World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Canada, Asia, and Europe
Russian authorities raided four gay bars earlier this month
CANADA
Voters in New Brunswick booted the Progressive Conservative Party from government on Oct. 21 after a tumultuous year that saw the province’s premier lead a trend of Canada’s conservative parties launching policies targeting transgender students in schools.
The New Brunswick Liberals led by Susan Holt won 31 seats to the Progressive Conservatives’ 16 and the Green Party’s 2. Holt will become the province’s first woman premier.
Outgoing Premier Blaine Higgs, who had personally spearheaded the province’s controversial policy requiring parental notification and consent if a student wants to use a different name or pronoun in school, lost his own seat in the election.
Higgs had announced the policy earlier in the year, which led to two of his own cabinet ministers resigning in protest. While the Progressive Conservatives insisted the policy was popular and campaigned hard on maintaining it, voters ultimately rejected it.
Holt has pledged to withdraw the policy and put safeguards in place for LGBTQ students.
New Brunswick is the third Canadian province this year where voters rejected conservative parties that had implemented or proposed anti-trans policies in schools, after Manitoba and British Columbia.
Voters in Saskatchewan on Monday will decide the fate of the right-leaning Saskatchewan Party government, which recently passed a law overriding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to implement its parental notification and consent policy for trans students. The party has also pledged further crackdowns on trans people in schools.
Polls indicate the race is tight, with some predictions suggesting the New Democrats, who have pledged to repeal the policy, look set to unseat the Saskatchewan Party for the first time in 17 years.
The Progressive Conservative government of Nova Scotia also called snap elections for Nov. 26, and polls indicate that the PCs will cruise to a victory. The Nova Scotia government bucked the anti-trans trend among Canada’s conservative parties and has announced plans to update education policies to make schools more LGBTQ-inclusive.
IRELAND
Ireland’s parliament passed a sweeping hate crimes law addressing a sharp uptick in violence against LGBTQ people both on the Emerald Isle and across Europe.
The Criminal Justice (Hate Offenses) Act was passed by a vote of 78-52 on Oct. 23. The bill adds stiffer penalties to crimes if they are found to be motivated by hatred based on race, color, nationality, religion, national or ethnic origin, descent, disability, gender (including trans and nonbinary identities), sex characteristics, and sexual orientation.
The government said Ireland had been an international outlier due to its lack of hate crime legislation. The lack of hate crime laws had been flagged in the annual Rainbow Index report on Ireland by ILGA-Europe.
Still, the government faced opposition to its initial hate crimes bill, which also included provisions expanding the country’s laws banning hate speech to include hate speech based on gender identity. To get the bill passed, the government stripped those provisions from the bill. Hate speech based on sexual orientation has been illegal in Ireland since 1989.
“Making the decision to remove the incitement to violence or hatred provisions was a difficult one; but it was necessary to move forward to put the hate crime provisions into law. The message this sends is clear — hatred and violence towards others because of who they are will not be tolerated, and now the law will reflect this,” says Justice Minister Helen McEntee in a statement.
“I have been very clear that I believe we need to update the 1989 Act to adequately deal with incitement to hatred offenses, particularly in the context of modern online communications. I absolutely believe this needs to be next on our agenda and amendments to the 1989 Act will be progressed at the earliest opportunity.”
LGBTQ activists had mixed feelings about the bill’s passage, acknowledging the value of getting the bill passed but pledging to continue fighting for hate speech protections for trans people.
“LGBT+ and other communities deserve protection and we welcome the imminent passage into law of this long overdue legislation. There must be consequences for targeting people for who they are,” said Ireland’s National LGBT Federation (NXF) in a statement on X.
“The NXF and our civil society colleagues remain firmly committed to seeing the incitement provisions of (the) bill revisited and enacted. Ensuring the legislation is fit-for-purpose is crucial. The safety of our communities is more important than ‘culture wars’ or political populism.”
