World
LGBTQ aid workers reflect on a year in Gaza, working with queer Palestinians
‘The struggles of all marginalized communities are interconnected’
Gaza was different. Over the past two years, Rain Dove Dubilewski has been on the ground helping evacuate conflict areas such as Ukraine, Uganda, and Venezuela.
But still, nothing prepared them for what they would face in Palestine. “[It] is so much different than any other [conflict zone],” said Dubilewski, explaining that in other areas, there are places to flee and organizations in place to support refugees once they get there. Dubilewski and their team’s job was to facilitate movement and help set up refugees with existing services. This is nearly impossible both in Gaza and in Egypt where the small number of refugees able to evacuate have been able to flee.
“It became very apparent to me that everything we did was like pouring water into the desert. There was nothing we can offer that is lasting or stable for the Palestinian people,” said Dubilewski. “They need comprehensive, large aid.”
After reaching fame as a gender-nonconforming model, the LGBTQ rights activist turned almost accidentally to refugee work. A fundraiser for LGBTQ Ukrainians Dubilewski hosted on their Instagram in 2022 blew up. A call for $5,000 snowballed into $500,000 and the direct support of thousands of people on the ground in Ukraine, including members of the LGBTQ community and Holocaust survivors.
Their refugee work in Ukraine has been featured by the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration and the International Organization for Migration Germany.
The Blade interviewed Dubilewski and two LGBTQ Safebow volunteers, in addition to reviewing hundreds of photos, videos, and messages from the ground in Gaza and Egypt. Several other LGBTQ volunteers introduced themselves but chose not to be interviewed. As a whole, the testimony and documentation paint a photo of mass suffering and transnational queer solidarity.
Over the past year, Safebow has facilitated the evacuation of more than 300 people out of Gaza, which was corroborated by documentation sent by Safebow.
They have distributed LifeStraws, prosthetics, toys, clothing, food, medication, and thousands of dollars of cash to Palestinian refugees. Throughout Dubilewski’s entire time on the ground, they wore a Pride pin and lanyard that said “I am LGBT” in both English and Arabic. Dubilewski said this only posed a problem once during their work. Numerous other volunteers were trans and queer as well.
Despite positive experiences, everyone emphasized serious risks, as the LGBTQ community faces varying risks of persecution in Egypt and Gaza. Safebow largely works through collaboration with a local team, many of whom are LGBT, and Safebow was particularly careful to protect them.
Alyssa Rani Nagpal, a volunteer who oversaw 37 evacuations, is a biracial queer woman. She remains close with two families she helped, speaking with them frequently on the phone. “They remind me, repeatedly, that I’ll always be part of their families and that our connection is one they actively care to maintain,” said Nagpal. They also often ask after Naghpal’s partner, a woman.
Nagpal, who is launching her own non-profit, said that “being an aid worker was an obvious choice, a no-brainer.”
“The struggles of all marginalized communities are interconnected,” she said, “This intersection was always painfully obvious to me as the first-generation gay daughter of a low-income immigrant family living in NYC.” Nagpal specifically points to pinkwashing – “a horrific way to excuse violence in our name”— as a way queer and Palestinian struggles are interconnected.
Though she was able to help many, what Nagpal carries the most is those Safebow couldn’t help. “The moments that stuck out to me, and likely won’t leave my conscious and subconscious mind for a very long time… Their heartbreak and anguish expressed during those conversations still haunts me.”
Afeef Nessouli has spoken to numerous Palestinians who he knows will not be able to evacuate Gaza, let alone survive. This has become a major part of his life over the past year.
Nessouli is a reporter and producer whose work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Daily Show, CNN, and Slow Factory. As an openly queer, Muslim journalist from the Levant – Nessouli’s family is from Lebanon – he found himself in a unique situation as violence escalated in Gaza.
“Queer people from Gaza were getting in touch with me on Instagram,” he said. Being out and proud, “signals to other queer people who might be hiding [that] I exist, and I am here for you to reach out to,” says Nessouli.
Suddenly, he was one of few who held the voices of LGBTQ Palestinians at a time when their very existence was being questioned. He has published sparingly, respecting the unique vulnerability of his sources.
