World
Top 10 international LGBTQ news stories of 2024
Pope reaches out, Oct. 7 aftermath, Trump rattles activists

The extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples, anti-LGBTQ crackdowns, war, and elections are among the issues that made headlines around the world over the past year. Here are the top international stories of 2024.
#10 African countries move to criminalize homosexuality
Ghanaian MPs on Feb. 28 passed the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill that would, among other things, criminalize allyship. Outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo did not immediately sign the bill, citing the outcome of a Supreme Court case.
Burkina Faso Justice Minister Edasso Bayala on July 10 announced consensual same-sex sexual acts are illegal in the country. Maliās Transitional National Council on Oct. 31 adopted a draft penal code that would criminalize acts of homosexuality.
The Dominica High Court of Justice, on the other hand, on April 22 struck down provisions of a law that criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in the Caribbean nation. A judge on St. Vincent and the Grenadinesās top court on Feb. 16 dismissed two cases that challenged the countryās sodomy laws.
#9 More countries extend marriage rights to same-sex couples
Greece, Liechtenstein, and Estonia in 2024 extended marriage rights to same-sex couples.
Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn on Sept. 24 approved a marriage equality bill that lawmakers passed earlier in the year. It is slated to take effect on Jan. 22, 2025. Liechtenstein’s marriage equality law will take effect on New Year’s Day.
The Dutch Supreme Court on July 12 ruled Aruba and CuraƧao must extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. Czech lawmakers in February rejected a marriage equality bill.
#8 Gay, lesbian lawmakers make headlines
Steve Letsike, a lesbian who founded Access Chapter 2, a South African advocacy group, on May 29 won a seat in the South African National Assembly. President Cyril Ramaphosa later named her to his Cabinet.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Jan. 9 named Gabriel Attal as the countryās first openly gay prime minister. Attal resigned in July after Macronās party lost its overall majority in the National Assembly.
Then-Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on March 20 announced his resignation. He became the countryās first gay prime minister in 2017.

#7 Algerian boxer Imane Khelif faces questions over gender at Olympics
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif faced questions over her gender during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Khelif won the Olympic gold medal in the womenās 66-kilogram competition on Aug. 10. She was born female and does not identify as transgender or intersex. The International Olympic Committee said Khelif “is not a man fighting a woman.”
Khelif after the games filed a criminal complaint against JK Rowling and Elon Musk with French authorities. The lawsuit claims the two engaged in āacts of aggravated cyber harassment.ā

#6 Mexico bans āconversion therapyā
The Mexican Senate on April 25 overwhelmingly approved a bill that bans so-called conversion therapy in the country.
The measure passed by a 77-4 vote margin with 15 abstentions. The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Mexicoās congress, in March approved the bill that, among other things, would subject conversion therapy practitioners to between two and six years in prison and fines.
Canada, Brazil, Belgium, Germany, France, and New Zealand are among the countries that ban conversion therapy.
#5 Germanyās Self-Determination Act takes effect
A German law that simplifies the process for transgender or nonbinary people to legally change their name and gender in official documents took effect on Nov. 1.
The countryās Cabinet on Aug. 21 approved the Gender Self-Determination Act.
#4 Russiaās anti-LGBTQ crackdown continues
The Russian government in 2024 continued its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
President Vladimir Putin last month signed a bill that bans the adoption of Russian children in countries where gender transition is legal.
Media reports indicate authorities on Nov. 30 raided three Moscow nightclubs that have hosted LGBTQ-specific events. Authorities in October raided two bars in the Russian capital and in Yekaterinburg. The raids coincided with National Coming Out Day events.

