Norway is the latest country to outlaw conversion therapy after its parliament passed a bill that criminalizes the practice, Mamba noted. The bill, under development since 2019, received approval in the Storting (the Norwegian parliament) last month by a vote of 85 to 15. The legislation now makes it illegal to attempt to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity using medical, alternative medicine or religious methods. "Being queer is not a condition that requires therapy. We should be allowed to be who we are, and it is now illegal for anyone to try to change us," said Hilde Arntsen, the leader of FRI: The Association for Gender and Sexuality Diversity.
On the 76 Crimes website, trans activist Dominique Rebel Saint-Vil, of OTRAH (Organization Trans d'Haiti), talked about surviving in Haiti—a country described in the discussion as "impoverished [and] gang-controlled." In part, Saint-Vil said, "I had to flee my own home in Croix des Bouquets and I'm currently living in the offices of my association, where I've found refuge. It's a crisis—a silent humanitarian catastrophe—which is causing the city of Port-au-Prince to be emptied of its economic lifeblood and its inhabitants, to the benefit of other regions of the country. Still spared, but for how long?" The full interview is at 76crimes.com/2024/01/05/haiti-trans-activist-amidst-gang-hell-in-port-au-prince/ .
A report found that while awareness of intersex issues has risen sharply around the world, governments are still failing to adequately protect intersex people from discrimination and medical abuse, the website them noted. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA) released its first-ever Intersex Legal Mapping Report, detailing the status of intersex rights as of July 2023. Only six of the world's 197 countries have passed laws fully banning non-consensual surgeries on intersex minors, the report found, and only two also have specific legal consequences for a violation—Greece and Malta. The report is at https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_World_Intersex_Legal_Mapping_Report_2023.pdf.
Ugandan LGBTQ+-rights activist Steven Kabuye has blamed his brutal stabbing and similar attacks on the country's LGBTQ+ community on conservative politicians, who helped pass the Anti-Homosexuality Act, PinkNews reported. Kabuye—the executive director of the advocacy group Colored Voice Truth to LGBTQ—was left in critical condition in a hospital after he was "stabbed to near death" by two men just outside his home. Kabuye had gone into exile in Kenya last March after he was targeted with death threats, according to Colored Voice Truth to LGBTQ Advocacy Officer Hans Senfuma.
Openly gay British actor Ben Whishaw will reunite with director Ira Sachs to shoot an "intimate" movie about U.S. photographer Peter Hujar, per Deadline. Until his death from AIDS in 1987 at age 53, Hujar was a leading figure in the group of artists, musicians, writers, and performers at the forefront of Manhattan's downtown cultural scene. The untitled film follows Passages—the film Sachs shot in Paris with Whishaw and Franz Rogowski. In related news, Emma Thompson has joined Whishaw's short film "Good Boy" as an executive producer. It tells the story of a young man called Danny (played by Whishaw) who grows increasingly desperate as he finds himself driving his mother and a dead pigeon in the back of his VW van after a heist goes wrong.
The UK marks LGBTQ+ History Month in February—and Londonist has suggestions where people can celebrate it. Among said suggestions are visiting Queer Britain, the UK's first and only LGBTQ+ museum; witnessing Greenwich's National Maritime Museum's edition of Out at Sea—a free, day-long festival celebrating queer maritime history through time (Feb. 17); taking part in Tate Modern's queer-themed tours (Feb. 7 and 24); taking the kids to Cally Clocktower to hear Dani the storyteller talk about the city's queer history; and, of course, visiting LGBTQ+ bars and pubs. (Most of the events are free.) The full article is at https://londonist.com/london/things-to-do/lgbt-history-month-things-to-do-london.
Monasteries on Mount Athos, an important Orthodox Christian spiritual center, denied that the Archbishop Elpidophoros of America's visit to the monasteries was canceled because he baptized two children of a same-sex couple (designer Peter Bousis and his Greek-American partner, Evangelo Bousis) in July 2022, per Balkan Insight. Starting Jan. 18, the archbishop will be visiting Mount Athos on the Feast of Epiphany, accompanied by 40 pilgrims from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. After the 2022 baptism, the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church, its governing body, announced that it would send a complaint letter to the archbishop as well to Patriarch Bartholomew. Greece's conservative New Democracy government is working on the final arrangements for a bill that will legalize marriage equality, although some members of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' cabinet oppose it.
Sean Gravells—the former president of a northern British Columbia pride organization—was arrested and charged with committing sex crimes against children younger than 16, CBC reported. The charges against Gravells, who was board president for the North Peace Pride Society (NPPS) since 2018, include touching a person under 16 for sexual purposes, sexual interference of a person under 16, possession of child pornography, and importing or distributing child pornography. NPPS stated that the board took "swift action" to remove a member who was arrested on Dec. 31 and is now facing "severe charges," adding that the member did not work directly with youth through the organization.
The British Academy unveiled the results of the first round of voting across all 24 categories for the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards—with Barbie, Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon each being named in 15 categories, per Variety. Poor Things was named in 14 categories, Maestro in 12 and Saltburn in 11, with the latter missing out on a best film slot. The final nominations list are set to be announced on Jan. 18, with the BAFTA Film Awards ceremony taking place Feb. 18 from London's Royal Festival Hall. Actor David Tennant will host.
Out Spanish director Pedro Almodovar will be shooting his first full-length English-language feature—possibly called The Room Next Door—in March, per World of Reel. The film, set in New York City, is rumored to be about three female friends and will include Tilda Swinton, who let the news slip in an interview with Les Inrockuptibles. Swinton also starred in Almodovar's 2021 short film "The Human Voice."
Out British singing legend Boy George has joined the growing list of celebs turning to diabetes drugs to help them lose weight, Page Six noted. The "Karma Chameleon" singer revealed in his new autobiography, Karma, that he first took Ozempic and then switched to Mounjaro to maintain his weight loss following tummy-tuck surgery. He called the plastic surgery procedure the "most painful thing [he's] ever done," noting he went "on tour straight after with Cyndi Lauper with the blood bag attached." And although he's also had hair transplants, "I've never had Botox, though, and I might be the only person in show business with my own face," he wrote.
The cause of death of Irish singer Sinead O'Connor has been revealed, per The Hollywood Reporter. The medical examiner's office confirmed that O'Connor died of natural causes at age 56 last July at a London home. Last year, the office had previously stated there was "no medical cause of death" given, but a direct autopsy was to be conducted" with "he results "not be available for several weeks."
Married at First Sight Australia is set to make an explosive comeback at the end of the month as it will feature the first gay male couple on the show in nearly a decade, per PinkNews. The reality series sees complete strangers paired by relationship experts, get married and then try and embark on their lives before choosing whether to split or stay together. Since the show began back in 2015, it has featured only one gay male couple, Craig and Andy, in 2016—but their relationship ended after only a few days.
Singer FKA Twigs' March 2023 Calvin Klein ad, in which she poses nude, has been banned in the U.K., per Us Magazine. The Advertising Standards Authority said that the campaign portrays her as a "stereotypical sexual object." Calvin Klein denied the photos were harmful, adding it is "well known for being a pioneering and progressive brand that engaged in a range of equity- and equality-focused partnerships." On Instagram, Twigs said, "I do not see the 'stereotypical sexual object' that they have labeled me. I see a beautiful strong woman of color whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine."
