Jake McKee

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Ghana set to pass anti-homosexuality law after legal challenge fails in Supreme Court

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Same-sex intercourse is already illegal in the West African nation, and is punishable by up to three years in jail.

The Ghanaian parliament has been debating the Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill for two years, with most MPs in favour of it. 

It would criminalise same-sex relations, being transgender and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights (which alone is punishable by up to 10 yeas in jail under the bill), Reuters reported. 

A legal challenge, filed by academic researcher Amanda Odoi, said the proposed legislation would affect donor aid and other financial support for the country, according to the news agency.

However, the Supreme Court ruled last week that her arguments were not convincing enough to grant an injunction, meaning Ghana’s parliament has a clear path to getting the bill through its final stages and signed into law. 

Shortly after the bill had its first reading in August 2021, a group of 13 United Nations experts called for it to be rejected, branding it “a textbook example of discrimination” and a “recipe for conflict and violence”. 

Earlier this year, United States vice-president Kamala Harris, standing next to Ghana president Nana Akufo-Addo during a press conference, said she felt “very strongly” about supporting the development of LGBTQ+ rights in Africa. 

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It was something she considered “a human rights issue and that will not change,” she added. 

Other African countries are also clamping down on queer rights. 

Uganda has already passed a strict anti-homosexuality bill into law. It introduces a death sentence for “aggravated homosexuality”, which is defined as sex with a person under the age of 18 and having sex while HIV positive, among other categories.

Kenya is also considering an anti-homosexuality bill. The Family Protection Act would see a complete ban on activities that “promote homosexuality”, including openly identifying as LGBTQ+ or wearing Pride emblems. 

It heavily reflects the law in Uganda, with a similar “aggravated homosexuality” clause that could also result in the execution of offenders.

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Delaware state senator Sarah McBride launches bid to be first trans member of Congress

The highest-ranking transgender elected official in the United States, Sarah McBride, has launched a bid to become Delaware’s sole member of the US House of Representatives.

McBride is currently a senator in the Delaware state legislature and, if successful, would become the first trans person to be elected to federal office. 

Lisa Blunt Rochester, the state’s current house representative, announced last week that she would be running at the next election to replace senator Tom Carper, who is retiring. 

Speaking to Delaware Online, McBride said she was “certainly cognisant of the uniqueness of my candidacy, of the uniqueness that my voice would bring to the halls of Congress”. 

But, she added, “Ultimately, I’m not running to be a trans member of Congress,“ instead she was “focused on making progress on all of the issues that matter to Delawareans of every background”.

Having diversity among elected officials was necessary for a health democracy, she said.

The approach is reminiscent of McBride’s campaign for the state senate, where she ran on the notion of serving as a “senator who happens to be transgender”.

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McBride’s campaign video highlights her message of making “government work better for people”. 

She also took aim at politicians who she said want to “divide” society, showing footage of controversial figures Florida governor Ron DeSantis and US house representative Majorie Taylor Greene. 

“Blocking out the noise and focusing on what actually matters isn’t easy… it takes guts and a backbone,” McBride said. 

The election is set to take place in November 2024. 

Who is Sarah McBride?

McBride, 32, was elected to the Delaware State Senate in November 2020. It made her the first openly trans state senator in the US, as well as the highest-ranking trans elected official in the country. 

Prior to her election, she had worked for LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign. 

In 2014, she was thanked by Delaware’s then-governor Jack Markell, for her work in helping introduce legislation to ban gender-identity discrimination in areas such as housing and employment.

As a state senator, McBride sponsored a bill that gives eligible workers up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. It was passed in early 2022 and will come into effect from the start of 2025. 

According to Delaware Online, she has long been viewed as the front runner to succeed Rochester.

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Malaysia seizes rainbow Pride-themed Swatch watches

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Pride-themed Swatch watches have been seized by authorities in Malaysia in raids of 11 of its stores, reportedly due to ‘LGBT symbols’ on the timepieces. 

The raids happened between 13 to 15 May and around $14,000 (£11,347) worth of stock was seized, according to various media reports. 

The watches were part of the brand’s 2023 Pride collection, launched on 4 May, which features six different watch faces in Pride colours. Each watch strap is made up of two bands containing colours that make up the full Pride flag. 

As reported by local newspaper MalayMail, Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was questioned about the seizures while making his way to parliament on Thursday (25 May). 

Ibrahim told reporters: “The only fact I know is that the confiscation was because the watches had LGBT symbols, not because of the colours.”

In a statement to the AFP news agency, Swatch Malaysia’s marketing manager Sarah Kok said the stock would be replenished and displayed on shelves. 

Swatch Group chief executive Nick Hayek said the company “strongly contests” that the watches “could be harmful”, saying that the collection is meant to spread a message of peace and love. 

“We wonder how the Home Ministry’s enforcement unit will confiscate the many beautiful natural rainbows that are showing up thousand times a year in the sky of Malaysia,” he said.