#3 Pope Francis continues outreach to LGBTQ Catholics
Pope Francis in 2024 continued his outreach to LGBTQ Catholics.
The pontiff on Oct. 12 met with a group of transgender and intersex Catholics and LGBTQ allies at the Vatican. Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founders of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based organization that advocates on behalf of LGBTQ Catholics, arranged the meeting that took place at Casa Santa Marta, Francisās residence in Vatican City.
Clare Byarugaba of Chapter Four Uganda and Rightify Ghana Director Ebenezer Peegah met with Francis at the Vatican on Aug. 14.
Francis earlier this year during an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Norah OāDonnell said priests can bless gays and lesbians who are couples, as opposed to their unions. Francis in a declaration the Vaticanās Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released on March 25 condemned gender-affirming surgeries and āgender theory.ā

#2 LGBTQ Israelis, Palestinians grapple with Oct. 7 aftermath
The Washington Blade traveled to Israel in October to cover the first anniversary of Oct. 7 and how LGBTQ Israelis and Palestinians continue to grapple with its aftermath.
Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, Pride House of Beāer Sheva, the Aguda, the Israeli Transgender Association, and other Israeli advocacy groups continue to offer access to mental health services, housing programs, and other needs to those directly impacted by Oct. 7.
The Blade interviewed Omer Ohana, who successfully lobbied Israeli lawmakers to amend the countryās Bereaved Families Law to recognize LGBTQ widows and widowers of fallen Israel Defense Forces soldiers. Hamas militants on Oct. 8, 2023, killed his fiancĆ©, IDF Maj. Sagi Golan, in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip.
LGBTQ aid workers who have worked with queer Palestinians in Gaza over the last year also spoke with the Blade.
āIt became very apparent to me that everything we did was like pouring water into the desert,ā said Rain Doe Dubilewski of Safebow, which helped more than 300 people evacuate Gaza. āThere was nothing we can offer that is lasting or stable for the Palestinian people.ā

#1 Trump re-election sparks concern among LGBTQ activists around the world
President-elect Donald Trump’s election in November sparked concern among LGBTQ activists and advocacy groups around the world.
āI worry that Trumpās win means no protection for global LGBTQ+ human rights,ā Sexual Minorities Uganda Executive Director Frank Mugisha told the Blade.
Esteban Paulón, a long-time LGBTQ activist in Argentina who won a seat in the countryās Congress in 2022, echoed Mugisha. Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjƶdin in an email to their groupās supporters after the election said the results āhave raised deep concerns for many of us who care about fundamental human rights, freedoms, and democratic norms for LGBTIQ people and everyone else around the world.ā
Trump during his first administration tapped then-U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell to lead an initiative that encouraged countries to decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations. Activists with whom the Blade has previously spoken questioned whether this effort had any tangible results.
United Nations
UN Human Rights Council extends LGBTQ rights expert’s mandate
29 countries voted for resolution

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday extended the mandate of the United Nations’ independent LGBTQ rights expert for another three years.
The resolution passed with 29 countries (Albania, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Kenya, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, South Korea, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, and Vietnam) voting for it and 15 countries (Algeria, Bangladesh, Burundi, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malawi, Maldives, Morocco, Qatar, and Sudan) voted against it.
Benin, Ghana, and Kyrgyzstan abstained.
The U.S. in February withdrew from the Human Rights Council. The Trump-Pence administration in 2018 pulled the U.S. from it. The U.S. in 2021 regained a seat on the Human Rights Council.
Graeme Reid has been the UN’s independent LGBTQ rights expert since 2023. The South African activist, among other things, previously ran Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program.

