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‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ winner The Vivienne has died at 32

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The Vivienne (Photo courtesy of The Vivienne's' Facebook page)

UNITED KINGDOM

“RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” winner The Vivienne, born James Lee Williams, has passed away at age 32, their representative Simon Jones says.

In a post on Instagram, Jones announced the star’s passing and requested privacy for Williams’s family.

“It is with immense sadness that we let you know our beloved James Lee Williams — The Vivienne, has passed away this weekend. James was an incredibly loved, warm-hearted and amazing person. Their family are heartbroken at the loss of their son, brother, and uncle. They are so proud of the wonderful things James achieved in their life and career,” Jones says.

“We will not be releasing any further details,” the statement says.

Williams was born in Wales but grew up in Liverpool, where they started their drag career in the late 2000s. In 2015, RuPaul appointed them “UK Drag Ambassador,” leading to them competing in and winning the first season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” in 2019. She returned to the franchise in 2022 for the seventh season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” tying for seventh place. 

The Vivienne also appeared on several other reality competition shows, including the 15th season of ITV’s “Dancing on Ice” and the Christmas edition of “The Great British Sewing Bee.” Their final TV appearance was last month on the Christmas edition of the UK game show “Blankety Blank.”

Beyond the screen, they released their EP “Bitch on Heels” in 2022, and toured as the Wicked Witch in the 2024 West End revival of “The Wizard of Oz.”

Tributes to The Vivienne poured in on social media in the wake of the announcement.”

“Heartbreaking 💔 I don’t know how to say how I feel,” wrote “Drag Race” judge Michelle Visage on Instagram. “My darling @thevivienne_ we go back to when I started coming over here to the UK. You were always there, always laughing, always giving, always on point. Your laughter, your wit, your talent, your drag. I loved all of it but I loved your friendship most of all. You were a beacon to so many.”

The death has come as a shock to many.

RUSSIA

Russian clubgoers have been fined for dressing “too gay” as part of the country’s ongoing crackdown on LGBTQ people and expression.

At least seven people were ordered to pay the fines after a raid on a nightclub in Tula, about 120 miles south of Moscow, in February 2024, according to independent Russian media outlet Verstka, which reviewed court documents and video footage of the raid.

Those fined were charged with “trying to arouse interest in non-traditional sexual relations,” which is a crime under Russia’s so-called “LGBT propaganda” laws. They included a man who wore “crosses of black tape glued to his nipples” and a “women’s style corset,” and another man who wore “pink socks” and “an unbuttoned kimono.”

Other offending wardrobe on men included a crop top, black leather shorts, and fishnet stockings.

A judge ruled their clothing was “’inconsistent with the image of a man with traditional sexual orientation,” and fined the men.

Two of the men were ordered to pay fines of 50,000 rubles (approximately $450). That’s a little more than the average monthly salary in Tula, according to Russia’s official statistics agency, Rosstat.

Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ people has expanded dramatically over the last several years. The initial propaganda law targeted only expression that could be seen by children, but it was expanded in 2022 to criminalize all forms of LGBTQ organization and expression. In 2023, the Russian Supreme Court declared the “international LGBT movement” to be an “extremist” organization, which was backed up the following year with a decision labeling the “movement” to be “terrorist.”

Verstka reports that at least 131 cases of “LGBT propaganda” charges were brought to Russian courts in 2024, with fines ranging up to 200,000 rubles (approximately $1,850.) 

SINGAPORE

LGBTQ activists are crying foul after the Singapore government introduced the island’s first workplace nondiscrimination bill without any protections for queer workers. The are calling on the government to amend the bill to add prohibitions on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity before it passes into law.

A coalition of activists called SAFE (Supporting, Affirming and Empowering our LGBTQ+ friends and families) published a statement on its Facebook page calling on the government to rethink the bill.

