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Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia

Norway is the latest country to ban conversion therapy

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2 years ago

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(Los Angeles Blade graphic)

EUROPEAN UNION

A meeting of the Council of the European Union in Strasbourg, France. (Photo courtesy of the European Union Press Office)

A new European Parenthood Certificate was approved by the European Union Parliament on Dec. 14, which included the recognition of same-sex parents. With 366 votes against 145 and 23 abstentions, MEPs backed draft legislation to ensure that, when parenthood is established by an EU country, the rest of the member states will recognize it.

The aim is to make sure that children enjoy the same rights under national law regarding education, healthcare, custody or succession. 

When it comes to establishment of parenthood at national level, member states will be able to decide whether to, for example, accept surrogacy, but they will be required to recognize parenthood established by another EU country irrespective of how the child was conceived, born or the type of family it has. 

Member states will have the option not to recognize parenthood if manifestly incompatible with their public policy, although this will only be possible in strictly defined cases. Each case will have to be considered individually to ensure there is no discrimination (i.e. against children of same sex parents.)

“No child should be discriminated against because of the family they belong to or the way they were born. Currently, children may lose their parents, legally speaking, when they enter another member state. This is unacceptable. With this vote, we come closer to the goal of ensuring that if you are a parent in one member state, you are a parent in all member states,” said lead MEP Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques (Portugal) following the vote.

Two million children may currently face a situation in which their parents are not recognized as such in another member state. While EU law already requires parenthood to be recognized under a child’s EU rights, this is not the case for the child’s rights under national law.

Parliament called for cross-border recognition of adoptions in 2017 and welcomed the commission’s initiative in its 2022 resolution. The commission proposal for a regulation aims to close the existing loopholes and ensure that all children can enjoy the same rights in each member state.

NORWAY

The Norwegian Parliament. (Photo courtesy of the Norwegian government)

The Norwegian Parliament on Dec. 12 approved a law that would make the practice of conversion therapy illegal and a criminal offense. In the 85-15 vote, lawmakers codified the bill first introduced in June 2019 by Justice and Emergency Minister Emilie Enger Mehl and Culture and Equality Minister Anette Trettebergstuen.

The law will make it a criminal offense to try to get others to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through, among other things, medical, alternative medicine or religious methods.

The penalty will be three years’ imprisonment, or six years in more serious cases.

In a statement released by her office, Åse Kristin Ask Bakke, the elected representative to the Parliament from the constituency of Møre og Romsdal said: “We are finally putting an end to this harmful practice that has been going on for far too long. This is a historic day.”

Hilde Arntsen, the executive director of the Norwegian nonprofit FRI, the Association for Gender and Sexuality Diversity, an LGBTQ rights advocacy group, said in a statement: “Many queers have experienced painful and harmful attempts to change our identity through growing up and adulthood. Now, through a strong political majority, Norway has decided that attempts to change queer identity are unacceptable. Being queer is not a condition that requires therapy. We should be allowed to be in peace as who we are, and it is now illegal for anyone to try to change us.”

RUSSIA

Russia’s OMON serves as a riot police group, or as a gendarmerie-like paramilitary force (Photo courtesy of the Russian government)

Less than a month after the Russian Supreme Court ruled that “the international LGBT social movement,” of which there is no legal entity, Russia’s elite special police force known as the OMON raided several gay clubs in the nation including the Ural regional capital city of Yekaterinburg as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Russian media and Radio Free Europe/RL’s Russian Service reported that OMON raided the gay club Fame on the night of Dec. 10 in Yekaterinburg, detaining more than 100 people who were attending a theme party in the club. Authorities said the raid was prompted by reports from “concerned citizens” that the club was selling illicit alcohol and tobacco products. 

Local media outlets report that of the people were detained at the club, all of them were released after their documents were checked.

POLAND

The European Court of Human Rights is based in the Human Rights Building in Strasbourg, France. (Photo courtesy of the ECHR Press Office)

The European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling in a lawsuit brought by five Polish gay and lesbian couples that stated that the Polish government’s lack of legal recognition and protection for same-sex couples violated their human rights. 

Polish national news outlet Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reported the ECHR rejected the Polish government’s arguments, which included that traditional marriage is part of Poland’s heritage, and found that “the Polish state had failed to comply with its duty to ensure a specific legal framework providing for the recognition and protection of same-sex unions.”

In its ruling ECHR, the court stressed the states signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights should “create a legal framework enabling people of the same sex enjoy the recognition and appropriate protection of their relationship through marriage or another form of union.”

In 2022, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that same-sex marriages of Polish citizens legally married in other countries were not expressly forbidden under the country’s constitution.

Article 18 of the constitution states: “marriage as a union of a man and a woman, family, motherhood and parenthood are under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland.”

