An LGBTQ+ asylum-seeker has reportedly been deported from the US because of his tattoos.
Lindsay Toczylowski, the founder and president of Immigrant Defenders Law Centre (ImmDef), claimed that one of her clients, a Venezuelan tattoo artist, had been deported to El Salvador because of misconceptions regarding their body art, reports The Pride LA.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials reportedly used the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a measure instigated to deport people threatening the country’s safety. It was last invoked to intern people of Japanese descent during World War II.
Immigration officers reportedly said the tattoos were related to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organisation. Toczylowski says they were mistaken.
“Our client’s tattoos are not gang-related,” she said. “They are benign and reflect his work in the arts. ICE submitted photos of his tattoos as ‘evidence,’ despite there being no other proof of any criminal affiliation.”
The client reportedly fled Venezuela last year to escape persecution and made it to the US “seeking protection,” but was held in ICE prisons for months before being deported.
Toczylowski was “horrified” by the development, and worried about what “might happen to him now”.
ImmDef grew concerned after ICE did not bring the man to a court hearing. The government lawyer had no idea why he wasn’t there, it is claimed.
After contacting the Texas facility where her client had been held, Toczylowski was told that he was “no longer there” and had “disappeared from [the] online detainee locator”.
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What is the Alien Enemies Act?
The act grants the president full authority to detain or remove individuals from the U.S. based solely on their nationality or suspected ties to enemy organisations. The law does not require concrete evidence before deportation, raising concerns among legal experts and human rights organisations.
The Trump administration was ordered to stop using the 227-year-old law when district judge James Boasberg issued an emergency order.
Trump has claimed that Tren de Aragua was “perpetrating, attempting and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.”
However, the judge ruled that the law did not offer a good basis for deportations, saying the terms “invasion” and “predatory incursion” relate to “hostile acts perpetrated by enemy nations”.
The matter is set to reach the Supreme Court, according to the BBC.
It had been an important 12 months for LGBTQ+ rights around the world – in bad ways as well as good.
While steps in the right direction have been made in some countries, including Estonia legalising same-sex marriage, there’s been a drop in LGBTQ+ equality in other nations, such as Georgia, Kazakhstan, and even the US.
Russia, meanwhile, has continued to be one the most dangerous places for LGBTQ+ people.
Here are some of the countries that regressed on LGBTQ+ rights in 2024.
Georgia
Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili vetoed an anti-LGBTQ+ bill but it still passed into law. (Getty)
Georgia is one of the nations causing particular concern.
The country implemented a bill – despite president Salome Zourabichvili’s attempt to block it – banning changes to gender on official documents, outlawing gender-affirming care, and placing major restrictions on LGBTQ+ freedom of expression.
The legislation prompted various not-for-profit organisations, including Rainbow Migration, to demand that the UK take Georgia off of its list of safe countries.
Minesh Parekh, policy and public affairs manager at the nonprofit Rainbow Migration, said of Georgia: “There’s widespread evidence of the danger that LGBTQI+ people face in Georgia and the situation has only worsened in recent months.
“It is imperative that the UK government stops using ‘safe states’ designations and ensures people are not returned to unsafe conditions. We are currently supporting LGBTQI+ Georgians who are terrified at the prospect of being sent back to the danger they’ve fled.”
Parekh noted the non-profit’s efforts in supporting Noah, a gay man from Georgia whose family subjected him to abuse over his sexuality, including forcing him to take medication because they believed he “had a demon inside him.”
“Noah was luckily granted refugee status, but many other Georgians could face being sent back to life threatening situations – and we therefore urge the Government to repeal the cruel Illegal Migration Act introduced by the previous government, and guarantee LGBTQI+ people’s safety.”
USA
President Joe Biden has been fighting a losing battle. (Getty)
Despite efforts by the present administration to promote LGBTQ+ rights, including hosting one of the biggest Pride events in the White House, and Joe Biden becoming the first sitting president to be interviewed by an LGBTQ+ news publication, the continued onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ bills tells a different story.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), at least 574 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed in US legislatures across various states since the beginning of the year – 64 more than the reported number for 2023.
