Michael Lavers
Northern Ireland Marriage Equality Law Takes Effect
A law that extends marriage rights to same-sex couples in Northern Ireland took effect on Tuesday. Northern Ireland's Stormont Parliament has not met since the country's coalition government collapsed in 2017. The British Parliament in July voted [...]
Texas Group Advocates for LGBTI Migrants
SAN ANTONIO — A Texas-based immigrant advocacy group continues to provide assistance to LGBTI migrants who hope to find refuge in the U.S. Cristian Sánchez of the Refugee and Immigration Center for Education and Legal Services on July 18 told the [...]
Gavin Grimm wins case against Virginia school district
A transgender man who challenged his Virginia school district's bathroom policy has won his case. U.S. District Court Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Aug. 9 ruled in favor of [...]
Lawsuits in Four Caribbean Countries Challenge Colonial-era Sodomy Laws
LGBTI people in four Caribbean countries over the last year have filed lawsuits against their nations' colonial-era sodomy laws. Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish on July 26 filed a lawsuit against two laws in St. Vincent and the Grenadines [...]
LGBT Groups Condemn Texas Walmart Shooting
LGBT advocacy groups around the country on Saturday condemned a mass shooting at a Texas Walmart that has left 22 people dead and more than two dozen others injured. The El Paso Times reported the 21-year-old gunman entered the Walmart [...]
EXCLUSIVE: Congressman demands answers from ICE about transgender woman's death
Johana "Joa" Medina Leon, a 25-year-old transgender woman from El Salvador, died in a Texas hospital on June 1, 2019, after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released her from ICE custody. Massachusetts Congressman Joseph Kennedy in a letter [...]
LGBTI Marches in Cuba Cancelled
The organizer of Cuba's annual International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia marches on Monday announced they have been cancelled. The marches were to have taken place in Havana on May 11 and the city of Camagüey on May 17. The [...]
Puerto Rico Activists Criticize Religious Freedom, Conversion Therapy Bills
Activists in Puerto Rico have sharply criticized two bills they say will allow anti-LGBT discrimination. Governor Ricardo Rosselló on Tuesday at a press conference that took place at his official residence in San Juan announced the introduction of [...]
More LGBTI Bruneians Speak Out Against Country's Penal Code
Two LGBTI Bruneians with whom the Washington Blade spoke on Saturday said their country's new penal code that calls for the death penalty for anyone convicted of same-sex sexual relations continues to spark fear. A gay man who asked the Blade not to [...]
Same-Sex Marriage Legalized in Cayman Islands
The chief justice of the Cayman Islands Grand Court on March 29 ruled same-sex couples can legally marry in the British territory. Chief Justice Anthony Smellie issued his ruling in the case of Chantelle Day and Vicky Bodden, a lesbian couple who [...]
Prominent US Activist Denied Entry to Cuba
A prominent LGBTI activist from San Francisco claims the Cuban government has prohibited him from entering the country. Michael Petrelis on Wednesday wrote on his Facebook page that an Interjet airlines ticket agent at Canc√∫n International Airport [...]
LGBTI Groups Condemn Terrorist Attacks at Two New Zealand Mosques
LGBTI advocacy groups around the world have condemned Friday's terrorist attack at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, that have left at least 49 people dead. Express, an LGBTI newspaper in Auckland, reported organizers of the [...]