Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again attacked the country's LGBTQ+ community in a bid to rally his conservative voters before the May 14 election, france24.com noted. Polls showed Erdogan—whose campaign is dealing with an economic crisis and discontent over the government's response to a February earthquake that claimed more than 50,000 lives—running neck-and-neck with leftist secular leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in one of Turkey's most important election races of its post-Ottoman history.
Former Brazilian Congressman David Miranda died in a Rio de Janeiro hospital at the age of 37, per The Washington Blade. Media reports indicated Miranda had been in the intensive care unit for nine months with a gastrointestinal infection. His husband, journalist Glenn Greenwald, announced Miranda's death on his Twitter page. Miranda and Greenwald met on a Rio beach in 2005; in 2017, the couple adopted two brothers. Greenwald added, "He died in full peace, surrounded by our children and family and friends."
In Poland, an appeals court in Białystok threw out a case brought by Przasnysz county authorities against LGBTQ+-rights activists who founded the "Atlas of Hate" project, per Human Rights Watch. (The Atlas of Hate is an interactive map of Poland showing provinces, towns, and municipalities across the country where local authorities have adopted discriminatory "family charters" pledging to "protect children from moral corruption" or declared themselves free from "LGBT ideology.") This was the first final verdict in favor of the activists who are facing multiple lawsuits for drawing international attention to Poland's discriminatory "LGBT-Free zones."
LGBTQ+ asylum organization Rainbow Railroad has recorded a huge rise in LGBTQ+ people from Uganda asking for help in fleeing the country, PinkNews reported. The group said the increase is "directly related" to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which criminalizes same-sex activity while introducing a new crime of "aggravated homosexuality." Defined as sex with a minor, having sex while HIV positive or incest, aggravated homosexuality is punishable by death.
LGBTQ+ U.S. sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson got back on the winning track by claiming a big international victory when she won the Diamond League season opener in Doha, according to Runner's World. Richardson won the 100-meters in a time of 10.76 seconds—the fastest time in the world this year. Shericka Jackson and Dina Asher-Smith, the last two World 200-meter champions, took second and third place, respectively. Richardson also defeated top Americans, including Melissa Jefferson and Teetee Terry.
Gay Australian gymnast Heath Thorpe and his Team Australia teammates did well enough to secure themselves a coveted spot at the World Championships, Queerty noted. They beat Team New Zealand to win the Oceania Continental Championships by just more than half a point. Thorpe won the floor event for the second consecutive year.
Women's soccer team Barcelona's run of 62 consecutive wins in Liga F was ended by hosts Sevilla in a 1-1 draw, ESPN noted. Barca last dropped points in Liga F in June 2021, when they were beaten by Atletico Madrid less than 48 hours after winning the Copa de la Reina, an annual cup competition for Spanish women's association soccer squads.
Mariela Castro—the daughter of former Cuban President Raul Castro—described the case of a transgender woman serving a 14-year prison sentence after she participated in an anti-government protest in 2021 as "an oversized story full of fantasies," per The Washington Blade. Mariela said trams woman Brenda Diaz receives "very good food, better than her family has" in prison, and she is able to participate in sport activities and a library. However, Diaz's mother has previously said her daughter, who lives with HIV, has access to antiretroviral drugs but not necessarily other medications; Díaz's mother has also complained about the quality of food in prison.
As Saudi Arabia continues its drive to attract tourists, it is seemingly reaching out to the LGBTQ+ community, according to CNN. The website of the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) seems to have had its Q&A section updated to state that gay visitors are welcome in the kingdom. Human Rights Watch has noted that same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Saudi Arabia.
A Russian court fined Google 3 million roubles ($38,600 U.S.) for failing to delete YouTube videos it said promoted "LGBT propaganda" and "false information" about Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, according to Reuters. Over the last year, Moscow has issued dozens of fines against Western tech companies as part of a drive to increase control over what Russian internet users see online.
Gay actor Jonathan Groff (Knock at the Cabin; TV's Glee, Looking and Mindhunter) is coming to the British show Doctor Who as a new "mysterious guest" in the upcoming 14th season, according to Out. "I am so thrilled to jump into the extraordinary mind of Russell T Davies and watch the incredible Ncuti Gatwa soar in this iconic role," Groff said in a statement. The new doctor is being played by Ncuti Gatwa, famous for playing gay student Eric Effiong in Sex Education; also, Neil Patrick Harris (playing Who's enemy), trans actress Yasmin Finney and RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon are all joining the cast of the show next season.
