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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
Cuban lawmakers to consider simplifying process for trans people to change IDs
National Assembly in July will reportedly debate proposal
Cuban lawmakers are reportedly poised to consider a proposal that would allow transgender people to legally change the gender marker on their ID documents without surgery.
Cubadebate, a government-run website, on May 11 referenced the proposal in an article about an International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia march in Havana that the National Center for Sexual Education organized.
Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTQ issues on the island, is CENESEX’s director.
Cubadebate notes the National Assembly in July will consider an amendment to the country’s Civil Registry Law that “for the first time would allow citizens to determine the sex on their identification cards without the need for a court order or gender assignment surgery.”
Argentina, Uruguay, Germany, and Malta are among the countries that allow trans people to legally change their name and gender without surgery.
Cuba’s national health care system has offered free sex-reassignment surgery since 2008, but activists who are critical of Mariela Castro and CENESEX have said access to these procedures is limited. Mariela Castro, who is also a member of the National Assembly, in 2013 voted against a measure to add sexual orientation to Cuba’s labor code because it did not include gender identity.
The Cuban constitution bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, among other factors. Authorities routinely harass and detain activists who publicly criticize the government.
Chile
Chilean lawmakers back report that calls for suspension of program for trans children
Country’s first transgender congresswoman condemned May 15 vote
The Chilean Chamber of Deputies on May 15 approved a report that recommends the immediate suspension of a program that provides psychosocial support to transgender and gender non-conforming children and adolescents and their parents.
The 56-31 vote in favor of the Investigation Commission No. 57’s recommendations for the Gender Identity Support Program sparked outrage among activists in Chile and around the world. Six lawmakers abstained.
The report proposes the Health Ministry issue a resolution against puberty blockers, cross-hormonalization, and other hormonal treatments for minors, regardless of whether they have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The report also suggests Chilean educational institutions should not respect trans students’ chosen names.
The report, among other recommendations, calls for a review of the background of all minors who are currently receiving hormone treatments. The report also calls for the reformulation of hormone therapy guidelines and sending this background information to the comptroller general.
Report ‘sets an ominous precedent’
Frente Amplio Congresswoman Emilia Schneider, the first trans woman elected to the Chilean Congress and a member of the commission, sharply criticized her colleagues who voted for the report.
“Today in the Chamber of Deputies the report of hatred against trans people was approved; a report that seeks to roll back programs so relevant for children, for youth, such as the Gender Identity Support Program; a program that, in addition, comes from the government of (the late-President) Sebastián Piñera,” Schneider told the Washington Blade. ”This is unacceptable because the right-wing yields to the pressures of the ultra-right and leaves the trans community in a very complex position.”
Schneider noted “this report is not binding; that is, its recommendations do not necessarily have to be taken into account, but it sets an ominous precedent.”
“We are going backwards on such basic issues as the recognition of the social name of trans students in educational establishments,” she said.
Ignacia Oyarzún, president of Organizing Trans Diversities, a Chilean trans rights group, echoed Schneider’s criticisms. commented to the Blade.
“We regret today’s shameful action in the Chamber of Deputies, where the CEI-57 report issued by the Republican Party was approved in a context of lies, misinformation and misrepresentation of reality,” Oyarzún told the Blade. “This only promotes the regression of public policies and conquered rights that have managed to save the lives of thousands of children in the last time.”
Oyarzún added the “slogan ‘children first’ proves to be an empty phrase without content used by those who today promote measures that push to suicide a significant number of children for the fact of being trans.”
The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, a Chilean LGBTQ rights group known by the acronym Movilh also condemned the approval of the report, calling it “transphobic” and accusing the commission of omitting the opinions of organizations and families that support the current policies.
Movilh notes lawmakers approved both the Gender Identity Law and Circular 812, which promotes respect for trans students’ rights, within the framework of an agreement with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
“The text of the approved report is scandalous, because it seeks to take away the access to health to trans minors, including denying them the psychosocial accompaniment that also includes their respective families,” said María José Cumplido, executive director of Fundación Iguales, another Chilean LGBTQ advocacy group. “Likewise, it attempts against school inclusion, since it intends to eliminate something as essential as the use of the social name in educational spaces. In short, it takes away rights and freedoms to trans people, especially to minors.”