“Article 18 of the constitution cannot in itself constitute an obstacle to transcribing a foreign marriage certificate if the institution of marriage as a union of persons of the same sex was provided for in the domestic [legal] order,” the court ruled.

“The provision of the constitution in question does not prohibit the statutory regulation of same-sex unions,” said the court, adding that it was simply the case that “at present the Polish legislature has not decided to introduce such solutions” into Polish law.

According to Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland is one of only six EU member states where same-sex couples cannot marry or register a civil partnership. 

The majority of Polish people support LGBTQ rights surrounding marriage and family, according to research by Miłość Nie Wyklucza (Love Does Not Exclude.) 

“It took a long time, definitely too long,” Grzegorz Lepianka, one of those who brought the case against Poland, told the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. “But I finally have some hope for real and truly good changes.”

Before the judgment in the case of the five Polish couples, the ECHR had already ruled in similar cases against Italy, Russia, Romania and Bulgaria. The judgment in Italy had a real impact on the situation of same-sex couples, because civil partnerships were introduced shortly after it.

SWITZERLAND

Palais des Nations, the main building of the U.N. office at Geneva. (Photo by Vassil, public domain/CC0)

The first edition of the Intersex Legal Mapping Report published by ILGA World found that a large majority of U.N. member states have yet to make any sufficient legal attempt to protect intersex people’s right to bodily integrity and autonomy.

The report features an overview of how each of the 193 UN member states is faring regarding the protection of the human rights of intersex people. 

The study is a ground-breaking global survey on legal protections for people born with variations in sex characteristics. Intersex people are born with variations of sex characteristics, such as genitals, reproductive organs, hormonal and chromosomal patterns, that are more diverse than stereotypical definitions of male or female bodies. 

Up to 1.7 percent of the global population is born with such traits; yet, because their bodies are seen as different, intersex children and adults are often stigmatized and subject to harmful practices – including in medical settings – and discriminated against.

“As of July 2023, only six UN member states adopted laws prohibiting unnecessary medical treatments, surgeries, and other interventions modifying the sex characteristics of intersex minors without their free, prior, and fully informed consent,” said Crystal Hendricks, chair of ILGA World’s Intersex Committee. “This striking dearth of legal protection is still a reality despite the unanimous, systematic, and urgent calls of intersex civil society and international human rights bodies. And yet, current positive trends give us reasons for hope.” 

ILGA World’s Intersex Legal Mapping Report documents how the past 15 years have seen a rapid increase in legal developments emerging to improve the situation of intersex individuals. As of July 2023, seven UN member states had introduced national legislation prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sex characteristics; five states adopted legal provisions on liability for offenses committed on the same grounds and seven introduced other legal norms aiming to improve intersex people’s equal enjoyment of their human rights. In addition, there is a growing number of national and subnational legal developments aimed at addressing the needs of the intersex community.

JAPAN

(Photo courtesy of the Kadokawa Corporation)

Earlier this month one of Japan’s largest publishing companies announced that it was cancelling publication of the Japanese version of Abigail Shrier’s anti-transgender book, Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.

The Tokyo-based Kadokawa Corporation said in a statement that the translated book could ultimately end up causing harm to people “directly involved with the Japanese trans community.”  The Japanese book’s title would translate as “that girl’s become transgender, too: The tragedy of the sex-change craze being contagious through social media.”

“We planned to publish the translation, hoping it would help readers in Japan deepen their discussions about gender through what is happening in Europe and the United States as well as other matters,” Kadokawa said.

“But the title and sales copy ended up causing harm to people directly involved” in transgender issues, the company said. “We sincerely apologize for it.”

PinkNewsUK reported that on X, formerly Twitter, there was a huge backlash against Kadokawa’s initial promotion of the book. Trans rights advocates planned a protest outside the publisher’s corporate headquarters in Tokyo, a move that has now been cancelled.

After the decision, one social media user wrote that while it was good that the book had been pulled, they worried that “future measures” to prevent similar incidents remain “unclear and unsatisfactory” so couldn’t be sure if Kadokawa’s apology to the trans community was genuine.  

Shrier, an opinion writer for The Wall Street Journal, took to X to share her displeasure that the “very nice” publisher had caved in PinkNewsUK added.

“By caving to an activist-led campaign against Irreversible Damage, they embolden the forces of censorship,” she wrote. “America has much to learn from Japan, but we can teach them how to deal with censorious cry-bullies.”

Additional reporting from Bergens Tidende, Agence France-Presse, the BBC,  Radio Free Europe, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, ILGA, PinkNewsUK and the Japan Times.

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India

India’s first transgender healthcare clinic reopens

Mitr Clinic closed after losing USAID funding

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3 hours ago

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July 11, 2025

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(Photo by Rahul Sapra via Bigstock)

A U.S. Agency for International Development funding freeze in January forced the closure of India’s Mitr Clinic, the country’s first transgender healthcare facility, disrupting critical services for a vulnerable population. 

