World
Out in the World: LGBTQ+ news from Europe & Asia
LGBTQ+ news stories from around the globe including Scotland, United Kingdom, Thailand, Japan, & the Philippines
SCOTLAND
EDINBURGH, Scotland – Harry Potter author JK Rowling took the opportunity of Scotland’s new hate speech law coming into force to harass several prominent British trans people over X (formerly Twitter), but Scottish police say they’re not planning to charge her over her posts.
Rowling spent the morning of April 1 making a series of posts in mock celebration of the womanhood of well-known trans people, starting with some well-known convicted sex offenders, and then listing several notable trans activists. At the end of her series of posts, Rowling gave up the joke.
“🎉🌼🌸April Fools! 🌸🌼🎉Only kidding. Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren’t women at all, but men, every last one of them,” she wrote. “If what I’ve written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.”
As is her usual style, Rowling then spent the rest of the day reposting fawning congratulatory posts from other bigots and arguing with people who stood up to her.
Rowling was protesting the The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which came into effect on April 1. The revision to Scottish hate crime law added protections for age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex people, both for aggravated punishment of hate-motivated crimes, and for “stirring up hatred” against protected groups.
The law has drawn criticism from free-speech advocates, who say it will having a chilling effect on speech critical of protected communities. But supporters of the law saw that the threshold for prosecution is very high and it’s unlikely to be used for genuine political discourse or advocacy.
So far, that seems to have been borne out – Scottish police have already said that Rowling’s posts do not rise to the level of hate speech and she is not being charged.
In fact, the whole incident has just burnished Rowling’s reputation among anti-trans crusaders.
Not only did UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak commend the decision not to charge Rowling, but his statement to the BBC on the matter seems to back up Rowling’s hateful views.
“Nobody should be criminalized for saying commonsense things about biological sex,” Sunak told the BBC.
Transgender issues have become a major issue in the UK over the past several years as a rising tide of self-described “gender-critical” activists – of whom Rowling is the most prominent – have successfully gotten the ear of the governing Conservative Party.
Last year, after the Scottish government passed a controversial law that would allow transpeople to change their legal gender by self-declaration, the UK government disallowed the law, saying it would be incompatible with England and Wales’ rules around gender recognition.
Conservatives have also slow-walked their promised bill to ban conversion therapy after years of pressure from gender-criticals who got the government to remove protections for trans youth. A bill in unlikely to pass before elections expected later this year.
Scotland is holding consultations on its own conversion therapy ban bill, but divisions over LGBT issues are one of the causes of a rift in the governing Scottish National Party, which is seeing a challenge from the upstart ALBA party, which also wants Scottish independence but has leaned into anti-trans politics.
BRITAIN
LONDON, United Kingdom – An anti-trans activist has announced plans to open a private, members-only lesbian bar that refuses admission to trans women in London later this year, although details on where the bar will be located or when it will open have yet to be revealed.
The bar, to be called L Community, will be a private, members-only bar, which owner Jenny Watson, 32, says will allow her to skirt discrimination laws by restricting membership to cisgender lesbians.
Watson has gain notoriety in England for throwing lesbian focused events that exclude trans women.
Last year, Watson threw a lesbian speed-dating event that gathered controversy for its trans-exclusion policy, but was ultimately allowed to go ahead.
Watson says the backlash to that event has led to her other trans-exclusionary events being refused or cancelled by venues she’s tried to book. Having her own venue will allow her to host her own events.
“No one will take bookings for my events any more,” Watson told The Telegraph. “The trans activists are constantly targeting the events, so venues don’t want anything to do with them.”
“We should have a right to our own space – hence the idea to set up the bar. It will be for biological females only and this is why we’re making it a members-only club so we can legally restrict it to women,” she said.
On the web site for L Community, Watson lists potential events the bar could host, including speed dating, networking events, lesbian movie nights, open mics, trivia nights, book clubs, and panel discussions.
Even though the bar has no opening date, L Community is already soliciting free and premium memberships, which its website says will come with priority access to events and L Community’s “social media platform.” Premium members are asked to make a “donation” of £120 (approximately $150).
Anyone wishing to join must attest to being a biological female and upload government ID to the L Community website as proof.
Trans journalist Shivani Dave criticized the “crap new terf [trans-exclusionary radical feminist] bar” on their Instagram account and announced a plan to hold a trans-inclusive kiss-in in front of the bar “if it ever opens.”
“YOU THINK I’M JOKING? We are gonna go and make out in front of this TERF bar every single day until it closes. Lol that is if it ever even opens. Bigots be bigoting? Trans+ people are gonna be snogging,” they wrote.
THAILAND
BANGKOK, Thailand – Thailand got one step closer to legalizing same-sex marriage this week as the Senate voted 147-3 to advance the marriage bill through first reading. The bill now heads to a committee which has up to 60 days to study the bill before returning it to the senate for second and third reading.
Advancing LGBTQ+ rights has become a major issue in the southeast Asian country of 66 million over the last decade. Last year saw the opposition Move Forward Party win a plurality of seats in elections to Parliament’s lower house after it promised to legalize same-sex marriage. But the party was barred from government by a court ruling its leader breached the constitution by proposed changes to the country’s strict laws that forbid criticism of the monarchy.
The governing coalition that was later formed without Move Forward agreed to make marriage equality and LGBT rights a part of the coalition agreement anyway, and last month the lower house gave final, overwhelming approval to the same-sex marriage bill.
There had been some worry that the bill would face a rougher ride through the more conservative senate, which is made up of appointees of the Thai military, a holdover from the last junta that ran the country until 2017.
But the overwhelming support for the bill in the senate signals that it will likely pass and be sent to the king for royal assent before the summer, with it coming into effect before the end of the year.