“SAFE and our community partners who have co-signed this statement are resolutely against the bill’s exclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity as protected characteristics under the bill. We deem it as extremely discriminatory, which runs counter to the objective of the bill which is to address discrimination in the workplace in the first place,” the statement reads. “Often when parents share with us their fears for their children who have come out to them, discrimination against their queer or trans children rank high on the list. It is thus distressing for our parent community that the exclusions may inadvertently encourage discriminatory and bullying actions towards their children who are LGBTQ+ persons.”

SAFE’s statement also notes that unfair workplace practices also compound the discrimination that LGBTQ people face in other aspects of life, including in housing and education, which contributes to economic precarity.

Singapore’s Manpower Ministry says the new Workplace Fairness Legislation codifies existing, non binding guidelines on fair employment practices that were introduced in 2007, including prohibiting discrimination based on age, nationality, sex, marital status, pregnancy status, caregiving responsibilities, race, religion, language, disability, and mental health conditions. But those guidelines were issued 15 years before Singapore finally decriminalized homosexuality in 2022.

Singapore is home to one of the largest and most visible LGBTQ communities in southeast Asia, and the annual Pink Dot festival attracts thousands of people to celebrate Pride and demand greater rights. 

AUSTRALIA

The Palace Hotel in Broken Hill has been officially recognized as an LGBTQ landmark for the role it plays in the iconic film “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” 

In the 1994 film, a trio of drag queens stay at the hotel while driving their bus, the titular Priscilla, from Sydney to Alice Springs in the Outback. 

Fans of the film have long flocked to the Palace Hotel — famous for its many murals — and the hotel even offers guests the “Priscilla Suite” where the characters stayed in the film.

Palace Hill was already listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register, but this week Culture Minister Penny Sharpe announced that its listing would be amended to officially recognize the hotel’s significance to the queer community.

“The interior of the Palace Hotel, with its extensive murals, was a prominent filming location of ’The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,’” the new listing reads. “[The film] introduced LGBTQIA+ themes to mainstream audiences in Australia and internationally. ‘Priscilla’ represented a monumental shift in cinema of the representation of gay and transgender people in Australia.”

“The Palace Hotel has been closely associated with the LGBTQIA+ community and Australian drag artistry since the film’s release.”

Sharpe says the new listing honors the hotel’s importance in queer history.

“Now we’re ensuring its significant role in the history of Australia’s LGBTQIA+ community is officially recognized and celebrated,” Sharpe wrote in a post on Instagram.

Last year, it was reported in Deadline that a sequel to Priscilla was in the development, with the director and cast attached to return. It’s not yet known what the plot of the sequel will be, or if the queens will return to the Palace Hotel.

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Cuba

Cuban lawmakers to consider simplifying process for trans people to change IDs

National Assembly in July will reportedly debate proposal

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A transgender Pride flag flies over Mi Cayito, a beach east of Havana. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Cuban lawmakers are reportedly poised to consider a proposal that would allow transgender people to legally change the gender marker on their ID documents without surgery.

Cubadebate, a government-run website, on May 11 referenced the proposal in an article about an International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia march in Havana that the National Center for Sexual Education organized.

Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTQ issues on the island, is CENESEX’s director.

Cubadebate notes the National Assembly in July will consider an amendment to the country’s Civil Registry Law that “for the first time would allow citizens to determine the sex on their identification cards without the need for a court order or gender assignment surgery.”

Argentina, Uruguay, Germany, and Malta are among the countries that allow trans people to legally change their name and gender without surgery.

Cuba’s national health care system has offered free sex-reassignment surgery since 2008, but activists who are critical of Mariela Castro and CENESEX have said access to these procedures is limited. Mariela Castro, who is also a member of the National Assembly, in 2013 voted against a measure to add sexual orientation to Cuba’s labor code because it did not include gender identity.

The Cuban constitution bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, among other factors. Authorities routinely harass and detain activists who publicly criticize the government.

