this month.
But because she shares no genetic link to the child her former partner carried – her daughter’s brother – she was denied any visitation rights to him.
While the decision is bittersweet, LGBTQ activists have hailed the decision as a big step forward in recognizing the possibility of same-sex parents.
Didi says she hopes the legal system will catch up to the growing social acceptance of queer people in China by recognizing that same-sex couples exist and have children.“It’s very simple, other families have one father and one mother. We have two mothers,” she told the Guardian
Cuba
Cuba bajo presión y sin respuestas
Cubanos no hablan en términos geopolíticos. Hablan de sobrevivir
Las tensiones entre Estados Unidos y Cuba han vuelto a subir de tono. No es algo nuevo, pero este momento se siente distinto. Las medidas más recientes desde Washington buscan cerrar aún más los espacios financieros del gobierno cubano, limitar sus fuentes de ingreso y presionar sectores clave de la economía. No es simbólico. Es una política directa.
Desde Estados Unidos, el mensaje es claro. Se busca provocar cambios que no han ocurrido en más de seis décadas. También hay un componente interno, una presión política que responde a sectores del exilio que llevan años exigiendo una postura más dura. Todo eso forma parte del escenario.
Pero esa es solo una parte.
Del lado cubano, la respuesta sigue un patrón conocido. El gobierno habla de agresión externa, de guerra económica, de un embargo que se endurece. Cada medida se convierte en argumento para reforzar su narrativa y cerrar filas. No hay espacio para reconocer errores propios. Todo apunta hacia afuera.
Mientras tanto, la vida en la isla va por otro camino.
La crisis energética que hoy vive Cuba no empezó con estas medidas. Lleva años acumulándose. El sistema eléctrico está deteriorado, sin mantenimiento suficiente, con fallas constantes. Los apagones no son nuevos. Lo que ha cambiado es la frecuencia y la duración.
Durante años entró petróleo a Cuba, especialmente desde Venezuela. Hubo acuerdos. Hubo suministro. Y aun así, la vida del cubano no mejoró. La electricidad seguía fallando, el combustible seguía racionado, el transporte seguía siendo un problema diario.
Entonces la pregunta sigue siendo la misma.
Si el petróleo estaba entrando, ¿por qué nada cambiaba?
¿Dónde fue a parar ese recurso?
¿Dónde está el dinero que generó?
Hoy se habla de restricciones al petróleo como si fueran la causa principal de la crisis. No lo son. Empeoran una situación ya frágil, pero no la explican completamente.
Hay una historia más larga que no se puede ignorar.
Lo mismo ocurre con las brigadas médicas.
Durante años se presentaron como un gesto de solidaridad internacional. Y en muchos casos lo fueron. Médicos cubanos trabajaron en condiciones difíciles, salvaron vidas, sostuvieron sistemas de salud en otros países. Eso es real.
Pero también funcionaron como una de las principales fuentes de ingreso del Estado cubano.
Muchos de esos profesionales no recibían el salario completo por su trabajo. Una parte significativa quedaba en manos del gobierno. En algunos casos, ni siquiera tenían control sobre el dinero que generaban.
Y hay algo más duro.
Si uno de esos médicos decidía no regresar a Cuba, ese dinero no llegaba a su familia. Se quedaba retenido.
Hoy varios países están revisando o cancelando esos acuerdos. Y otra vez, la respuesta oficial es señalar hacia afuera. Pero la pregunta sigue siendo inevitable.
¿Se está perdiendo un modelo de cooperación o un sistema que dependía del control sobre sus propios profesionales?
Dentro de Cuba, la conversación suena diferente.
La gente no habla en términos geopolíticos. Habla de sobrevivir. De cómo llegar al final del día. De los apagones, de la comida que no alcanza, del transporte que no aparece, de una vida que cada vez se hace más difícil.
Hay quienes miran las medidas de Estados Unidos con cierta expectativa. No porque quieran más escasez, sino porque sienten que el sistema no cambia por sí solo. Hay una sensación de estancamiento que pesa.
Pero esa expectativa convive con una realidad concreta.
Las sanciones no golpean primero a quienes toman decisiones. Golpean al ciudadano común. Al que hace la fila. Al que pierde la comida por falta de electricidad. Al que no tiene cómo moverse.
Esa es la contradicción.
El gobierno cubano pide solidaridad internacional. Y la recibe. Países que envían ayuda, organizaciones que se movilizan, voces que defienden a la isla.
Pero hay otra pregunta que también está ahí.
¿Esa ayuda llega realmente al pueblo?
La falta de transparencia en la distribución de recursos es parte del problema. Porque no se trata solo de lo que entra, sino de lo que realmente llega a quienes lo necesitan.
Reducir lo que pasa en Cuba a un conflicto entre dos gobiernos es no querer ver el cuadro completo.
Aquí hay responsabilidades compartidas, pero no iguales.
Estados Unidos ejerce presión con efectos reales sobre la economía cubana. Eso no se puede negar. Pero dentro de la isla hay un sistema que ha tenido décadas para corregir, para abrir, para responder a su gente, y no lo ha hecho.
Esa parte no se puede seguir esquivando.
Yo escribo esto como cubano. Desde lo que vi, desde lo que viví y desde la gente que sigue allá tratando de resolver el día.