Thailand will likely become the first state in southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. Elsewhere in Asia, only Taiwan has legalized same-sex marriage, while the Nepalese Supreme Court has legalized it, although it can be difficult for couples to marry in practice.
Thailand’s push to enhance LGBTQ+ rights hasn’t stopped at marriage. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has ordered his cabinet to draft a bill to allow trans people to change their legal gender, and the government is also considering changes to surrogacy law to allow same-sex couples and foreigners to access services to have children. The government is also directing resources toward ending HIV transmission in the country by making PrEP more widely available.
The government is eager to promote Thailand as an LGBTQ+ tourist destination, and is bidding to have Bangkok host World Pride 2028.
JAPAN
TOKYO, Japan – Five more prefectures and more than forty municipalities began offering partnership certificates to same-sex couples on April 1, providing a limited measure of security for Japan’s LGBTQ+ couples as marriage remains out of reach.
While courts and the national government continue to fail to recognize same-sex marriage, local governments across the country are stepping up to fill the void with “partnership certificates” for same-sex couples. The certificates can help couples access local services reserved for couples and hospital visitation, but they are not considered legally binding. Couples do not access inheritance rights and are not treated as legal next of kin.
Beginning April 1, Aichi, Hyōgo, Nara, Ōita, and Tokushima prefectures began offering partnership certificates, bringing the total to 26 out of 47 prefectures recognizing same-sex couples. Additionally, 445 municipalities offer the certificates, according to Marriage for All Japan, a local advocacy group. More than two-thirds of Japanese people live in a jurisdiction that offers same-sex partnerships.
Some prefectures go further, offering “familyship” registries that allow same-sex couples to also register their children.
Same-sex marriage, however, remains out of reach for same-sex couples. National lawmakers have proven too conservative to advance LGBTQ+ rights.
Last year, a government bill that was meant to ban discrimination was given much fanfare ahead of the G7 conference in Tokyo. Conservative lawmakers pushed back and the bill was watered down to simply promote “understanding” of LGBTQ+ people, with no actual legal protections offered.
Meanwhile, a multi-year effort to advance same-sex marriage through the courts has delivered several key rulings finding that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, but the courts have thus far failed to offer couples any remedy.
Last month, the first appellate-level court issued a ruling finding the marriage ban unconstitutional, but again did not order the government to allow same-sex marriage. The couples involved in the case have said they will appeal to the Supreme Court. Other marriage cases are still ongoing in other district and appellate courts.
For its part, the Supreme Court recently ruled that same-sex couples must be given access to a benefit paid to the survivors of crime victims on an equal basis as married heterosexual couples. Observers are already saying that the ruling will have implications for the full suite of benefits of marriage, including when it comes to taxes, housing, inheritance, pension, and insurance.
PHILIPPINES
(Photo Credit: Marissa Magsino/Facebook)
MANILA, Philippines – Filipino legislator Marissa Magsino of the opposition OFW Party has filed a bill in Congress seeking to recognize the property rights of same-sex couples, which would be a landmark of progress in the deeply Catholic Asian country if passed.
The bill was filed March 20 but has not yet been called for a first reading, it is a companion to a similar bill filed in the Senate in November 2022, which has been stuck in committee since.
Both bills would only offer limited property rights to same-sex couples. Couples would be deemed to share ownership and responsibility for any property acquired during the partnership, unless a written agreement is signed saying otherwise. A partnership would only be deemed to exist if partners cohabit for at least one year.
The bill aims to treat partners equitably in the event of a breakup.
While this is a very limited set of rights, the Philippines does not currently offer any recognition of same-sex couples or their property rights.
“Though through the years there has been change in the mindset of people on long-standing stereotypes and generalizations with social perceptions becoming more accommodating of the LGBTQ+ community, there’s still no legislation that guarantees equal rights for everybody regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,” Magsino said in a statement to the Manila Bulletin Tuesday, April 2.
“This legislation is a significant step towards achieving greater equality and justice for all Filipino citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. It is imperative that we ensure equal protection under the law for every individual in our society,” she said.
Proposals to create more expansive civil unions that recognize a broader set of rights similar to marriage for same-sex couples have occasionally been lodged in congress, but none has ever been brought to a vote.
In 2019, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition seeking a right to same-sex marriage for lack of standing, as the petitioner did not seek to get married himself. The petitioner and his counsel were cited for indirect contempt of court over the matter.
The Philippines Congress has struggled to advance any pro-LGBTQ+ legislation for years. A bill that would add discrimination protections for sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, dubbed the SOGIE Bill, has been introduced multiple times since 2001, and has even passed the House of Representatives multiple times, but has always stalled in the more conservative Senate.
Dozens of provinces and municipalities have passed local non-discrimination ordinances across the country.
Global LGBTQ+ news gathering & reporting by Rob Salerno
Bulgaria
Top Bulgarian court rules government must legally recognize trans people
Decision caps off decade-long legal fight
Bulgaria’s top court has ruled the country’s government must allow transgender people to legally change their name and gender on ID documents.
A trans woman from Bulgaria who moved to Italy, had tried to change her gender and name on her Bulgarian ID documents, but courts in the country denied her requests for nearly a decade.
The Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation in a 2023 ruling essentially banned trans people from legally changing their name and gender on ID documents.
The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which is the European Union’s highest court, in March ruled in the “Shipova” case that member states must allow trans people to legally change their name and gender on ID documents. The lead plaintiff in the “Shipova” case is among the four litigants in the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation case.
Two Bulgarian advocacy groups — Bilitis and Deystvie — along with TGEU – Trans Europe and Central Asia and ILGA-Europe in a joint statement they issued on Tuesday noted the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation’s July 22 decision “aligns Bulgarian practice with the Court of Justice of the EU, enabling changes to gender markers, names, and personal identification numbers.”