The bills, several of which have passed into law, include curriculum censorship, redefining gender to exclude trans people, and the banning of gender-affirming care for those under the age of 18.
Forty-six of bills have passed into law, while 67 have yet to be debated, and 62 are advancing through congress.
To make matters worse, Donald Trump’s re-election for a second term as president doesn’t bode well for LGBTQ+ people, and one of his top advisors, Elon Musk, has vowed to eradicate what he calls the woke mind virus – and reportedly even wants the ACLU to be “defunded”.
Bulgaria
President Rumen Radev followed in Russia’s footsteps. (Getty)
Bulgaria’s track record of LGBTQ+ rights over the past few years has been poor, and the government is continuing its efforts to make things harder for the community.
President Rumen Radev followed in Russia’s footsteps by signing into law a bill prohibiting so-called LGBT propaganda in schools. The legislation was approved by 135 votes to 57 in parliament and took effect in August.
Same-sex marriage, gender-affirming care and the right to legally change gender are all illegal.
Ghana
President Nana Akufo-Addo is stepping down. (Getty)
In February, the Ghanaian government approved a sweeping law that outlawed identifying as LGBTQ+ and campaigning for queer rights.
Dubbed the Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, the lawimposed a prison sentence of up to three years for those convicted, while anyone found guilty of LGBTQ+ advocacy campaigns aimed at under-18s could face 10 years in jail.
President Nana Akufo-Addo is due to step down following elections last week, having served his permitted two terms. He is set to be replaced by former president John Mahama, after rival, and vice-president,Mahamudu Bawumia conceded defeat.
The outlook for members of the LGBTQ+ community is unlikely to improve much, given that Mahama recently told clergymen that gay marriage and being transgender were against his religious beliefs.
“The faith I have will not allow me to accept a man marrying a man, and a woman marrying a woman,” he said, according to Reuters.
“I don’t believe anybody can get up and say I feel like a man although I was born a woman and so I will change and become a man,” he added.
However, he did not say whether he would sign the bill that would criminalise same-sex relations, being transgender and advocating for LGBTQ rights.
Kazakhstan
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a bill effectively preventing queer couple adopting. (Getty)
While same-sex sexual activity is legal in the central Asian country, LGBTQ+ people can donate blood, and there is an equal age of consent, gay marriages are not permitted and a large majority of the population don’t see homosexuality as justifiable.
And, in February, Kazakhstan president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed into lawa ban on adoption for anyone who does not adhere to a “non-traditional” sexual orientation, effectively making it impossible for queer couples to take in a child.
Iraq
President Abdul Latif Rashid oversaw a tightening of laws against LGBTQ+ people. (Getty)
Iraq has long been considered one of the worst countries for LGBTQ+ people. But things became worse this year when homosexuality was codified as illegal.
The law, ratified by president Abdul Latif Rashid in June, specifically criminalised any practice of homosexuality and transsexuality, with a maximum of 15 years in prison for those convicted. The government also made it illegal to change gender markers on documents and banned gender-affirming care.
Human Rights Watch researcher Sarah Sanbar described the law was a “horrific development [and an] attack on human rights”.
United Kingdom
Keir Starmer hasn’t made life any easier for trans people in the UK. (Getty)
Despite the removal of the transphobic Conservative government in July, LGBTQ+ rights in the UK have not improved.
This was nowhere better represented than in ILGA-Europe’s annual Rainbow Map, which showed that Britain had plummeted the best place in Europe for LGBTQ+ rights in 2015, to sixteenth place today.
That fall wasn’t helped by the new government’s continued animosity towards transgender people. This year, health secretary Wes Streeting, who has said he does not believe trans women are women, extended a ban on puberty blockers for transgender under-18s, despite there being no definitive evidence that they are harmful.