SOUTH KOREA
Hundreds of thousands of people attended a demonstration against LGBTQ rights in the South Korean capital on Oct. 27, organized by Christian groups.
Police estimated that around 230,000 people attended the demonstration, while organizers claimed that attendance was over one million, Reuters reports.
The protesters were demonstrating against a recent Supreme Court ruling that found that the National Health Insurance Service was obligated to provide spousal benefits to same-sex couples. While the ruling is binding, reports have emerged that the NHIS is still not providing benefits to same-sex couples, as there remains no legal recognition of same-sex couples in South Korea.
Recently, 11 same-sex couples filed lawsuits seeking to establish same-sex marriage rights in the country.
Attendees at the protest carried signs that decried LGBTQ rights generally, including opposing a proposed anti-discrimination law, and urging “protect our children from gender pollution, gender confusion, and gender division destruction.”
Not all Christian groups agree with the protesters’ anti-LGBTQ sentiments.
“This rally claims to be a ‘joint worship service,’ but it is nothing but a sinful event in which participants base their claims on outdated conspiracies to push homophobic discrimination,” read a statement signed by 53 LGBTQ organizations and LGBTQ-friendly Christian groups.
“This directly contradicts the values of generosity, diversity, and respect for human rights that our society has worked so hard to instill. They are oppressing the rights of minorities under the name of the ‘majority,’” the statement read.
RUSSIA
The Russian government has escalated its crackdown on LGBTQ people, with raids on four gay bars across the country leading to at least 50 people being detained, Novaya Gazeta reports.
The raids took place on Oct. 12, coinciding with the bars’ events celebrating National Coming Out Day. Two popular queer bars, Central Station and Three Monkeys, were raided in Moscow, while two other queer bars were reportedly raided in Yekaterinburg in central Russia.
Videos of the crackdowns released on Russian propaganda Telegram channels show detainees being forced to lie on the ground or stand with their hands against the wall while police violently frisk them.
The channels variously allege that the purpose of the raids was to crack down on drug trafficking or respond to civilian complaints of impropriety. One channel alleges that the clubs were “discrediting the Russian army” as drag performers at Central Station mocked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has intensified a crackdown on LGBTQ people over the past decade, first banning “LGBTQ propaganda” in 2013. Last year, the Supreme Court declared “the international LGBT movement” an “extremist organization,” causing several queer organizations and venues to close or go underground.
GEORGIA
Georgia’s opposition leaders are crying foul after what they’re saying was a rigged election that let the ruling Georgian Dream party hold onto power. Georgian Dream has led a crackdown on LGBTQ people while leading an increasingly authoritarian, anti-democratic, and pro-Russia government at odds with the country’s largely pro-Western and pro-democracy population.
The opposition parties claim that multiple exit polls showed them winning a combined majority of votes on election day Oct. 26, before official results reported that Georgian Dream had won 53 percent of the vote. Opposition parties claim that the official results come from voter intimidation, ballot stuffing, fraud, and other irregularities seen and reported at polling stations across the country, especially in rural areas where Georgian Dream dominated.
President Salome Zourabichvili refused to recognize the official results, which she claimed were caused by Russian interference. The opposition parties also announced on Monday that they would boycott parliament. They have collectively called for protests against disputed election.
The European Union called for an investigation into the election. Georgia officially seeks to join the EU but has had its membership application suspended due to democratic backsliding under Georgian Dream.
The U.S. government has also previously applied sanctions on Georgian Dream leadership and has said it is observing the situation closely.
Venezuela
AHF client in Venezuela welcomes Maduro’s ouster
‘This is truly something we’ve been waiting for’ for decades
An AIDS Healthcare Foundation client who lives in Venezuela told the Washington Blade he welcomes the ouster of his country’s former president.
The client, who asked the Blade to remain anonymous, on Thursday said he felt “joy” when he heard the news that American forces seized Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, during an overnight operation on Jan. 3.
“This is truly something we’ve been waiting for for 26 or 27 years,” the AHF client told the Blade.