“The judges also concluded that EU law requires Bulgaria to establish a legal procedure for legal gender recognition, which is necessary so that Bulgarian trans citizens can travel and reside freely inside the EU,” they added.
Bulgaria has been a member of the EU since 2007.
The country borders Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece, and Turkey.
“We are very glad to see that the judges of the Supreme Court clearly stated that it is actually a matter of rule of law for Bulgaria to respect the universal equality and the dignity of all human beings, including trans people for whom human rights-based legal gender recognition procedures are an indispensable element,” said Denitsa Lyubenova, co-chair of Deystvie who represented the four plaintiffs in the Bulgarian courts and the lead litigant in the “Shipova” case at the EU Court of Justice. “The government needs to act swiftly now to put in place an LGR procedure that is fully in line with European human rights case law, which means without any conditions requiring proof of medical, surgical or hormonal treatment.”
The groups also urged the Bulgarian government to codify the ruling into law.
“While lower courts are expected to follow this ruling directly, a court decision is not a substitute for law,” they said. “Bulgaria still needs a fast, transparent, and accessible legal gender recognition procedure written into legislation, not left to case-by-case court precedent. TGEU – Trans Europe and Central Asia, Bilitis, Deystvie, and ILGA-Europe call on the Bulgarian government to start that legislative process now, with meaningful involvement from civil society.”
France
Prominent French activist attacked outside Paris bar
Pierre Picavet hospitalized with internal bleeding, head injury
French prosecutors say a man shouted anti-gay slurs at a prominent activist before he attacked him in Paris on Saturday.
Media reports indicate Pierre Picavet, a police officer who is the president of FLAG!, a group within the French Justice and Interior Ministries that defends LGBTQ+ rights, was attacked as he left a bar in Paris’s Marais neighborhood.
The Marais since the 1980s has been center of the French capital’s LGBTQ+ community.
France 24 reported Picavet’s assailant struck him with a bottle. The attack left Picavet hospitalized with internal bleeding, a head wound, and other injuries.
“When I get better, when my wounds have healed, I will continue the fight,” Picavet told Radio France on Monday. “I am particularly shocked, but it tells me that there is still work to do.”
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire is among those who condemned the attack.
STOP Homophobia (STOP homophobie), a French group that fights against anti-LGBTQ+ violence, on its social media pages published a picture of Picavet in the hospital.
“As a long-standing partner of FLAG!, STOP Homophobia wishes to express its solidarity with Pierre Picavet, his loved ones, and the entire association,” said the group. “STOP Homophobia condemns this assault in the strongest possible terms and reiterates that anti-LGBT violence remains a reality — even in spaces where everyone should be able to move freely and live out their sexual orientation or gender identity without fear of attack.”
STOP Homophobia also praised a bystander who came to Picavet’s aid after the attack, and the first responders and law enforcement personnel who responded.
“STOP Homophobia extends its full support to Pierre, his family, his loved ones, and the entire FLAG! team, and wishes him a full recovery,” said the group.
Reports indicate the assailant, who was born in 2006, was scheduled to appear in a Paris court on Monday at 1:30 p.m. local time.
Poland
Poland begins to legally recognize same-sex marriages from other countries
‘This is an important milestone, but it should not be the final destination’
Poland has begun to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed outside the country.
TVP World, the country’s public broadcaster, reported civil registry offices began to “transcribe same-sex marriages legally” conducted outside of Poland on Aug. 22.
The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg last November ruled in favor of a same-sex couple who challenged Poland’s refusal to recognize their German marriage. Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court in March reaffirmed the decision.
The couple, who lives in Poland, brought their case to Polish courts in 2019. The Supreme Administrative Court referred it to the EU Court of Justice.
The Polish government in May announced it will recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other EU countries. Polish President Karol Nawrocki on July 17 vetoed bills that would have extended rights to same-sex couples.
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal a few days later rejected the recognition of same-sex marriages legally performed in other EU countries. The Love Does Not Exclude Association, a Polish marriage equality advocacy group, in an Aug. 26 press release notes the ruling “does not prevent implementation of these new regulations” because the Constitutional Tribunal is “largely discredited” and the government considers it “to be improperly constituted.”
“This is an important milestone, but it should not be the final destination,” said Maja Heban of the Love Does Not Exclude Association. “No couple should have to cross a border to marry. Our goal is allowing loving, committed couples to marry in Poland in the first place. The law now increasingly recognizes these marriages once couples return to Poland in areas such as healthcare and social security, but significant gaps remain, mainly lack of recognition of same-sex parents which directly impacts security of their children.”
Germany, Belgium, France, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal are among the EU countries in which same-sex couples can legally marry. Andorra, whose prime minister, Xaviet Espot Zamora, is openly gay, and Switzerland are among the other European nations that have extended marriage rights to same-sex couples.
The Netherlands in 2001 became the first country in the world to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. Activists who participated in this year’s World Pride that took place in Amsterdam earlier this summer marked this milestone.
Honduras
Realidad LGBTQ+ en Honduras: fuga o muerte
Observatorio KAI+: 35 asesinatos anti-LGBTQ+ en 2026
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Las cifras encienden todas las alarmas: 35 muertes violentas de personas LGBTQ+, 195 casos de violencia generalizada y 11 personas asistidas para refugiarse en el extranjero. Las mujeres trans encabezan las víctimas mortales con 11 casos, seguidas de los hombres gay con 10.
Esa es la realidad de las poblaciones sexualmente diversas que pinta el boletín número 14 del Observatorio de Violencia hacia las Personas LGBTI+ de Honduras KAI+, correspondiente al período de enero al 8 de agosto de 2026.