Cumplido, like Schneider, pointed out that “although its content is not binding, we will be alert to the political and legislative consequences that it may produce and we will continue working to avoid setbacks with respect to the rights of trans people.”
The report’s approval reflects a global trend that has seen neighboring Argentina, the U.S., and other countries reserve policies for trans and nonbinary young people. The Peruvian Health Ministry recently classified gender identity as a mental illness, and lawmakers have passed a law that prevents trans people from using public restrooms based on their identity.
photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Experts and human rights activists warn the suspension of Chile’s Gender Identity Support Program and other programs could adversely impact the mental health of trans and nonbinary children who already face high levels of discrimination and are at heightened risk to die by suicide.
“We will defend the Gender Identity Support Program and the right to exist of trans children and youth across the country,” said Schneider. “I want to reassure the trans families of our country that we will not rest until our rights are respected and that we can continue advancing because there is still much to be conquered.”
Iran
Underground queer network challenges Iranian regime
Homosexuality remains punishable by death in country
While global powers negotiate with Iran’s regime under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to curb its advancing nuclear program, the oppressed LGBTQ community is building and operating a secret underground network to resist state-coerced sex reassignment surgeries.
These surgeries, mandated for gay and lesbian people as a state-sanctioned alternative to execution for homosexuality, are part of Iran’s penal code that criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual relations. The network provides safe houses, forged identification documents, and covert communication channels to protect members from government raids and imprisonment.
Precise data on LGBTQ people prosecuted in Iran for resisting state-coerced sex reassignment surgeries over the past decade remains elusive, as the regime’s opaque judicial system obscures such cases under vague charges like “corruption on earth” or “sodomy.” NGOs, including 6Rang, report that thousands of gay and lesbian Iranians face pressure to undergo surgeries to avoid execution for same-sex conduct, with resistance often leading to arrests or harassment for violating gender norms.
Zahra Seddiqi Hamedani and Elham Choubdar, two prominent activists, in 2022 were sentenced to death for their social media advocacy, charged with “corruption” and “human trafficking,” though their convictions were overturned in 2023. Similarly, Rezvaneh Mohammadi in 2019 received a five-year sentence for promoting “homosexual relations,” a charge hinting at resistance to the regime’s heteronormative mandates.
Arsham Parsi in 2003 escalated his clandestine fight for Iran’s LGBTQ community by launching Voice Celebration, a secret Yahoo chat group where 50 queer Iranians, using aliases, exchanged coded messages to evade the regime’s surveillance. Operating like operatives in a shadow network, participants shared text messages about human rights and survival tactics, knowing a single breach could lead to torture or execution. Parsi, then 23, orchestrated the group’s encrypted communications, building a virtual lifeline that connected isolated individuals across the country until his cover was nearly blown, forcing a desperate escape in early 2005.
Parsi in an exchange with the Washington Blade revealed a defiant undercurrent in Iran, a movement too elusive to be called traditional resistance yet pulsing with covert rebellion against the regime.
The state’s relentless push to force gay men into coerced surgeries — marketed as a “solution” to their sexuality — seeks to erase their identities through enforced conformity. Parsi, steering the International Railroad for Queer Refugees, disclosed how queer Iranians fight back with clandestine measures: Underground education to counter state propaganda, discreet psychological support to fortify resilience, and encrypted networks to forge secret alliances. These efforts, veiled to evade regime detection, dismantle the state’s narrative with every hidden signal and guarded connection.
“We are working to create a true grassroots resistance by empowering people to understand their identity, seek safe alternatives, and reclaim their agency despite the oppressive context,” said Parsi. “The Iranian regime’s policies are built on denial of sexual orientation and a forced alignment with a binary gender model.”
“Rather than recognizing gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals, the system pressures them — particularly gay men — to undergo irreversible surgeries in order to be legally tolerated,” he added. “This systemic violence creates deep psychological harm and compels many to resist, even quietly, to protect their truth. The lack of legal recognition and the threat of arrest, harassment, or blackmail fuels the underground defiance we see today. It’s not only resistance for survival — it’s a rejection of state-imposed identity suppression.”
