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April 23, 2013
President sorry for saying he'd shoot his genitals if son was gay

Horacio Cartes, described as having potential to give South American country a ‘fresh start', apologizes to those who were offended

The newly elected president of Paraguay has apologized for the anti-gay remarks that plagued his campaign.

At a press conference on Monday, Horacio Cartes said: ‘I have no shame in apologizing to those who felt offended for an expression of mine with respect to same-sex marriage.’

The millionaire businessman has previously said being gay is ‘not normal’, comparing gay people to ‘monkeys’, and saying marriage equality would usher in ‘the end of the world’.

April 17, 2013
Paraguay’s presidential candidate likens gays to monkeys

Horacio Cartes, Paraguay’s leading presidential candidate stated that he’d rather shoot himself in the balls if his son were to marry a man

Paraguay’s leading presidential candidate, Horacio Cartes, made strong anti-gay slurs and vehemently rejected marriage equality, ahead of the country’s election this Sunday.

During a Radio interview, Cartes, said that if his 28-year-old son were to seek to marry another man he’d shoot himself ‘in the balls, because I do not agree’.

April 17, 2013
US diplomat tells Guyana to legalize gay rights

Brent Hardt, the US ambassador to Guyana, has called upon the country’s leaders to progress on the issue of LGBT rights

The US Ambassador to Guyana, Brent Hardt said that country’s government take action and repeal anti-gay laws and introduce LGBT rights.

Hardt told a media workshop held over the weekend in Georgetown, Guyana’s capital, that he believes there could be more cooperation to increase support for LGBT rights in the country, reported the portal News Source.

April 10, 2013
Senegal Muslim group sets up coalition to oppose gay rights

A Muslim group in the West African nation of Senegal has announced the establishment of a coalition to oppose the decriminalization of homosexuality

Senegalese Islamic NGO Jamra has announced plans for the creation of a national monitoring group to oppose secularism and the decriminalization of homosexuality in the West African nation.

Jamra president Imam Massamba Diop told Dakaractu.com that he planned to form a coalition with like-minded groups, including Senegalese Christian groups to ‘block the way’ for any attempt to decriminalize homosexuality.

April 8, 2013
Trans woman wins right to marry in Malta

Maltese courts have recognized the European Court of Human Rights ruling that trans women can marry male partners

A transgender woman has won the right to marry her partner in Malta.

Joanne Cassar, whose battle to marry her long-term male partner lasted seven years, was prepared to go to the European Court of Human Rights.

According to Malta Today, she initially won a ruling in her favor, but a higher court in Malta overturned the verdict.

March 28, 2013
Cameroon 'gay' 'Baileys liqueur drinkers' freed into danger

After three days in police custody in Cameroon, two men arrested for wearing feminine attire released yesterday, but their daily life remains a nightmare

Jonas Singa Kumie and Franky Djome, two men from Cameroon who were attacked and arrested for wearing female attire have been freed.

Their safety, however, remains at best precarious, reveals a report published today (28 March) by the 76 Crimes blog.

March 27, 2013
Cameroon police re-arrest freed 'gay' 'Baileys liqueur drinkers'

Cameroon has re-arrested two men who were previously acquitted for appearing 'gay' due to drinking Bailey's Irish liqueur

Two young men from Cameroon, who have been recently freed from prison and acquitted from being convicted of ‘appearing gay’ have been re-arrested.

The 76 Crimes blog reported yesterday (26 March) that Cameroon police have taken the two into custody after they have been attacked in a local marketplace.

March 27, 2013
Estonia right wing party says 'sorry' for anti-gay slurs

IRL, Estonia’s main conservative party says it apologizes for making gays feel ‘uncomfortable’ with being called ‘deviant’ and ‘sick’

The third largest political party, the right wing IRL, said it is sorry if its anti-gay remarks made people ‘uncomfortable’.

The apology came after IRL’s Member of Parliament (MP), Priit Sibul said last week that: ‘there are all kinds of deviants. There are also people who like it with animals’, reported the portal of ERR.