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Chile

Chilean lawmakers back report that calls for suspension of program for trans children

Country’s first transgender congresswoman condemned May 15 vote

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LGBTQ activists criticized Chilean lawmakers who endorsed a report that calls for the suspension of a program for transgender and nonbinary children. (Photo courtesy of Fundación Iguales)

The Chilean Chamber of Deputies on May 15 approved a report that recommends the immediate suspension of a program that provides psychosocial support to transgender and gender non-conforming children and adolescents and their parents.

The 56-31 vote in favor of the Investigation Commission No. 57’s recommendations for the Gender Identity Support Program sparked outrage among activists in Chile and around the world. Six lawmakers abstained.

The report proposes the Health Ministry issue a resolution against puberty blockers, cross-hormonalization, and other hormonal treatments for minors, regardless of whether they have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The report also suggests Chilean educational institutions should not respect trans students’ chosen names.

The report, among other recommendations, calls for a review of the background of all minors who are currently receiving hormone treatments. The report also calls for the reformulation of hormone therapy guidelines and sending this background information to the comptroller general.

Report ‘sets an ominous precedent’

Frente Amplio Congresswoman Emilia Schneider, the first trans woman elected to the Chilean Congress and a member of the commission, sharply criticized her colleagues who voted for the report.

“Today in the Chamber of Deputies the report of hatred against trans people was approved; a report that seeks to roll back programs so relevant for children, for youth, such as the Gender Identity Support Program; a program that, in addition, comes from the government of (the late-President) Sebastián Piñera,” Schneider told the Washington Blade. ”This is unacceptable because the right-wing yields to the pressures of the ultra-right and leaves the trans community in a very complex position.”

Schneider noted “this report is not binding; that is, its recommendations do not necessarily have to be taken into account, but it sets an ominous precedent.” 

“We are going backwards on such basic issues as the recognition of the social name of trans students in educational establishments,” she said.

Ignacia Oyarzún, president of Organizing Trans Diversities, a Chilean trans rights group, echoed Schneider’s criticisms. commented to the Blade. 

“We regret today’s shameful action in the Chamber of Deputies, where the CEI-57 report issued by the Republican Party was approved in a context of lies, misinformation and misrepresentation of reality,” Oyarzún told the Blade. “This only promotes the regression of public policies and conquered rights that have managed to save the lives of thousands of children in the last time.” 

Oyarzún added the “slogan ‘children first’ proves to be an empty phrase without content used by those who today promote measures that push to suicide a significant number of children for the fact of being trans.”

The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, a Chilean LGBTQ rights group known by the acronym Movilh also condemned the approval of the report, calling it “transphobic” and accusing the commission of omitting the opinions of organizations and families that support the current policies. 

Movilh notes lawmakers approved both the Gender Identity Law and Circular 812, which promotes respect for trans students’ rights, within the framework of an agreement with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

“The text of the approved report is scandalous, because it seeks to take away the access to health to trans minors, including denying them the psychosocial accompaniment that also includes their respective families,” said María José Cumplido, executive director of Fundación Iguales, another Chilean LGBTQ advocacy group. “Likewise, it attempts against school inclusion, since it intends to eliminate something as essential as the use of the social name in educational spaces. In short, it takes away rights and freedoms to trans people, especially to minors.”

Cumplido, like Schneider, pointed out that “although its content is not binding, we will be alert to the political and legislative consequences that it may produce and we will continue working to avoid setbacks with respect to the rights of trans people.”

The report’s approval reflects a global trend that has seen neighboring Argentina, the U.S., and other countries reserve policies for trans and nonbinary young people. The Peruvian Health Ministry recently classified gender identity as a mental illness, and lawmakers have passed a law that prevents trans people from using public restrooms based on their identity.

Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last month. Argentina is among the countries that have curtailed the rights of transgender and nonbinary children. (Washington Blade
photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Experts and human rights activists warn the suspension of Chile’s Gender Identity Support Program and other programs could adversely impact the mental health of trans and nonbinary children who already face high levels of discrimination and are at heightened risk to die by suicide.

