World
ICC for first time recognizes LGBTQ people as victims of gender persecution
Chief prosecutor to seek arrest warrants for Taliban leaders behind human rights abuses
The International Criminal Court on Jan. 23 for the first time recognized LGBTQ people as victims of gender persecution under international criminal law.
Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, announced a request for arrest warrants against Taliban officials accused of targeting women and others perceived as defying the group’s strict gender norms in Afghanistan. It is the first time LGBTQ people have been explicitly named as victims in a gender persecution case before the court.
Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, there has been a significant escalation in the repression of LGBTQ people and women. A report that Human Rights Watch released in 2022 documented nearly 60 cases of targeted violence against LGBTQ people in the months following the Taliban’s return to power.
The Washington Blade in October 2022 reported the Taliban have frequently used the contents of seized cell phones to track and target LGBTQ people, further intensifying the climate of fear, and violence against the community in Afghanistan.
In its February 2023 report, “A Mountain on My Shoulders: 18 Months of Taliban Persecution of LGBTIQ Afghans,” Outright International detailed how Taliban security officials systematically targeted LGBTQ people, especially gay men and transgender women, subjecting them to physical and sexual assault as well as arbitrary detention. The report also noted Taliban authorities had carried out public floggings for alleged same-sex relations, with the Taliban Supreme Court publicly defending these punishments on social media at the time.
The report indicates Taliban officials had escalated their efforts to target LGBTQ people, making it a greater priority. They collected intelligence on LGBTQ activists and community members, hunted them down, and subjected them to violence and humiliation as part of their systematic campaign of repression.
Khan has sought charges against the Taliban’s Supreme Leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani for crimes against women, girls, and LGBTQ people. Khan said there are reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada and Haqqani orchestrated systematic violations of fundamental rights, including physical integrity, autonomy, free movement, free expression, education, private and family life, and free assembly.
Khan further detailed that the Taliban’s persecution was committed in connection with other crimes under the Rome Statute, including murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearance, and other inhumane acts.
Reports indicate the Taliban has banned education for girls beyond sixth grade, severely restricting their access to education and limiting employment opportunities in health and education sectors. Taliban members have also beaten, detained, and tortured women who participated in protests in support of their rights, and have carried out violent attacks against LGBTQ people.
Khan’s requests have been submitted to a pretrial chamber comprising three ICC judges, who will decide whether to issue the warrants. The ICC initially authorized the Afghanistan investigation in March 2020, following a preliminary examination that began in 2007. The investigation, however, was paused for several years as the prosecutor and ICC judges considered a request by Afghanistan’s former government to defer ICC proceedings in favor of domestic prosecutions the government claimed to be pursuing.
The judges noted any cases pursued by the former Afghan government represented, at most, a “very limited fraction” of those falling within the scope of an ICC investigation. They also observed that the current government displayed no interest in upholding the deferral request. The ICC, as a result, authorized the resumption of the investigation in October 2022.
“This is a historic moment since it is the first time in history that the ICC has officially recognized the crimes committed against LGBTIQ+ people. This application for an arrest warrant sends a strong message that the international community rejects the gender persecution of LGBTIQ+ people,” said Artemis Akbary, executive director of the Afghanistan LGBTIQ Organization. “LGBTIQ+ people in Afghanistan need our support and solidarity more than ever, and we must ensure that they have access to justice and accountability.”
Outright International in its press release stated this development marks a significant step toward addressing the unique vulnerabilities of LGBTQ people in conflict and crisis situations.
“The Taliban’s reign of terror over women and LGBTIQ people has been based on the assumption that gender persecution can persist with impunity. The ICC’s recognition of LGBTIQ victims challenges that presumption by recognizing the humanity of our communities,” said Outright International Senior Director of Law, Policy, and Research Neela Ghoshal. “Once arrest warrants are issued against Taliban officials, member states should support the court’s efforts to swiftly bring them to justice.”
Human Rights Watch International Justice Director Liz Evenson also welcomed Khan’s announcement.
“The ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against two senior Taliban leaders for the crime against humanity of gender persecution should put the Taliban’s oppression of women, girls, and gender nonconforming people back on the international community’s radar,” said Evenson. “With no justice in sight in Afghanistan, the ICC warrant requests offer an essential pathway for a measure of accountability.”