Hugo Chávez became Venezuela’s president in 1999. Maduro succeeded him in 2013 after he died.
“I’ve always been in opposition,” said the AHF client, who stressed he was speaking to the Blade in his personal capacity and not as an AHF representative. “I’ve never agreed with the government. When I heard the news, well, you can imagine.”
He added he has “high hopes that this country will truly change, which is what it needed.”
“This means getting rid of this regime, so that American and foreign companies can invest here and Venezuela can become what it used to be, the Venezuela of the past,” he said.
The AHF client lives near the Colombia-Venezuela border. He is among the hundreds of Venezuelans who receive care at AHF’s clinic in Cúcuta, a Colombian city near the Táchira River that marks the border between the two countries.
The Simón Bolívar Bridge on the Colombia-Venezuela border on May 14, 2019. (Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
The AHF client praised U.S. President Donald Trump and reiterated his support for the Jan. 3 operation.
“It was the only way that they could go,” he said.
The Venezuelan National Assembly on Jan. 4 swore in Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president, as the country’s acting president. The AHF client with whom the Blade spoke said he is “very optimistic” about Venezuela’s future, even though the regime remains in power.
“With Maduro leaving, the regime has a certain air about it,” he said. “I think this will be a huge improvement for everyone.”
“We’re watching,” he added. “The actions that the United States government is going to implement regarding Venezuela give us hope that things will change.”
Colombia
Colombians protest against Trump after he threatened country’s president
Tens of thousands protested the US president in Bogotá
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Tens of thousands of people on Wednesday gathered in the Colombian capital to protest against President Donald Trump after he threatened Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
The protesters who gathered in Plaza Bolívar in Bogotá held signs that read, among other things, “Yankees go home” and “Petro is not alone.” Petro is among those who spoke.
The Bogotá protest took place four days after American forces seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, during an overnight operation.
The Venezuelan National Assembly on Sunday swore in Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president, as the country’s acting president. Maduro and Flores on Monday pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges in New York.
Trump on Sunday suggested the U.S. will target Petro, a former Bogotá mayor and senator who was once a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement that disbanded in the 1990s. Claudia López, a former senator who would become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she wins Colombia’s presidential election that will take place later this year, is among those who criticized Trump’s comments.
The Bogotá protest is among hundreds against Trump that took place across Colombia on Wednesday.
Petro on Wednesday night said he and Trump spoke on the phone. Trump in a Truth Social post confirmed he and his Colombian counterpart had spoken.
“It was a great honor to speak with the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” wrote Trump. “I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future. Arrangements are being made between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign minister of Colombia. The meeting will take place in the White House in Washington, D.C.”
Colombia
Gay Venezuelan man who fled to Colombia uncertain about homeland’s future
Heberth Aguirre left Maracaibo in 2018
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — A gay Venezuelan man who has lived in Colombia since 2018 says he feels uncertain about his homeland’s future after the U.S. seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“On one hand I can feel happy, but on the other hand I feel very concerned,” Heberth Aguirre told the Washington Blade on Tuesday during an interview at a shopping mall in Bogotá, the Colombian capital.
Aguirre, 35, is from Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city that is the heart of the country’s oil industry.
He developed cultural and art initiatives for the Zulia State government.
“Little by little, I suddenly became involved in politics because, in a way, you had to be involved,” recalled Aguirre. “It was necessary to be involved because the regime often said so.”
“I basically felt like I was working for the citizens, but with this deeply ingrained rule we had to be on their side, on the side of the Maduro and (former President Hugo) Chávez regime,” he added.
Maduro in 2013 became Venezuela’s president after Chávez died.
“There are things I don’t support about the regime,” Aguirre told the Blade. “There are other things that were nice in theory, but it turned out that they didn’t work when we put them into practice.”
Aguirre noted the Maduro government implemented “a lot of laws.” He also said he and other LGBTQ Venezuelans didn’t “have any kind of guarantee for our lives in general.”
