World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Asia, Europe, and Canada
Cambodia’s first queer community space opened last month

CAMBODIA
Cambodia’s first ever LGBTQ community space, Cocoon, opened in the capital of Phnom Penh last month, with an event featuring art, dance, and drag performances.
Cocoon aspires to be a safe queer space for everyone and has planned a series of events including community brunches, movie nights, speed dating, and an introduction to queer ballroom culture. The space will also host a queer artist residency program beginning next year.
“To queer Phnom Penh people who do not have a safe space, this is your Cocoon,” says Cocoon founder Ian Goh. “To queer people visiting Phnom Penh, you now have a place to love and be loved unconditionally.”
While the general human rights situation in Cambodia has faced steady criticism from international observers, there has been progress in recent years on encouraging acceptance of the country’s LGBTQ community. The government has promoted LGBTQ-inclusive schools since 2017, and the nation’s monarch has publicly supported same-sex marriage, although it remains illegal in the southeast Asian nation.
EUROPEAN UNION
The European Court of Justice delivered a pair of rulings important for LGBTQ people this week, requiring all European Union member states to recognize legal gender changes carried out in other member states, and ordering Facebook’s parent company Meta to restrict how it collects data about users’ sexual orientations.
ECJ rulings are binding on all 27 EU member states.
The gender change ruling stemmed from a case where a Romanian transgender man, Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi, obtained a legal gender change after moving to the UK, and wanted his legal gender and name recognized when he later returned to Romania in 2021.
Romania does not have a clear or simple process for its citizens to change their legal gender and refused to recognize Mirzarafie-Ahi’s UK gender change. Mirzarafie-Ahi filed a claim in Romanian court to have his gender and name change registered, and the national courts referred the matter to the ECJ.
In a preliminary ruling issued on Oct 4, the ECJ found that Romania’s refusal to recognize Mirzarafie-Ahi’s legal gender change was a violation of his mobility rights under the EU treaty.
The court found that EU states must recognize legal gender and name changes that have occurred in another EU member state, and they must issue updated identity documents without requiring any additional legal or medical process. The court found that the fact that the UK is no longer a member of the EU is irrelevant in this case, as Mirzarafie-Ahi had begun her gender change process while the UK was still a member.
The ruling stems from the fundamental right of all EU citizens to reside in any EU member state. The court found that refusing to recognize the legal gender and name of an EU citizen imperils that right, because it could prevent a trans person from residing in a country that does not recognize their identity.
“Today’s verdict has shown us that trans people are equal citizens of the European Union. When you have rebuilt a life in another part of the European Union because you are not welcome in your own country, it is normal to ask to be treated with dignity when interacting with the authorities in your home country,” says Mirzarafe-Ahi’s legal counsel Iustina Ionescu.
In a similar ruling six years ago, the ECJ ruled that EU members must grant residency rights to the same-sex partners of EU citizens in another case that came out of Romania. However, Romania has yet to implement the ruling and continues to refuse to issue residency permits to same-sex spouses, including to the original complainant.
The ECJ also issued another ruling on Oct 4 restricting the way Facebook’s parent company collects data on users’ sexual orientation.
Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems filed a complaint after he received personalized ads on Facebook directed at gay men. Although Schrems had commented on his sexuality publicly, he objected to Facebook using his information for targeted ads.
The court found that the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation prohibits social media organizations from collection of personal data, including about a person’s sexual orientation, from outside their platforms for use in targeted ads.
GEORGIA
The government’s sweeping anti-LGBTQ bill was signed into law this week by the speaker of parliament, after the president refused to give it her signature.
The draconian law, which has drawn criticism from the opposition and Western allies, imposes some of the strictest restrictions on LGBTQ people in Europe. The law bans recognition of any same-sex relationship, bans LGBTQ people from adopting, bans trans people from marriage, bans all legal or medical gender change, forbids public gatherings and demonstrations for LGBTQ rights, bans positive portrayals of LGBTQ people in schools and the media, and rebrands the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia on May 17 as a holiday for the sanctity of the family.
