World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe, Australia, and Canada
Italian lawmakers have passed a bill to ban overseas surrogacy

ITALY
The Italian Senate gave final passage to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s bill to ban criminalize the use of surrogacy overseas, in what LGBTQ activists are saying is a direct attack on same-sex parents.
Surrogacy is already illegal in Italy. The new law cracks down on parents who travel out of the country to obtain surrogacy services where it is legal, like the U.S. or Canada. Under the new law, such parents could be subject to fines of up to €1 million (approximately $1.1 million) or imprisonment for up to two years.
While the vast majority of Italians who engage in overseas surrogacy are heterosexual couples, activists fear the law will be used specifically to target male same-sex couples, who cannot simply pretend not to have used a surrogate.
That would fit with a pattern of attacking same-sex parents since Meloni took office in 2022. Last year, her government issued an order directing municipalities to delete non-biological same-sex parents from birth certificates that had already been issued to children. That decision was condemned by the European Parliament and other world leaders.
Protesters demonstrated in front of the Italian Senate during the debate, carrying signs that read “We are families, not crimes.”
Meloni has long argued for banning surrogacy as a women’s rights issue, claiming that surrogacy commodifies women’s bodies.
She called the law “a common-sense rule against the commodification of the female body and children. Human life has no price and is not a commodity,” in a post on X.
“The alleged defense of women, the vaunted interest in children, are just fig leaves behind which the homophobic obsession of this majority is hidden,” says Laura Boldrini, an opposition lawmaker.
In many places where surrogacy is legal, it is only legal for altruistic, rather than commercial reasons. Surrogates can be reimbursed for legitimate expenses but cannot be otherwise compensated. That’s how surrogacy works in Canada and Australia.

POLAND
The Polish government introduced its long-awaiting civil union legislation last week, revealing that the government has dropped plans to allow couples in civil unions to adopt children in a compromise meant to get the bills through parliament.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk had pledged to introduce same-sex civil unions within his first 100 days of taking office last year, but that pledge faced numerous roadblocks as the outgoing government initially refused to cede power, and then more conservative parts of his three-party coalition balked at expanding LGBTQ rights.
The bills would allow same-sex and opposite-sex couples to register their partnerships, giving partners rights to inheritance and medical decision-making.
But couples in civil unions would not be allowed to jointly adopt, nor would one partner be allowed to adopt the other’s biological children.
That was a key demand of the junior coalition partner, the Poland Peasants’ Party (PSL). The bills are unlikely to gain any support from the opposition Law and Justice Party or Confederation Party, both of which strongly oppose LGBTQ rights.
The bills may still face opposition from President Andrzej Duda, an ally of Law and Justice who has opposed LGBTQ rights in the past. He has not publicly commented on the bills.
Duda’s term expires next year, and all parties are attempting to position themselves in the election for his replacement, expected in May 2025.
CANADA
Provincial elections in British Columbia remained too close to call a day after polls closed on Oct 19, with the incumbent New Democratic Party leading or elected in 46 seats, while the rival BC Conservatives, who had campaigned on scrapping an anti-bullying program that promoted awareness of LGBTQ people in schools, were leading or elected in 45 seats. The BC Greens were elected in two seats.
Elections BC says it could be a week before results are finalized, due to a number of very close races and the number of mail-in and out-of-district ballots yet to be counted.
If the BC Conservatives lose, it would be the second loss of a provincial election in 2024 for a conservative party that had run on a platform of restricting sex education, discussion of LGBTQ issues, and inclusion of trans kids in schools, after the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives were booted from office in June.
Two more Canadian provinces are heading to the polls in the next week, and in both races, incumbent conservative parties are defending newly introduced policies that require schools to out trans students to their parents and require parental consent if a child wishes to use a different name or pronoun in school.
In New Brunswick, voters head to the polls today, and the incumbent Progressive Conservatives are facing a strong challenge from the New Brunswick Liberals. Liberal leader Susan Holt has promised to scrap the parental-notification policy and put safeguards in place for LGBTQ students if elected.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has promised to double-down on anti-transgender policies if re-elected Oct 28. This week, he said his first order of business would be passing a policy restricting school change rooms based on sex assigned at birth.
Saskatchewan NDP leader Carla Beck slammed the proposal.
“People see this for what it is,” Beck told a press conference. “It’s the ugliest gutter politics. I think people are tired of it.”
Canadian conservatives have been turning hard against trans people over the past couple of years, reflecting similar culture war divisions in the U.S. and the UK, despite a general consensus on equal rights for trans people that had developed over the previous decade. In fact, Scott Moe was a Cabinet minister in the Saskatchewan Party government that passed that province’s ban on gender identity discrimination.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith has proposed a package of legislation that would require parental notification and opt-in for any discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms, as well as severely restricting access to gender care for trans youth. The bills are expected to be debated in the upcoming fall session of the legislature.
AUSTRALIA
The New South Wales state legislature passed a bill meant to promote LGBTQ equality on Thursday, but only after it had been watered down in order to gain support from the governing Labor Party.
Independent lawmaker Alex Greenwich had originally proposed a comprehensive bill that would have addressed multiple areas of law that discriminate against queer people.
A key provision would have repealed a loophole in state anti-discrimination law that allows religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students and teachers. That provision was dropped.
Greenwich’s original bill also would have established an affirmative right to gender-affirming care and would have decriminalized sex work. Both provisions were also dropped.
Greenwich says his bill faced concerted opposition from religious organizations and he removed the provisions in order to get the bulk of the bill’s reforms passed.
“It’s heartbreaking that I’m in a position where I’m having to remove a reform that I have fought for my entire political career,” Greenwich told ABC News Australia. “There has been a concerted campaign, particularly by some religious organizations, and I’m not wanting to hold up some urgent reforms while we’re still working this through.”
The parts of the bill that have been salvaged are still important reforms for LGBTQ rights.
The bill will update domestic violence laws to apply to same-sex couples and recognize parenting rights for children born through surrogacy overseas. It will also allow trans people to update their legal gender on birth certificates without undergoing surgery — an important reform that is already the norm in the rest of Australia. Nonbinary or non-specified will also be options.
The bill also repeals offenses related to living off the earnings of a sex worker, makes it a criminal offense to threaten to out a person, and adds hate crime protections for trans people.
This year, New South Wales’s Labor government earned plaudits from LGBTQ activists for passing a bill banning conversion therapy, and issuing a historic apology to people persecuted under old anti-LGBTQ laws.
Earlier this year, Australia’s governing Labor Party dropped its promised reform to federal anti-discrimination laws to repeal a loophole allowing anti-LGBTQ discrimination in schools, following backlash from religious groups.
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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