Kenya's Film Censorship Board (KFCB) banned I Am Samuel, claiming the documentary—which has a gay protagonist—contravenes Kenyan values, Human Rights Watch noted. In a statement, the KFCB denounced the film as "a clear and deliberate attempt by the producer, to promote same-sex marriage as an acceptable way of life," according to TheWrap. The board also complained that this is a violation of the country's laws outlawing homosexuality. In 2019, the KFCB banned Rafiki, a feature film about a lesbian relationship. The country's Supreme Court temporarily lifted the ban so that it could play in Kenyan theaters and qualify for selection as Kenya's Best International Film Oscars entry—although the movie Supa Modo was ultimately chosen.
While the upcoming Marvel film The Eternals received a PG-13 rating in the United States, it received a rating of 18+ in Russia, meaning it is "prohibited for children"—which some presumed is because the movie has a gay superhero, out.com noted. Russia currently has a law on the books banning "homosexual propaganda" aimed at minors. President Vladimir Putin also enacted a series of anti-LGBTQ+ laws, including banning marriage equality and transgender adoptions and centering "belief in God" as a core value of the country.
About 60 players on the men's professional tennis tour have taken part so far in an anonymous, online survey about LGBTQ issues that ATP CEO Massimo Calvelli calls part of a "broader initiative" to create "an environment for players and staff that is inclusive, that is diverse and that is very safe and welcoming," PBS reported. "Statistically, it's a bit unusual that you don't have players on the ATP Tour that are openly gay. We thought, in today's world, this is an area that it's worth taking a proactive approach—and what better way to do that than trying to get a sense of where we are today," the London-based Calvelli told the AP. A link to more than 30 questions was emailed to about 500 singles players and 250 doubles players in August, and the tour planned to close the survey at the end of September.
Two German politicians from the Greens made history by becoming the first transgender women to win parliamentary seats in the most recent national election, Openly News reported. Tessa Ganserer and Nyke Slawik stood for the Greens party, which came third in the election, increasing its share of the vote to 14.8% (from 8.9%, in 2017). Topping the priority list for Ganserer, who was elected to Bavaria's regional parliament in 2013, is an easier procedure for ratifying a sex change on identity documents. Ganserer, who has two sons, also wants legislative changes to allow lesbian mothers to adopt children.
Germany's center-left Social Democrats won the biggest share of the vote in the Sept. 26 national election, narrowly beating outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel 's center-right Union bloc, NPR reported. The Social Democrats' candidate Olaf Scholz—the outgoing vice chancellor and finance minister who pulled his party out of a years-long slump—said the outcome was "a very clear mandate to ensure now that we put together a good, pragmatic government for Germany."
In Thailand, the Constitutional Court postponed its ruling in a landmark LGBT marriage-equality case to Dec. 14, the Bangkok Post reported. The Foundation for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Rights and Just, better known as FOR-SOGI, announced the postponement at a press conference. The court was acting on a petition calling for it to rule on whether Section 1448 of the Civil and Commercial Code contravenes the charter; the section currently only recognizes marriage between a man and a woman.
Now, three Polish regional councils voted to repeal motions declaring their provinces "LGBT-free zones" after the European Union threatened to withdraw funding, according to Openly News, citing state-run news agency PAP. Numerous local authorities in Poland declared themselves free of "LGBT ideology" in 2019, part of a conflict in the predominantly Catholic country between liberals and religious conservatives, who see the struggle for gay rights as a threat to traditional values. The European Commission wrote to five Polish regional councils at the beginning of September, urging them to abandon declarations that they are "LGBT-free" in order to receive funding.
The International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) board of directors recently elected its new officers for 2021-22—and Colombian LGBT Chamber of Commerce CEO/co-founder Felipe Cardenas was named chair, making him the first Colombian to hold the top board role for the association, a press release noted. Others on the board's executive leadership team include Vice Chair Shiho Ikeuchi, general manager of the Sorano Hotel in Tokyo; Secretary Richard Krieger, director of sky vacations; and Treasurer Patrick Pickens, manager of MICE at Delta Air Lines. Booz Allen Hamilton Chief DEI Office Jon Munoz will hold the position of past chair.
In the UK, former police chief Brian Paddick said he was once told that it's fine to be gay, to be a woman or to be Black in the police force—as long as you act like a straight white man, PinkNews reported. Paddick became the most senior gay police officer in the UK during his stint with the Met Police, but stated he certainly encountered discrimination along the way. Paddick, now a Liberal Democrat peer, added there is "widespread sexism in the force" and that the police needs leaders who will acknowledge and act on prejudice and discriminatory attitudes.
Anti-gay ex-IRA gunrunner Gerry McGeough was punched in the face at a Pride parade, but is undeterred in challenging what he calls the "homosexual agenda," according to PinkNews. McGeough, who was jailed in 2011 for the 1981 attempted murder of part-time Ulster Defense Regiment (UDR) man Sammy Brush, attended a Pride event in Northern Ireland. According to the Belfast Telegraph, the ex-IRA man attended the parade with eight other men who stood praying, holding a statute of the Virgin Mary and saying the rosary for those "glorifying the sin of sodomy." In a moment that was caught on video, a woman approached McGeough and spoke with him; shortly afterward, she punched him in the face.
Out gay Olympian Tom Daley opened up about secretly battling COVID-19 and being rushed to hospital just months before the Tokyo Olympics, according to PinkNews. In an interview with The Times, which is serializing his book Coming Up For Air: What I Learned From Sport, the diver described the ordeal in January— just seven months before he won a gold medal with diving partner Matty Lee. Describing the feeling of having the virus, he said his "lungs felt pressurized, as if they had sacks of rice around them," adding, "Every time I stood up, I felt the room spinning and a blinding white light, as if I was going to faint, and as if I couldn't get enough oxygen into my body."
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, 66, was sentenced to one year in prison for illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid—making him the first French head of state in modern times to receive two jail terms, CNN.com reported. It is unlikely that Sarkozy will serve his sentence behind bars: The judge said he could serve the sentence by wearing an electronic bracelet at home. In March he received a three-year prison sentence—two of which were suspended—for corruption and influence peddling; Sarkozy's appealing that ruling.