“That also exposed you in a way,” said Aguirre. “You felt somewhat protected by working with them (the government), but it wasn’t entirely true.”
Aguirre, 35, studied graphic design at the University of Zulia in Maracaibo. He said he eventually withdrew after soldiers, members of Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard, and police officers opened fire on students.
“That happened many times, to the point where I said I couldn’t keep risking my life,” Aguirre told the Blade. “It hurt me to see what was happening, and it hurt me to have lost my place at the university.”
Venezuela’s economic crisis and increased insecurity prompted Aguirre to leave the country in 2018. He entered Colombia at the Simón Bolívar Bridge near the city of Cúcuta in the country’s Norte de Santander Province.
“If you thought differently, they (the Venezuelan government) would come after you or make you disappear, and nobody would do anything about it,” said Aguirre in response to the Blade’s question about why he left Venezuela.
The Simón Bolívar Bridge on the Colombia-Venezuela border on May 14, 2019. (Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
Aguirre spoke with the Blade three days after American forces seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, during an overnight operation.
The Venezuelan National Assembly on Sunday swore in Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president, as the country’s acting president. Maduro and Flores on Monday pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges in New York.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday in a Truth Social post said Venezuela’s interim authorities “will be turning over between 30 and 50 million barrels of high quality, sanctioned oil, to the United States of America.”
“This oil will be sold at its market price, and that money will be controlled by me, as president of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States,” wrote Trump.
Trump on Sunday suggested the U.S. will target Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a former Bogotá mayor and senator who was once a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement that disbanded in the 1990s.
Petro has urged Colombians to take to the streets on Wednesday and “defend national sovereignty.” Claudia López, a former senator who would become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she wins Colombia’s presidential election that will take place later this year, is among those who criticized Trump’s comments.
“Let’s be clear: Trump doesn’t care about the humanitarian aspect,” said Aguirre when the Blade asked him about Trump. “We can’t portray him as Venezuela’s savior.”
Meanwhile, Aguirre said his relatives in Maracaibo remain afraid of what will happen in the wake of Maduro’s ouster.
“My family is honestly keeping quiet,” he said. “They don’t post anything online. They don’t go out to participate in marches or celebrations.”
“Imagine them being at the epicenter, in the eye of the hurricane,” added Aguirre. “They are right in the middle of all the problems, so it’s perfectly understandable that they don’t want to say anything.”
‘I never in my life thought I would have to emigrate’
Aguirre has built a new life in Bogotá.
He founded Mesa Distrital LGBTIQ+ de Jóvenes y Estudiantes, a group that works with migrants from Venezuela and other countries and internally placed Colombians, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aguirre told the Blade he launched the group “with the need to contribute to the general population, not just in Colombia.”
Aguirre met his husband, an American from California, at a Bogotá church in December 2020 during a Christmas event that SDA Kinship Colombia, an LGBTQ group, organized. A Utah judge virtually officiated their wedding on July 12, 2024.
“I love Colombia, I love Bogotá,” said Aguirre. “I love everything I’ve experienced because I feel it has helped me grow.”
He once again stressed he does not know what a post-Maduro Venezuela will look like.
“As a Venezuelan, I experienced the wonders of that country,” said Aguirre. “I never in my life thought I would have to emigrate.”
The Colombian government’s Permiso por Protección Temporal program allows Aguirre and other Venezuelans who have sought refuge in Colombia to live in the country for up to 10 years. Aguirre reiterated his love for Colombia, but he told the Blade that he would like to return to Venezuela and help rebuild the country.
“I wish this would be over in five years, that we could return to our country, that we could go back and even return with more skills acquired abroad,” Aguirre told the Blade. “Many of us received training. Many of us studied a lot. We connected with organizations that formed networks, which enriched us as individuals and as professionals.”
“Returning would be wonderful,” he added. “What we’ve built abroad will almost certainly serve to enrich the country.”
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