Latest news with #queerrights
CNA
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNA
WorldPride attendees to march through Washington in defiance of Trump
WASHINGTON: LGBTQ+ people from around the world will march through the streets of Washington on Saturday (Jun 7) in a joyful celebration meant to show defiance to President Donald Trump's rollback of queer rights. The parade route will come within one block of the White House grounds in one of the final main events of the weeks-long WorldPride celebration. On Sunday a more political event, dubbed a rally and march, will convene at the Lincoln Memorial, a revered space in the US civil rights movement as the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. Events will play out in the US capital in the wake of the Trump administration's measures to curtail LGBTQ+ rights. The Republican president has issued executive orders limiting transgender rights, banning transgender people from serving in the armed forces, and rescinding anti-discrimination policies for LGBTQ+ people as part of a campaign to repeal diversity, equity and inclusion programs. While proponents of DEI consider it necessary to correct historic inequities, the White House has described it as a form of discrimination based on race or gender, and said its transgender policy protects women by keeping transgender women out of shared spaces. Moreover, the White House said it has appointed a number of openly gay people to cabinet posts or judgeships, and noted that the Trump administration took steps to decriminalize homosexuality globally, and that its 2019 initiative "Ending the HIV Epidemic" aimed to cut HIV infections by 90 per cent by 2030. "The President is honored to serve all Americans," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement. Event organizers said they were unaware of any counterprotests or anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations planned for Saturday or Sunday. The National Park Service, however, has decided to fence off Dupont Circle, a popular public space, until Sunday night at the request of the US Park Police, which said closure was necessary to "secure the park, deter potential violence, reduce the risk of destructive acts and decrease the need for extensive law enforcement presences". Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride events, said it was "frustrated and disappointed" at the closure. "This beloved landmark is central to the community that WorldPride intends to celebrate and honor. It's much more than a park, for generations it's been a gathering place for DC's LGBTQ+ community, hosting First Amendment assemblies and memorial services for those we lost to the AIDS epidemic and following tragic events like the Pulse nightclub shooting," the alliance said.
CTV News
2 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
WorldPride paraders march through Washington in defiance of Trump
Participants carry a large pride flag during the WorldPride parade with the U.S. Capitol in the background, Saturday, June 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) LGBTQ2S+ people and supporters from around the world marched through the streets of Washington on Saturday in a joyful celebration meant to show defiance of U.S. President Donald Trump's rollback of queer rights. The parade route passed within one block of the White House grounds in one of the final main events of the weeks-long WorldPride celebration. On Sunday a more political event, dubbed a rally and march, will convene at the Lincoln Memorial, a revered space in the U.S. civil rights movement as the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech in 1963. The parade route was lined with members of the LGBTQ2S+ community and allies like Carrie Blanton, a 58-year-old school teacher from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, who was attending her first event for LGBTQ2S+ rights, saying her religious beliefs previously kept her from showing support. 'I wanted to grow as a Christian and realized my own hard-heartedness. This is a way to give back to the community for having been so cold-hearted in the past. God is here for everyone,' said Blanton, who voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election and for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2020. Girard Bucello, 30, a queer writer from Washington, staked out a position near the White House before the head of the parade arrived, saying there was 'no better place' than the U.S. capital for WorldPride. 'Showing up in D.C. is a way for us to feel safe in a moment that does not feel safe,' Bucello said. Washington was chosen as the site for WorldPride before Trump won the 2024 election. Since returning to office in January, the Republican president has issued executive orders limiting transgender rights, banning transgender people from serving in the armed forces, and rescinding anti-discrimination policies for LGBTQ+ people as part of a campaign to repeal diversity, equity and inclusion programs. While proponents of DEI consider it necessary to correct historic inequities, the White House has described it as a form of discrimination based on race or gender, and said its transgender policy protects women by keeping transgender women out of shared spaces. Moreover, the White House said it has appointed a number of openly gay people to cabinet posts or judgeships, and noted that the Trump administration took steps to decriminalize homosexuality globally, and that its 2019 initiative 'Ending the HIV Epidemic' aimed to cut HIV infections by 90% by 2030. 