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Out in the World: News from Asia, Europe, and Australia

Thai king on Sept. 24 approved country’s marriage equality bill

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(Los Angeles Blade graphic)

THAILAND

Thailand’s same-sex marriage bill received approval from King Maha Vajiralongkorn and was published in the Royal Gazette on Sept. 24, the final step in the legislative process, and paving the way for marriages to begin on Jan. 22, 2025.

The law grants same-sex couples full equality with heterosexual married couples, including adoption, inheritance, medical, and taxation rights. It was approved overwhelmingly by legislators in the summer, but there was some worry that that the king could block its approval. 

Thailand now becomes the first county in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, and the 39th country worldwide. 

“Congratulations on everyone’s love,” Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said in a post on X.

Thailand has long been a popular tourist destination for LGBTQ people and its queer community has made big strides in attaining legal rights in recent years. 

A bill to allow Thai people to change their legal gender or identify as nonbinary was ordered drafted by previous Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who was dismissed by a Constitutional Court ruling in August over ethics charges. It’s not yet clear if Shinawatra’s new Cabinet is approaching the gender identity law with the same priority. 

The Hungarian parliament in Budapest, Hungary, on April 4, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

HUNGARY

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is calling on queer candidates of his Fidesz party to discreetly out themselves  to avoid further scandals ahead of 2026 elections. 

Fidesz has pushed numerous anti-LGBTQ policies in the name of protecting family values over its 14 years in power, but over the past two years has found its leaders embroiled in several sex scandals that expose the party’s hypocrisy. 

In February, the decision to pardon a man who had been convicted of helping to cover up sexual abuse a state-run children’s home led to the resignations of Hungary’s president and the woman who was expected to lead Fidesz into this summer’s European Parliament elections.

Earlier in September, Gergő Bese, a Catholic priest with strong ties to Fidesz who had advocated for stronger laws against LGBTQ people was revealed to have had several long-term relationships with men, participated in gay sex parties, and to have filmed himself having gay sex in videos that were available on gay porn web sites. Orbán has since scrubbed all photos of him with Bese from his social media and web sites.

One of the founders of Fidesz resigned in December 2020, after it was reported that Belgian police found him at an illegal gay sex party in Brussels during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

Since coming to power, Fidesz has passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples. It passed a law blocking access to materials seen to promote LGBTQ people to anyone under 18, and another banning recognition of transgender peoples’ gender identity.

According to polls, Fidesz is facing its strongest opposition in years ahead of the next elections scheduled for April 2026. 

POLAND

The European Court of Human Rights delivered another ruling against Poland’s refusal to recognize same-sex couples on Sept.19, finding that the state’s refusal to recognize same-sex marriages concluded abroad violates same-sex couples’ right to private family life.

The case was brought by two lesbian couples who had married in the UK and Denmark respectively. Upon returning to Poland, authorities refused to register their marriages or allow them to file their taxes jointly.

“By refusing to register the applicants’ marriages under any form and failing to ensure that they have a specific legal framework providing for recognition and protection, the Polish authorities have left them in a legal vacuum and have not provided for the core needs of recognition and protection of same-sex couples in a stable and committed relationship. The court finds that none of the public interest grounds put forward by the government prevail over the applicants’ interest in having their respective relationships adequately recognized and protected by law,” the court ruled.

The European Court of Human Rights hears cases from states that have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights. While it does not have power to enforce its rulings, they are nonetheless influential in shaping local laws and decisions by domestic courts.

The European court has not found that the convention contains a right to same-sex marriage, but it has ruled that member states have an obligation to provide same-sex couples with a way to register their relationship and attain the rights of marriage. The court ruled last year that Poland’s lack of civil unions for same-sex couples was similarly a violation of the convention.

Poland’s government has tabled a civil union bill that it hopes to pass by the end of this year, but which faces a rough ride through a narrowly divided parliament, and it has been threatened with a veto by the country’s far-right president.

This week, a new poll showed that nearly two-thirds of Poles support civil unions, and narrow majorities also support same-sex marriage and adoption rights.

