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Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
The British government will build a memorial for queer veterans
UNITED KINGDOM
A memorial for LGBTQ veterans will be built at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, the British government announced earlier this month.
Funded by a £350,000 (approximately $425,000) grant from the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, the memorial is part of the government’s response to an independent review of the experience of LGBTQ veterans who served before 2000, when the UK government removed restrictions of queer people service openly in the military. Thousands of LGBTQ soldiers and service personnel were dismissed from the military while the ban was in effect.
The 9’ tall bronze memorial takes the form of a crumpled letter made up of words taken from testimony of former personnel who were impacted by the LGBTQ ban.
“This is extremely personal for some of our members, some of whom have been affected by the armed forces exclusion of LGBTQ+ identities, and some simply affected by lived queer experience. All our members make a living in the arts by designing and delivering beautiful sculpture, making and inspired by the act of collaboration,” says Nina Bilbey, lead artist at the Abraxis Academy, which collectively designed the memorial.
The design was one of 38 submitted in a nationwide competition and selected by a judging panel that included representatives from Fighting with Pride, a national LGBTQ veterans advocacy group.
The UK government has taken other steps to restore dignity to LGBTQ veterans, including the launch of a financial recognition scheme, qualification of discharge, and restoration of rank, which were launched last December.
“When I joined the Royal Marines in 1999, this abhorrent ban on homosexuality in the armed forces was still in place. A quarter of a century later, we turn a page on that shameful chapter in our national story,” says Veterans Minister Alistair Carns in a statement.
RUSSIA
A Russian man was fined under the country’s LGBTQ propaganda laws for jokingly claiming to be the founder of the “international LGBT movement,” which the Russian Supreme Court declared to be an extremist terrorist organization last year.
Anton Yevdokimov, a pro-democracy activist, was found guilty of spreading “propaganda of non-traditional relations” by a Moscow court last November, but the decision was only made public last week. He was ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 rubles (approximately $975.)
Yevdokimov posted the offending statements on VKontakte, a Russian social media platform, in December 2023, shortly after the Russian Supreme Court declared the “international LGBT movement” to be an extremist terrorist organization.
“Now that they’ve banned LGBT, it’s time to confess: I am the founder and main organizer of the LGBTQ+ extremist organization!” Yevdokimov wrote, according to Novaya Gazeta.
“I went to Rainbow High School, was recruited there, and now irradiate all homophobes with rainbows! Every time a homophobe looks at a rainbow, they get a tingle in their ass and want to suck dicks,” he wrote, also saying that “KGB cocksuckers” should “be afraid.”
Yevdokimov was already in police detention over a separate social media that is alleged to have “justified terrorism” post when he received the fine.
Russian authorities have stepped up persecution of LGBTQ people and activities since the Supreme Court ruling. Earlier this month, police detained the staff at a restaurant in Yakutsk in the Russian Far East, after the mayor’s office accused the restaurant of hosting performances by visiting queer and transgender artists from Thailand.
TURKEY
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacked the country’s LGBTQ community in a speech launching what he’s calling a “year of the family,” aimed at reversing declining birth rates.
Erdogan has long targeted the LGBTQ as a political tactic, even though Turkey’s queer community is relatively low profile. He often portrays LGBTQ rights activists as part of a foreign conspiracy designed to weaken Turkey.
“It is our common responsibility to protect our children and youth from harmful trends and perverse ideologies. Neoliberal cultural trends are crossing borders and penetrating all corners of the world,” he told an audience in the capital, Ankara. “They also lead to LGBT and other movements gaining ground.
“The target of gender neutralization policies, in which LGBT is used as a battering ram, is the family. Criticism of LGBT is immediately silenced, just like the legitimate criticisms of Zionism. Anyone who defends nature and the family is subject to heavy oppression.”
Critics of LGBTQ rights are not routinely silenced in Turkey, as should be evident by the fact that the current president is a vocal critic of LGBTQ rights. Parties opposed to LGBTQ rights make up a majority of the national parliament and run the majority of Turkey’s cities.
It is more accurate to say that the government routinely shuts down speech in favor of LGBTQ rights in Turkey.
Since 2016, Istanbul Pride has been banned every year. People who’ve defied the ban have been subjected to tear gas, plastic bullets, and mass arrests.
Last year, the city of Istanbul’s film censors banned a screening of the Luca Guadagnino film “Queer,” leading to the cancellation of the film festival it was set to open.
Erdogan’s announcement came with a suite of policies he says will reverse a trend of declining birth rates, including better income supports for newlyweds and new parents.
Turkish law does not recognize any same-sex relationships or same-sex parents.
MYANMAR
The military junta that governs Myanmar has banned seven books with LGBTQ themes and has said it will take action against the books’ publishers, according to Radio Free Asia.