Nessouli emphasizes that there is a diversity of Palestinian queer experiences in Gaza.
“There are some that have hooked up many times and found love and found excitement and surprise and queerness in all of the ways,” said Nessouli. “And then you have people who’ve never met another queer person at all in Gaza. You have people who are struggling with mental health challenges,” said Nessouli.
“You have people who are very aware that they don’t identify as queer as their first identity, even if they do identify as queer, their first identity is Palestinian,” said Nessouli.
For Nessouli, documentation is the biggest concern. “I think journalism is necessarily about documenting history,” he said. “God forbid something happens to them, I want to always be able to point and say we exist in droves, and we exist in multiplicity.”
Not that Nessouli was going to sit passively waiting for something to happen. He quickly connected with Dubilewski through actor Sara Ramirez. “Rain’s reputation precedes them,” he said, speaking to their work across other war zones.
Nessouli, who also has a J.D. in human rights law and a master’s in international relations, connected Dubilewski and the Safebow team with LGBTQ Palestinians living in Gaza. He also provided much-needed logistical support on the back end. “It was 1,000 conversations, hours upon hours of just logistics and also just venting, being comrades and bonding over the impossibility of just trying to help where we could help,” he said.
Nessouli recently went to Cairo to visit refugee families helped by Safebow and document their stories. Safebow documented the stories of every LGBTQ person they evacuated, which will not be published but will be available for preservation in archives and future museums, as agreed to by the refugees.
“Importantly, a genocide has been happening for a year, and it’s important to record people’s stories because of the act of ethnic cleansing and the act of erasure has been upon us,” said Nessouli. “Journalism is aid work, in some ways. It’s not, but it’s heavily connected.”
At the directive of the Egyptian government, Safebow has to wrap up its work by the end of this year as part of a larger trend of not supporting refugees, says Dubilewski. Many volunteers continue the work through other initiatives, like Nagpal, whose non-profit is working to fill the education gap for Palestinian youth in Egypt who are ineligible for Egyptian public schools.
As Dubilewski works on the next steps, they reflect on the tenacity of their team. “I will forever be grateful to every single person group, they are some of the bravest, boldest, kindest, funniest, and just most dedicated people you’ll ever meet.”
Colombia
Claudia López criticizes Trump over threats against Colombian president
Presidential candidate would become country’s first lesbian head of government
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombian presidential candidate Claudia López has criticized President Donald Trump after he suggested the U.S. will target Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
“Colombia is very sick, too, run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.
Trump made the comments a day after American forces carried out an overnight operation and seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
Maduro and Flores on Monday pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges in New York.
Petro is a former Bogotá mayor and senator who was once a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement that disbanded in the 1990s. He has urged Colombians to take to the streets and “defend national sovereignty.”
“Colombians are the ones who decide who governs Colombia,” said López on her X account. “President Gustavo Petro won free elections and has a constitutional mandate.”
López did not mention Trump by name in her comment.
The first-round of Colombia’s presidential election will take place on May 31. The country’s 1991 constitution prevents Petro from seeking re-election.
López in 2019 became the first woman and first lesbian elected mayor of Bogotá, the Colombian capital and the country’s largest city. She took office on Jan. 1, 2020, less than a month after she married her wife, Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano.
“This year we will decide at the polls what direction (the country) is heading and what leadership will advance Colombia,” said López in her X post. “Supporting soft dictatorships and attacking democracies is an absurd and unacceptable political action by the United States towards Colombia, Venezuela, and Latin America.”
Quién gobierna en Colombia lo decidimos los colombianos.
El presidente @petrogustavo ganó unas elecciones libres y tiene un mandato constitucional. Este año decidiremos en las urnas qué rumbo y a cargo de qué liderazgo avanza Colombia.
Sostener dictablandas y atacar democracias… https://t.co/K61G2QUcck— Claudia López Hernández (@ClaudiaLopez) January 5, 2026
López would be Colombia’s first female president if she wins the election. López would also become the third openly lesbian woman elected head of government — Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was Iceland’s prime minister from 2009-2013 and Ana Brnabić was Serbia’s prime minister from 2017-2024.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute in 2024 honored López at its annual International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in D.C. The Washington Blade interviewed her during the gathering.