IRELAND

The government has decided to press ahead with new LGBTQ-inclusive hate crime legislation after bowing to opposition pressure to remove sections that would have expanded hate speech laws to protect trans people. The government expects to table the legislation is parliament in the coming weeks.

The new hate crime legislation will allow judges to impose harsher sentences on people convicted of crimes that are motivated by a victim’s “protected characteristic,” which includes their race, color, nationality, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity and expression), and disability.

Hate speech laws in Ireland already include provisions criminalizing hate speech based on sexual orientation, but not based on sex or gender. A bill passed by the lower house of parliament last year would have expanded hate speech laws to include protections based on gender and included provisions for spreading hatred on the internet along with the new hate crime provisions, but it stalled in the upper house. 

Opposition to the bill centered on free speech concerns and eventually grew to include members of the government coalition.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee announced this week that the government was dropping the hate speech elements of the bill to focus on getting the hate crime provisions passed before the current term of parliament ends in March 2025.

Also this summer, the government announced it no longer believed it could introduce and pass conversion therapy legislation before the election.

Ireland’s LGBTQ community has expressed mixed feelings about the government’s decision.

“While we feel this is a missed opportunity to strengthen legislation on extreme hate speech, we nonetheless welcome their commitment to pass the hate crime sections of the legislation,” the Coalition Against Hate Crime said in a statement.

AUSTRALIA

LGBTQ activists in South Australia state scored a victory this week when the state legislature became the latest to pass a ban on so-called conversion therapy. 

The new law criminalizes practices that seek to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity and taking someone out of South Australia to undergo conversion therapy. It also gives survivors an opportunity for redress through civil courts.

“This new law confirms we are not broken, disordered or in need of fixing,” Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown says in a statement. “The legislation is not perfect but it’s an important step forward, and it will protect thousands of vulnerable South Australians into the future.”

Conversion therapy has now been banned in all parts of Australia except the Northern Territory,  Western Australia, and Tasmania, although the governments of the latter two have announced plans to bring forward legislation to do so. 

While Australia’s state governments are moving forward on protections for LGBTQ Aussies, the federal government under Labor Party Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dragged its feet on promised reforms since it was elected in 2022. 

The federal government walked back earlier campaign commitments to pass a national ban on the practice, and also gave up on a promise to repeal loopholes in federal anti-discrimination laws that allow anti-LGBT discrimination in religious schools. The government also abandoned a pledge to introduce a ban on anti-LGBTQ vilification.

Earlier this summer, the government did an embarrassing policy 360 when it announced it was breaking a pledge to count LGBTQ people in the national Census, only to reverse that and announced that LGBTQ people would be counted in the 2026 survey after all. 

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Lesotho

LGBTQ activist murdered in Lesotho

Authorities have arrested a suspect in Kabelo Seseli’s death

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Kabelo Seseli (Photo courtesy of Seseli's Facebook page)

Kabelo Seseli, a gay crossdresser and LGBTQ activist in Lesotho, was murdered over the weekend in a suspected homophobic attack.

According to the People’s Matrix Association, a LGBTQ rights organization, Seseli’s body was found with stab wounds on their neck and genitals.

“This was not just a murder, it was a hate-driven, dehumanizing act meant to send a message of fear and rejection to our community,” said the People’s Matrix Association in a statement posted to its Facebook page on April 29. “Kabelo deserved to live. Kabelo deserved dignity, safety, and the freedom to exist without fear, just like every Mosotho.”

The LGBTQ rights group also said it is demanding action, justice, and protection from the government, especially given the fact authorities have arrested a suspect.

“We strongly condemn this act of violence and call on the government of Lesotho and law enforcement authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and ensure that those responsible are held fully accountable,” said the People’s Matrix Association. “We also urge leaders and the public to reflect on the role of hate speech and social stigma, which continue to incite violence against LGBTI individuals across our country. We demand action.”

Victor Mukasa of Trans and History Intersex Africa also condemned Seseli’s murder.

“Death is a fact of life, but murder is criminal,” said Mukasa. “Murder of people because they are LGBTIQA+ or for belonging to a particular social group is a hate crime.”