'The President is honored to serve all Americans,' White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement. 'Frustrated and disappointed' Event organizers said they were unaware of any counterprotests or anti-LGBTQ2S+ demonstrations planned for Saturday or Sunday. The National Park Service, however, fenced off Dupont Circle, a popular public space, until Sunday night at the request of the U.S. Park Police, which said closure was necessary to 'secure the park, deter potential violence, reduce the risk of destructive acts and decrease the need for extensive law enforcement presences.' Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride events, said it was 'frustrated and disappointed' at the closure. 'This beloved landmark is central to the community that WorldPride intends to celebrate and honor. It's much more than a park, for generations it's been a gathering place for DC's LGBTQ2S+ community, hosting First Amendment assemblies and memorial services for those we lost to the AIDS epidemic and following tragic events like the Pulse nightclub shooting,' the alliance said. Reporting by Daniel Trotta; editing by Donna Bryson and Paul Simao
Reuters
2 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
WorldPride attendees to march through Washington in defiance of Trump
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) - LGBTQ+ people from around the world will march through the streets of Washington on Saturday in a joyful celebration meant to show defiance to President Donald Trump's rollback of queer rights. The parade route will come within one block of the White House grounds in one of the final main events of the weeks-long WorldPride celebration. On Sunday a more political event, dubbed a rally and march, will convene at the Lincoln Memorial, a revered space in the U.S. civil rights movement as the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. Events will play out in the U.S. capital in the wake of the Trump administration's measures to curtail LGBTQ+ rights. The Republican president has issued executive orders limiting transgender rights, banning transgender people from serving in the armed forces, and rescinding anti-discrimination policies for LGBTQ+ people as part of a campaign to repeal diversity, equity and inclusion programs. While proponents of DEI consider it necessary to correct historic inequities, the White House has described it as a form of discrimination based on race or gender, and said its transgender policy protects women by keeping transgender women out of shared spaces. Moreover, the White House said it has appointed a number of openly gay people to cabinet posts or judgeships, and noted that the Trump administration took steps to decriminalize homosexuality globally, and that its 2019 initiative "Ending the HIV Epidemic" aimed to cut HIV infections by 90% by 2030. "The President is honored to serve all Americans," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement. Event organizers said they were unaware of any counterprotests or anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations planned for Saturday or Sunday. The National Park Service, however, has decided to fence off Dupont Circle, a popular public space, until Sunday night at the request of the U.S. Park Police, which said closure was necessary to "secure the park, deter potential violence, reduce the risk of destructive acts and decrease the need for extensive law enforcement presences." Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride events, said it was "frustrated and disappointed" at the closure. "This beloved landmark is central to the community that WorldPride intends to celebrate and honor. It's much more than a park, for generations it's been a gathering place for DC's LGBTQ+ community, hosting First Amendment assemblies and memorial services for those we lost to the AIDS epidemic and following tragic events like the Pulse nightclub shooting," the alliance said.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Lifestyle
- New York Times
A History of Gay Marriage and Migration, Told Through One Relationship