And prime minister Keir Starmer’s record on LGBTQ+ rights is somewhat chequered. Soon after entering Downing Street, he told The Times that women who have not undergone gender confirmation surgery should not be allowed in female-only spaces, including toilets.
“They don’t have that right. They shouldn’t. That’s why I’ve always said biological women’s spaces need to be protected,” he said.
And, according to The Independent, he has said: “I’m not in favour of ideology being taught in our schools on gender.”
New research has revealed the impact of transphobia on transgender and non-binary people’s mental health.
The study, “State of Trans+ Mental Health 2024,” surveyed more than 2,000 people across 75 countries, with 68 per cent of respondents saying they had been diagnosed with a mental-health condition. On average, one in every six suffered with depression and anxiety. More than 51 per cent experienced “poor or very poor” mental health.
More than 80 per cent of those who responded said a lack of social acceptance was one of their main challenges, while a similar number, 79.8 per cent, put gender dysphoria as one of their biggest hurdles. Fear of discrimination (70.7 per cent) and family rejection (59.9 per cent) were also mentioned.
The report, published by LGBTQ+ mental wellness app Voda, found that just 14.7 per cent had a positive experience when accessing healthcare, while 40.7 per cent had difficulty even doing so.
An overwhelming majority of respondents emphasised the importance of mental-health services for trans people being created by transgender and non-binary individuals, with nearly 84 per cent highlighting the need for therapists or mental-health professionals to also transgender or non-binary.
Jaron Soh, Voda’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “This report is a call to action to recognise the significant gaps in mental-health provision for trans+ individuals, and [to] work toward creating inclusive, affirming services that address their needs.”
A psychiatrist has said that during the upcoming holiday season LGBTQ+ people have the right to shun family members who voted for Donald Trump in the presidential election.
“There’s a societal norm that if somebody is your family, that they are entitled to your time,” she said. “I think the answer is absolutely not,” Yale University child psychiatrist Dr Amanda Calhoun said on Friday (8 November).
Speaking to MSNBC viewers on Joy Reid‘s show on Friday night (8 November) she said: “If you are going through a situation where you have family members or close friends who you know have voted in ways that are against you, against your livelihood, it’s completely fine to not be around those people. It may be essential for your mental health.”
Calhoun went on to say that those who have been affected by Trump’s victory are within their right “to say, ‘I have a problem with the way that you voted because it went against my very livelihood, and I’m not going to be around you this holiday, I need to take some space for me’.”
LGBTQ+ crisis hotlines reported a surge in calls following Trump’s decisive victory after Americans went to the polls on Tuesday (5 November).
The Trevor Project reported close to a 200 per cent increase in calls related to the election in the run-up to polling day. The numbers jumped 700 per cent following the outcome.
Chief executive Jaymes Black said the current political environment was having a significant effect on LGBTQ+ people, and it was important for them to know they “do not have to shoulder this weight alone”.
Research has revealed that 90 per cent of LGBTQ+ youngsters have been negatively affected by the rise of anti-trans rhetoric in politics, while the increasing number of anti-trans laws had fuelled close to a 72 per cent rise in suicide attempts by trans and non-binary young people.
“While alarming, we are not surprised to see that the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ politics of the past few years continue to harm young people’s mental health,” Black said. “The Trevor Project’s counsellors are here 24/7 for any LGBTQ+ young person who needs support and we will never stop fighting for your right to be safe, supported and seen exactly as you are.”
Suicide is preventable. Readers who are affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org), or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
New research suggests bisexual men experience body dissatisfaction differently from gay men.
Bi men are reportedly less motivated to be lean and show a lower dissatisfaction rate with their muscularity, while gay men show a higher drive, according to psychologists at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), in the UK.
After interviewing more than 370 gay, bisexual and straight cisgender white men as part of a study on body satisfaction, the study showed that men who identify as bi are more likely to have the same sort of opinions about body satisfaction as straight men.
