THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Almost half a year into the United Kingdom's monkeypox/MPV outbreak, organizations and sexual health services say the government is "missing in action," PinkNews reported. First, the UK ran out of vaccines; then, the Terrence Higgins Trust announced it was withdrawing from meetings with the UKHSA over "serious concerns" about its "communication and health promotion approach to monkeypox." Advocates are now worried that a lack of funding and excessive reliance on charities is impeding the wider monkeypox response.

Thousands of people gathered at a vigil in Slovakia on Oct. 14 to commemorate two people killed outside a gay bar, the BBC reported. The men—23-year-old Matus H. and 26-year-old Juraj V.—were shot dead in the capital Bratislava on Oct. 12 in a suspected hate crime. Organizers estimated that 20,000 people took part in the vigil, mourning the victims' deaths and demanding action on LGBTQ+ rights. Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, who has raised the rainbow flag over her office, spoke at the event; Prime Minister Eduard Heger was also at the vigil, organized by the InakosÅ¥ (Otherness) Institute, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.

The State Department named prominent intersex activist Kimberly Zieselman as an advisor to the special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQI+rights abroad, The Washington Blade reported. Zieselman—the former executive director of interACT: Advocates for IntersexYouth and author of XOXY: A Memoir—said in a statement, "As an intersex woman, it's not only an incredible honor to serve this administration and work with Special Envoy Stern, but my appointment isalso a milestone for the intersex community which has been historically marginalized, if not entirely erased across the globe."

A man will be jailed for 10 years for violent attacks on transgender sex workers in their homes, The Irish Times reported. Former schools rugby player Buti Sashi was armed with a large knife when he went to the homes of the sex workers, having arranged to meet them at their apartments. At a sentencing hearing, Justice Eileen Creedon said that the victims were foreign nationals who were vulnerable because of their work. She noted that they were sending money home and were left fearful about re-engaging with their work after the attacks.

In Bangladesh, 24-year-old trans woman Nila was stabbed to death by two people in Dhaka's Paribagh area, UNB reported. Nina was rushed to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. Authorities detained a 14-year-old boy for question, saying they recovered a sharp weapon from him. Erasing 76 Crimes noted that LGBTQ+-rights campaigner and lawyer Shahanur Islam—the secretary general of both BIHR and JusticeMakers Bangladesh—said he believes that the murder was not an isolated incident, but is part of a pattern of human-rights abuses and discrimination against LGBT people including transgender people.

Also in Bangladesh, a gay teacher has been barred from teaching classes at a secondary school there in response to protests by students, per Erasing 76 Crines. Ramzan Ali, a teacher at Savar Model College near Dhaka, remains unwelcome in classes there after students protested his presence in late August because he was accused of having a same-sex encounter with a student 14 years ago. Ali had been accused of inappropriate involvement with a male student in 2008. At that time, the school board investigated and decided that the allegations were true, but Ali challenged the action in court. A second case from Ali is currently pending in the Supreme Court.

The Iris Prize—a film and media organization committed to increasing audiences for LGBTQ+ stories—distributed its awards, a press release noted. Tarneit, directed by John Sheedy (Australia), won the Iris Prize 2022, Cardiff's International LGBTQ+ Short Film Prize, supported by The Michael Bishop Foundation. The 30,000-pound prize (approximately $33,800 U.S.) enables the winners of the Iris Prize to make a new short film in Wales. Queer Parivaar, directed by Shiva Raichandani, won the Iris¯Prize for Best British Short, supported by Film4 and Pinewood Studios.

The Tercer Ojo (Third Eye) exhibition in the MALBA museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is providing visitors a glimpse of the lives of two celebrated Mexican painters of the 20th century: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Worldcrunch noted. Kahlo turned to painting to escape years of acute back pain, and is often associated with the Surrealists of her time. The famed Kahlo, now considered an LGBTQ+ icon, married Rivera, a towering figure of Mexican modern art and, in particular, muralism. Throughout her life as an artist, she remained in his shadow.

Women represent only a quarter of all film directors working in the European movie industry, according to a new study by the Strasbourg-based European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO), Deadline noted. The report coincides with the fifth anniversary this month of the launch of the #MeToo movement in 2017, which sounded the alarm about sexual harassment in the film business and put the spotlight on gender inequality as one of the underlying causes.

Bisexual OnlyFans creator Titus Low was sentenced to three weeks in prison for breaching previous offenses under the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code in Singapore, Out Magazine noted. Although the consumption of pornography is legal in Singapore, selling it is illegal. According to CNN, Low pled guilty to the charges and was fined 3,000 Singapore dollars (approximately $2,110 U.S.). He is set to go to jail starting Wed., Oct. 26. A YouTube Low made about his upcoming sentence is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw5KnBcCPKc.

Russia is to make LGBTQ+-rights advocacy a criminal offense in an effort to fight western "decadence," Irish Legal News reported. There will be heavy fines for anyone spreading LGBTQ+-related "propaganda," including "non-traditional relationships." The country's parliament cited as evidence a recent episode of children's cartoon Peppa Pig that features a polar bear who has two mothers instead of the traditional mother and father polar bear.

On Oct. 15, Jose Lopez Duvont won the title of Mr. Gay World 2022, Out noted. He is the first Puerto Rican, as well as the first contender from the Americas, to win the Mr. Gay World pageant. Throughout the pageant, Duvont also won a total of four awards. U.S. contestant Tony Ardolino finished as first runner-up in Mr. Gay World 2022. German contestant Max Appenroth—the first-ever trans man to compete on Mr. Gay World—placed third overall.

Less than three weeks out from The Crown's fifth season, Netflix dropped a trailer for the new episodes, whose cast is led by Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II, Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana and Dominic West as Prince Charles, Yahoo! Entertainment noted. The new clip arrived the day after actress Judi Dench, whom the late Queen Elizabeth II honored several times, including with the title of Dame in 1988, publicly called out the show for being "a hurtful account of history." In an open letter to The Times newspaper, Dench, who has played multiple royals in her storied career and is reportedly friendly with Queen Consort Camila, called for the show to add a disclaimer stating that it was a "fictionalized drama" at the beginning.

Netflix is ratcheting up its efforts to get viewers to pay up and will start charging accounts for password sharing early next year, CNET noted. The stream will institute a system that add fees to a user's plan for "extra member" subaccounts when people outside that user's household use his/her/their membership. The company didn't specify the price of these new fees when it confirmed the plan; however, it is is already being tested in a few Latin American countries, charging a fee for each extra member worth roughly one-quarter the price of a "standard" Netflix plan.