Porque al final, más allá de lo que se diga entre gobiernos, la realidad es otra.
Cuba hoy está más apretada, sí. Pero también lleva años arrastrando problemas que nadie ha querido enfrentar de verdad.
Y mientras eso siga así, da igual lo que venga de afuera. El problema sigue estando adentro.
Iran
LGBTQ groups condemn Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization
Ceasefire announced less than two hours before Tuesday deadline
The Council for Global Equality is among the groups that condemned President Donald Trump on Tuesday over his latest threats against Iran.
Trump in a Truth Social post said “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran did not reach an agreement with the U.S. by 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death.
Israel and the U.S. on Feb. 28 launched airstrikes against Iran.
One of them killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran in response launched missiles and drones against Israel and other countries that include Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and Cyprus.
Gas prices in the U.S. and around the world continue to increase because the war has essentially closed the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway that connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil passes.
Trump less than 90 minutes before his deadline announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran that Pakistan helped broker.
“We the undersigned human rights, humanitarian, civil liberties, faith-based and environmental organizations, think tanks and experts are deeply alarmed by President Trump’s threat regarding Iran that ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ if his demands are not met. Such language describes a grave atrocity if carried out,” reads the statement that the Council for Global Equality more than 200 other organizations and human rights experts signed. “A threat to wipe out ‘a whole civilization’ may amount to a threat of genocide. Genocide is a crime defined by the Genocide Convention and by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as committing one or more of several acts ‘with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, racial or religious groups as such.'”
The statement states “the law is clear that civilians must not be targeted, and they must also be protected from indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks.”
“Strikes on civilian infrastructure — such as the recent attack on a bridge and the attacks President Trump is repeatedly threatening to carry out to destroy power plants — have devastating consequences for the civilian population and environment,” it reads.
“We urge all parties to respect international law,” adds the statement. “Those responsible for atrocities, including crimes against humanity and war crimes, can and must be held accountable.”
The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice, Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP, MADRE, and the Robert and Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center are among the other groups that signed the letter.
Hungary
Vance speaks at Orbán rally in Hungary
Anti-LGBTQ prime minister trailing ahead of April 12 vote
Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday urged Hungarians to support Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the country’s April 12 elections.
“We have got to get Viktor Orbán re-elected as prime minister of Hungary,” Vance told Orbán supporters who gathered at Budapest’s MTK Sportpark.
Vance and Orbán on Tuesday met before they held a press conference in Budapest. Orbán also spoke at the rally.
The U.S. vice president after he took to the stage called President Donald Trump, who told the crowd he is “a big fan of Viktor” and is “with him all the way.” Vance, as he did during Tuesday’s press conference with Orbán, criticized the European Union.
“We want you to make a decision about your future with no outside forces pressuring you or telling you what to do. I’m not telling you exactly who to vote for, but what I am telling you is that the bureaucrats in Brussels, those people should not be listened to,” said Vance. “Listen to your hearts, listen to your souls, and listen to the sovereignty of the Hungarian people.”
Vance in his speech noted “across the West, we’ve got a small band of radicals” who, among other things, “condemn children to mutilization and sterilization in the name of gender care.” Vance also criticized a “far-left ideology given quarter in university circles, in the media, and in our entertainment industry, and increasingly among bureaucrats on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Vice President JD Vance speaks at MTK Sportpark in Budapest, Hungary, on April 7, 2026
Orbán has been in office since 2010. He and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
A Hungarian activist with whom the Washington Blade previously spoke said it is “impossible to change your gender legally in Hungary” because of a 2020 law that “banned legal gender recognition of transgender and intersex people.” Hungarian MPs the same year effectively prohibited same-sex couples from adopting children and defined marriage in the country’s constitution as between a man and a woman.
The European Commission in 2022 sued Hungary, which is a member of the EU, over the country’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law.
Hungarian lawmakers in March 2025 passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
Upwards of 100,000 people last June defied the ban and marched in Budapest’s annual Pride parade.
Polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party ahead of the April 12 election. Vance at Tuesday’s rally told Orbán supporters that he and Trump “want you to make a decision about your future with no outside forces pressuring you or telling you what to do.”
“I’m not telling you exactly who to vote for, but what I am telling you is that the bureaucrats in Brussels, those people should not be listened to,” said Vance. “Listen to your hearts, listen to your souls, and listen to the sovereignty of the Hungarian people.”
“Unlike some of the leadership of Brussels, I’m not threatening you or telling you that we’re going to withhold funds to which you’re legally entitled,” he added. “You will make the decision about Hungary’s future.”
Magyar on Tuesday appeared to dismiss Vance’s comments.
“No foreign country may interfere in Hungarian elections. This is our country. Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow, or Brussels — it is written in Hungary’s streets and squares,” said Magyar on his X account.
A spokesperson for the Háttér Society, a Hungarian LGBTQ rights group, told the Blade that neither Magyar, nor his party have reached out to the organization.
The spokesperson said the group does not “campaign directly for them or for any other political party.” The Háttér Society, however, is encouraging LGBTQ Hungarians to vote.
“Ahead of election day, we will encourage everyone on our social media channels to go out and vote, as this is the only way we can act against a system that has been working against the LGBTQI community for many years,” said the spokesperson.
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