Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's (EFCC's) decision to arrest well-known transgender woman Idris Okuneye (also known as Bobrisky) over the practice of flaunting money has sparked questions among several human-rights activists, The Washington Blade noted. The Lagos Federal High Court Justice Abimbola Awogboro recently charged her with four counts of mutilating N490,000 (about $375). However, activist Felix Abayomi said the EFCC was simply using Bobrisky as a scapegoat because she is a vulnerable member of the society. Chidi Odinkalu, the former chair of the National Human Rights Commission, also said the arrest was about Bobrisky's gender identity—although EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale said Odinkalu's statements were reckless.
One of the four men convicted of murdering Daniel Zamudio, a young gay man, in the Chilean capital of Santiago in 2012 is seeking parole, per The Washington Blade. In 2013, Raul Lopez Fuentes received a 15-year prison sentence after he was convicted of killing Zamudio—who became a symbol of the fight against homophobic violence in his country and around the world after López and three other young men with alleged ties to a neo-Nazi group beat him for several hours in Santiago's San Borja Park in 2012. Fuentes has asked the Seventh Santiago Guarantee Court to serve the last three years of his sentence on parole; Zamudio's family opposes the request.
UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer stated that trans athletes should be barred from women's sporting competitions, per PinkNews. "For years it was too loaded an issue to touch, despite the fact that it has the potential to make women's playing fields far from level," the Conservative MP wrote in an article for the Daily Mail. "Sporting bodies have a duty to women competing in sport to set out clear guidance and take an unambiguous position." Few of the women's leagues that allow transgender participation actually have trans women who head their boards.
Also in the UK, the 2024 Olivier Award winners were named at Royal Albert Hall, with West End favorite Hannah Waddingham hosting for the second consecutive year, Playbill noted. The Broadway-bound revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard led all winners with seven awards, including Best Musical Revival, Best Actor and Actress in a Musical (Tom Francis and Nicole Scherzinger, respectively) and Best Director. Some of the other winners included Vanya (Best Revival), La Ruta (Best New Dance Production), Sarah Snook (Best Actress, for The Picture of Dorian Gray) and out actor Mark Gatiss (Best Actor, for The Motive and the Cue).
Monaco's top judicial body, the Court of Revision, struck down two lower-court rulings that would have required the tiny Mediterranean principality to recognize foreign same-sex marriages, per The Los Angeles Blade. The case centered around a binational Monegasque-American same-sex couple who married in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in August 2019 while residing in that state. When they returned to Monaco the following year, the government refused to record them in the state register of marriages. While there are no local LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations in Monaco, the state has been pushed to enhance the legal rights of its queer citizens by its larger European neighbors.
On the flip side, the Czech senate began considering a measure that would enhance the rights of people in same-sex civil partnerships, The Los Angeles Blade noted. The civil-partnership bill passed through the lower house of parliament in February; it was a compromise after a measure that would have allowed same-sex marriage couldn't get enough support to pass. The new bill makes registered partnerships, which have been legal in Czechia since 2005, equivalent to marriage in all matters except adoption; same-sex couples will have the right to stepchild adoption only and they will not be allowed to jointly adopt.
Constant Mutamba, a member of the Democratic Republic of Congo's National Assembly, introduced a bill that would criminalize LGBTQ+ people, The Washington Blade reported. Part of the bill that Mutamba, leader of the Dynamic Progressive Revolutionary Opposition platform, has put forth says that anyone who "commits a homosexual act (including acts and gestures) will be liable to a 5- or 10-year prison sentence." Social analyst Mbuela Mbadu Dieudonne said that the bill is just a way of distracting people from the pertinent issues.
Sweden's parliament passed a law 234-94 that lowers the age at which people can change their legal gender from 18 to 16—and the statute also makes the process easier, the BBC noted. Although Sweden was the first country to make gender transition legal, in 1972, the new law has sparked intense debate, with critics saying more research is needed. Currently, Sweden requires a doctor's diagnosis of gender dysphoria for people to be allowed to change their legally recognized gender.