Thato Motsieloa, a gay crossdresser and LGBTQ activist, said he was “deeply distraught to learn about the brutal murder of Kabelo Seseli.” Motsieloa said he and Seseli met on Facebook.

“Although we never met in person, we had plans to do so,” said Motsieloa. “The manner of his death is particularly heartbreaking, and the fact that his killers desecrated his body by removing his private parts is utterly heinous. I hope justice is served, and those responsible face the consequences of their horrific actions. My sincerest condolences go out to Kabelo’s family, may his soul rest in eternal peace.”

Lesotho in 2012 decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations. Marriage, however, remains limited to heterosexual couples. There have also been sporadic reports of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes since 2012.

The International Commission of Jurists, in partnership with Outright International, a New York-based LGBTQ advocacy group, in 2022 held a workshop with the Lesotho judiciary that focused on human rights for the LGBTQ community.

The judiciary noted LGBTQ people exist, but acknowledged there is no local jurisprudence on their rights, even though the country’s constitution guarantees the right to respect private and family life and freedom from discrimination.

Religious and cultural norms, like in many African countries, play a pivotal role in how society perceives the LGBTQ community. Many people in Lesotho disregard the existence of LGBTQ people, even though the government is trying to make room for the acknowledgment of LGBTQ rights.

Outright International Africa Advocacy Officer Khanyo Farise says the judiciary’s active engagement with the LGBTQ community is an important step towards ensuring LGBTQ rights are upheld.

“Judges and judicial officers play an important part in ensuring access to justice for LGBTIQ+ people, but also have an important role in producing judgments which can advance their human rights,” said Farise.

ICJ Africa Communications and Legal Officer Mulesa Lumina said though the ICJ is encouraged by these developments, particularly the willingness of judiciary members to understand the plight of the community, LGBTQ people continue to face harassment, discrimination, abuse and violence because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.

“We will continue working with partners, such as the People’s Matrix and Outright International, to ensure the enforcement of the country’s obligations under international human rights law, which entitle LGBTIQ persons to the full range of human rights without discrimination,” said Lumina.

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India

LGBTQ Kashmiri students targeted after terrorist attack

26 people killed in Baisaran Valley on April 22

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Baisaran Valley in Kashmir (Photo by SB Stock/Bigstock)

Baisaran Valley, a Kashmiri meadow surrounded by pine trees, was bustling with Hindu tourists on April 22.  

Families were wearing phirans (traditional Kashmiri clothing) for photos, while ponies trotted along the Lidder River. Gunfire shattered this peace when five terrorists opened fire. They targeted Hindu men, checking their religion before shooting them. The terrorists killed 26 people — 25 tourists, including a Navy officer who was on his honeymoon — and Syed Adil Hussain Shah, a pony guide who died protecting others. More than 20 others were wounded.

The Resistance Front, a Pakistan-based group tied to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terrorist organization, initially claimed responsibility for the attack, but retracted the claim three days later, fearing India’s diplomatic and military response that eventually included the tightening of borders and the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty.

The attack sparked outrage across India.

Misdirected anger targeted Kashmiri students in Dehradun, Jalandhar, and other cities in which LGBTQ people face heightened vulnerability. They endured harassment, evictions, and threats of violence. The J&K Students Association reported more than 1,000 distress calls, and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah urged states to protect them.

Activists across India have rallied to help LGBTQ Kashmiri students in their cities.

Harish Iyer, a prominent activist, offered shelter and legal assistance to them in Mumbai, the country’s financial hub.

“Religion is a tool used by terrorists worldwide to ensure that their victims divert their energy towards fighting each other while  they continue to focus on our destruction,” said Iyer. “It is a tried and tested formula designed to divide us while we should all be united against them.”

Iyer told the Washington Blade he saw videos of Kashmiri students being targeted.

“Hate gets compounded when you look at it from several intersectional points,” he said. “To belong to identities like queer, Muslim, and Kashmiri makes one vulnerable. In a moment where hate reveals its fang, it is important that love opens its home too.”