She added the “international crimes committed in Afghanistan are vast, but a broad approach to accountability is needed to break cycles of impunity that have led to more abuses.”
“ICC member countries should ensure the court has the backing and practical assistance it needs to expand its Afghanistan investigations,” said Evenson.
The Afghan Justice Ministry has not responded to the Washington Blade’s request for comment.
“It is truly groundbreaking for the International Criminal Court to recognize our communities among the victims and survivors of the most heinous crimes and their consequences, and to acknowledge gender identity and gender expression among the drivers of human rights violations,” said ILGA World Executive Director Julia Ehrt. “These warrants of arrest highlight human rights violations that civil society has long documented and that the world can no longer ignore.”
Netherlands
Dutch prime minister opens World Pride Human Rights Conference
Rob Jetten is country’s first openly gay head of government
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key are on assignment in Amsterdam through Aug. 10.
AMSTERDAM — Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten on Wednesday opened the World Pride Human Rights Conference in Amsterdam.
Jetten — who in February became the country’s first openly gay prime minister — began his remarks with an acknowledgment that the July 25 terrorist attack at Berlin’s Christopher Street Day that left one person dead and more than two dozen others injured “filled me with anger and sorrow.”
He started to speak after a group of activists began to shout at him over his government’s position on Palestine — the International Criminal Court, which is based in The Hague, has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders in connection with crimes against humanity it says they committed in the Gaza Strip and Israel after Oct. 7.
Jetten stood silently and allowed them to protest before security personnel removed them from the room.
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Jetten in his speech acknowledged this year marks 25 years since the Netherlands became the first country to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. He also pointed out 2025 marks Amsterdam Pride’s Canal Parade‘s 30th year.
“More and more in recent years, we’ve seen hard won progress being eroded,” conceded Jetten. “We’ve seen countries backsliding in equal rights legislation. We’ve seen homophobic hate speech becoming more overt and aggressive, and not only out in the real world, but online as well.”
Jetten pointed out “online hatred is one of the biggest threats facing the LGBTQIA+ people today.”
“All around the world … misinformation and disinformation can be spread in the blink of an eye with a single mouse click, reaching much further and much faster than NGOs, youth workers and health organizations can,” he said. “This is always how hatred takes hold. First in the shadows, outside the spotlight of society, underestimated by everyone, until, having grown into a many headed monster, it crawls out of the darkness.”
Jetten said his government this fall will launch “a social dialog on online discrimination and offering specific guidance on action to take.” This will include “training courses for municipalities and civil society organizations to help them deal with online hate speech.”
His government over the next three years will invest €7.5 million each year “in improving the safety of the queer community in our cities with an alliance of organizations committed to safety, both in the public space and in the workspace for LGBTQI+ people, and with a public information campaign to combat discrimination and disinformation.” Jetten also said the government will promote a campaign in Dutch schools that encourages students and teachers to wear purple as a way to show their support for the LGBTQ community.
’Equal rights are not a Western agenda’
Jetten in his speech also singled out “conservative forces” in Uganda, Senegal, and in other countries who are framing LGBTQ rights “developments as a neocolonial Western agenda.”
“Under the pretense of resisting so-called Western moral decadence, horrendous laws are enacted and promoted, laws that put the rights of free people under severe pressure,” he said. “But in reality, many communities in these countries have a long history of diversity and freedom, and the laws that impose the restrictions were in fact put in place by the colonial powers.”
“No matter how hard those conservative forces try to pull the wool over people’s eyes, queer communities around the world know that equal rights are not a Western agenda,” added Jetten. “They are first and foremost a human agenda.”
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema and Nayyab Ali, co-chair of the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Alliance Pakistan, are among those who also spoke on Wednesday. Lady Phyll, co-founder of UK Black Pride, and Camiel Welling, supervisor of the Amsterdam Trans Clinic, are co-hosting the conference that ends Friday.
Celebrity News
My evening with Madonna
Gay icon headlined the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key will be on assignment in the Netherlands through Aug. 10. They will be covering World Pride in Amsterdam.
AMSTERDAM — Madonna and 6,000 of her closest friends celebrated World Pride at Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall early Sunday morning. I was fortunate enough to be one of them.