The law mimics “LGBT propaganda” laws passed in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, and Bulgaria, and which have been taken up by far-right parties with close ties to Russia across Europe.
It’s the latest anti-democratic and anti-human rights legislation passed by the ruling Georgian Dream Party, which has strained relations with Georgia’s Western allies. Earlier this year, the EU froze accession talks with Georgia after it passed a law curbing opposition activities.
Georgia heads to the polls on Oct. 26.
HONG KONG
Hong Kong’s top court heard the government’s final appeal of a lower court ruling ordering the city to give same-sex couples equal access to public housing last week.
In Hong Kong, families and married couples are given priority access to social housing, and current policy does not recognize same-sex couples, who are barred from living together in the subsidized apartments.
The Court of Final Appeal’s judges did not seem sympathetic to the government’s arguments on Friday, according to the South China Morning Post. After the hearing, the court reserved judgment.
The CFA ruled last year that Hong Kong must provide a legal framework for recognizing same sex couples and gave the city two years to implement it. So far, the city government has not yet proposed a way to implement the ruling.
Hong Kong is formally part of China, but governs itself semi-autonomously, with a separate court and legal system inherited from the British colonial administration that ended in 1997.
CANADA
A provincial government minister facing reelection in New Brunswick is facing calls to resign after she used the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to compare trans-inclusive education policies to the genocide of Canada’s Indigenous People.
September 30 was established as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation by the Canadian government in 2021. The focus of the day has largely been on the abuse First Nations children suffered in the residential school system, a nationwide network of schools, often run by churches, where First Nations children who had been taken from their families were forcibly assimilated into European Canadian culture.
Many children suffered loss of culture and language, physical beatings, sexual abuse, starvation, denial of medical care, and thousands of children died in the care of schools, with many being buried in unmarked graves.
Conservative politicians across Canada, who have taken a sharp anti-trans turn over the past few years, used the opportunity to compare trans-inclusionary policies in education to the genocide of First Nations.
Sherry Wilson, New Brunswick’s minister for women’s equality, wrote in a lengthy, since-deleted post on Facebook that her province’s previous policies that allowed trans children to use different names or pronouns at school without parental notification or consent were comparable to the residential schools. Earlier this year, New Brunswick put in place a policy requiring parental notification and consent if a student wants to use a different name or gender.
“The government of the day actually tried to make the case that parents were harmful to their children, and that government schools needed to change their culture and lifestyle,” Wilson’s post read. “The horrible tragedy is a stain on Canadian history, but it was only allowed to happen because children enrolled in school were isolated from their parents’ oversight, input and influence … This must never be allowed to happen again in Canada! We must never put our teachers in a position where they have to hide important parts of a child’s development from their own parents!”
New Brunswick goes to the polls on Oct 21, and the incumbent Progressive Conservatives are in a tight race. Wilson has faced calls to drop out of her reelection bid, but she has remained in the race.
“That she would try to draw this dog-whistle comparison on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation should make every New Brunswicker ashamed that she was recently a minister for this province,” the six chiefs of the Wolastoqey Nation also said in a statement.
Using residential schools as a talking point against trans-inclusive school policies and sex education generally has become a recurring talking point for Canada’s conservatives.
Another New Brunswick PC candidate, Faytene Grasseschi, made similar statements to CBC last year.
British Columbia Conservative Party leader John Rustad compared residential schools to the province’s LGBTQ-inclusive sex ed curriculum last year. His party is running neck-and-neck with the incumbent New Democrats in BC’s provincial election on Oct 19.
Lesotho
LGBTQ activist murdered in Lesotho
Authorities have arrested a suspect in Kabelo Seseli’s death

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.
India
LGBTQ Kashmiri students targeted after terrorist attack
26 people killed in Baisaran Valley on April 22

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.
The Vatican
Potential Pope Francis successor views homosexuality as an ‘abomination’
Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu is archbishop of Kinshasa

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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