Iyer said he received a couple of phone calls from queer people in northern India who had been attacked. He offered to pay for their travel to Mumbai or any other city, but they eventually told him they found a place where they would be safe.

“It just reinstates our collective faith in humanity and asserts that there are kind people everywhere,” said Iyer. “The community stands united with each other against terror.”

He stressed “intersectional realities make us most vulnerable” and “that’s why we need to rise up and be the best of who we are as queer humans.” Iyer told the Blade that other queer activists in India are trying to do just that, albeit silently, by opening their homes to people who have been targeted. 

“Anish Gawande, the queer spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party, has been working hard to restore peace in the valley,” he noted. “He has been doing good work in the Kashmir Valley for several years now. I truly admire his courage and candor. But truly, it’s the everyday queer Indian who advocates for kindness who matter.” 

“They would not be known to all and sundry, may not have a fan following or several followers on social media, but they have it in them to open their homes and their world to those affected,” added Iyer. “Sometimes, love doesn’t cause outpouring visibility, sometimes it silently protects and creates homes with a beating heart.”

Gawande has worked in Kashmir since 2012, running a program for Kashmiri journalism students and an art residency. 

He acknowledged to the Blade the increase in violence against Kashmiri students. Gawande also said LGBTQ Kashmiri students face unique challenges because they are a “minority within a minority.”

“In these difficult times, several activists like Harish Iyer have come forward to offer their support to young Kashmiri LGBTQ students who are afraid for their own safety,” he said. “The intent of the terrorists was to divide us — we cannot let their strategy succeed. I am incredibly grateful to so many members of the queer community and allies who have stepped forward to help all Kashmiris in this difficult time.”

Gawande said he has been supporting the efforts of student leaders, including Nasir Khuehami of the J&K Students Association, who has been leading efforts to ensure Kashmiris across India remain safe and secure. Gawande also said government officials, politicians, and law enforcement are working to protect the students.

“I am grateful to both the central government and state governments across the country for their prompt assistance in this matter,” said Gawande. “In these difficult times, when emotions run high, we remain united against hate.” 

“Today, attempts are being made to create divides between Indians and Kashmiris, between Hindus and muslims,” he added. “We must stand up against such attempts in one voice.” 

Gawande last weekend traveled to Srinagar, the Kashmiri capital, and led multi-faith prayer services in temples, churches, gurdwaras (Sikh places of worship), and dargahs (shrines) “to mourn those who lost their lives in Pahalgam and to send out a message of communal harmony.”

“When attempts are being made to divide us on religious grounds, we must unite through religion,” he said.

Gawande also spoke directly to Kashmiri LGBTQ students, urging them to reach out to the J&K Students Association. He said his New Delhi home and his party’s offices across the country are “also available to those who need a safe space or a place to grieve.”

“In this time of grief, where we are all mourning the dastardly loss of life, it is important to stand up for what is right,” said Gawande. “Queerness has taught me that we have two kinds of families — those of birth and of choice.”

“Kashmir holds a special place in my heart, and when the well being of those who I consider family is under threat, there is no question of even thinking about any potential jeopardizing of my own safety,” he added.

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The Vatican

Potential Pope Francis successor views homosexuality as an ‘abomination’

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu is archbishop of Kinshasa

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Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa, Congo. (Screen capture via Vatican News-English/YouTube)

One of the cardinals who is reportedly in the running to succeed Pope Francis has described homosexuality as an “abomination.”

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the archbishop of Kinshasa in Congo, made the comment in a Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar statement in response to Francis’s 2023 decision to allow priests to bless same-sex couples.

“Within the church family of God in Africa, this declaration has caused a shockwave, it has sown misconceptions and unrest in the minds of many lay faithful, consecrated persons, and even pastors and has aroused strong reactions,” wrote Ambongo in the Jan. 11, 2024, statement he signed. “The African Bishops’ Conferences emphasize that people with a homosexual tendency must be treated with respect and dignity, while reminding them that unions of persons of the same sex are contrary to the will of God and therefore cannot receive the blessing of the church.”