AFP quoted an anonymous ministry official who said the watches had “LGBT” on them and had six colours (as in the Pride flag) instead of seven in a rainbow. 

Malaysia currently has no protections for LGBTQ+ people, and its poor track record on LGTBQ+ rights was recently highlighted with by the country’s handling of calls to cancel a scheduled Coldplay concert.

The band’s November performance was announced in same the week that the watch raids took place, and welcomed on social media by Ibrahim.

However, an opposition MP called for it to be cancelled because frontman Chris Martin has been pictured holding Pride flags in the past. 

Ibrahim’s local government development minister, Nga Kor Ming, hit back, describing such a call an “old-fashioned way of thinking” that was “not suitable for our multicultural society”.

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Slovakia’s cruel anti-LGBTQ+ bill condemned by European Human Rights commissioner

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The commissioner for The Council of Europe’s Human Rights is urging politicians in Slovakia to vote against proposed legislation that would effectively prevent trans people from having their gender legally recognised. 

The bill, set to have its second reading next month, proposes only allowing someone to change their gender marking if they can prove, via genetic testing, it had been incorrectly determined. 

In a letter to the Slovakia parliament, dated 19 April but released publically on 25 April, commissioner Dunja Mijatović said she was concerned that the bill would “effectively” mean trans men and women’s genders would not be legally recognised and “lead to human rights regression”. 

She said it was “in conflict” with the Slovak Republic’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Mijatović mentioned the October 2022 shooting at LGBTQ+ bar Tepláreň, in the capital, Bratislava, where two people were killed and another person was injured. 

It “should have triggered a process of addressing long-standing concerns about intolerance towards LGBTI people”, she said. 

“However, I am disappointed that no discernible progress has been made, and that the human rights of LGBTI people in the Slovak Republic appear to be more, rather than less, at risk.” 

Mijatović also used the letter to highlight issues relating to the rights of same-sex couples and hate incidents towards queer people. 

Rights for same-sex couples in the Slovak Republic fell short of European Court of Human Rights case law, she said, noting, specifically, that the current legal framework did not grant same-sex couples “adequate recognition and protection of their relationship”. 

She went further and urged that human rights of queer people be protected. 

“These include ensuring that gender identity and sex characteristics are explicitly recognised as protected characteristics in hate-crime legislation, and included as aggravating circumstances when offences are committed on those grounds.” 

Mijatović also recommended raising societal awareness and acceptance of sexual orientation and gender identity, noting parliamentarians had downplayed links between hate crimes and the wider Slovakia society and political sphere. 

The Slovak Republic is not the only European country facing condemnation for its laws in relation to LGBTQ+ people. 

Hungary is facing a lawsuit in the European Union Court of Justice over its Child Protection Act, which bans the discussion of LGBTQ+ people in schools and in the media, while some parts of Poland controversially adopted declarations declaring themselves “free from LGBT ideology” in 2019. Some have since backtracked for fear of losing out on funding.

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UK to end mpox vaccination rollout despite warning from World Health Organisation

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that it still considers mpox a public health emergency of international concern, just days after the UK confirmed it would wind down its vaccination campaign against the virus. 

Men who have sex with men have been disproportionately affected in the mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) outbreak that began in May 2022. 

In an update about the virus on 24 March, Dr Rosamund Lewis, from the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said this was still the case. 

Almost 90,000 cases and 97 deaths across more than 110 countries have been recorded since May last year.

“It is very important for people who may be at risk, particularly men who have sex with men, to continue to be mindful of how to reduce their risk by reducing the number of sexual partners, for example, and being aware when they are attending events where sexual activity may occur,” Lewis said.  

She flagged that the risk of the virus spreading could rise in the northern hemisphere as gatherings and activities increase for spring and summer, “even as the outbreak is slowing down worldwide”.

Although the WHO still deems mpox an international public health emergency, the UK has moved towards ending its mpox vaccination campaign.

On 22 March, the government announced that a “targeted vaccine programme is no longer needed”, although first dose vaccinations will still be available through to 16 June and second doses until the end of July. 

Since the programme began, 67,898 people have received their first dose of the vaccine and 26,619 people their second dose.

Only six cases of mpox were recorded in the UK between 1 January and 27 February 2023, compared to a high of 350 per week in July 2022. 

In its announcement, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said vaccination “played a crucial role” in reducing the number of cases, but urged eligible people to still get vaccinated before the end of the campaign.

The UKHSA confirmed that it would continue to closely monitor mpox case numbers and “will retain the ability to stand up the vaccination programme if the risk of infection rises significantly”.

The UK isn’t the first country to wind down its mpox vaccination programme.

The United States stopped classifying mpox as a public health emergency at the end of January, and Ireland closed its vaccination programme at the end of February due to plummeting case numbers. 

The WHO’s Dr Rosamund Lewis said that vital new information has come to light since case numbers spiked in May 2022.

