LGBTQ

UNITED NATIONS

U.N. Task Force Purges Stigmas on Sexual Rights

Ishita Chaudhry spent the past 36 hours listening to U.N. delegates discuss population growth and development. She noticed that on “controversial” topics, such as sexual and reproductive rights, young people’s voices often get lost.

LGBTQ Homeless Youth Find Shelter and Camaraderie

By Mathieu Vaas

In New York City, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) youth represent 40 percent of the homeless youth living on the city's streets. The Ali Forney Center is a non-profit organisation that offers them services such as emergency shelter, transitional shelter, help to reach out to family, and more specific services depending on what is needed.

New Zealand Legalises Gay Marriage

By AJ Correspondents

New Zealand has become the 13th country in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalise same-sex marriage.

Uruguay – Second Country in Latin America to Adopt Gay Marriage

By Raúl Pierri

Activists in Uruguay hope the passage of the “Equal Marriage Law” Wednesday will help bring about recognition that society is heterogeneous.

Q&A: Leaving Youth on the Streets Creates a ‘Social Disaster’

By Mathieu Vaas

For homeless youth, life on the streets is brutal. They experience sky-high rates of mental health problems, substance abuse and sexual assault. But despite the fact that it costs just under 6,000 U.S. dollars to permanently end homelessness for one youth, too little is being done to help them.

French Senate Debates Same-Sex Marriage

By AJ Correspondents

French senators have begun examining a controversial bill to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption, prompting protests by opponents keen to see the reform thrown out.

U.S. High Court in Hot Seat over Same-Sex Marriage

By Katelyn Fossett

On the second day of oral arguments in two different cases involving the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed serious doubts about the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which codifies the non-recognition of same-sex marriage for federal and inter-state purposes.

U.S. Congress Inches Away from the Straight and Narrow

By Matthew Charles Cardinale

Even as the issue of gay marriage continues to make waves in the U.S., change is inexorably arriving in the halls of power, with a record seven openly homosexual or bisexual members of the new U.S. Congress.

Major Audit Urges Devolution of U.S. AIDS Programme

By Carey L. Biron

A major audit of the United States’ flagship global anti-HIV/AIDS programme, prepared for the U.S. Congress, notes “remarkable progress” over the past decade. However, it is also warning of insufficient monitoring and urging a stepped-up process of handing over greater control to partner countries.

Q&A: Building a Post-2015 Global Development Agenda

By Mathieu Vaas

As the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals approaches, different United Nations agencies are beginning to discuss what the post-2015 Development Agenda will encompass.

Is Tashkent Cooking Its HIV/AIDS Statistics?

By EurasiaNet Correspondents

Uzbekistan is facing a public health time bomb, experts are warning. Authorities contend they are making gains in the battle to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS, but independent specialists say such claims are built on twisted figures and deceptive methodology.

Q&A: “It’s Time to Wage War on Homophobia”

By Rebecca Hanser

For more than two decades, the internationally beloved singer and human rights activist Yvonne Chaka Chaka has been at the forefront of the South African pop music scene.

Cambodian Activists Challenge ASEAN Policies

By Michelle Tolson

For a brief moment last month, mainstream international media turned the spotlight on Cambodia, one of the world’s 48 least developed countries (LDCs), as a high-level visit from U.S. President Barack Obama and the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gave this country of 14.3 million people a glamorous edge.

Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” Bill Spreads Fear

By Henry Wasswa

Gay activist Gerald Ssentongo of Uganda is afraid to talk openly about his cause. Not only that, but he is terrified of being “caught” socialising with gay people and only meets his friends at night in out-of-reach places.

Q&A: Combating Gay Stigma Critical in Fight Against AIDS

By Rebecca Hanser

As the international community comes together on Dec. 1 to celebrate World AIDS Day, a new report from UNAIDS reveals that while significant progress has been made in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS, stigmatisation, violence and discrimination against members of the gay community continue relentlessly. [caption id="attachment_114719" align="alignright" width="300"]