March 11, 2013
Costa Rica forces medic to cancel gay 'cure' lecture

After a massive public outcry and court intervention, Spanish medic and proponent of Ex-Gay therapy, Jokin de Irala, was forced to cancel his planned public lecture in Costa Rica

Professor Jokin de Irala, known for outspoken views that homosexuality is a 'curable disease' and an 'epidemic', was forced to cancel a planned lecture on the subject in an international convention in Costa Rica.

Irala, a Spanish medical doctor, was due to speak on 7 March on the subject of 'curing' homosexuality, at the 5th Central American Congress of Bioethics that was held in Costa Rica.

March 6, 2013
Senegal cops arrest French and local man after gay sex payment fight

Senegal media claims hotel staff called the police after a French tourist refused to pay for sex with his Senegalese lover and they started to argue

Two gay men, one French and one Senegalese, were arrested by police and charged for having gay sex after a row broke out between them.

They are due to be prosecuted for indecency and 'acts against nature'.

It is claimed tourist Michel Coatanoan, a 47-year-old French finance inspector, arranged to meet Amadou Tidiane Sall, a 24-year-old Senegalese via an online gay dating site.

Coatanoan, was enjoying a holiday in the sea-side resort of Saly, famous for its beauty and sex-tourism, just south of Dakar,

February 25, 2013
Costa Rica's human rights chair wants lawmakers to welcome gay 'cure' doctor

The head of Costa Rica's human rights commission said gay sex has 'bad consequences' and its cure must be discussed by the country's lawmakers

President of Costa Rica's commission on human rights, Justo Orozco, wants a Spanish doctor to present his idea of 'curing' gays to the country's congress.

Orozco stated on Wednesday (20 February): 'I would love the doctor to come to the Legislature. His views are very compatible with what we believe'.

'Homosexual relations carry bad consequences.

February 17, 2013
African lawyer defies death threats, hopes to return to Cameroon

 'It would be cowardly to give up' says lawyer who fled Cameroon for the US after receiving death threats related to his work in LGBT rights

A Cameroonian gay rights lawyer won't stay in the US where his family is seeking asylum.

Michel Togué says he wants to return to Cameroon, even though he just  joined his family in the US last month. In an interview with AFP, Togué said: 'It's my duty to defend human rights and to contribute to a more tolerant Cameroon.'

'It would be cowardly to give up.'

February 12, 2013
Burkina Faso bishop warns gay marriage will destroy the world

Burkina Faso’s Catholic archbishop stated that gay marriage is an assault on the family and threatens Africa and the world with destruction

The Archbishop of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital, Bishop Philippe Ouédraogo slammed same-sex marriage, saying it is an ‘assault on the family’ and aims to ‘demolish’ it, therefore threatening Africa and the world with destruction.

Ouédraogo made these remarks on Sunday (10 February) during the Diocesan annual Catholic pilgrimage which was held at the Our Lady of Yagama Cathedral.

January 24, 2013
Cameroon police arrests and assaults a man for defending gays

A man is reported to have been arrested and brutally beaten up by Cameroon's police for preventing a homophobic attack

According to unverified reports Cameroon’s police arrested and brutally beat up a man for foiling a planned attack on a gay acquaintance, human rights activists say.

Joseph Messina, 25 year-old, was reportedly beaten, and is being held at Yaoundé Central Prison, awaiting a court hearing on 28 January.

Messina says he does not know the actual charges against him.

January 14, 2013
Ghana Christian group slams pro-gay gender minister

Anti-gay Christian group blasts appointment of Nana Oye Lister as Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection over gay rights support

A Christian group is protesting Ghana's new gender minister Nana Oye Lithur over her support of gay rights.

The homophobic group called 'Concerned Clergy Association of Ghana' is opposing Lithur's appointment as Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection because she is a 'proponent and supporter of gay rights'.

January 9, 2013
Cameroon trader stoned to death for gay sex

A trader in north Cameroon was lynched mobbed in a public market after he was caught having gay sex

An angry mob in northern Cameroon stoned a man to death on 6 January after being caught having sex with a 17-year-old high school student.

According to an online unconfirmed account, attributed to the Cameroonian daily L’Actu, Lamine Goche was killed by a furious crowd after he was 'caught red-handed' at his shop in a market of the town of Maroua, Cameroon.