“While the outbreak appeared to begin primarily in Caucasian men in Europe and North America and has spread around the world, we are now also learning that it is reaching more marginalised and ethnic and racial groups such as Black and Latino men who have a much higher rate of acquiring mpox in their communities and a much lower access to prevention measures and face greater stigma and discrimination.”

Citing the downward global trend in case numbers, Lewis pointed out that men who have sex with men “have taken charge of their own health” to reduce risk and the spread of the virus.

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LGBTQ+ suicide helpline inundated with harassment from conservatives, staff say

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Staff at The Trevor Project, one of the largest LGBTQ+ youth advocacy groups in the US, have said that they aren’t being adequately supported with regard to the homophobic and transphobic harassment they face. 

Frontline staff, dealing with emotionally draining cases coming through its crisis support hotline, are said to be those suffering the most. 

Last year, the hotline was swamped with fake calls, resulting in increased waiting times for those actually in need of help, Vice News has reported.

This comes amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ moves taken by conservatives in the US, including Don’t Say Gay legislation and various attempts to restrict access to trans healthcare. 

A lead crises services digital supervisor at the organisation, Sarah Hallock, told Vice that leadership had “struggled to hear the voices of the people [who] are working on the frontlines and make meaningful changes” amid “a focus on large-scale, rapid growth that has often felt unsustainable”. 

Hallock said those providing direct crisis care were regularly forced to deal with prank callers and worse – including people using slurs and threatening violence against the organisation.

This was echoed by Victoria “VT” Tonikian, a goal-setting manager who also co-chairs a transgender affinity group for employees. They said better support for frontline staff was imperative. 

Another staff member, Emma Turzillo, wants to see “trauma-informed” policies for those who deal with harassment. She also commented on issues with people in marginalised groups – whether it be race or gender identity – feeling excluded from opportunities within the organisation. 

All the comments come as staff at The Trevor Project look to unionise. 

Hallock said they hoped to achieve improved support as a result of unionising, highlighting that “people get pretty worn out” helping youth in crisis. “It’s a hard job to do,” she added. 

In a statement to Vice News, a spokesperson for The Trevor Project said the organisation respected employees’ rights to form a union and was “open to bargaining”. 

Staff manning hotlines for LGBTQ+ youth elsewhere are also facing abuse.

In October, UK trans youth charity Mermaids was forced to close, then reduce the hours during which it offers support because of “intolerable abuse”. 

In a tweet, the charity said: “We do not make this decision lightly, but our duty of care towards staff and volunteers necessitates a harm-reduction approach to protect our dedicated staff and volunteer team.”

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Brittney Griner faces violence, bigotry and threat of torture in Russian penal colony, experts say

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The 32-year-old was sentenced in August to nine years in a Russian penal colony after pleading guilty to drug charges. She was reportedly found at an airport with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. 

At her sentencing, Griner told the court she had made “an honest mistake” and she “never meant to break any laws”. 

In early November, Griner was moved from a detention centre to the IK-2 penal colony in Yavas, Mordovia – some 480 kilometres southeast of Moscow. 

University of Helsinki sociologist Olga Zeveleva told The Guardian prisons in the area “are notoriously terrible, even by Russian standards”. 

“It is a place any prisoner wants to avoid”. 

University of Oxford professor Judith Pallot, who specialises in the human geography of Russia and has visited IK-2, also told The Guardian it is “very sterile and sad”.

“The Russian prison system isn’t interested in rehabilitation, it is based on retribution and punishment. It is a system underpinned by violence.”

According to The Nation, IK-2 is a penal colony notorious for racism and homophobia, with locals expressing shock someone as famous as Brittney Griner would be held there. 

Nadya Tolokonnikova, a member of Russian activist band Pussy Riot, spent two years in a Mordovia prison. 

She told MSNBC Reports she was terrified for Griner, with IK-2 is “literally the harshest colony in the whole Russian prison system”. 

People could be left working up to 17 hours a day and punished – “that includes torture” – if they don’t meet quotas, Tolokonnikova said. 

Similarly, the head of Rus Sidyashchaya (Russia Behind Bars), an organisation defending the rights of inmates in Russia, Olga Romanova, told The Moscow Times some detainees at IK-2 have reported labour conditions being “not far from slavery”. 

Romanova said Brittney Griner being “lesbian, American, and Black” could make her a prime target for harassment. 

“It’s a good thing she doesn’t speak Russian, she won’t be able to understand what people say to her.”

Romanova thought “that could solve some of her problems”.

However, she said Griner “will be in danger” if negotiations for a possible prisoner swap between the United States and Russia ended. 

On Monday (28 November), Reuters published the US chargée d’affaires in Moscow, Elizabeth Rood, as telling Russia’s state-owned RIA news agency that the US “has not received a serious response” to “a significant proposal”. 

Ten days prior, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said he was hopeful of a prisoner swap.