However, results for other concerns, including height, penis size and capability, remained consistent among all sexual orientations.
The study, “Tackling bisexual erasure: An explorative comparison of bisexual, gay and straight cisgender men’s body image” was published in an effort to tackle the “homogenous” way that gay and bi men are grouped in research.
New research has shown why bisexual men should not be grouped with gay men when it comes to body image. (Getty)
Dr Liam Cahill, the project’s lead researcher and a lecturer in LGBTQ+ psychology at NTU, said the traditional act of grouping bisexual and gay men is outdated.
“Traditionally, bisexual men have been grouped in the same category as gay men when it comes to body image research,” he said. “Our findings show they are unique in how they experience differences in their body image.”
While society generally has a preference for men to be “muscular or lean with low body fat,” bisexual men’s dissatisfaction with their physique is only compounded when integrating with the gay community, he added.
However, the study’s results still suggest that, while bisexual and straight men are less dissatisfied with their muscularity, societal pressures still influence all men – regardless of sexuality.
“When it comes to increased pressure and dissatisfaction related to muscularity, previous studies have found that gay men’s stronger preference for muscular partners may contribute to their higher levels,” Cahill said. “This is a pressure that bisexual men may only experience when they are integrated with the gay community, hence their dissatisfaction is lower.”
This means that bi, straight and gay men all experience the same motivation to gain muscle and lose body fat, but gay men are typically more dissatisfied with the results.
“The experiences of bisexual men are often overlooked in research,” the study concluded. “Bisexual people experience greater stigma, marginalisation and prejudice than other sexual [minority] identities.
“As of the most recent review of this issue, only a small number of studies have explored bisexual and gay men’s body image differences.
“Our findings contradict the view that bisexual and gay men experience similar body-image concerns concerning their drive for leanness and muscularity dissatisfaction.”
LGBTQ+ Ukrainians have stood in defiance at Kharkiv Pride just 18 miles (30km) from the Russian border as the war between the two countries rages on.
The sixth annual Kharkiv Pride parade took place on Sunday (15 September) with scores of queer people taking part in an “auto Pride”, where cars were driven through the town centre, with Ukrainian and LGBTQ+ Pride flags flying from their windows.
A similar event took place in Kharkiv during the pandemic in 2020 as a way to uphold social-distancing regulations.
Organisers estimated that 13 cars filled with about 60 passengers drove across the city’s main avenues, promoting the need to uphold human rights, as onlookers celebrated. Auto Pride was chosen to “ensure maximum safety” of participants considering the challenges faced by Russia’s invasion more than two-and-a-half years ago.
Each car carried messages urging the Ukrainian parliament to pass legislation criminalising hate crimes, including Bill 5488, which recognises different sentences for crimes committed on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Cars drove through the city as part of Kharkiv Pride. (Supplied/KharkivPride)
While LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine are improving, same-sex marriage is still banned under Article 51 of the constitution, passed in 1996, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Animosity toward homosexuality remains high, with more than 62 per cent of Ukrainians believing it is “not justifiable”, according to a World Values Survey in 2022.
Others in the parade urged European countries to help protect Kharkiv and support Ukraine in the war.
“We remember every day how important Ukraine’s victory is,” Kharkiv Pride co-organiser Anna Sharygina said. “Just as important to us is the fight for equal rights and the protection of the LGBTQ+ community. People who are fighting, risking their lives, cannot be denied their rights. It is both unjust and undignified, and the war has only highlighted these challenges.”
Several LGBTQ+ participants have served in the Ukrainian armed forces, or still are.
One of them, who uses the call sign “Sapsan,” urged the Ukrainian forces to acknowledge the presence of queer people in the army.
“Those who attend the march represent the voices of those on the front lines and, sadly, those who are no longer with us,” he said, before urging the government to pass Bill 5488.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a legal challenge to a Tennessee banon trans healthcare.
