World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Canada, Asia, and Europe
Another Japanese court has ruled the country’s same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional
CANADA
The mayor of Emo, Ontario, had his bank account garnished after he announced he would refuse to pay court-ordered damages of $5,000 to a local Pride organization.
The drama started in 2020 when the small town of 5,000 people about 1,000 miles northwest of Toronto on the border with Minnesota refused a request by Borderlands Pride to issue a proclamation declaring June Pride Month in the town and fly a rainbow flag for a week.
The town council voted down the request in an acrimonious debate in which now 76-year-old Mayor Harold McQuaker argued that flying the Pride flag was unfair because there’s no flag for “the other side.” Borderlands Pride then presented a petition asking the council to reconsider their request, but the council was unmoved.
Four years later, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal finally issued a ruling in the case, ordering the town to pay Borderlands Pride C$10,000 (approximately $7,000) and McQuaker to pay C$5,000 (approximately $3,500) and take the province’s “Human Rights 101” one-day course.
McQuaker later told reporters that he would refuse to pay the judgement against him. That gave Borderlands Pride the ability to get a court order for garnishment of his bank account for the fine.
“Sure, sex is great, but have you ever garnished your mayor’s bank account after he publicly refused to comply with a Tribunal’s order to pay damages?” Borderlands Pride posted on their Facebook account.
Emo Town Council has not yet announced if it will pay its portion of the judgment.
The case has drawn attention from right-wing and far-right news outlets around the world, many of which are working overtime to paint McQuaker as a mild-mannered great-grandfather who is not at all homophobic.
But Borderlands Pride pushed back against that narrative with receipts. In another post on Facebook, the group shared letters McQuaker had published in newspapers going back nearly 20 years, when same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada.
“Isn’t it funny we have all kinds of money to spend on same-sex crap and gun control, both of which will hurt our great nation,” McQuaker wrote in one letter.
“If a free vote had been allowed instead of party leaders forcing their MPs to their way, Mr. Harper would have defeated homosexual marriage legislation,” he wrote in another.
Five separate fundraisers on GiveSendGo and GoFundMe have raised around $28,000 for McQuaker and Emo’s legal defense, although none of these fundraisers appear to be directly linked to either.
JAPAN
The Fukuoka High Court ruled that Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, in the latest court victory for couples seeking equal marriage rights in the country.
The ruling on Dec. 13 was the third appellate-level ruling to find the ban unconstitutional, following rulings earlier this year from the Tokyo and Sapporo High Courts. It was also the first ruling to find the ban violates the constitution’s protection of the “pursuit of happiness.”
“[The judge] understood our suffering, and I felt very reassured,” one of the plaintiffs, Masahiro, told reporters.
Six lower courts have ruled on same-sex marriage since 2021, with all but one finding the ban to be unconstitutional. Many of these cases are still being heard at the appellate level, and the issue is likely to be taken up by the Japanese Supreme Court.
While the rulings do not have immediate effect in changing the law, they add pressure on legislators to address the issue.
A report from Mainichi Shinbum suggests that there is now a majority in Parliament in favor same-sex marriage, following elections in October. Still, the Liberal Democratic Party, which leads the government, is largely opposed to equal marriage.
POLAND
QueerMuzeum, the first museum dedicated to the history of Poland’s LGBTQ community, opened in Warsaw this month, the first such museum in a post-communist country in Europe.
The new museum is operated by the Lambda Warsaw Association, the oldest operating Polish LGBTQ organization, and it has more than 150 artefacts on display, including items dating back to the 16th century.
“We are on Marszałkowska Street, in the heart of Warsaw,” said Miłosz Przepiórkowski, Lambda’s president. “This sends a message to politicians: ‘Look, we are opening the fifth queer museum in the world in a country with the worst legal situation for queer people in the EU.’”
QueerMuzeum is also a way to bring Lambda’s aid and advocacy work into the public eye, Przepiórkowski says.
The organization has more than 100,000 artifacts in its collection, including letters, photographs, and early activist materials. Preserving these materials has been challenging, as much of the records of Poland’s LGBTQ community have been private or discarded.