DEEP HOUSE: The Gayest Love Story Ever Told, by Jeremy Atherton Lin As with his excellent debut, 'Gay Bar: Why We Went Out,' Jeremy Atherton Lin's sophomore book, 'Deep House: The Gayest Love Story Ever Told,' is a fabulously riveting hybrid memoir and queer history lesson. In his first book, Atherton Lin mapped his coming-of-age onto a chronicle of disappearing gay bars around the world. In this new offering, the American writer shares the story of his relationship with his British partner, who remains unnamed, and uses it as a catalyst for a kaleidoscopic survey of legal flash points regarding gay rights and immigration. 'Deep House' focuses on the challenges faced by transnational queer couples before marriage equality. Not only were such couples denied the ability to wed, but with differing citizenships, they also lost a critical pathway to legally reside together in the same country. Atherton Lin situates these couples at the forefront of the fight for gay rights. He and his partner became one such couple in 1999. The two had met in London three years prior, their immediate attraction intensifying into trans-Atlantic correspondence and eagerly awaited visits across England and Atherton Lin's native California. During one of their stints in the United States, his partner began feeling, with his trip back to London imminent, that he had 'nothing to return to, and everything to stay for,' so he overstayed his tourist visa, and the two began an illicit domesticity in San Francisco. If the travelogue-style 'Gay Bar' prowls through clubs and adventures with thrill-seeking horniness, 'Deep House' is denser and written from a quieter space of contemplation. 'I want to learn how we arrived here together and find out who traveled first,' Atherton Lin writes. 'Allow me to shuffle the cards that were stacked against us.' That shuffling is free-associative and anecdotal, and allows Atherton Lin a flexibility in his storytelling. He bounces between yarns from his own life, capturing his and his partner's days living in basement apartments, working video-store jobs and flirting with polygamy, to surfacing tales of the queer people who came before him, including the committed, American-Mexican couple who had to cross the border to Mexico and back every three months to stay in the United States in the 1970s and the drunk Texas horndogs who accidentally toppled the country's anti-sodomy laws in 2003. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
News.com.au
11-05-2025
- News.com.au
‘Shot in cold blood': South Africa rocked by disturbing trend
South Africa has been rocked by a disturbing trend of violent attacks against LGBTQ individuals following the recent assassination of the world's first openly gay imam. Muslim leader Muhsin Hendricks, 58, was attending a wedding in Haley Place, Bethelsdorp, Gqeberha, on February 15 when he was gunned down in cold blood, which many believe was a targeted hit. Mr Hendricks ran a LGBTI-friendly mosque at Wynberg near Cape Town and came out as gay in 1996. In a chilling video shared on social media, Mr Hendricks was sitting in a gold-coloured VW T-Roc with his driver when a silver-coloured HiLux double cab pulled up and blocked their path. A hooded man jumped out and fired multiple shots into the vehicle, killing Mr Hendricks instantly and injuring the driver before fleeing the scene in the HiLux. Mr Hendricks was a respected religious leader and a long-time advocate for queer rights, beloved by many. His death was a sobering reality for queer individuals in South Africa, with at least 47 people members of the LGBTQ community killed in the last year. 'He wasn't just any spiritual leader,' one activist who worked with Mr Hendricks at The Inner Circle — a queer organisation founded by Mr Hendricks — told 'He was a lifeline and a beacon of hope for queer Muslims. His murder has been devastating for us and was a direct attack on that hope.' Mr Hendricks' murder is widely suspected to be a religiously motivated hate crime, fuelled by years of death threats and relentless condemnation from prominent figures who vilified him for advocating an inclusive vision of Islam that embraced queer identity. Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg, spokesperson for the South African Police Service (SAPS), confirmed a statement from the Eastern Cape Office of the Provincial Commissioner, which indicated that Mr Hendricks was killed in the shooting. 'The motive for the murder remains unknown, as it is still under investigation,' she stated. While police have opened an investigation into Hendricks' death, there have been no arrests, and authorities have not commented on the possibility of a hate crime. For almost 30 years, Mr Hendricks challenged traditional Islamic doctrine with unwavering courage, advocating that it is possible to be both Muslim and queer. After studying at the Islamic University of Karachi, he lived a conventional life where he went on to marry a woman and they had three children. But in 1996, after coming out as gay and his divorce, he was removed from his role as an imam. Undeterred, he took his fight public and founded The Inner Circle, an organisation dedicated to reconciling Islam with LGBTQ+ identities and offering refuge to those rejected by their families or religious institutions. In 2011, he established the Masjidul Ghurbaah mosque, a space explicitly inclusive of gender and sexual minorities. Just a year later, he made headlines around the world by officiating the Islamic wedding of two Muslim women, a historic moment that sparked both celebration and fierce backlash. Fellow Imam praises killers Shortly after Mr Hendricks' death, a prominent Cape Town imam and Islamic scholar, Sheikh Jameel Adams, began openly fuelling anti-LGBTQ+ hatred by praising the imam's killers and declaring that homosexuality should be punished by death. In a video circulating online, Mr Adams, who's an imam at Masjid-ut-Tawheed mosque, launches into a hate-filled rant, targeting Mr Hendricks and inciting violence against queer Muslims. His remarks have sparked outrage, with activists warning that such rhetoric is putting more lives at risk in an already hostile climate. 