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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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South Sudan

The forgotten struggle: LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers in South Sudan

June 20 is World Refugee Day

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U.S. Ambassador to South Sudan Michael Adler visits the Gorom Refugee Settlement on Oct. 25, 2023. The camp's LGBTQ residents remain marginalized. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in South Sudan)

As the world prepares to mark World Refugee Day on June 20, discussions will echo across continents about war, displacement, and humanitarian assistance. But there is one story that is often left out — a story of a people who are doubly displaced, constantly under threat, and too often excluded from protection programs. We are the LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers living in South Sudan, particularly in Gorom Refugee Settlement, and our daily struggle for survival continues in silence, far from global headlines and political promises.

We are refugees who fled our homes in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Sudan — countries where being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer means being hunted by the state, persecuted by society, and disowned by our own families. Many of us first found temporary safety in Kenya, only to be forced to flee once more as hostility and violence found us even there. We ended up in South Sudan, believing it might be safer. But we were wrong.

What we have experienced is a relentless cycle of flight and fear. We are tired of running, tired of hiding, and tired of being treated like we do not exist.

Fleeing persecution, only to face more

The reasons we fled our home countries are all rooted in systemic hate: we were accused of witchcraft, imprisoned for who we love, subjected to forced “conversions” or exorcisms, and physically assaulted by family members and neighbors alike.

Lesbian women in Uganda and Rwanda were forced into marriages with men, some even raped by their own relatives to “cure” them. Gay men in Burundi and Congo were arrested, tortured, and publicly humiliated. Transgender individuals in Ethiopia were stripped of all dignity, mocked in the streets, denied medical treatment, and in some cases beaten to the point of unconsciousness. Bisexual youth were disowned and kicked out of their homes. And queer children — or children simply perceived as different — were molested, assaulted, or abandoned.

We thought Kenya might provide refuge. For a while, it did. But soon, even the refugee camps in Kenya became unsafe. Attacks on LGBTQ+ individuals increased. Some of us were sexually assaulted inside UNHCR facilities. Local authorities turned a blind eye. The Kenyan government ultimately declared it would no longer support resettlement for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. And so, once again, we fled.

This time, we crossed into South Sudan. And again, we hoped for safety. But at Gorom Refugee Settlement, we found yet another kind of danger — one that is quieter, colder, and just as cruel.

What life looks like in Gorom: constant threat and no protection

At Gorom, we face daily verbal abuse, physical violence, economic isolation, and state indifference. LGBTQ+ refugees are attacked by fellow refugees and members of the local host community. In some cases, we are targeted by our own block leaders, who refuse to distribute food or health services if they suspect we are queer. In clinics, trans women are mocked, told they are “possessed,” and denied even basic medical care. Those of us living with HIV face layers of stigma — our sexual orientation is blamed for our condition, and we are often left without access to lifesaving medication.

Safe housing for LGBTQ+ refugees does not exist in Gorom. Couples are forced to pretend to be siblings or risk being separated — or worse. One gay couple was recently threatened by men in their block who accused them of “bringing demons.” They have not slept in the same shelter since.

Lesbian sisters, sharing a small shelter to survive, told us:

“We sleep in turns at night — one keeps watch while the other rests. We’ve been threatened with rape three times. Our block leader told us to leave or act straight.”

Children of LGBTQ+ parents, or those who are gender non-conforming, are bullied at school or excluded entirely. Some are even denied meals at community kitchens — punished simply for who their parents are.

For many queer women, survival sex work becomes the only option. There is no employment, no support, and no safety. This leads to alarming rates of sexual assault and HIV infection. Yet when they seek help, they are either ignored or blamed.

And while mental health crises are rising, there is no trauma support designed for queer refugees. Many of us have attempted suicide. Some have succeeded.

We have evidence, but no urgency

In early 2024, a SOGIESC (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics) assessment was conducted by peer human rights monitors inside Gorom. It documented the situation clearly and thoroughly.

• Many transgender individuals had been physically assaulted in the span of just three months

• Lesbians received death threats or were targeted with “corrective rape”

• LGBTQ+ persons were denied medical services

• Attempted suicide

These are not just statistics. These are names, lives, and stories. And yet, most of the reports were never acted upon. Bureaucratic delays, unclear processes, and shifting responsibilities have turned urgent threats into forgotten files. Each time we cry out for help, we are told to wait. But in our world, waiting can be fatal.

Acknowledging those who have helped; and those who must do more

We extend sincere appreciation to the Commission for Refugee Affairs of South Sudan. Since December 2023, LGBTQ+ refugees were allowed to remain in Gorom with a degree of tolerance. In a country where same-sex relationships are widely condemned, this space mattered. But the relief was short-lived.

We now face an eviction order, issued for June 20, ironically, on World Refugee Day. The government has declared that all LGBTQ+ individuals must leave the settlement. No safe relocation site has been offered. No plan for protection has been shared. Once again, we are being pushed out — not for something we did, but for who we are.

We also recognize the continued engagement of UNHCR South Sudan and some officials working on the ground. Their intent is clear. They listen to our voices, acknowledge our pain, and try to act within their mandates. But the pace of intervention is too slow. In many cases, the process of documentation, assessment, and relocation takes months. By the time help arrives, it is too late.