Key figures from Poland’s queer activist circles during the communist era in the 1980s were on hand for the opening ceremony, and had donated important personal materials to the museum.
Ryszard Kisiel donated a decades-old safe-sex pamphlet, while Andrzej Selerowicz donated a photograph of himself with his partner that is 45 years old.
LGBTQ rights remain a polarizing topic in Poland more than a year after a center-left coalition was elected to replace a far-right government. The new government has struggled to pass a long-promised civil union bill and update hate speech laws to protect LGBTQ people, amid conflicts among more conservative coalition partners.
UNITED KINGDOM
The UK government has announced that it is indefinitely prohibiting the prescription of puberty blockers for use with transgender children, Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced on Dec 11.
The ban applies across the UK and was put in place following consultations with the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
It comes following the much-disputed Cass Review on gender treatment in the UK, which had recommended new restrictions on puberty blockers. Earlier this year, the previous Conservative government brought in emergency legislation to ban puberty blockers. Streeting’s announcement makes that ban indefinite, with the government saying it will review the legislation in 2027.
The ban applies to new patients only; patients already receiving puberty blockers as a form of care can continue to receive it.
Streeting says there is a plan to begin a clinical trial on puberty blockers next year, which would help “establish a clear evidence base for the use of this medicine.”
But trans activists rejected the government’s framing of the ban, as they have much of the findings of the Cass Review.
“The government is entirely disregarding the voices of trans youth, who made clear their deep opposition to the restriction of private prescriptions for puberty blockers during consultation,” Laura Stoner, the chief executive of the trans rights group Mermaids, told the Guardian.
Trans rights have become a notably polarizing issue in the UK over the last several years, as “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling has become one of the world’s most vocal critics of trans people, and successive UK governments have sought to weaken protections for trans people and restrict access to gender care or to women’s spaces, often in the name of women’s rights.
Other British stars like Daniel Radcliffe and David Tennant have been notable allies for trans people.
Botswana’s government has repealed a provision of its colonial-era penal code that criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations.
The country’s High Court in 2019 struck down the provision. The Batswana government in 2022 said it would abide by the ruling after country’s Court of Appeals upheld it.
The government on March 26 announced the repeal of the penal code’s “unnatural offenses” section that specifically referenced any person who “has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature” and “permits any other person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature.”
Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana, a Batswana advocacy group known by the acronym LEGABIBO, challenged the criminalization law with the support of the Southern Africa Litigation Center. LEGABIBO in a statement it posted to its Facebook on April 25 welcomed the repeal.
“For many, these provisions were not just words on paper — they were lived realities,” said LEGABIBO. “They affected access to healthcare, safety, employment, and the freedom to love and exist openly.”
“LEGABIBO believes that the deletion of these sections is a necessary and long-overdue step toward restoring dignity and aligning our legal framework with constitutional values of equality and human rights,” it added. “It is a clear message that LGBTIQ+ persons are not criminals, and that their lives and relationships deserve protection, not punishment.”
LEGABIBO further stressed that “while this does not erase the harm of the past, it creates space for healing, inclusion, and continued progress toward full equality.”
Cuba
Trans parent charged with kidnapping, allegedly fled to Cuba with child
Cuban authorities helped locate Rose Inessa-Ethington
Federal authorities have charged a transgender woman with kidnapping after she allegedly fled to Cuba with her 10-year-old child.
An affidavit that Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jennifer Waterfield filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah on April 16 notes the child is a “biological male who identifies as a female” and “splits time living with divorced parents who share custody” in Cache County, Utah.
Waterfield notes the child on March 28 “was supposed to be traveling by car to” Calgary, Alberta, “for a planned camping trip with his transgender mother, Rose Inessa-Ethington, Rose’s partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington, and Blue’s 3-year-old child.”
The affidavit notes the group instead flew from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Mexico City on March 29. Waterfield writes the Inessa-Ethingtons and the two children then flew from Mérida, Mexico, to Havana on April 1.
The 10-year-old child called her biological mother on March 28 after they arrived in Canada. The custody agreement, according to the affidavit, required Rose Inessa-Ethington to return the child to her former spouse on April 3.