The statement notes several Biblical passages that “condemn homosexuality, notably Lv. 18:22-23 where homosexuality is explicitly prohibited and considered an abomination.”

“In addition to these biblical reasons, the cultural context in Africa, deeply rooted in the values of the natural law regarding marriage and family, further complicates the acceptance of unions of persons of the same sex, as they are seen as contradictory to cultural norms and intrinsically corrupt,” it reads.

Ambongo, who is president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, in 2024 said homosexuality “does not exist” in Africa outside of “a few isolated cases.” La Croix, a French Catholic newspaper, reported he made the comment during a rally that took place outside of Kinshasa.

Actualité, an online Congolese newspaper, reported Ambongo reiterated his opposition to homosexuality and same-sex unions in his 2023 Christmas message.

“Same-sex unions are not accepted in our church,” he said. “Although homosexuals should be treated with respect, compassion, and sensitivity, homosexuality remains a moral disorder contrary to natural law and our African culture.”

Jérémie Safari, executive director of Rainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko, a Congolese LGBTQ rights group, criticized Ambongo when he spoke with the Washington Blade.

“This cardinal is very homophobic; very, very homophobic,” said Safari.

Francis died on April 21.

The Vatican’s tone on LGBTQ and intersex issues softened under the Argentine-born pope’s papacy, even though church teachings on homosexuality did not change.

Francis, among other things, described laws that criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations as “unjust” and supported civil unions for gays and lesbians.

Francis last August met with two African activists — Clare Byarugaba of Chapter Four Uganda and Rightify Ghana Director Ebenezer Peegah — at the Vatican last August. Francis in 2023 visited Congo and South Sudan.

Juan Carlos Cruz, a GLAAD board member who survived clerical sex abuse in Chile, is among the hundreds of thousands of people who attended Francis’s funeral that took place at the Vatican on April 26. Transgender people were among those who greeted Francis’s coffin at Rome’s St. Mary Major Basilica before his burial.

The conclave to select Francis’s successor will begin on May 7.

The Associated Press notes Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin; Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the former archbishop of Manila in the Philippines; Archbishop of Bologna (Italy) Cardinal Matteo Zuppi; and Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest (Hungary) Cardinal Peter Erdo are among those who are considered potential Francis successors.

“He [Erdo] has been reluctant to take positions on several of the government’s policies that divided society in Hungary, such as public campaigns that villainized migrants and refugees and laws that eroded the rights of LGBTQ+ communities,” said the AP.

New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic organization, in an April 21 statement said it hopes “our loving God, who is a God of justice and equality, will continue to bless us by extending Francis’ welcoming and inclusive message in the next papacy.”

Anti-LGBTQ Catholic figures offered a far different view.

Doug Mainwaring — described as a “marriage, family, and children’s rights activist” — on Monday described Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah as “the only conclave participant to counter LGBT ambiguity and lies of Francis pontificate” in a post that LifeSiteNews, an anti-LGBTQ Canadian Catholic website, published.

“There is just one cardinal about to enter the conclave who is crystal clear, fearless, and uncompromising with the truth when it comes to pastoring those of us who experience same-sex attraction and gender confusion: Cardinal Robert Sarah,” wrote Mainwaring. 

Mainwaring also highlighted anti-LGBTQ comments that Sarah made in his 2019 book.

“I think that the first victims of the LGBT ideology are the persons who experience a homosexual orientation. They are led by its militants to reduce their whole identity to their sexual behavior,” Sarah wrote, according to Mainwaring. “I beg Catholics who are tempted by homosexuality not to let themselves be shut away in this prison of LGBT ideology. You are a child of God by baptism! Your place is in the church, like all Christians. And if sometimes the spiritual combat becomes too hard, fraternal charity will support you.”

Catholic League President Bill Donohue on April 22 urged the cardinals to consider an African counterpart to succeed Francis.

“If the cardinals decide to choose someone who is a traditionalist, they can do no better than to look to Africa. It is home to the most brilliant orthodox clergy in the world,” said Donohue. “If the cardinals want to choose someone more like Francis, they will look to Europe.”

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