Según el informe, los departamentos con mayor concentración de asesinatos son Francisco Morazán (12), Cortés (5) y Comayagua (4). Sin embargo, el dato más revelador de la impunidad es que los 35 casos permanecen en etapa de investigación preliminar, con apenas dos capturas reportadas.
«No queremos vivir con miedo»: defensores
Lucía Barrientos, de la Asociación Ixchel, resume el sentimiento colectivo. «Hoy las personas LGBTI en Honduras vivimos en estado de alerta. Muertes que, al hacer un análisis, tienen una conmoción de que muchas personas de nuestra población han sido torturadas, que han sido crímenes de odio», señala.
Barrientos subraya que en el país no hay una ley que tipifique el crimen de odio, lo que deja a la población en un limbo legal y expuesta a la violencia sin protección efectiva.
Entretanto, Jennifer Córdoba, de la Colectiva de Mujeres Trans Muñecas de Arcoíris, lamenta que las autoridades no estén haciendo nada para defender los derechos humanos.
«Ver ese tipo de violencias en el país que se incrementan, ver que las autoridades de nuestro país no están haciendo nada para la defensa de los derechos humanos, no crear una política pública que respete los derechos humanos de la población LGTBI», afirma Córdoba.
Violencia generalizada y discriminación sistemática
Los 195 casos de violencia generalizada incluyen amenazas (19), maltrato familiar (25), abuso de autoridad (14), discriminación por orientación sexual o identidad de género (14), lesiones (10) y agresiones sexuales. Las mujeres trans son nuevamente las más afectadas, con 32 casos registrados.
Dany Montesinos, de la Asociación LGBTI Kukulcán, advierte: «Esta es una violencia general, estructurada. No tenemos un patrón determinado. La alerta que estamos poniendo es que, en comparación con otros años, esto está siendo más creciente».
Un elemento crítico señalado por el boletín es que casi el 70 por ciento de los casos de violencia generalizada (137 de 195) carecen de categorización desagregada sobre la orientación sexual o identidad de género de la víctima, lo que evidencia la ausencia de protocolos adecuados por parte de las instituciones estatales y una invisibilización sistemática.
Migración forzada, huir para vivir
Entre los hallazgos más dolorosos está la asistencia a 11 personas LGBTQ+ que han buscado refugio en el extranjero. Ocho se han ido a Estados Unidos, dos a España y una al Reino Unido. Los motivos incluyen amenazas, discriminación, abuso de autoridad, agresiones sexuales y físicas.
Como señala un testimonio: «Tuvieron que irse, se vieron obligadas a huir por amenazas, por la discriminación, por el abuso de autoridad y agresiones sexuales. Estos datos nos muestran que la migración de las personas LGBTI no responde únicamente a razones económicas, sino a la necesidad urgente de proteger su vida y sus derechos».
Recomendaciones ante un Estado ausente
El boletín concluye con un llamado urgente al Estado hondureño. Exige fortalecer las investigaciones de muertes violentas e implementar políticas públicas de protección integral. Además, capacitar a funcionarios en diversidad sexual y derechos humanos y garantizar que los casos avancen más allá de la etapa preliminar.
Barrientos lo resume con claridad. «Exigimos al Estado respuestas inmediatas, justicia y protección real para nuestra población. No queremos retroceder, no queremos volver atrás, no queremos vivir con miedo, no queremos salir a la calle y saber que no puedo expresar mi amor hacia mi pareja o hacia otra persona porque puedo amar y ser muerta».
El Observatorio KAI+ recuerda que detrás de cada cifra hay seres humanos: madres, padres, hijos, hermanos y familias que dependen de ellos. La indiferencia institucional, advierten, no puede seguir siendo una puerta abierta a la impunidad.
Netherlands
Trans, nonbinary Americans find refuge in the Netherlands
DAFT visa offers fast-track to permanent residency, citizenship
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key were on assignment in the Netherlands from July 28-Aug. 10.
AMSTERDAM — A transgender American couple who live in the Netherlands say President Donald Trump prompted them to leave the U.S.
Jack Reaves, who is a trans man, and his wife, Iskara McCoy, who is a trans woman of color, moved to the Netherlands from Reno, Nev., in 2024. The couple now lives outside Utrecht, a university city that is roughly 30 miles south-southeast of Amsterdam.
“We’d been keeping an eye on things during his (Trump’s) first term in 2016, which was pretty terrifying,” Reaves told the Los Angeles Blade on Aug. 24 during a WhatsApp interview with him and McCoy. “We knew that there was a lot of anti-trans legislation and just anti-trans feelings from the Republican/MAGA party at the time.”
The Biden-Harris administration took office on Jan. 20, 2021, two weeks after thousands of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol — the insurrection took place shortly after Congress began to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election that Joe Biden won.
“Joe Biden was elected, and we were like, okay, well maybe things will turn around,” said Reaves. “But it was very clear very early on in the Biden presidency that that wasn’t going to happen.”
“There weren’t any meaningful changes, and then with Trump getting ready to win the next election and MAGA really looking like they were going to continue to gain more power, we were like, well time to get out.”
Reaves and McCoy are two of the four trans and nonbinary Americans who have moved to the Netherlands with whom the Blade recently spoke. The interviews took place during World Pride, which took place in Amsterdam from July 25-Aug. 8, or in the days after the biennial event ended.
The Dutch American Friendship Treaty, or DAFT, allows American citizens to live and work in the Netherlands as self-employed entrepreneurs.
DAFT visa recipients must keep at least €4,500 ($5,244.19) in a Dutch business bank account and need to register their business with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. DAFT visa recipients can apply for permanent residency in the Netherlands or the European Union seven years after they receive it.
Reaves and McCoy and the two other trans and nonbinary Americans with whom the Blade spoke for this story either received a DAFT visa or plan to apply for one.