Madonna last Wednesday nearly broke the internet when she said on social media in Dutch that “I got somethin’ I wanna talk about,” referring to an opening line in “Danceteria,” one of the tracks on her “Confessions II” album that has received rave reviews since its July 2 release. The track has been on near constant replay on my playlist since I first heard it.
— Madonna (@Madonna) July 28, 2026
MISTR — a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term care that has organized Madonna’s Club Confessions shows in the U.S. and the U.K. — later confirmed the rampant speculation. I woke up on July 30 to an email in my inbox from MISTR and the World Pride Music Festival PR team that said I was on the press list.
Madonna was indeed going to headline the World Pride Music Festival that Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced, and I was going to be there. OMFG!!!!
The gay icon had one more surprise in store.
The Dutch internet on Saturday once again broke over speculation that Kylie Minogue was going to appear alongside Madonna. I was getting ready to leave our hotel in Amsterdam on Saturday night when I saw a video of the two of them together.
“Madonna is now teasing Kylie Minogue on her social media … she may be one of her ‘special guests’ tonight,” I wrote in a text to Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff at 8:46 p.m.
“Have fun! This is turning into the gayest concert ever,” he responded.
I arrived at AFAS Live shortly before 11 p.m. My press contact walked me and two other Dutch journalists into the venue’s cavernous main room known as the Black Box. We made small talk for a few minutes before I started to walk around and listen to Josh Harrison who was on the decks.
Madonna was scheduled to take the stage at 1:30 a.m., but she is known for being late — she is Madonna and she does what she wants. Hayla, a British singer, and Bebe Rexha are among those who performed ahead of Madonna. Thousands of sweaty men — including a group of Australians next to me who were eagerly awaiting Kylie’s anticipated appearance — packed the Black Box and were dancing, anticipating what was to come.
MISTR CEO Tristan Schukraft at one point came on stage and declared Madonna was indeed in the building. The moment for which we were all eagerly waiting finally came shortly before 2:30 a.m.
“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage.
Stuart Price, who produced her “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album in 2005, manned the decks during Madonna’s set.
She opened it with “I Feel So Free” from “Confessions II.” Madonna then sang “Bring Your Love” and “Danceteria” to which this reporter — and everyone else — sang along.
Madonna then teased a surprise before she began to perform “Love Sensation.” Kylie soon appeared on stage. It was nearly too much for my fellow partygoers from Australia. It was indeed the gayest concert ever!
Madonna and Kylie performed “Love Sensation” together. They then sang “Hung Up” and “Sorry” from “Confessions on a Dance Floor” to round out the set that ended shortly after 3 a.m.
Madonna and I share the same birthday — Aug. 16 — and I would like to think she and Kylie gave me an early birthday present. In all seriousness though, it was an amazing night for me and for everyone else who was fortunate enough to be there.
“On the dance floor I feel so free,” says Madonna in the opening of “I Feel So Free.”
For those few precious hours at AFAS Live I did not think about the Trump-Vance administration and the myriad ways it is destroying the U.S. I did not think about the National Guard troops deployed to D.C. I did not think about the pointless wars that continue to ravage Ukraine and other countries around the world. I simply lost myself on the dance floor and celebrated an icon who has always stood with my community.
Thank you, Madonna.
Netherlands
Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade draws hundreds of thousands
Gay Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten among participants
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key are on assignment in the Netherlands through Aug. 10.
AMSTERDAM — Hundreds of thousands of people lined Amsterdam’s canals on Saturday for the city’s annual Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade.
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, who is openly gay, is among those who participated in the parade that featured more than 80 boats. Participants held signs and posters that, among other things, read “proud to be intersex” and “lesbians love you and a free Palestine.”
The Washington Blade saw at least two attendees holding fans that read “fuck Trump.” One of the boats also compared President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “the kissing couple.”
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
The parade took place a week after a terrorist attack at Berlin’s Christopher Street Day left one person dead and more than two dozen others injured.
It passed the Homomonument, a memorial to gays and lesbians who have suffered persecution. The Homomonument has been transformed into a makeshift memorial to the victims of the July 25 terrorist attack in the German capital.
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The Canal Parade took place during World Pride, which will end in Amsterdam on Aug. 9.
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PHOTOS: Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade
Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade draws hundreds of thousands
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