Six months later, the clinic has reopened as Sabrang Clinic, reviving access to essential care for the transgender community.

Major Indian corporations, including some of the nation’s largest multinationals, stepped up with substantial financial support. Their backing has enabled Sabrang Clinic to resume its mission of delivering specialized, stigma-free medical services.

The former Mitr Clinic on May 2 reopened as the Sabrang Clinic. YR Gaitonde Center for AIDS Research and Education, an HIV/AIDS service organization, manages the facility.

The Sabrang Clinic sparked controversy in the U.S. when U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) in February denounced its USAID funding, arguing that American taxpayer dollars should not support trans healthcare initiatives abroad. President Donald Trump amplified the criticism, labeling the agency’s spending on such programs as “wasteful” and aligning with his administration’s broader push to curb federal support for gender-affirming care. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt further fueled the debate, citing the clinic’s funding as part of a pattern of USAID’s “radical” expenditures, while House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) echoed the sentiment, decrying similar international projects as misaligned with American priorities.

Elon Musk, who until May led the Department of Government Efficiency, added to the controversy surrounding the clinic. 

“That’s what American tax dollars were funding,” he said in a Feb. 28 X post. 

His remark, made before his departure from the Trump-Vance administration, spotlighted the clinic’s USAID support, intensifying debates over its role in delivering trans healthcare in India.

The Washington Blade on Feb. 27 detailed how the USAID funding freeze crippled Mitr Clinic’s operations, spotlighting the broader fallout for South Asian LGBTQ organizations. 

The Blade noted the clinic, a vital resource for trans healthcare in India, faced abrupt closure alongside groups in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, as the freeze slashed support for programs addressing HIV/AIDS, mental health, and gender-based violence, leaving thousands without access to essential services.

The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and USAID in 2021 launched Program ACCELERATE, spearheaded by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, to establish Mitr Clinic in Hyderabad in Telangana State. As India’s first comprehensive healthcare center for the trans community, the facility offered tailored medical services, including HIV/AIDS treatment and mental health support, filling a critical gap in the region’s healthcare landscape.

Sabrang Clinic serves a critical role for India’s estimated one million trans people, a population facing a disproportionate HIV/AIDS burden. 

A 2019 Reuters report noted a 3.1 percent HIV prevalence among trans people, translating to roughly 31,000 individuals living with the virus, compared to the national adult rate of 0.26 percent. Similarly, a 2021 UNAIDS report cited a 3.8 percent prevalence, suggesting approximately 38,000 trans people with HIV/AIDS. 

Internal reports indicate the clinic since it opened in 2021 has served more than 3,000 patients. It has become a model of community-led care that fosters trust and addresses the unique health needs of trans people in Hyderabad.

When USAID funding cuts forced Sabrang Clinic’s closure, scores of people and LGBTQ community members in Hyderabad were left without access to reliable, stigma-free healthcare. Undaunted, the clinic’s trans-led team pivoted to virtual consultations and medication delivery, sustaining critical support for patients until corporate funding revived operations.

Tata Trusts, a philanthropic arm of India’s Tata conglomerate, in April pledged to fund the clinic for three years.

The Hindu, a leading Indian English-language newspaper, reported the trust committed approximately $18 per person a year to sustain the clinic’s operations. This contrasts with the earlier USAID program, which had provided about $23 per person each year.

Tata Trusts covers the salaries of Sabrang Clinic’s core medical staff, while its leadership positions are jointly funded by Tata and the clinic’s parent organization. The clinic is now pursuing partnerships with additional donors to expand its trans-focused healthcare services.

“We are elated to continue this service, as we have always believed that sexual minorities deserve respect and their right to self-expression,” said YRGCARE Chief Operating Officer A.K. Srikrishnan. “That’s why we launched Mitr Clinic under Project ACCELERATE in 2021, and it operated until January 2025. The Trump administration’s USAID funding withdrawal forced a shutdown, but we have no comment on that. Fortunately, with great vigor, we secured support from Tata Trusts to sustain Sabrang Clinic. The name change to Sabrang, also called ‘Help for All,’ was simply to reposition the brand, with no deeper logic attached.”

Srikrishnan told the Blade that YRGCARE will aim to raise additional crowdfunding and support if the current funding proves insufficient to maintain the same level of services at the clinic. Srikrishnan also thanked Tata Trusts for its support.

“We want to expand it throughout the country given the choice,” said Srikrishnan. “If someone were to tell us, ‘Can you run it across the country?’ we would certainly love to do it.” 

“Sexual minorities are a reality, and however much someone wishes them away, they exist and need to exist with the respect and rights they deserve,” added Srikrishnan. “We do not differentiate between local and foreign contributions; when we needed it most, Tata Trusts stepped in and helped. So we are certainly grateful to them.”