Kai, who is nonbinary, and their husband, who is a trans man, moved from New England to the Netherlands in August 2021. They now live in Haarlem, a small city that is roughly 12 miles west of Amsterdam.
Kai told the Blade on Aug. 20 during an interview from their home that friends moved to the Netherlands in 2017 after they received a DAFT visa.
“The prompt was the 2016 election for them,” said Kai.
Kai and their husband were living in a collective household in August 2020 when they “decided we wanted to have some kind of change.”
“We suspected that politics was going to get worse, even if it got better soon, that it would probably get worse again later, and that the country politically was going downhill,” they said.
Kai told the Blade a lack of promised disability payments and poor health in the U.S. were also factors.
“When I had been to visit the Netherlands to visit the friends that were living here, I found that my body was healthier, even though I was only here for one or two weeks at a time,” they said. “I was able to do more things, eat more things that I couldn’t go or eat while living in the U.S.”
The fourth American with whom the Blade spoke identifies as a “disabled transgender queer” person. He asked to remain anonymous.
He and his daughter, who is also trans, arrived in the Netherlands in July. He referred to the Holocaust and its impact in the Netherlands when the Blade interviewed him in Amsterdam on Aug. 6.
“I’m the trans parent of a trans adolescent who knows our family history, which includes genocide from the Holocaust,” he said, pointing out 85 percent of Dutch Jews died in the Holocaust. “(My daughter) said my grandparents came to New York right before the occupation, and so my daughter said from our history that targeted communities have to get out early, so this was last summer, so how will we know we need to leave and where will we go?”
“I started looking into that, and we started planning our move,” he added.
He pointed out the “murder of opposition politicians” — specifically former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, who were shot to death inside their home in June 2025 — and “harassment and prosecution” of journalists in the U.S. — federal authorities in January arrested former CNN anchor Don Lemon less than two weeks after he entered a Minnesota church with a group of protesters who confronted its pastor who works with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — since the Trump-Vance administration took office as signs he and his daughter may need to leave the U.S.
Federal authorities charged Lemon, independent journalist Georgia Fort and two protesters with conspiracy and interfering with worshippers’ First Amendment rights during the protest.
An ICE agent on Jan. 7 shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman who left behind her wife and three children. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on Jan. 24 shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse who worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Minneapolis.
Pretti and Good were American citizens.
The shootings took place after the Trump-Vance administration deployed thousands of federal immigration agents to Minnesota during “Operation Metro Surge.”
“We were thinking, depending on what happens with the midterms,” said the trans person in Amsterdam with whom the Blade spoke. “But then you’re like, you know what, every day more people are coming and we should just do this thing.”
The Trump-Vance administration since it took office on Jan. 20, 2025, has implemented several anti-trans executive orders and policies.
Trump hours after his second inauguration signed the “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” that, among other things, declared the federal government will only recognize two genders: male and female. The directive also banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers.
The Pentagon reinstated a ban on openly trans servicemembers. The Department of Education has rescinded agreements with school districts that were designed to protect trans students. The Trump-Vance administration’s anti-terrorism strategy specifically targets “radically pro-transgender” groups.
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this summer upheld state laws banning athletes from school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity and block gender-affirming care for minors. The Trump-Vance administration since it took office has moved aggressively to curtail these treatments.
“On the one hand, it’s like as if people don’t recognize that that these things make it impossible to have a trans life,” said the trans person with whom the Blade spoke in Amsterdam. “But of course, that’s what Project 2025 is trying to do … make it be impossible to exist.”
McCoy said her and Reaves’s oldest child, who is also trans, has an “X” gender marker on their U.S. passport. McCoy’s grandmother with whom she was very close recently died, but her family attended her funeral virtually from the Netherlands “because we didn’t want to risk returning to the States at that point.”
Kai also noted trans and nonbinary Americans who are trying to leave the U.S., but don’t have passports and other documents with gender markers that match their gender identity.
“That’s terrifying, and it prevents you from doing things like leaving the country,” they said. “Even if it’s not a ban on leaving the country, it still prevents you from leaving the country if those things don’t match in the right way, depending on which immigrations person you get at the border.”
“On this end it wouldn’t matter as much,” added Kai. “But on the other end, it does matter and that is super frustrating and exhausting.”
Dutch ‘very into their bureaucracy’
Kai and the three other trans and nonbinary Americans with whom the Blade spoke said navigating the Dutch health care system upon their arrival in the Netherlands was one of their biggest challenges.
“They’re very into their bureaucracy and they’re very into following guidelines as if they’re laws, and they’re the only ways you do things,” said McCoy. “Once they start working for you. They work. Once you’re in the system, once you’re onboarded, once they’re caught up, then everything goes pretty smoothly.”
Reaves noted McCoy “had a little bit easier time as a trans woman who’s already passing.”
“They were just like, oh, well, it’s clear you’re a woman, so here’s your hormones, and here’s the fast path to diagnostics,” Reaves told the Blade.
Reaves, on the other hand, had been on testosterone for six years before he and McCoy moved to the Netherlands. Reaves said it took nearly a “full year of re-diagnostics before I could get back on testosterone and continue to determine care.”
“They were just like, ‘Well, you kind of look like a woman, so we’re gonna make you do the full diagnostic phase again,’” recalled Reaves.
Reaves told the Blade his doctor prescribed him the wrong type of testosterone. Health clinics that specifically treat trans and nonbinary people use what he described as “extremely outdated language,” but Reaves noted the facility’s doctor helped him get an appointment for his top surgery.
“Now that I’m fully onboarded, I think it’s actually been a little bit better than the U.S.,” he said, noting he receives testosterone blood tests at home. “The follow-ups are really easy.”
Kai also discussed the challenges navigating the Dutch health care system.