The banned books are “A Butterfly Rests on My Heart” by Aung Khant, “1500 Miles to You” and “Love Planted by Hate” by Mahura, Myint Mo’s “Tie the Knot of Love,” “Match Made in Clouds” by DiDi Zaw, “DISO+Extra” by Red in Peace and “Concerned Person U Wai” by Vivian. All the books are published domestically by Myanmar writers.
“These books are not accepted by Myanmar society, they are shameless and the content that can mislead the thinking and feelings of young people,” the Information Ministry said in a statement published in state-run media.
The LGBTQ community typically maintains a low profile in the socially conservative country, where gay sex is still criminalized under a criminal code that was drafted by the British colonial administration in the 19th century.
LGBTQ people can also be charged or harassed by authorities under laws that criminalize the production and distribution of “obscene” materials.
Myanmar’s military has had effective control of the government since 1962. A brief democratization in the 2010s ended when the military seized power following the victory of pro-democracy forces in the 2020 election.
United Nations
UN human rights chief sounds alarm over ‘comprehensive onslaught’ against LGBTQ rights
Volker Türk on Monday spoke at UN LGBTI Core Group event
UNITED NATIONS — U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Monday said there is a “comprehensive onslaught” against LGBTQ and intersex rights around the world.
“We know that progress for human rights has never been linear … but today’s backlash is deep and it is coordinated and the persecution of LGBTIQ+ people around the world is escalating at an alarming rate,” he said during an U.N. LGBTI Core Group event that took place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
The Core Group is a group of U.N. member states that have pledged to support LGBTQ and intersex rights.
Mexico and Norway are the current co-chairs. The U.S. withdrew from the Core Group shortly after the Trump-Vance administration took office in 2025.
“We know that across every region, LGBTIQ+ people continue to live and to love in the face of hostility and exclusion,” said Türk. “Their rights, safety, well-being are under attack … it’s a comprehensive onslaught.”
The event took place days after Turkish authorities carried out raids in Istanbul and in other cities across the country that targeted the country’s LGBTQ community.
Türk in his remarks specifically referenced Turkey and Senegal, which further criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations earlier this year. He also noted some countries have deemed LGBTQ and intersex rights groups as “terrorists, extremists, or national security threats.”
The Trump-Vance administration’s anti-terrorism strategy that it released in May specifically references “radically pro-transgender” groups.
Türk noted “more and more candidates and political parties … use bigotry in order to promote anti-LGBTIQ+ sentiments” during election campaigns. He pointed out trans people and women are often targeted.
“These attacks are designed to confuse and to distract,” said Türk. “They cloak bigotry in the language of decency and morality. They evoke the protection of children against manufactured threats, while real and growing dangers to children’s lives and futures, including those linked to technology, to inequality and to the climate disaster remain unaddressed.”
“More broadly those who seek to erase difference and independent thought, expression, and voices from our societies often begin this by erasing LGBTIQ+ people from books and classrooms, from film and culture and from our streets,” he added. “So, this is always the beginning. It’s a wedge issue that unfortunately is used politically to erase other portions of society eventually.”
90 percent of LGBTQ, intersex groups have lost funding since 2025
The event took place less than two weeks after Outright International released a report that found 90 percent of LGBTQ and intersex rights groups around the world have lost funding since January 2025.
The Trump-Vance administration froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid shortly after it took office.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in March 2025 announced 83 percent of U.S. Agency for International Development contacts had been cancelled, and the State Department would administer the remaining programs. USAID officially shut down on July 1, 2025.
Rubio issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the funding freeze. The Washington Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of gaps in U.S. funding.
Dutch Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma in his remarks at the Core Group event noted his government — openly gay Prime Minister Rob Jetten took office in February — will pledge €50 million ($57.29 million) to support LGBTQ groups around the world. British Under Secretary of State Chris Elmore pointed out his government has pledged £21 million ($28.05) from 2026-2029 to bolster LGBTQ and intersex rights around the world.
“Equality benefits everyone,” said Elmore.
Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Roberto Velasco Álvarez, Norwegian International Development Minister Åsmund Aukrust, Icelandic Foreign Affairs Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, Maltese Foreign and European Affairs Minister Chris Fearne, Brazil’s National Secretary for the Promotion and Defense of the Rights of LGBTQIA+ People Symmy Larrat, Irish State Minister for International Development and Diaspora Neale Richmond, South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation Director-General Zane Dangor, Uruguayan Multilateral Affairs Director María Noel Beretta, French Ambassador-at-Large for Human Rights Isabelle Rome, Cabo Verdean Permanent U.N. Representative Tania Romualdo, Estonian Department of International Organizations and Human Rights Director General Käthlin Saluveer, and Swedish International Development Cooperation Director-General Camilla Nevstad Bruzelius also spoke at the event that Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin moderated.