We also commend the advocacy of Rainbow Railroad, which has raised awareness globally about the plight of LGBTQ+ refugees. Their work has saved lives. But we need them to be faster, more connected to those of us already in danger, and more responsive to grassroots alerts from inside the camps.

If coordination, funding, and trust between grassroots advocates and major institutions could improve, we would not be burying so many of our community members. We would not have to keep writing these cries for help.

Real voices, real pain

“I was beaten because my jeans were ‘too tight.’ They said I looked like a woman. I am a woman — trans — but they made me feel like an animal,” says Daniella, 24.

“We put our names on the protection list. My partner was attacked at the water point the next day. Nobody came to help us,” says Joseph, 31.

“I am HIV-positive. The clinic nurse laughed and said I got it through sin. I haven’t gone back since. I just stay in bed now,” says Amina, 28, a lesbian mother of two.

These are not rare stories. These are everyday truths for queer refugees in South Sudan. And still, we are expected to stay silent and grateful.

Our call to the world

We are not asking for special treatment. We are demanding equal protection under the same humanitarian principles that others receive. We ask that:

• UNHCR and all partner organizations prioritize LGBTQIA+ safety in refugee camps, not as an afterthought but as a core responsibility

• Safe shelters and protection units be created for queer refugees facing internal violence

• LGBTQ+ refugees be consulted in decisions about policies, services, and resettlement programs that affect us directly

• Emergency medical and mental health services be inclusive of queer identities and trauma

• Pathways to resettlement for LGBTQ+ individuals be accelerated, especially for those in crisis.

Let this World Refugee Day mean something

To be queer in a refugee camp is to constantly fight for your life. It means being forgotten by both your country of origin and your supposed place of refuge. It means sleeping in fear, eating in shame, and living without dignity. It means being told that safety exists, but not for you.

We are tired of running. Tired of hiding. Tired of begging for our humanity to be acknowledged. But we are still here. We still believe that the world can listen. And we still believe that justice is possible — if only someone chooses to act.

This World Refugee Day, remember that we are not just refugees. We are LGBTQ+. We are survivors. And we deserve to live.

Abraham Junior lives in the Gorom Refugee Settlement in South Sudan.

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Israel

Iranian missile destroys Tel Aviv’s last gay bar

Mash Central is a few blocks from US Embassy

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An Iranian missile on June 16, 2025, destroyed Mash Bar, a gay bar in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Courtesy photo)

An Iranian missile on June 16 destroyed a gay bar in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The missile struck Mash Central, which is a few blocks from the U.S. Embassy on Allenby Street, and surrounding buildings. Israeli sources confirmed to the Washington Blade that Mash Central was the only gay-specific bar in Tel Aviv.

“Iran’s missile strike yesterday destroyed Tel Aviv’s only dedicated gay bar,” reads one Instagram post with pictures from inside the bar. “This place provided a safe space for minorities to express themselves — now it’s trashed.”

Mash Central describes itself as Tel Aviv’s “last gay bar standing,” even though the city promotes itself as one of the world’s most LGBTQ-friendly cities.

Israel on June 13 launched airstrikes against Iran that targeted the country’s nuclear and military facilities. Iran since the war began has launched hundreds of missiles towards Israel.

Tel Aviv’s Pride parade was scheduled to take place on June 13, but authorities cancelled it. Caitlyn Jenner, who was to have been the event’s guest of honor, is among those who were stranded in Israel after the war began.

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Australia

Australia to end ban on LGBTQ blood donors

New rules to take effect July 14

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(Bigstock photo)

The Australian Red Cross Blood Service (Lifeblood) has announced it will lift its ban on sexually active LGBTQ people from donating blood.

The Star Observer, an Australian LGBTQ newspaper, on Wednesday reported “gay and bisexual men and transgender women” were previously not “able to donate plasma if they had been sexually active with men in the last three months.” The ban will end on July 14.

“Lifeblood has been working to make blood and plasma donation more inclusive and accessible to as many people as possible, whilst maintaining the safety of the blood supply,” said Lifeblood on Wednesday in a press release that announced the new policy.

“In the first of the rule changes, from Monday, July 14, 2025, Lifeblood will remove most sexual activity wait times for plasma donations,” it added. “Under this world-leading ‘plasma pathway,’ most people, including gay and bisexual men, and anyone who takes PrEP will be able to donate plasma without a wait period, providing they meet all other eligibility criteria. Extensive research and modeling show that there will be no impact to the safety of the plasma supply with this change.”

“Once implemented, all donors will be asked the same questions about their sexual activity, regardless of their gender or sexuality, and most people in a sexual relationship of six months or more with a single partner will be eligible to donate blood,” notes Lifeblood’s press release. “In addition, most people with new or multiple partners will also be able to donate blood if they have not had anal sex in the last three months. The change will bring an end to men being asked if they’ve had sex with another man.”

Lifeblood Chief Medical Officer Jo Pink said the new policy will allow 24,000 additional people to donate blood each year.

“We’re excited to be able to welcome more people from across the community into our donor centers from next month,” said Pink.

Let Us Give and other advocacy groups for years had urged Lifeblood to allow LGBTQ people to donate blood without restrictions.

“We thank the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) and Lifeblood for removing a ban that limited the supply of safe whole blood and stigmatized gay men, and bisexual men and trans women who have sex with men, as a threat to public health,” said Let Us Give spokesperson Rodney Croome.

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