During a press briefing at the conference 'For a Young Europe: Demographic Transition, Environment, Future,' Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticized surrogacy (which is already illegal in Italy) by saying the practice is "inhuman," The Los Angeles Blade noted. The prime minister's party recently introduced legislation in the Italian Parliament that would further criminalize the act by hiking fines from 600,000 to 1 million euro ($640,290 to $1,067,150) and increasing jail terms from three months up to two years.
A National Post item stated about the possible effect of the UK's Cass report—which stated that guidelines for the treatment of children with gender dysphoria ignored standards and are based on flimsy foundations—in Canada. The Alberta government announced in January that it would introduce strict new rules around health care for transgender minors, including banning puberty blockers for those under the age of 16; also, Conservative party Leader Pierre Poilievre has backed a ban on the blockers. However, the Ottawa-based Canadian Pediatric Society continues to support the use of puberty blockers, saying, "Current evidence shows puberty blockers to be safe when used appropriately, and they remain an option to be considered within a wider view of the patient's mental and psychosocial health."
Poland's Ministry of Culture dismissed RadosÅ‚aw Smigulski, 45, as director of the Polish Film Institute (PFI) in a move that wasn't totally unexpected, Deadline noted. Smigulski was among three cultural institution directors and one research institute head—appointed under the rule of Poland's former right-wing Law and Justice Party-led government—removed from their roles in the sweep. The dismissals come amid a wider drive by center-right Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government to restore the independence of state institutions that it says was eroded under the Law and Justice Party.
Out Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's latest film, the short "Strange Way of Life," is coming to Netflix, according to Out. "Strange Way of Life" stars Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke as two Old West cowpokes who were lovers and gunslingers together when they were young. Now, they meet up again after 25 years apart—but not everything about the reunion is happy. The film premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and also stars Pedro Casablanc, Manu Rios, George Steane and Sara Salamo.
The American Folk Art Museum announced a benefit event headlined by Nadya Tolokonnikova—the artist, activist, and visionary behind the feminist protest art collective Pussy Riot, a press release noted. The event, slated for May 16, at the Society for Ethical Culture in New York City, will not only showcase Tolokonnikova's recent artworks in a pop-up exhibition but will also feature a Q&A session about her practice followed by a noisy musical performance. Tolokonnikova's first solo museum show is coming up this June at OK Linz in Linz, Austria. The show, Rage, opens on June 21 and will include the newest art series, "Dark Matter" as well as Tolokonnikova's prison archive, a replica of the artist's prison cell, and Pussy Riot's actions and videos 2011-2023.
Canadian singer Shawn Mendes recently announced that he's resuming his career, per Us Magazine. "It's been a really long time since i last played live and I'm so excited to share that I'll be headlining Rock In Rio on Sept 22nd," the singer revealed via Instagram last month. "I've missed being on stage and seeing you all in person so much!" Rock in Rio 2024 will take place Sept. 13-22 at Parque Olímpico do Rio de Janeiro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; other artists like Mariah Carey, Katy Perry, Charlie Puth, Ed Sheehan, Cyndi Lauper, Imagine Dragons, Ne-Yo, Gloria Groove and Travis Scott are slated to perform.
Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, known for his animal prints on leather and textiles, died at 83 in Florence following a long illness, the BBC reported. He set up his company in the 1970s and his designs have been worn by stars like Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez. In a statement posted on Giorgio Armani's social media accounts, he said, "Roberto was a true artist, wild and wonderful in his use of prints, capable of transforming fantasy into seductive clothes."
Actress Emily VanCamp (TV's Revenge; is leading the Canadian legal procedural Prejudice, per Deadline. In Prejudice, VanCamp plays Liesl Wellington, a rising Toronto litigator whose career and marriage to a senator are thrown into chaos when her past as a sex worker is exposed. Scorned by her field and social circle, she starts her own law firm dedicated to defending others who are silenced and delegitimized.