Other speakers included Jon Tilli of Deutsche Bank, UN Women Civil Society Division Director Lopa Banerjee and two activists: Gloria Quaye of Ghana and Nhuun Wannapong Yodmuang of Thailand.
Quaye was among the 21 people who Ghanaian authorities arrested in 2021 during a human rights workshop for LGBTQ activists. She was detained for three weeks until a court dropped the charges.
“In times of adversity, countries can often be tempted to turn inward at precisely the moment when international cooperation is needed the most,” said Sjödin. “The United Nations, of course, brings together sovereign states, but sovereignty cannot be used to decide whose rights count.”
Then-first lady Jill Biden in 2024 spoke at a Core Group event that took place on the sidelines of that year’s U.N. General Assembly. Then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2016 headlined the Core Group event that coincided with that year’s U.N. General Assembly.
The U.S. did not send any representatives to this year’s event.
Jessica Stern, the former special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights under the Biden-Harris administration, and former U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Eric Nelson were among those from the U.S. who attended.
“The movement for the equal rights of LGBTIQ+ people has much to teach the world, particularly at this moment, but some seek to erase or reject those lessons,” said Türk. “The history of the movement for the equal rights is full of courage, dignity, and solidarity and it is an integral part of the human rights movement.”
“It’s not something separate; it’s an integral part of the full human rights movement,” he added. “In claiming their freedom, the LGBTIQ+ communities helped free our societies. We need to see it as a broader strive for freedom.”
Turkey
Activists protest outside Turkish Embassy in D.C.
Dozens detained during anti-LGBTQ ‘My Family Is Safe’ campaign raids
A group of activists on Friday gathered in front of the Turkish Embassy in D.C. to protest the country’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The protest — which the Council for Global Equality, Amnesty International USA, Outright International, and Health GAP organized — took place less than a week after Turkish authorities detained dozens of people during raids that targeted the country’s LGBTQ community and advocacy groups and HIV/AIDS service organizations.
Authorities in Istanbul on Sept. 15 detained more than 150 people who gathered outside a courthouse to protest the raids that are part of the government’s “My Family Is Safe” campaign. Journalists are among those who were taken into custody.
“This crackdown is not making families safer,” said Amnesty International USA Executive Director Nadia Daar, speaking in front of the Turkish Embassy.
Council for Global Equality Managing Director Keifer Buckingham stressed that “homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey.” Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell and Outright International Senior Director of Law, Policy, and Research Neela Ghoshal also spoke.
View on Threads
Activists in Madrid and in other cities around the world held similar protests on Friday.
Turkey
More than 150 people detained outside Istanbul courthouse
Protesters gathered after raids targeted Turkey’s LGBTQ community
Turkish authorities on Tuesday detained more than 150 people who gathered outside an Istanbul courthouse to protest raids that targeted the country’s LGBTQ community.
CNN reported the protesters had planned to speak with reporters outside the city’s Caglayan courthouse, but authorities prevented them from doing so.
Turkish authorities over the weekend detained dozens of people in Istanbul and in other cities during raids that were part of the government’s “My Family is Safe” campaign.
A statement from a group of Turkish advocacy groups the Washington Blade received on Tuesday notes “at least 112 people have been detained in connection with the operations.” The organizations said 43 of those taken into custody are “LGBTI+ rights defenders,” and “at least” 62 of those detained “have been arrested, while judicial proceedings remain ongoing in Istanbul.”
“Among those arrested, at least 16 are LGBTI+ activists or individuals connected to LGBTI+ associations, including founders and members of association bodies,” reads the statement. “Per press statements by the prosecutor’s offices, dissolution cases will also be launched against associations.”
“The majority of those arrested are trans women who are charged with prostitution-related offences,” it adds. “While authorities have framed the operations as part of investigations into alleged crimes such as obscenity, prostitution and child exploitation, human rights defenders and civil society organizations have raised serious concerns regarding the use of criminal law mechanisms and public morality narratives to target legitimate LGBTI+ rights activities. Civil society views the ‘My Family is Safe’ narrative as a smokescreen to distract the public from deep economic crises and actual domestic violence, weaponizing moral panic to scapegoat LGBTI+ rights defenders, who have long been targeted by the government.”
The raids have sparked outrage among LGBTQ activists in Europe and elsewhere around the world.
The Congressional Equality Caucus and U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.) are among those who have publicly condemned them in the U.S. The Council for Global Equality on Friday is scheduled to hold a rally in support of Turkey’s LGBTQ community in front of the Turkish Embassy in Northwest D.C.
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