Homophobic raid busts up Russians’ annual costume party in search for ‘LGBT propaganda’ Costume party in Tomsk, Siberia, Russia. (Photo courtesy of Novaya Gazeta Europe) Russia’s cruel crackdown on its LGBTQ citizens has reached buffoonish extremes. The latest anti-gay police raid targeted a community costume party in Tomsk, Siberia, Russia. Hunting for gays, they instead found acrobats and people dressed …

The global AIDS community has been awaiting a plan from the Trump administration beyond funding cuts. But the “America First Global Health Strategy” released last month, is not what many were hoping for. While it prioritizes sector goals, such as greater country ownership, it would also withdraw funding for technical assistance or to monitor program quality. Experts say these pieces …

U.N. agency plans to review human rights in the southern African nation on Nov. 14. Michael Kayiyatsa, executive director of the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR): “The UPR is an important opportunity for Malawi to take stock of its human rights record.” For more than 15 years, the southern African nation of Malawi has been debating — and …

The law ‘institutionalizes hostility’ against Kazakhstan’s LGBT community, activists say Rainbow flag symbolizes LGBT rights. (Photo courtesy of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law) The parliament of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan has passed a law that bans so-called “LGBT propaganda.” It’s the latest Russia-aligned country to pass such a law after Russia, Georgia, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan, …

  Tunisia has launched a campaign of arrests targeting  the nation’s queer citizens. The LGBTQ rights advocacy group Damj (the Tunisian Association for Justice and Equality) reports that 71 LGBTQIA+ citizens, mostly transgender women, have been arrested, and 32 have already been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 8 months to 3 years. This is happened at multiple locations — …