IRQR, guided by Parsi, for nearly two decades has operated as a lifeline, orchestrating daring escapes and running a covert network for Iran’s hunted queer community.
Parsi said his work relies on secret, encrypted channels — meticulously managed to avoid detection — to funnel at-risk individuals to safety, smuggle life-saving information, secure hidden safe houses, and deliver emotional support. Every operation faces threats not only from the regime’s security forces but also from Basij militia operatives who masquerade as queer individuals to infiltrate networks, heightening the peril for those marked by their identities.
Black-clad Basij militia members respond at the first signs of defiance; tearing through crowds on motorcycles with batons and guns at the ready, poised to crush any challenge to Iran’s regime. These paramilitary volunteers, bound by fierce loyalty to the Islamic Republic, serve as the state’s enforcers, their plainclothes operatives slipping into dissident networks to root out the defiant.
The Basij fill queer Iranians with dread; their so-called morality patrols and digital traps stalking those who dare to exist outside the regime’s rigid norms.
“Their goal is not only to gather intelligence but to undermine, divide, and cancel the work of activists and organizations like ours,” said Parsi. “This divide-and-conquer strategy is designed to break solidarity and generate mistrust.”
“We have seen numerous cases where trusted circles were compromised by these informants, and it has made our work — and survival — even more complex,” he further noted. “Despite this, we persist. Through our underground connections, we have helped thousands of queer Iranians seek safety, community, and ultimately, freedom.”
Parsi told the Blade that international support — through funding, advocacy, policy pressure, or amplifying his stories — can significantly strengthen his work to protect Iran’s persecuted queer community. He emphasized IRQR operates with limited resources, making global solidarity essential to improve outreach, enhance safety measures, and respond swiftly to those in need. Parsi underscored such support brings visibility to the crisis in Iran, reminding those at risk they are not forgotten while exerting pressure on a regime that thrives on silence and fear.
One of the things that Parsi’s underground network offers is online workshops that educate queer Iranians about how they can remain beyond the regime’s reach.
He said these sessions, designed for safety and accessibility, encompass peer support, mental health education, digital security training, and guidance on refugee pathways. Parsi explained the workshops give vulnerable Iranians the tools to navigate persecution, defy state surveillance, and pursue escape, exposing the resilience of a community under relentless scrutiny.
“Due to the high risk of persecution in Iran, traditional protests are not feasible,” said Parsi. “Instead, acts of resistance take quieter forms — like anonymous storytelling which are just as powerful in building awareness and connection within the community. While discreet, these activities help create a sense of solidarity and empowerment among queer Iranians.”
Parsi, undeterred by Iran’s unyielding regime, asserted with measured confidence that while underground acts of defiance — living authentically, supporting one another, resisting forced medicalisation — may not shift policy overnight, they are already improving lives. He stressed these quiet rebellions that queer Iranians stage challenge the regime’s narrative of shame and invisibility, forging a resilient foundation for future change. Each act, Parsi emphasized, dismantles the regime’s grip, offering hope to those navigating a landscape of relentless oppression.
“At IRQR, we view each life saved, each network built, and each truth spoken as a small but powerful act of resistance,” said Parsi. “These are the seeds of future liberation. Over time, as they multiply and gain visibility — locally and internationally — they will help reshape the landscape for queer Iranians.”
ILGA Asia Executive Director Henry Koh said queer Iranians’ underground resistance is a powerful assertion of bodily autonomy and self-determination. He described it as a deeply courageous act in a regime where visibility invites immense personal risk, from arrest to execution.
When asked by the Blade if the Iranian regime’s punitive measures against openly queer people fuel underground resistance, Koh responded unequivocally.
“Absolutely,” he said. “The climate of criminalization and repression leaves little safe space for queer people to live openly. This forces many into secrecy or underground networks as a means of survival, resistance, and mutual support. Such conditions are not only unjust but also profoundly harmful to the well-being of LGBTIQ+ individuals.”
“It is important to distinguish between affirming gender-affirming care and any form of coercive medical intervention,” he added. “When states or authorities mandate medical procedures as a condition for recognition or safety, it constitutes a grave violation of human rights. Gender identity is deeply personal, and no institution should override an individual’s self-defined identity.”
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