The bill, approved by state lawmakers last year, mimics similar laws in other states, with civil penalties for any adult who aids a minor to receive getting out-of-state gender-affirming care without their parent’s consent.
Several families, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued Tennessee to prevent the bill passing into law.
The case will now be heard by the country’s top court in October.
The ACLU’s deputy director for trans justice, Chase Strangio, said: “The future of countless transgender youth in this and future generations rests on this court adhering to the facts, the constitution and its own modern precedent.
“These bans represent a dangerous and discriminatory affront to the well-being of transgender youth across the country and their constitutional right to equal protection under the law. They are the result of an openly political effort to wage war on a marginalised group and our most fundamental freedoms.”
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to take the case, 64 trans adults, including actor Elliot Page, filed a brief sharing their own experiences.
What is the Supreme Court case US v Skrmetti?
Following the passing of the bill in the state house of representatives and senate, the ACLU, and Lambda Legal, aided by lawyers from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, sued Tennessee.
The pushback was, to a large degree, over the bill’s aim to outlaw medical care for trans youngsters up to the age of 18, while those currently receiving gender-affirming care would have been forced to end it by July 2023.
Samantha Williams, from Nashville, who brought the case on behalf of her trans 15-year-old daughter, said it was “incredibly painful” to watch her child suffer as a consequence of the proposed legislation.
“We have a confident, happy daughter now, who is free to be herself and she is thriving,” Williams said. “I am so afraid of what this law will mean for her.”
In June 2023, a federal judge blocked the bill from going forward. But a federal appeal court overturned that decision last September, allowing the bill to go into effect, a decision the ACLU described as “beyond disappointing.”
In June this year, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. While the outcome will specifically affect the Tennessee bill, it is likely to set a legal precedent for similar laws in other states.
Data collected and shared by the ACLU found that at least 530 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed in the US since the beginning of the year, with 112 of those being healthcare restrictions.
Lambda Legal senior lawyer Tara Borelli said: “This court has historically rejected efforts to uphold discriminatory laws. Without similar action here, these punitive, categorical bans on the provision of gender-affirming care will continue to wreak havoc on the lives of transgender youth and their families.”
LGBTQ+ asylum seekers have shared their gruelling experiences as detainees in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, as part of a new report.
An analysis into the mistreatment of LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive individuals while in US federal immigration jails revealed that almost one in three of those interviewed were sexually assaulted, and almost all were harassed because of their sexuality.
Not-for-profit organisation Immigration Equality, which published the report, added that roughly half the participants (20 of 41) were subjected to solitary confinement.
Bridget Crawford, Immigration Equality’s director of law and policy, told independent publication The 19th that ICE detention centres were a “critical lifeline” for LGBTQ+ refugees fleeing “unimaginable violence and torture”, adding: “Their experience in detention compounds the trauma that many of these queer and trans asylum seekers faced in their home country.”
One of those participants, Nikolai, described his time in custody as “completely disgusting” and he felt treated as “second class”. Diagnosed with depression prior to his detainment, he claimed that he was denied antidepressant medication by jail staff despite his mental health deteriorating.
“Imagine sitting in jail and not getting your medication,” he told the researchers. “You’re feeling worse and worse and worse.”
Upon entering the detainment centre in San Diego, California, Nikolai noted that certain cells had the words “HIV”, “gay,” and “transgender” written on the doors. Conditions were “like a zoo” and little was done to hide the identities of queer or HIV-positive detainees, leaving them open to abuse.
Another detainee, a trans woman called Tara, claimed that the guards “beat us like dogs” and that, after being outed, “the other detainees also beat me”.
She was reportedly laughed at and mocked when she asked to speak to a lawyer and was told the only way she could leave was through a deportation order.
Four of the 41 participants reported “outright hostility” from ICE staff when asserting their right to legal representation, and seven said they did not even know they were allowed to contact a lawyer.