Legendary British band Frankie Goes To Hollywood will be the subject of a new movie biopic from UK powerhouse Working Title and sales/production company Independent Entertainment, Deadline noted. Titled Relax after the group's 1983 hit single and based on queer frontman Holly Johnson's memoir A Bone In My Flute, the film is set to star It's A Sin breakout Callum Scott Howells as Johnson. After breaking up in 1987, the band didn't perform together again until May 8, when they played one song at a concert in Liverpool ahead of this year's Eurovision Song Contest.
Lambda Literary award-winning author Jobert E. Abueva's debut book, Boy Wander, is now out, per a press release. The memoir describes his unique childhood and adolescent years growing up as a gay young man throughout Asia in the 1970s and 1980s. Born in Manila and raised in a loving, privileged and prestigious family—his father was a prominent academic and international diplomat—Abueva recognizes his gayness very early in his life. In high school, he lived a double life: An academic overachiever, he also was a young male prostitute to foreign visitors at Tokyo's most prestigious hotel. And, according to the release, "The hotel becomes his school away from school, where he learns the nuances that differentiate casual encounters from meaningful gay relationships."
Tom of Finland Foundation (ToFF) is presenting the Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival 2023-GlobalSexual on May 12-14 in Berlin, per a press release. "My goal with the Art & Culture Festival is to pave the way for the next generation of queer and erotic artists, while expanding to more cities and communities around the world," said festival lead and ToFF Creative Director Richard Villani. The festival will also take place in London on July 21-23 and in Los Angeles on Oct. 6-8.
A government-owned Egyptian broadcaster responded to controversy over the casting of a Black actress to play Cleopatra in the Netflix docudrama series African Queens, which Jada Pinkett Smith produced, according to Variety. The Al Wathaeqya channel—a subsidiary of Egypt's state-affiliated United Media Services—announced start of production on a high-end doc about the so-called true story of Queen Cleopatra, and it will star an actress with lighter skin. Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities stated on Twitter that "Statues of Queen Cleopatra confirm that she had Hellenistic (Greek) features, distinguished by light skin, a drawn-out nose and thin lips."
Reality-TV star Chrishell Stause and Australian non-binary lesbian DJ G Flip announced that they got married, per Extra. Stause revealed the news on Instagram with a video timeline of their romance; a caption read, "Love doesn't always go as planned… Sometimes it's immeasurably better." Stause (who was previously married to This Is Us actor Justin Hartley) and G Flip met on Halloween in 2021, but were seeing other people. They later got together and confirmed their relationship in May 2022.
ITV's coverage of King Charles III's coronation become the most complained-about British television show of the year after viewers took issue with comments made by Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh, Deadline noted. UK media regulator Ofcom stated that it had received 4,165 complaints after Andoh said the royal family was "terribly white" when they gathered on the Buckingham Palace balcony to salute the newly crowned king.
Andrew Lloyd Webber said that King Charles III loved it when he first heard the composer play a piano version of the coronation anthem, telling the peer that the music gave him "goosebumps and tears," according to Deadline. The anthem, "Make A Joyful Noise," was performed during the May 6 coronation service at Westminster Abbey, as it was broadcast and streamed to millions around the world.
And, perhaps unsurprisingly, onlookers booed Prince Andrew as he was driven down the Mall ahead of his brother's coronation, according to Yahoo! News. It was previously announced Andrew would have no formal role in the ceremony, having stepped down as a working royal over his connections to Jeffrey Epstein and his now-settled lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre. Prince Harry also was not listed under any part of the Westminster Abbey service or procession, having stepped back as a working royal to start a new life in the United States with Meghan Markle.
Oscar nominee Pablo Larraín's (Jackie) biopic Maria—a film about the U.S.-born Greek soprano Maria Callas with Oscar winner Angelina Jolie aboard to star—is headed to the Cannes market, per Deadline. The film, first revealed last fall, is based on true accounts and will tell the tumultuous story of the great opera singer, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris.