“We will defend the Gender Identity Support Program and the right to exist of trans children and youth across the country,” said Schneider. “I want to reassure the trans families of our country that we will not rest until our rights are respected and that we can continue advancing because there is still much to be conquered.”

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Iran

Underground queer network challenges Iranian regime

Homosexuality remains punishable by death in country

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(Image by Micha Klootwijk/Bigstock)

While global powers negotiate with Iran’s regime under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to curb its advancing nuclear program, the oppressed LGBTQ community is building and operating a secret underground network to resist state-coerced sex reassignment surgeries. 

These surgeries, mandated for gay and lesbian people as a state-sanctioned alternative to execution for homosexuality, are part of Iran’s penal code that criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual relations. The network provides safe houses, forged identification documents, and covert communication channels to protect members from government raids and imprisonment.

Precise data on LGBTQ people prosecuted in Iran for resisting state-coerced sex reassignment surgeries over the past decade remains elusive, as the regime’s opaque judicial system obscures such cases under vague charges like “corruption on earth” or “sodomy.” NGOs, including 6Rang, report that thousands of gay and lesbian Iranians face pressure to undergo surgeries to avoid execution for same-sex conduct, with resistance often leading to arrests or harassment for violating gender norms.

Zahra Seddiqi Hamedani and Elham Choubdar, two prominent activists, in 2022 were sentenced to death for their social media advocacy, charged with “corruption” and “human trafficking,” though their convictions were overturned in 2023. Similarly, Rezvaneh Mohammadi in 2019 received a five-year sentence for promoting “homosexual relations,” a charge hinting at resistance to the regime’s heteronormative mandates.

Arsham Parsi in 2003 escalated his clandestine fight for Iran’s LGBTQ community by launching Voice Celebration, a secret Yahoo chat group where 50 queer Iranians, using aliases, exchanged coded messages to evade the regime’s surveillance. Operating like operatives in a shadow network, participants shared text messages about human rights and survival tactics, knowing a single breach could lead to torture or execution. Parsi, then 23, orchestrated the group’s encrypted communications, building a virtual lifeline that connected isolated individuals across the country until his cover was nearly blown, forcing a desperate escape in early 2005.

Parsi in an exchange with the Washington Blade revealed a defiant undercurrent in Iran, a movement too elusive to be called traditional resistance yet pulsing with covert rebellion against the regime. 

The state’s relentless push to force gay men into coerced surgeries — marketed as a “solution” to their sexuality — seeks to erase their identities through enforced conformity. Parsi, steering the International Railroad for Queer Refugees, disclosed how queer Iranians fight back with clandestine measures: Underground education to counter state propaganda, discreet psychological support to fortify resilience, and encrypted networks to forge secret alliances. These efforts, veiled to evade regime detection, dismantle the state’s narrative with every hidden signal and guarded connection.

“We are working to create a true grassroots resistance by empowering people to understand their identity, seek safe alternatives, and reclaim their agency despite the oppressive context,” said Parsi. “The Iranian regime’s policies are built on denial of sexual orientation and a forced alignment with a binary gender model.” 

“Rather than recognizing gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals, the system pressures them — particularly gay men — to undergo irreversible surgeries in order to be legally tolerated,” he added. “This systemic violence creates deep psychological harm and compels many to resist, even quietly, to protect their truth. The lack of legal recognition and the threat of arrest, harassment, or blackmail fuels the underground defiance we see today. It’s not only resistance for survival — it’s a rejection of state-imposed identity suppression.”

IRQR, guided by Parsi, for nearly two decades has operated as a lifeline, orchestrating daring escapes and running a covert network for Iran’s hunted queer community. 

Parsi said his work relies on secret, encrypted channels — meticulously managed to avoid detection — to funnel at-risk individuals to safety, smuggle life-saving information, secure hidden safe houses, and deliver emotional support. Every operation faces threats not only from the regime’s security forces but also from Basij militia operatives who masquerade as queer individuals to infiltrate networks, heightening the peril for those marked by their identities.