January 7, 2013
Cameroon 'gay' 'Baileys liqueur drinkers' win appeal

An appeal court in Cameroon has acquitted two men jailed for appearing 'gay' due to drinking Bailey's Irish liqueur

Two young men from Cameroon who in 2011 were convicted of ‘appearing gay’ and sentenced to five years in prison were acquitted by an appeal court today (7 January).

The two Cameroonians, Jonas Singa Kumie and Franky Djome, were jailed for five years after a judge found them guilty of ‘homosexual behavior’.

January 3, 2013
An unexpected romance with Romania

GSN feels the fireworks in the Romanian mountains

After a fairly manic family Christmas I barely had time to re-pack my bags before boarding a flight to Bucharest to celebrate New Year’s Eve with my friend Liviu.

While I’d met Liviu when he was living in London, he now lives in the Romanian town of Dabuleni.

‘There’s nothing to do in Dabuleni’ Liviu had declared, so we’d arranged to meet in Bucharest - a four hour bus ride for him and a short flight from London for me.

December 27, 2012
Moldova votes for anti-gay bigot ban

Bill which would see people who discriminate against sexual minorities at work face fines or even jail passes second reading in Moldova parliament

Moldova has voted to impose fines against employers who discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers.

The country's parliament passed the second reading of a bill which would see those who discriminate against minorities, including the LGBT community, face penalities of up to 9,000 Moldovan lei ($750).

The Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported that offenders could also be jailed for up to six years if the persecution led to death or suicide.

December 21, 2012
Belize and Trinidad - a lesson in homophobic exclusion

LGBT rights advocate, Maurice Tomlinson, explains his legal challenges to Belize and Trinidad anti-gay laws

It’s getting cold in the global north and some lucky souls will be able to get away for a few days (or weeks) in the sun.

The Caribbean is usually a very popular vacation destination for northerners because of the variety of leisure options available to suit just about every taste.

December 9, 2012
Anti-gay hate overshadows Ghana elections

Anti-gay hate campaigns muddies Ghana's presidential and parliamentary elections

Anti gay hate campaigns may have influenced the outcome of Ghana´s presidential and parliamentary elections.

Counting is still under way following yesterday´s (8 December) elections to Ghana´s president and parliament.

Polls indicate a tight race between the current ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

December 3, 2012
Jailed Senegal gay man rejects human rights help

The family and lawyer of Tamsir Jupiter Ndiaye, imprisoned for four years for homosexuality and attacking his gay sex partner, refuse help from human rights organizations

A man in Senegal who was jailed for four years for having gay sex is now not going to get help from human rights organizations to free him because their offers of assistance were rejected.

GSN understands it was Tamsir Jupiter Ndiaye’s family and lawyer who turned down help from human rights organizations to appeal his case.

Three human rights bodies publicly said they wanted to help Ndiaye appeal against his prison sentence.

November 27, 2012
Activist to sue Trinidad and Tobago entry ban on gays

A gay Jamaican activist is suing the government of Trinidad and Tobago over its entry ban against homosexuals

Maurice Tomlinson, an LGBT advocate is to challenge Trinidad and Tobago’s entry ban on gays in an international court.

Tomilnson, a Jamaican national and legal advisor for the NGO AIDS-Free World has been invited to give two presentations during the month of December.

One invitation is by the United Nations Population Fund to participate in a HIV workshop, and the other is to attend a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) conference on human rights.

November 16, 2012
Fijians end roof-top protest in Sydney

Protest that began over gay rights and other alleged human rights abuses in Fiji ends safely

Three Fijian nationals have ended their protest on the roof of an immigration detention center in Sydney.

The protestors, two men and one woman, took to the roof on Monday morning.

One of the men told Radio Australia ‘we want to live without fear because of the gay rights, we have no rights in Fiji’.

November 15, 2012
Feeling the aftershock of Malawi's brief taste of gay freedom

African-American lesbian activist, scholar and public theologian, Irene Monroe, asks why Malawi is still unable to defy the will of the church over gay rights

I’d like to believe that Malawi's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) citizens and tourists had a few days to breath easier.

On 5 November, the government issued a moratorium suspending all laws decriminalizing homosexuality. Three days later, on 8 November, homosexuality was illegal again.