They said it would “have been a lot harder to receive care” if they had already undergone hormone replacement therapy, seen a psychiatrist, or had had surgeries. Kai told the Blade they “made the choice” to tell the clinic where they were receiving care that they were a man, as opposed to saying they are nonbinary.
“That’s not true, but I look enough like a man, and then I’m going to get the care that I need,” they said. “I’m sure it’s very different and difficult for folks, especially who are nonbinary, to say I am actually a woman, or I am actually a man, and to pretend that … and that’s still what the system says.”
“Just like with any system, if you want to get your needs met from the system, sometimes you have to meet the system where it’s at, and then once you get your needs met, then outside of the system you can be whoever you want,” Kai added.
Kai noted Dutch activists are “working to get some of those laws and some of those policies changed.” Their husband is working with one group “that is working to change things from if you don’t have a psychological diagnosis of being trans, then getting that care is going to be really hard.”
“What this group is working on is trying to get trans care to be — it’s what they use in the U.S., which is like informed consent, which is not what they use here,” said Kai. “But they’re working on putting together something to like push to governmental level to policy level to say that trans care should be informed consent, not the diagnosis.”
Gay PM: Netherlands needs to do more to defend trans people, rights
The Netherlands in 2001 became the first country in the world to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.
The country’s nondiscrimination and hate crimes law include gender identity and expression. The Dutch government in 2021 formally apologized to trans and intersex people who were forced to become sterile in order to legally change their gender — The Gender Change Act, which was also known as the Transgender Act — was in place from 1985 until 2014.
Prime Minister Rob Jetten, who is the country’s first openly gay head of government, during a World Pride Human Rights Conference panel conceded the Netherlands needs to do more to defend trans people and their rights. Boris Dittrich, the Dutch Senate’s First Vice President and a member of Jetten’s D66 party who was previously global advocacy director for Human Rights Watch’s LGBTQ Rights Program, at the end of the panel asked about protecting intersex babies from what advocates maintain are unnecessary surgeries.
Reaves admitted he and his children are struggling to learn Dutch, but he added he and his family “appreciate” the Netherlands and “really enjoy living here.”
“I struggle in the Netherlands,” Reaves told the Blade. “I don’t speak the language
“It’s hard being away from home and your own culture and the things you grew up with,” he said. “But I’m safe here, and so that like gives it extra points.”
McCoy said their daughter has “experienced zero transphobia here so far.”
Kai told the Blade that their friends warned them that Dutch people would “call you out or they’ll stare at you or will be mean to you” if they “look nonbinary.”
“I had never had that experience,” they said.
All four of the people with whom the Blade spoke said they plan to apply for their Dutch or EU citizenship once they are legally able to do so. They all expressed reservations about returning to the U.S., even once the Trump-Vance administration is no longer in office.
“I’m actually very nervous that even if things turn around in the U.S. as far as getting rid of Trump, that people are still going to be anti-trans,” said the trans person with whom the Blade spoke in Amsterdam. “The poison’s in the water.”
Reaves said the U.S. “doesn’t really feel like it’s a safe place for trans people to come to.” McCoy added she would consider visiting the U.S., but “I would not move back.”
“That’s too risky,” she said. “It can change anytime.”
“It would probably take like a decade of democratic legislative changes before I would feel safe coming back,” added Reaves.
Canada
Monument to LGBTQ+ Canadians officially unveiled
Thunderhead honors those who suffered government-sanctioned discrimination
A monument that pays tribute to LGBTQ+ Canadians who suffered government-sanctioned persecution and discrimination officially opened in Ottawa on Aug. 21.
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Governor General Louise Arbour, and Women and Gender Equality Minister Rechie Valdez are among those who attended the ceremony.
A Canadian government press release notes Thunderhead, which is located on Parliament Hill, “recognizes the historic discrimination faced by 2SLGBTQI+ (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, plus) people in Canada, including during the LGBT (lesbiennes, gaies, bisexuelles, trans) Purge.”
(French and English are Canada’s official languages.)
Trudeau in 2017 formally apologized to Canadians who suffered persecution and discrimination under the country’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws — including those convicted of “gross indecency” before Canada decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations — and policies. Trudeau also formally apologized to those who were fired from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the country’s military and civil service from the 1950s to the mid-1990s because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Canadian government later settled a class action lawsuit that LGBT Purge victims filed.
The settlement funded the monument.
The Canadian government’s press release notes an “all Canadian team” from Winnipeg, Manitoba, designed it. The monument is also located on the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation’s traditional territory.
“It celebrates the resilience and achievements of those who fought for equality, educates visitors, and inspires the change still needed so that everyone can openly love who they love and express and identify themselves as they choose,” reads the press release.
“Thunderhead stands as a tribute to the lives, stories, and contributions of 2SLGBTQI+ people across Canada,” said Prime Minister Mark Carney on Facebook. “It’s reminder of the discrimination too many endured — and honors those who fought to build a country where everyone can live freely, safely, and with dignity.”
India
Proposed Indian foreign funding law overhaul could further pressure LGBTQ+ groups
Measure introduced in Parliament earlier this year
India’s proposed overhaul of its foreign funding law could put LGBTQ+ organizations that depend on overseas donations under new pressure.
Introduced in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, on March 25, the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, or FCRA, would give a government-designated authority control over foreign funds, and assets when an organization loses or surrenders its registration.
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill returned to the spotlight this month as the Indian government prepared to seek its passage during Parliament’s Monsoon Session; drawing fierce opposition from political parties, civil society groups and religious organizations.
The government says the bill is intended to address gaps in the management of foreign funds and assets when an organization’s FCRA registration is cancelled, surrendered, or expires. The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, would create a Designated Authority to oversee the vesting, supervision, management, and disposal of foreign contributions and assets when an organization’s FCRA registration is cancelled, surrendered , or ceases. If a vested asset is a place of worship, the authority would be required to preserve its religious character. The FCRA would also reduce the maximum prison term for violating the law from five years to one year.