Colombia
Blade travels to Colombia after U.S. forces seize Maduro in Venezuela
Former Venezuelan president, wife seized on Saturday
Washington Blade International News Editor Michael K. Lavers will be on assignment in Colombia through Jan. 10.
Lavers arrived in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, on Monday. American forces two days earlier carried out an overnight operation and seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
Maduro and Flores on Monday pled not guilty to federal drug charges in New York.
Maduro in 2013 became Venezuela’s president after his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, died.
The country’s ongoing economic and political crises have prompted millions of Venezuelans to flee to neighboring Colombia and other countries throughout Latin America and around the world. The seizure of Maduro and Flores threatens to further destabilize Venezuela and the broader region.
The Washington Blade, which has reported from Colombia several times over the last decade, has interviewed several LGBTQ Venezuelan opposition leaders. The Blade has also extensively covered the plight of LGBTQ Venezuelans and Venezuelans with HIV/AIDS who have left their country because of violence, persecution, discrimination, and a lack of medications.
“LGBTQ Venezuelans in Colombia and elsewhere have a unique perspective on the events that have transpired in their homeland over the last two days, and how they continue to reverberate throughout the hemisphere,” said Lavers. “It is critically important for the Washington Blade to document the situation in the region as it continues to evolve and to show how it will impact LGBTQ communities.”
“The Blade has a long history of covering the plight of LGBTQ communities around the world and this trip reflects our commitment to the region,” said Blade Editor Kevin Naff. “This reporting will help shine a light on the challenges facing LGBTQ Venezuelans and those living with HIV and how they are coping with the unfolding events.”
Lavers last reported from Colombia in 2021. His coverage included a trip to Cúcuta, a Colombian city that is on the country’s border with Venezuela.
World
Top 10 international LGBTQ news stories of 2025
Marriage progress in Europe; trans travel advisories depress WorldPride attendance
The Trump-Vance administration and its policies had a significant impact on the global LGBTQ rights movement in 2025. War, anti-LGBTQ crackdowns, protests, and legal advances are among the other issues that made headlines around the world over the past year.
Here are the top international stories of 2025.
10. Australia ends ban on LGBTQ blood donors
Australia on July 14 ended its ban on sexually active LGBTQ people from donating blood.
“Lifeblood (the Australian Red Cross Blood Service) 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 the Australian Red Cross Blood Service in a press release that announced the new policy.
Lifeblood Chief Medical Officer Jo Pink said the new policy will allow 24,000 additional people to donate blood each year.
9. Kenyan judge rules gov’t must legally recognize trans people
A Kenyan judge on Aug. 20 ruled his country’s government must legally recognize transgender people and ensure their constitutional rights are protected.
Justice Reuben Nyakundi of the Eldoret High Court in western Kenya ruled in favor of a trans athlete who was arrested in 2019 and forced to undergo a medical examination to determine her gender. The 34-year-old plaintiff who is a board member of Jinsiangu, a trans rights organization, said authorities arrested her at a health facility after they claimed she impersonated a woman.
“This is the first time a Kenyan court has explicitly ordered the state to create legislation on transgender rights, and a first in the African continent,” noted Jinsiangu in a statement. “If implemented, it could address decades of legal invisibility and discrimination faced by transgender persons by establishing clear legal recognition of gender identity, protection against discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and education, and access to public services without bias or harassment.”
8. U.S. withdraws from UN LGBTI Core Group
The U.S. in 2025 withdrew from the U.N. LGBTI Core Group, a group of U.N. member states that have pledged to support LGBTQ and intersex rights.
A source told the Washington Blade the U.S. withdrew from the Core Group on Feb. 14. A State Department spokesperson later confirmed the withdrawal.
“In line with the president’s recent executive orders, we have withdrawn from the U.N. LGBTI Core Group,” said the spokesperson.