Black-clad Basij militia members respond at the first signs of defiance; tearing through crowds on motorcycles with batons and guns at the ready, poised to crush any challenge to Iran’s regime. These paramilitary volunteers, bound by fierce loyalty to the Islamic Republic, serve as the state’s enforcers, their plainclothes operatives slipping into dissident networks to root out the defiant. 

The Basij fill queer Iranians with dread; their so-called morality patrols and digital traps stalking those who dare to exist outside the regime’s rigid norms.

“Their goal is not only to gather intelligence but to undermine, divide, and cancel the work of activists and organizations like ours,” said Parsi. “This divide-and-conquer strategy is designed to break solidarity and generate mistrust.” 

“We have seen numerous cases where trusted circles were compromised by these informants, and it has made our work — and survival — even more complex,” he further noted. “Despite this, we persist. Through our underground connections, we have helped thousands of queer Iranians seek safety, community, and ultimately, freedom.”

Parsi told the Blade that international support — through funding, advocacy, policy pressure, or amplifying his stories — can significantly strengthen his work to protect Iran’s persecuted queer community. He emphasized IRQR operates with limited resources, making global solidarity essential to improve outreach, enhance safety measures, and respond swiftly to those in need. Parsi underscored such support brings visibility to the crisis in Iran, reminding those at risk they are not forgotten while exerting pressure on a regime that thrives on silence and fear.

Arsham Parsi (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

One of the things that Parsi’s underground network offers is online workshops that educate queer Iranians about how they can remain beyond the regime’s reach. 

He said these sessions, designed for safety and accessibility, encompass peer support, mental health education, digital security training, and guidance on refugee pathways. Parsi explained the workshops give vulnerable Iranians the tools to navigate persecution, defy state surveillance, and pursue escape, exposing the resilience of a community under relentless scrutiny.

“Due to the high risk of persecution in Iran, traditional protests are not feasible,” said Parsi. “Instead, acts of resistance take quieter forms — like anonymous storytelling which are just as powerful in building awareness and connection within the community. While discreet, these activities help create a sense of solidarity and empowerment among queer Iranians.”

Parsi, undeterred by Iran’s unyielding regime, asserted with measured confidence that while underground acts of defiance — living authentically, supporting one another, resisting forced medicalisation — may not shift policy overnight, they are already improving lives. He stressed these quiet rebellions that queer Iranians stage challenge the regime’s narrative of shame and invisibility, forging a resilient foundation for future change. Each act, Parsi emphasized, dismantles the regime’s grip, offering hope to those navigating a landscape of relentless oppression.

“At IRQR, we view each life saved, each network built, and each truth spoken as a small but powerful act of resistance,” said Parsi. “These are the seeds of future liberation. Over time, as they multiply and gain visibility — locally and internationally — they will help reshape the landscape for queer Iranians.”

ILGA Asia Executive Director Henry Koh said queer Iranians’ underground resistance is a powerful assertion of bodily autonomy and self-determination. He described it as a deeply courageous act in a regime where visibility invites immense personal risk, from arrest to execution. 

When asked by the Blade if the Iranian regime’s punitive measures against openly queer people fuel underground resistance, Koh responded unequivocally. 

“Absolutely,” he said. “The climate of criminalization and repression leaves little safe space for queer people to live openly. This forces many into secrecy or underground networks as a means of survival, resistance, and mutual support. Such conditions are not only unjust but also profoundly harmful to the well-being of LGBTIQ+ individuals.”

“It is important to distinguish between affirming gender-affirming care and any form of coercive medical intervention,” he added. “When states or authorities mandate medical procedures as a condition for recognition or safety, it constitutes a grave violation of human rights. Gender identity is deeply personal, and no institution should override an individual’s self-defined identity.”

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