South Africa National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza on June 17 swore in lesbian feminist Palomino Jama as a new MP.
Jama joins other LGBTQ legislators ā including Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson; Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Dion George; and Deputy Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities Minister, Steve Letsike.
Jama said she will work hard and excel as MP.
“What a great moment to be alive. Thank you youth of 1976, thank you Simon Nkoli, Phumi Mthetwa, Paddy Nhlaphos, Vanessa Ludwig, and others for what you did for the LGBTI people in the 80s and 90s. Lastly, for the fierce fist of the Jamas to always hit where it matters for the people of this country,” said Letsike.
Embrace Diversity Movement, a local LGBTQ organization, said Jama’s inauguration came at an appropriate time, during Pride month.
“Her swearing-in took place during a month of profound significance in June, which marks both international Pride Month and Youth Month in South Africa,” said the group. “Palomino is a seasoned queer activist and dedicated community builder with a distinguished record of leadership and service.”
“The EDM proudly supports Palomino in her deployment to parliament, her presence meaningfully advances youth and queer representation in public office,” added the Embrace Diversity Movement. “We are confident that she will serve the people of South Africa with integrity, courage, and distinction.”
South Africa is the only African country that constitutionally upholds LGBTQ rights. There are, however, still myriad challenges the LGBTQ community faces on a daily basis that range from physical attacks to online abuse.
Letsike in May faced a barrage of online attacks after she released a scathing statement against popular podcaster Macgyver “MacG” Mukwevho, who during a podcast episode in April insinuated that the reason behind popular socialite Minnie Dlamini’s “unsuccessful” relationships were probably due to the bad odor from her genitals.
Letsike, who viewed MacG’s comments as offensive, called for the podcaster to be summoned before parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities and criticized the local television station that aired the podcast.
X users and other social media subscribers bombarded Letsike with anti-lesbian comments. She, however, was unphased.
Letsike continues to face anti-lesbian comments, even though MacG apologized and the television station on which his podcast had aired cancelled its contract with him.
Israel
Activist recalls experience in Tel Aviv after Israel-Iran war began
Marty Rouse was part of Jewish Federations of North America Pride mission

A long-time activist who was in Israel last month when its war with Iran began has returned to D.C.
Marty Rouse traveled to Israel on June 6 with the Jewish Federations of North America. The 5-day mission ended the night before the annual Tel Aviv Pride parade was scheduled to take place.
Mission participants met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and several LGBTQ activists in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. They visited the Western Wall, the Nova Music Festival site, and Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel that is less than a mile from the country’s border with the Gaza Strip. Mission participants also visited Sderot, a city that is roughly a mile from the Hamas-controlled enclave, a veterans rehabilitation facility, a new LGBTQ health center and the Aguda: The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel in Tel Aviv.
Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, killed upwards of 360 partygoers and kidnapped dozens more at the music festival that was taking place at a campground near Re’im, a kibbutz that is roughly 10 miles southwest of Nir Oz. The militants killed or took hostage nearly a quarter of Nir Oz’s residents. They also took control of Sderot’s police station.

Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Chen Arieli spoke at the mission’s closing party that took place at the Sheraton Grand, a hotel that overlooks Tel Aviv’s beachfront, on June 12.
Rouse and other mission participants planned to stay in Tel Aviv for the Pride parade, which was scheduled to take place the following day. He and Gordie Nathan, another mission participant who lives in Palm Springs, Calif., had checked into a nearby hotel that was less expensive.
“We said our farewells,” recalled Rouse when he spoke with the Washington Blade in D.C. on June 24. “We went to our hotels, and we get the warning, and then all hell broke loose.”
Israel early on June 13 launched airstrikes against Iran that targeted the country’s nuclear and military facilities.
Rouse said mission organizers told him and other participants who remained in Tel Aviv to meet at the Sheraton Grand for breakfast and dinner ā Israel’s airspace was closed in anticipation of an Iranian counterattack, and authorities cancelled the Pride parade.
He said he went to bomb shelters at least twice a night for three nights.
Israel’s Home Front Command during the war typically issued warnings about 10 minutes ahead of an anticipated Iranian missile attack. Sirens then sounded 90 seconds before an expected strike.
Rouse and Nathan walked to the Sheraton Grand on June 13 when the Home Front Command issued a 10-minute warning. They reached the hotel in a couple of minutes, and staff directed them to the bomb shelter.
“You know to walk slowly, everything’s fine,” recalled Rouse. “You get 10 minutes, so everything was fine when the alarm goes off.”
Rouse described the Sheraton Grand shelter as “well lit” with WiFi, a television, and air conditioning. He was watching an Israeli television station’s live coverage of the Iranian missile attack when he saw one hit an apartment building in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan.
A 74-year-old woman died and her boyfriend was seriously injured.
“I go over to look at the TV, just to watch,” recalled Rouse. “All of a sudden, you watch, and you see one bomb go and land and explode in Tel Aviv on TV. It landed and blew up.”
“I was like, okay, this is real, and so that was scary,” he added.
Rouse said the bomb shelter in the hotel where he and Nathan were staying after the mission ended was far less comfortable.
“It was dark. It was humid. It was hot. It was very uncomfortable,” said Rouse. “You really felt alone.”