The changes could also make it difficult for organizations to leave the FCRA regime without surrendering assets created with foreign funds. Under the bill, an organization would have to keep renewing its FCRA certificate to retain those assets. FCRA rules also impose spending requirements on organizations seeking to maintain their certificates.
The bill may also create a distinction between assets created by organizations with FCRA registration and those created through the separate prior-permission route.
More significantly, neither the existing law nor the bill provides an appeal mechanism when the central government refuses to renew an FCRA certificate. They also do not expressly require the organization to be given an opportunity to be heard before renewal is denied. Under the proposed framework, such a denial could trigger the vesting of the organization’s foreign-funded assets in the Designated Authority.
The bill would also widen the circle of people who could face consequences for an organization’s FCRA violations.
Its definition of “key functionary” extends beyond directors and office bearers to trustees, governing-body members, managing-committee members and others responsible for an organization’s affairs. Those functionaries could be held liable for offenses committed by the organization, unless they can show that they were unaware of the violation or had exercised due diligence to prevent it. The FCRA bill would also impose restrictions on dealing with foreign-funded assets during a suspension and leave several important operational details — including timelines and procedures for managing and returning assets — to rules that have yet to be prescribed.
Parliament on Aug 12 moved to refer the FCRA bill to a parliamentary committee for further scrutiny and wider consultations.
Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai moved the motion in the Lok Sabha, to refer the bill to a committee comprising 21 members of the lower house and 10 members of the Rajya Sabha, Parliament’s upper house.
The Rajya Sabha subsequently approved the nomination of its 10 members to the committee. The panel is expected to submit its report by the last day of the first week of Parliament’s Winter Session.
The proposed changes could have significant implications for LGBTQ+ organizations that rely on the FCRA framework to receive foreign contributions. (The global LGBTQ+ and intersex rights movement since the Trump-Vance administration took office in 2025 has lost nearly $50 million in U.S. funding because of foreign aid cuts. One source with whom the Los Angeles Blade spoke described the funding loss as a “catastrophe” for the global movement.)
While the government does not appear to have published an easily accessible, consolidated list of LGBTQ+ organizations receiving such funding, FCRA registration records and organizations’ financial disclosures indicate that foreign contributions have supported LGBTQ+ rights, healthcare, and community services in India.
K.C. Venugopal, general secretary of the opposition Indian National Congress, told reporters his party and other opposition parties would strongly protest the legislation if it were introduced in Parliament. He said the bill was aimed at targeting minorities and NGOs and vowed that the opposition would oppose its passage.
Venugopal called the proposed legislation “unconstitutional and anti-people.”
“If the Central Government thinks they can cook up and introduce the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill within these two or three days, they should keep that wish to themselves,” he told reporters in Alappuzha, Kerala, on Aug. 9.
“Three provisions worry LGBTQ+ organizations like ours most directly,” said Souvik Saha, founder of People for Change and Jamshedpur Queer Circle. “First, the 2026 bill would let a government-appointed ‘Designated Authority’ take control of an organization’s foreign-funded assets— bank balances, equipments, sometimes even property— the moment its FCRA registration is cancelled, surrendered, or simply not renewed, and this happens through an administrative process, without prior judicial adjudication. For a small community organization, that means losing everything we have built — case files, shelter infrastructure, helpline equipment — almost overnight, with no court hearing first.”
Saha told the Blade the revised FCRA Rules announced in June introduced a minimum spending threshold: organizations must spend at least $10,449 in foreign contributions over two financial years or risk cancellation and non-renewal of their registration.
“This specifically penalizes small and grassroots groups that deliberately keep their foreign funding modest — which describes most LGBTQ organizations in India, including ours,” said Saha. “We are not running core-scale budgets; we are running helplines, safe spaces, and district-level outreach on modest grants.”
Saha told the Blade that the ban on sub-granting, carried over from the 2020 amendment, means larger, well-established rights organizations cannot pass foreign funds to smaller, unregistered LGBTQ+ collectives that could not obtain FCRA registration themselves. He said rights groups have long described the restriction as a near “death knell” for hundreds of small nongovernmental organizations that work collaboratively with larger organizations, adding that LGBTQ+ groups outside major metropolitan areas depend heavily on such funding arrangements.
“Domestic funding for LGBTQ work in India is still thin, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) money avoids us because we are seen as ‘controversial,’ and most Indian foundations would not touch gender-identity programming,” Saha said. “So foreign funding is not a convenience for organizations working with the transgender and LGBTQ community, it is often always funding.”
Netherlands
Thailand’s first openly gay senator attends World Pride in Amsterdam
Blade sat down with Pornchai Witayalerdpan on Aug. 7
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key were on assignment in the Netherlands from July 28-Aug. 10.
AMSTERDAM — The first openly gay man elected to the Thai Senate says the law that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples in Thailand has positively impacted his country’s global image.
“It totally changed how the world perceived Thailand,” Sen. Pornchai Witayalerdpan told the Los Angeles Blade on Aug. 7 during an interview at the World Pride Human Rights Conference in Amsterdam.
Thailand on Jan. 23, 2025, became the first country in Southeast Asia to allow same-sex couples to legally marry.
The marriage equality bill received final legislative approval in June 2024 when the Senate approved it by a 152-130 vote margin. King Maha Vajiralongkorn signed it a few months later. Then-Prime Minister Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is among those who supported the law.
Witayalerdpan was a freelance interpreter before he took office in July 2024.
The independent senator noted Thailand’s marriage equality movement began to gain traction with a lawsuit that the Foundation for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Rights and Justice, a Thai advocacy group, filed.