'To be clear, there can be no such thing in Islam as a gay imam,' Adams said. 'If he was gay, he's not an imam. Because to be an imam, he must be a person of Taqwa [a pious, and God-fearing]. 'He cannot be an imam because he cannot be followed. 'Lesson no. 1, when they say, 'Oh, this gay imam, they're trying to spread this poison. In Islam, there's no such thing. 'Being gay or a homosexual which he openly proclaimed is a major sin, the worst of sins, the most detestable sin, an abominable action, an evil, illicit deed, so evil, so vile, so disgusting' In the viral video, Adams also claims that Mr Hendricks' sexuality stripped him of any Islamic character, branding him sinful and saying he 'deserved what he got.' He then recites scripture in Arabic that calls for the execution of queer people. 'You men approach men with your desires instead of women, doing the actions of the people of Lot,' he said, citing religious texts. 'Execute the one doing and the one being done to. The ruling of the Sharia states that whoever you find doing the action of the people of Lot should be executed. Both the one doing it and the one it is done to.' Adams doesn't stop there. He warned that Mr Hendricks was 'an apostate' who should not be prayed over and or be buried with Muslims. Alongside the viral videos came reports of a 'hit list' allegedly being circulated within conservative Muslim circles in South Africa. The list is said to include the names of high-profile Muslims who spoke out against Mr Hendricks' murder. For safety reasons, queer activists have been urged to remain silent about it and keep their investigations discreet. South Africa, often regarded as a safe haven for queer Africans because of its progressive constitution, is becoming increasingly unsafe. Queer activist killed The murder of Mr Hendricks comes just a week after another queer activist was killed in what is believed to also have been a targeted assassination. Mabusi Ntuli was a lesbian business owner who was brutally gunned down by an unknown assailant on her birthday in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Earlier that day, Ms Mabusi had celebrated her birthday with friends. That evening, two young men wearing hats entered her small liquor shop to buy alcohol. They left without incident but minutes later, one returned carrying a backpack. He asked to buy another bottle. As Ms Mabusi turned her back to fetch it, he pulled out a gun and shot her multiple times. She collapsed to the floor, but the gunman continued firing until she was dead. Ms Mabusi's friends described her as fun, kind-hearted, and deeply loved in her community. Reports say she was shot 19 times. A friend who tried to intervene was shot in the hand and watched helplessly as she was killed. No arrests have been made, and authorities have not confirmed a motive. But Ms Mabusi's friends are convinced it was a targeted attack and fear, like so many similar cases, it will be ignored and forgotten. While South Africa is the only country in Africa to legalise same-sex marriage and provide constitutional protections for LGBTQ+ rights, these legal victories do not guarantee safety in everyday life. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in violence against queer individuals. Hate crimes are often not reported, and even when they are, obtaining justice is rare. The recent murders of Mr Hendricks and Ms Mabusi have heightened fears and raised concerns about a troubling trend of targeted assassinations of queer individuals, which receive minimal attention. Activists argue that these killings are not random. The victims are often prominent members of the community or activists who challenge conservative religious norms. Katlego, a South African LGBTQ+ Activist, told she believes these series of murders were a clear warning to the LGBTQ community, reminding us that not even progressive laws can keep us safe. 'The message is clear. We might have legal protection, but we can still be punished,' she said. South Africa's religious right and far-right groups are increasingly vocal, mirroring neighbouring rhetoric and fuelling public homophobia. Queer South Africans are also experiencing a rise in online threats and abuse as social media turns into a platform for hate. 'People think South Africa is safe for queer people just because of our progressive laws, but forget laws don't protect us from bullets and daggers,' Katlego added. 'So It's safe to say that South Africa's protections are just a signed piece of paper — because, in reality, we're being hounded and hunted down.'