Sexual harassment and abuse have also been found to be prevalent within ICE custody centres. A study for the research and advocacy group the Center for American Progress in 2018 revealed that, while LGBTQ+ people make up just 0.14 per cent of detainees, they are the victims of 12 per cent of the sexual abuse cases.
Eighteen participants in the latest research reported being sexual abused or physically assaulted, including Karina, who alleged that she was attacked be a male inmate in the shower after being incarcerated in a men’s detention unit.
After reporting the sexual assault, she was taken to hospital to prove she had “really [been] raped” and was forced to undress in front of a male immigration officer.
After experiencing a mental-health crisis following the ordeal, she was put in solitary confinement, she claimed.
Democrat politician and LGBTQ+ rights activist Kim Coco Iwamoto has made history by becoming Hawaii’s first transgender House representative.
Iwamoto ousted fellow Democrat Scott Saiki – who has been speaker of the house since 2017 – from the 25th district seat, in the primary elections on Sunday (11 August).
The district covers Honolulu and Kaka’ako, two areas where recent infrastructure booms have transformed the landscape.
As a civil rights attorney and former school board member, Iwamoto’s campaign hinged on progressive policies for addressing homelessness, exposing government corruption and promoting small businesses.
Kim Coco Iwamoto with two of her supporters. (Facebook)
She said she was “so happy”, but a bit shocked, to have won. She had lost out to Saiki in two previous elections.
“Given the last two [primaries], it feels great to have this experience, especially knowing that so many very powerful people endorsed him. I wasn’t just campaigning against him, I was campaigning against the entire Democratic establishment in some ways.”
Who is Kim Coco Iwamoto?
Born on the Hawaiian island of Kauai on 26 May 1968, Iwamoto’s life has been defined by her connection to America’s 50th state. Initially educated at Hokulani Elementary, she moved schools several times before graduating in 1986.
Shortly after finishing her undergraduate degree, Iwamoto became involved with volunteering and local community groups in New York, where she helped support homeless youngsters, particularly LGBTQ+ individuals, which was part of her motivation for attending law school.
She eventually completed a local government programme at Harvard University in 2011 and went on sit on the Hawaii State Board of Education, representing the island of O’ahu, becoming the highest-ranking out trans person elected to a government position in the US.
The parents of a transgender teenager who took his own life have called for more support for youngsters waiting for care.
15-year-old Jason Pulman was found dead in Hampden Park, Eastbourne, East Sussex, in April 2022. He had been on an NHS gender identity service waiting list for more than two years.
Jason, who was trans masc, had been referred in 2020, but was told several months later that there was a 26-month wait just for a first appointment.
In April, an inquest jury found systemic failures by a range of services supporting Jason could have contributed to his death. Mark Pulman had noted that his stepson became increasingly frustrated over the lack of support and appeared to have “given up,” adding: “I know it broke Jason.”
The teenager’s mother, Emily, urged national services to do more to support trans under-18s on the waiting list. “They need so much more resources and not to have one appointment that’s years away,” she said.
“There needs to be regular input with these kids, so it’s not just about their gender, it’s about their mental health overall.”
Information collected by PA Media and reported by The Guardian suggests that more than 5,700 under-18s are waiting an average of 100 weeks for a first appointment.
Waiting times have only been exacerbated by the closure of what was England’s only youth gender clinic, at The Tavistock Centre in North London.
Jason’s stepfather believes that the numbers are “hugely underestimated” and added that he hopes families are given faster responses and emotional support.
“We want to change the system and we want to change it for the families because it’s a very lonely, isolating place to be when you think you’re the only person whose child is going through this,” he told the BBC.
“I don’t want people to think [being] transgender and suicide are the same thing, because they are not. I don’t want people to automatically be fearful. If your child feels [they are transgender], you’ve got to believe them and support them.”
Families of trans children need to take charge of the system and not to let it “take charge of you,” he added.
“Be on the phone, email them, push for more information,” he urged. “Never take it on face value that this [appointment] is going to be the answer to your problems because there’s going to be more support needed, like counselling for the whole family.”