The Constitutional Court in 2021 upheld a law that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. MP Tunyawaj Kamolwongwat of the Move Forward Party later introduced the marriage equality bill that became law.
“It was a coalition of efforts between the civil society organizations, the LGBTQ organizations, and also the Pride movement in Thailand,” Witayalerdpan told the Blade.
Taiwan in 2019 became the first country in Asia to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.
The Nepalese Supreme Court in June issued a landmark ruling that ordered the country’s government to guarantee full marriage rights to same-sex couples.
The Japanese Supreme Court in March said it will consider six marriage equality lawsuits that have been filed in the country. The Indian Supreme Court in 2023 ruled against marriage rights for same-sex couples. South Korea is among the other Asian countries in which marriage equality efforts are gaining momentum.
Witayalerdpan said Thailand’s marriage equality law could have a direct impact in Japan, which is the only G7 country that does not legally recognize same-sex couples.
“It’s been nothing but a positive effect (in Thailand) after the same-sex marriage law (took effect),” he said.
InterPride, the organization that coordinates World Pride events, has announced Bangkok and Barcelona, Spain, are the two finalists to host the biennial event in 2030. (World Pride took place in D.C. in 2025.)
Witayalerdpan told the Blade that World Pride in Bangkok would further improve Thailand’s global image. He also said his fellow lawmakers, in turn, should pass LGBTQ+ rights bills — including proposals that would allow transgender people to legally change their name and gender and enable same-sex couples to have children via surrogates from in vitro fertilization. Witayalerdpan noted the most important bill to him is one that would strengthen Thailand’s LGBTQ+-inclusive nondiscrimination law that took effect in 2015.
Impact of US funding cuts has ‘been very hard’
Witayalerdpan also offered advice to activists in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world.
“Keep on pushing forward,” he told the Blade. “I know that it’s hard for activists in Thailand as well.”
Witayalerdpan acknowledged the loss of U.S. government funding since the Trump-Vance administration took office — which has forced advocacy groups in Asia and elsewhere around the world to close — has “been very hard.” Witayalerdpan noted the global LGBTQ+ and intersex rights movement in response to these cuts has turned to the European Union, the U.K., Canada, and the Netherlands to help fill the gap.
“It’s very good that these countries are providing more funds to the activists in Asia than before because of the Trump situation,” he told the Blade. “It can increase their soft power as well.”
Witayalerdpan said American activists should “wish for a positive result in the mid-term elections.”
“Then there is some resistance,” he added.
Witayalerdpan specifically highlighted efforts to fight against the Trump-Vance administration’s efforts to restrict gender-affirming healthcare.
A federal court in Massachusetts on Aug. 15 struck down a key provision of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Service rule that would have limited access to gender-affirming care under the Affordable Care Act. Maryland and California are two of the 21 states that sued the Trump-Vance administration over the issue.
“You have to show more resistance … to show that we are still here and we will push back when we can,” said Witayalerdpan.
Russia
Russian LGBTQ+ rights group to shut down
Russian LGBT Network in April declared ‘extremist’ organization
A Russian LGBTQ+ advocacy group on Monday announced it will shut down after a court declared it an “extremist” organization.
A St. Petersburg court in April in response to a Russian Justice Ministry lawsuit made the declaration against the Russian LGBT Network.
“For many years, Russian LGBT Network brought together initiatives and activists and supported queer people across the country,” said the advocacy group on its Facebook page. ” However, its ‘extremist’ status has made the previous public format of its work impossible: any connection to the organization may create additional risks for the people we seek to support and protect.”
The Russian LGBT Network formed in 2006.
The group on its Facebook page said it “made this decision” to close “after a thorough assessment of the risks.”
“Continuing our public activities could have put at risk those who took part in the organization’s work, supported it, or received assistance,” said the Russian LGBT Network. “We cannot control the repressive environment, but we can do everything possible to avoid creating additional risks for people. People’s safety comes first.”
The Kremlin over the last decade has faced global criticism over its crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights.
The Russian Supreme Court in 2023 ruled the “international LGBT movement” is an extremist organization and banned it.
Russia in January designated ILGA World, a global LGBTQ+ and intersex rights group, as an “undesirable” organization. ILGA World in response to the designation noted Russians who are found guilty of engaging with “undesirable” groups face up to six years in prison.
Human Rights Watch in May noted the Russian LGBT Network is one of nine LGBTQ+ groups that Russia this year has banned after authorities deemed them “extremist.”
“Russian LGBT Network may close; but dignity, solidarity, and people’s right to be themselves cannot be destroyed,” said the Russian LGBT Network in its statement. “Take care of yourselves.”
Netherlands
Tens of thousands take part in World Pride March
Event capped off two weeks of celebrations in Amsterdam
AMSTERDAM — Tens of thousands of people on Saturday participated in the World Pride March in Amsterdam.
Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin and Paolo Rondelli, who in 2022 became the world’s first openly gay head of state when he became Captain Regent of San Marino, are among those who participated alongside Massachusetts state Rep. Jack Lewis and Olena Shevchenko, chair of Insight, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group in Ukraine, and others.
Members of D66, the centrist Dutch political party that Prime Minister Rob Jetten heads, also marched.
Jetten in February became the Netherlands’ first openly gay prime minister. He participated in the opening of the World Pride Human Rights Conference on Aug. 5 and spoke on a panel with Rondelli, former Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, and other gay and lesbian current and former heads of government.
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
The march took place a week after hundreds of thousands of people lined Amsterdam’s canals for the city’s annual Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade.
A terrorist attack at Berlin’s Christopher Street Day on July 25 left one person dead and more than two dozen others injured.
The incident overshadowed World Pride, which began hours earlier and ended on Saturday.
Dutch authorities increased security measures in the aftermath of the July 25 attack. No incidents were reported during World Pride.
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