Rouse and nearly everyone else on the mission who were in Tel Aviv when the war began left Israel on June 15. They boarded buses that took them to the Jordanian capital of Amman, which is a roughly 2 1/2-hour drive from Tel Aviv through the West Bank.
Rouse described the trip as “like a field trip” until they drove across the Jordan River and arrived at the Jordanian border crossing.
“You walk into this room, and instead of being in a well air-conditioned airport, you’re in this hot, humid, small place in the middle of the desert, packed with people, and those big, large, loud fans and pictures of military people on the walls,” he said. “It was almost like a Casablanca kind of feeling.”
Rouse said Jordanian authorities brought mission participants through customs in groups of 10. A Jewish Federations of North America liaison from Amman who previously worked as a tour guide for A Wider Bridge ā a group that āadvocates for justice, counters LGBTQphobia, and fights antisemitism and other forms of hatredā ā went “behind closed doors” to ensure everyone was able to enter the country.
“It took a really long time,” Rouse told the Blade.

Mission participants arrived in Amman a short time later. They checked into their hotel and then had dinner at a restaurant.
“Now we feel like we’re safe and we’re in Amman,” recalled Rouse. “We’re sitting outside having a beautiful dinner.”
Iranian missiles passed over Amman shortly after Rouse and the other mission participants had begun to eat their dessert. They went inside the restaurant, and waited a few minutes before they boarded busses that brought them back to their hotel.
“No one was openly freaking out, which I was surprised by,” said Rouse.
The group was scheduled to fly from Amman to Cairo at 11 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) on June 16. They visited Jerash, an ancient city north of Amman, before their flight left Jordan.
“[The Jerash trip] actually took our minds off of everything,” said Rouse.
A Jewish Federations of North America contact met Rouse and the other mission participants at Cairo’s airport once their flight landed. Rouse arrived at JFK Airport in New York on June 17.
Trump-announced ceasefire ended 12-day war
President Donald Trump on June 23 announced a ceasefire that ended the 12-day war.
The U.S. three days earlier launched airstrikes that struck three Iranian nuclear sites. The ceasefire took effect hours after Iran launched missiles at a U.S. military base in Qatar.
Iran said the war killed more than 900 people in the country.
The Associated Press notes Iranian missiles killed 28 people in Israel. One of them destroyed Tel Aviv’s last gay bar on June 16.
The war took place less than two years after Oct. 7.
The Israeli government says Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, killed roughly 1,200 people on that day when it launched its surprise attack on the country. The militants also kidnapped more than 200 people.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed nearly 55,000 people in the enclave since Oct. 7. Karim Khan, the International Criminal Courtās chief prosecutor, has said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who the IDF killed last October, are among those who have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and Israel.

Rouse upon his return to the U.S. said he “was never as aware of the comfort of another human being than I was during that time.” Rouse affectionately called Nathan his “bomb shelter boyfriend” and even questioned the way he reacted to the missile alerts.
“He’s sitting on the edge of the bed and he goes, okay, I’m going to put on my socks and my shoes, and I say, really? You’re going to put on your socks,” Rouse told the Blade. “The fact that I was nervous, that putting on socks might have changed the direction of our lives, to me was like I can’t believe I said that to him.”
Rouse quickly added Nathan helped him remain calm.
“If I was by myself, those nights would have been long enough,” said Rouse. “It’s a totally different feeling to be with another human that you know than to be by yourself.”

Rouse also praised the Jewish Federations of North America.
“JFNA really sprung into action and started to figure out all options to get us all safely home,” said Rouse. “It was all about logistics. Staff worked around the clock identifying and then mobilizing to get us back to the states. It was a great team effort and I know I speak for everyone in expressing our deep appreciation for their dedication to getting us safely home.”
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