LGBTQ

Matt Brooks was punched so hard he had to be rushed into surgery to save his sight. (Steve Dallaway) A gay man had to be rushed to hospital after being attacked in Birmingham’s Gay Village, in what he believes was a “hate crime”. Matt Brooks, 52, was punched in the face shortly after 2am on Thursday (30 September). The punch was so forceful that it fractured his eye socket and knocked him unconscious, and he had to be rushed into emergency surgery to save his sight. He told BirminghamLive: “I’d...

The woman described the inclusive ads as "disgusting propaganda". (Twitter) OkCupid has hit back at the bigot who attacked an inclusive campaign poster in a now-viral video. The dating site launched its ‘Every Single Person’ campaign in July to spotlight love in all its forms, and put out adverts with taglines like “every single bear”, “every singe non-monogamist” and “every single vaxxer”. One poster, which read “every single pansexual“, was installed on a New York subway train, only to be torn down by a bigot who condemned it as “gross”...

The memo said games featuring queer relationships or "effeminate males" should not be approved for release. (Envato) China will ban video games featuring same-sex relationships, ‘effeminate’ men and moral choices, according to a leaked memo. The internal memo from a recent internal training by the state-backed gaming association was revealed by the South China Morning Post, lays out new restrictions for approving video games in China. According to the publication, the memo said that video games must not be viewed as “pure entertainment”, and should instead convey “a correct set of values”. Games...

President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro. (Andressa Anholete/Getty Images) Brazil’s homophobe-in-chief Jair Bolsonaro is back at it again with the homophobia, this time sending cruel, anti-LGBT+ texts. On the instant messaging app WhatsApp, the president privately on a new number made homophobic remarks as he mocked LGBT+ rights demonstrators. He blasted to his contacts, according to Ol Globo, a Brazilian newspaper which obtained the alleged text messages, a raft of notes which ranged from claims that taking the COVID-19 vaccine will make people “become an alligator” to “young people of Pfizer”....

If you enjoy TV shows that feature Spanish drag queens gyrating on a Peloton and saying “I’m holding to that bike like it’s the thickest juiciest d**k and I’m gonna ride till I die”, then you probably enjoyed last night’s Drag Race UK. The whole episode was a mish-mash of similarly weird scenes like Choriza’s star turn above, as the queens were tasked with performing a spin-class inspired dance routine, split into three teams. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many trained dancers amongst this year’s contestants, and one of those dancers...

Victoria Scone was given a 'Star Buy' sticker by Krystal Versace, who went on to make a 'fat shaming' joke. (BBC) Drag Race UK star Victoria Scone – the first afab (assigned female at birth) queen ever to appear on the series – has been praised after sharing her battle with an eating disorder. At the start of this week’s episode (30 September), Krystal Versace was asked to play a game of “Rupermarket Sweep” and put stickers on her fellow queens that summed up their personality. One of these was...

Shirley Manson of Garbage performs on stage at Alhambra Theatre on 17 July 2019 in Dunfermline, Scotland. (Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns) Shirley Manson shared that she identifies with the “idea of non-binary” as she looks back on her history as the lead singer of Garbage. Manson spoke to the Scotsman as the band celebrated the 20th anniversary of their third album, Beautiful Garbage. After two decades, the international rockstar shared that she has a new appreciation for the band’s hit single “Androgyny” which was featured on the 2001 album. “Being a woman...

Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy. (IMDb) Marvel Comics had abruptly cancelled the Guardians of the Galaxy comic book series featuring a bisexual Star-Lord. The entertainment company’s comic division has dashed hopes of a bisexual, polyamorous Peter Quill,  the 1980s pop culture-grooving armed professional scavenger, becoming a mainstay. Marvel, without offering an explanation, has made the 22 September issue of the rebooted series about the galaxy-hopping squad the last. According to FanSided, per The Washington Times, the 18-issue relaunch helmed by writer Al Ewing that was meant to signal a...

Protesters outside Parliament during the End Queer and Trans Hate Campaign in Cape Town, South Africa (Brenton Geach/Gallo/Getty) South Africa’s LGBT+ community are demanding justice for a lesbian whose alleged murderer gloated about removing a “curse” from her family. Sisanda Gumede, 28, was stabbed in the Umbumbulu area, south of Durban, on Sunday evening (26 September). She was rushed to a hospital but tragically died en route. Police spokesperson colonel Thembeka Mbele said the killer’s motivation is still unknown. According to Nonhlanhla Khoza, a politician serving in the Department of...

Ben Whishaw (L) and Daniel Craig. (Getty Images) No Time To Die‘s Ben Whishaw has said he wants a gay actor to take on the iconic role of James Bond after Daniel Craig steps down. For Whishaw, the 40-year-old who has played the genius inventor behind 007‘s gadgets since 2012’s Skyfall, a gay actor playing Bond would be a sign of “real progress”. Ahead of the film’s long, long-awaited 30 September premiere, Whishaw said he would like to see a gay actor from the UK play the secret agent. “God,...

Newly-single Grimes has joked that she’s launching a “lesbian space commune” after breaking up with Elon Musk. On Monday (27 September) the singer confirmed that she’d split up with the 50-year-old SpaceX founder after three years together, and is now looking to the stars for her next move. “I’ll be colonising Europa separately from Elon for the lesbian space commune,” she joked in an email to Page Six. She appeared to be referring to Musk and SpaceX’s $178 million contract with NASA to help them reach Jupiter’s ice-crusted moon, Europa, to...

Graham Norton. (WireImage/ Samir Hussein) Irish late-night TV host Graham Norton is to host a “drag Eurovision” produced by the makers of RuPaul’s Drag Race – and it’s to fight to be the “queen of the universe”. The RuPaul’s Drag Race UK judge is teaming up with World of Wonder, the production company behind the beloved drag competition, to make Queen of the Universe. According to Variety, the show will be an international singing competition that promises “high heels, high octaves high competition” that will leave no wig untouched. Queen of...

Tessa Ganserer (left) has made history with Nyke Slawik (right) as the first two trans MPs to be elected in Germany. (AFP via Getty/ JOHN MACDOUGALL and Instagram/ nyketomato) Germany will welcome its first-ever trans MPs to the Bundestag after a federal election that saw the centre-left SDP narrowly beat the centre-right CDU. According to preliminary results on Monday morning (27 September), the SPD and its chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz won 25.7 per cent of the vote. The CDU, Angela Merkel‘s party, won just 24.1 per cent with its candidate Armin Laschet. Germany’s...

Couples pose during a photo event during a nationwide referendum's day on same-sex marriage, in Swiss capital Bern on September 26, 2021. (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty) Switzerland has voted overwhelmingly in favour of same-sex marriage in a history-making referendum, proving that love always wins. Some 64.1 per cent of the population voted in favour of allowing same-sex couples to marry, with just 35.9 per cent voting against. Every single one of Switzerland’s 26 cantons voted in favour of same-sex marriage – the region that came closest to tipping into “no”...