On one day in February, about 10 people gathered for a discussion hosted by Fukushima University students in the city to raise awareness on LGBT issues. "Let’s create a world where everyone can express (themselves) and be accepted for who they are," said one of ...
Russian LGBT activist faces porn trial for vagina drawings
Yulia Tsvetkova posted delicate drawings and embroidered images of vulvas on a social media page called "Vagina Monologues" that she hoped would help lift the taboo on women's bodies. Instead, the Russian artist and campaigner for women's and LGBT rights has been put under house ...
New young star Pete Buttigieg was a surprise hit in a crowded field
Pete Buttigieg closed his presidential campaign much the same way he started it: with a reminder he began with just four staff, a big idea and an unknown — and unpronounceable — last name. "We were never supposed to get anywhere at all," he said ...
When Tom Hall had the idea to take monthly "Drag Race" viewing parties and turn them into performance events he found an unlikely partner in Ni-chome impresario Yuta Furukawa.
Brazil's Carnival kicks off with political divisions front and center
Brazil's famed Carnival kicked off in earnest on Saturday as millions of scantily clad revelers poured into the streets, many of whom took the opportunity to parody or otherwise comment on the nation's deeply polarized political climate. Since right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in ...
'Tropical Trump' Bolsonaro pushes political incorrectness to limit
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro regularly offends opponents with political incorrectness and far-right diatribes, but he is taking heavier fire than usual for suggesting a respected journalist tried to get dirt on him with offers of sex. The man dubbed the "Tropical Trump" has racked up ...
Gay candidate Pete Buttigieg says he won't be lectured on morality by Rush Limbaugh
Openly gay Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg pushed back Sunday against recent homophobic comments from conservative radio personalities as he rises to become a 2020 front-runner. Rush Limbaugh last week mused on his nationally syndicated broadcast about Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, ...
Soccer player Shiho Shimoyamada helps blaze trail for Japan's LGBT athletes
Soccer player Shiho Shimoyamada has been encouraged by the response she has received since she became Japan's first openly gay professional athlete in February last year. Now, with this summer's Tokyo Olympics focusing the world's sporting attention on Japan, she is hoping that attitudes towards ...
Actor Hio Miyazawa gives a voice to Japan's LGBTQ community in the new film 'his'
Actor Hio Miyazawa gives a voice to sexual minorities in his latest role in Rikiya Imaizumi's latest film, "his."
'I will continue to fight': South Korea's first transgender soldier vows to oppose dismissal
South Korea's first transgender soldier said Wednesday she would sue the military after it announced it would dismiss her for undergoing gender reassignment surgery last year. Byun Hui-su, who holds the rank of staff sergeant and is stationed in Gyeonggi Province, north of Seoul, had ...
Minato Ward in Tokyo to guarantee LGBT people's right to self-expression through appearance
Minato Ward in Tokyo plans to revise its gender equality ordinance to guarantee the right of LGBT people to express themselves through their personal appearance. According to sources, the ward's plan would mean changing, among other regulations, school uniform rules that require boys to wear ...
Transgender Germans demand compensation for sterilization
When German authorities insisted Tsepo Bollwinkel get sterilized in order to be legally considered a man 25 years ago, he was "eager to follow the rules, even if they sounded insane. Now Bollwinkel, a 58-year-old empowerment coach, wants compensation for himself and potentially thousands of ...