7. Wars in Gaza, Ukraine continue to make headlines
Israeli airstrikes against Iran prompted authorities in Tel Aviv to cancel the city’s annual Pride parade that was scheduled to take place on June 13.
The airstrikes prompted Iran to attack Israel with drones and missiles. One of them destroyed Mash Central, a gay bar that was located a few blocks from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. Marty Rouse, a longtime activist who lives in Maryland, was in Israel with the Jewish Federations of North America when the war began. He and his group left the country on June 15.
Bet Mishpachah, an LGBTQ synagogue in D.C., welcomed the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that took effect on Oct. 10, roughly two years after Hamas militants killed upwards of 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 200 others when they launched a surprise attack on the country.
In Ukraine, meanwhile, the war that Russia launched in 2022 drags on.
6. Int’l Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders
The International Criminal Court on July 8 issued arrest warrants for two top Taliban officials accused of targeting LGBTQ people, women, and others who defy the group’s strict gender norms.
The warrants are for Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Afghanistan Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani.
Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, in January announced a request for warrants against Taliban officials over their treatment of women and other groups since they regained control of Afghanistan in 2021. The request marked the first time the court specifically named LGBTQ people as victims in a gender persecution case before it.
5. Hundreds of thousands defy Budapest Pride ban
More than 100,000 people on June 28 defied the Hungarian government’s ban on public LGBTQ events and participated in the 30th annual Budapest Pride parade.
Former Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who is his country’s first openly gay head of government, and openly gay MEP Krzysztof Śmiszek, who was previously Poland’s deputy justice minister, are among those who participated in the march.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
Hungarian lawmakers in March passed a bill that bans Pride events and allow authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs in April amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
4. LGBTQ delegation travels to Vatican to meet Pope Leo after Francis dies
Pope 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 and gender identity did not change.
The College of Cardinals on May 8 chose Pope Leo XVI, an American cardinal from Chicago who was bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015-2023, to succeed Francis.
Leo on Sept. 1 met with the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who founded Outreach, a ministry for LGBTQ Catholics. A gay couple from D.C. — Jim Sweeney and the Rev. Jason Carson Wilson — are among those who took part in an LGBTQ pilgrimage to the Vatican a few days later that coincided with the church’s year-long Jubilee that began last Christmas Eve when Francis opened the Holy Door.
3. EU’s top court rules states must recognize same-sex marriages
The European Union’s top court on Nov. 25 ruled member states must recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other member states.
The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled in favor of a couple who challenged Poland’s refusal to recognize their German marriage.
The couple who lives in Poland brought their case to Polish courts. The Polish Supreme Administrative Court referred it to the EU Court of Justice.
“Today’s ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU is of key importance not only for the couple involved in the case, but also for the entire LGBT+ community in Poland,” said the Campaign Against Homophobia, a Polish LGBTQ and intersex rights group.
2. U.S. funding cuts devastate global LGBTQ community
The Trump-Vance administration’s decision to cut U.S. foreign aid spending in 2025 has had a devastating impact on the global LGBTQ rights movement.
Council for Global Equality Chair Mark Bromley noted to the Blade the U.S. historically funded roughly a third of the global LGBTQ rights movement.
Groups around the world — including those that worked with people with HIV/AIDS — that received U.S. funding had to curtail programming or close altogether. LGBTQ+ Victory Institute President Elliot Imse earlier this year noted the global LGBTQ rights movement in 2025 was set to lose more than $50 million.
“It is a catastrophe,” he said.
1. Countries boycott WorldPride amid travel advisories
Canada and a number of European countries in 2025 issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who planned to visit the U.S.
The advisory the Danish government issued notes President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. It also notes “two gender designations to choose from: male or female” when applying for an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) or visa for the U.S.
Egale Canada, one of Canada’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organizations, in February announced its members would not attend WorldPride, which took place in D.C. from May 17-June 8, or other events in the U.S. because of the Trump-Vance administration’s policies. Other advocacy groups and activists also did not travel to the U.S. for WorldPride.
InterPride, which coordinates WorldPride, also issued its own travel advisory for trans and nonbinary people.
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