“Interviews of MV [Minor Victim] 1’s family members provided significant concerns for MV 1’s well-being, as MV 1 was born a male, however, identifies as a female child, which is largely believed to be due to manipulation by Rose Inessa-Ethington,” reads the affidavit. “Concerns exist that MV 1 was transported to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty.”
The affidavit indicates authorities found a note in the Inessa-Ethingtons’ home with “instruction from a mental health therapist located in Washington, D.C., including instruction to send the therapist the $10,000.00 and instructions on gender-affirming medical care for children.”
The affidavit does not identify the specific “mental health therapist” in D.C.
A Utah judge on April 13 ordered Rose Inessa-Ethington to “immediately” return the child to her former spouse. The former spouse also received sole custody.
“Your affiant believes that due to the extensive planning and preparation exhibited by both Rose Inessa-Ethington and Blue Inessa-Ethington to isolate MV 1 and take MV 1 to Havana, Cuba, without notifying or requesting permission from MV 1’s mother indicates they are likely not planning to return to the United States,” wrote Waterfield.
The affidavit notes Cuban authorities found the Inessa-Ethingtons and the child.
A press release the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah issued notes the Inessa-Ethingtons “were deported from Cuba” on Monday “with the assistance of the FBI.”
The couple has been charged with International Parental Kidnapping. The Inessa-Ethingtons were arraigned in Richmond, Va., on Monday. The press release notes a federal court in Salt Lake City will soon handle the case.
The New York Times reported the child is now back with their biological mother.
“We are grateful to law enforcement for working swiftly to return the child to the biological mother,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak of the District of Utah in the press release.
The case is unfolding against the backdrop of increased tensions between Washington and Havana after U.S. forces on Jan. 3 seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January 2025 issued an executive order that directed the federal government to only recognize two genders: male and female. A second White House directive banned federally-funded gender-affirming care for anyone under 19.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year in the Skrmetti decision upheld a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors.
Cuba’s national health care system has offered free sex-reassignment surgeries since 2008.
Activists who are critical of Mariela Castro, the daughter of former President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTQ issues as director of Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education, have previously told the Washington Blade that access to these procedures is limited. The Blade on Wednesday asked a contact in Havana to clarify whether Cuban law currently allows minors to undergo sex-reassignment surgery.
Australia
Australia lifts additional restrictions on LGBTQ blood donors
Gay, bisexual men, trans people in long-term monogamous relationships can now donate
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service (Lifeblood) has lifted additional restrictions on LGBTQ people who want to donate blood.
The Star-Observer, an Australian LGBTQ newspaper, reported new Lifeblood rules that took effect on Monday will allow “gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term monogamous relationships to donate blood and platelets for the first time.”
The new policy defines “long-term monogamous relationships” as those that are at least six months.
All potential donors — regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity — will answer the same questions about recent sexual activity.
“Previous donor rules prevented many people from the LGBTQIA+ community from donating blood or platelets if they’d had sex within the past three months,” said Lifeblood CEO Stephen Cornelissen in a press release that announced the new policy. “These latest changes mean many gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term, monogamous relationships will become eligible to donate blood or platelets for the first time.”
Lifeblood in 2025 ended its blanket ban on sexually active LGBTQ people from donating blood.
Rodney Croome, an Australian LGBTQ activist who is the spokesperson for Let Us Give, a campaign that has championed the changes, donated blood on Monday.
“After three decades of advocacy, and for the first time in my life, I was able to donate blood today,” said Croome in a Facebook post that showed him donating blood. “From today, gay men, and bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men, are able to give blood without the traditional three month abstinence period. All donors are now asked the same questions about sex regardless of the gender of our sexual partners.”
Croome in the post said “there are still problems with the new donor regime,” but said Let Us Give will continue to work with Lifeblood.
“Those who may have not been monogamous in the recent past should not be subject to a six month wait time,” he wrote. “Three months is considered more than enough in the UK, US and Canada. It should be here too. People on PrEP and trans people also face continued barriers. Let Us Give will continue to work towards greater equity in donation.”
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