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Spain

Spanish women detail abuses suffered in Franco-era institutions

Barcelona-based photographer Luca Gaetano Pira created ‘Las Descarriadas’ exhibit

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2 days ago

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July 9, 2025

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Luca Gaetano Pira's 'Las Descarriadas' exhibit profiles women who suffered abuses in Franco-era institutions. (Photo courtesy of Luca Gaetano Pira)

A Barcelona-based photographer, audiovisual artist, and activist has created an exhibit that profiles Spanish women who suffered abuse in institutions that Gen. Francisco Franco’s dictatorship established.

Luca Gaetano Pira, who is originally from Italy, spoke with women who the regime, which governed Spain from 1936-1975, sent to Women’s Protection Board institutions.

The regime in 1941 created the board the country’s Justice Ministry oversaw.

Franco named his wife, Carmen Polo, as the board’s honorary president. Then-Prime Minister Felipe González fully dissolved the board in 1985, a decade after Franco’s death.

Gaetano’s exhibit is called “Las Descarriadas” or “The Misguided Women” in English.  

“These are women who were detained between 1941 and 1985 for reasons that are unthinkable today: being lesbian, poor, pregnant out of wedlock, rebellious, politically active … or simply considered ‘morally suspect,'” Gaetano noted to the Washington Blade.

Groups affiliated with the Spanish Catholic Church ran these institutions. Gaetano pointed out they were “presented as social assistance centers.”

“In reality, they were spaces of punishment and forced reeducation, where isolation, unpaid work, and psychological violence were the norm,” he said. “Many of the survivors are still alive. Their testimonies are powerful, urgent, and of extraordinary current relevance.”

The regime sent more than 40,000 women to Women’s Protection Board institutions.

“Despite its seemingly benevolent name, it was in fact one of the most powerful instruments of moral and social control over women during and after the dictatorship,” notes the exhibit. “Under the guise of care and re-education, this institution functioned as a repressive apparatus that punished women who deviated from the ideal feminine model imposed by Franco’s regime: submissive, obedient, married, and dedicated to motherhood within the Catholic family structure.”

The Spanish Catholic Church last month issued a public apology, but Gaetano described it as “very soft” and noted “the women did not accept it.” Gaetano also compared the Women’s Protection Board institutions to Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries.

The Associated Press notes tens of thousands of “fallen” women were sent to the laundries that Catholic nuns operated in Ireland from the 18th century until the mid-1990s. Then-Irish Prime Minister Edna Kenny in 2013 issued a formal apology for the abuses that women suffered in the laundries and announced the government would compensate them.

The Spanish government has yet to offer compensation to the women abused in Women’s Protection Board institutions.

“My work focuses on recovering the historical memory of marginalized communities, particularly through the portrayal of survivors of institutional violence and the use of archival materials,” Gaetano told the Blade, noting he has also sought to highlight the repression that LGBTQ people suffered during dictatorships in Portugal and Latin America.

Gaetano’s exhibit can be found here:

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Afghanistan

ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of LGBTQ people, women

Groups ‘non-conforming’ with group’s gender policy targeted

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3 days ago

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July 8, 2025

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The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. (Photo by STRINGER Image/Bigstock)

The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for two top Taliban officials accused of targeting LGBTQ people, women, and others who defy the group’s strict gender norms.

The warrants are for Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Afghanistan Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani.

“Based on evidence presented by the Office (of the Prosecutor), the judges found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have committed — by ordering, inducing, or soliciting — the crime against humanity of persecution, under article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute, on gender grounds, against girls, women, and other persons non-conforming with the Taliban’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression; and on political grounds against persons perceived as ‘allies of girls and women,’” reads an ICC press release that announced the warrants.

Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, in January announced a request for warrants against Taliban officials over their treatment of women and other groups since they regained control of Afghanistan in 2021. The request marked the first time the court specifically named LGBTQ people as victims in a gender persecution case before it.

“The issuance of the first arrest warrants in the situation in Afghanistan is an important vindication and acknowledgement of the rights of Afghan women and girls,” reads the press release the ICC released on Tuesday. “It also recognizes the rights and lived experiences of persons whom the Taliban perceived as not conforming with their ideological expectations of gender identity or expression, such as members of the LGBTQI+ community, and persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women.” 

A report that Outright International released in 2023 notes Taliban officials have systematically targeted LGBTQ people — especially gay men and transgender women.

Taliban officials have subjected them to physical and sexual assault as well as arbitrary detention. The Outright International report also notes Taliban authorities have carried out public floggings for alleged same-sex sexual relations, and have collected intelligence on LGBTQ activists and community members.

Artemis Akbary, executive director of the Afghanistan LGBTIQ Organization, praised the ICC.

“Today is a historic moment for LGBTIQ victims and survivors,” he said on social media.

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