Tag - lgbtq

 
 

LGBTQ

The Tokyo Kiki Lounge is a queer pageant, dance competition and party, known in the ball culture as a “kiki ball.”
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 1, 2024
You're free to be yourself at the Tokyo Kiki Lounge
The pageant, dance competition and party is a thriving safe space for Japan's queer community.
Huang Jie, who was elected on Jan. 13, called her win a "positive outcome," and said that her election reflected "certain progress in Taiwan's society."
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 31, 2024
Taiwan's first openly gay lawmaker hopes to inspire
Huang Jie's journey to the legislature was not easy — she has been the target of discriminatory attacks and has faced distrust from voters due to her age.
The Supreme Court is considering reviewing a high court judgment that the same-sex partner of a murder victim is ineligible for survivor benefits.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 18, 2024
Supreme Court may review judgement against benefits for same-sex partner
The review would mark the first time the Supreme Court makes a decision regarding the issue of public benefits for a same-sex partner.
Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand, the first openly transgender female Olympian, competes at the Tokyo Games in August 2021.
SPORTS
Jan 4, 2024
Pendulum swings toward tighter measures against transgender athletes
There has been a seismic shift recently in the sporting landscape for trans athletes, with tighter measures coming into force on a divisive issue.
Scientists announced on Wednesday that they have identified genetic variations associated with human bisexual behavior.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 4, 2024
Scientists discover genetic underpinnings of bisexuality
Data has revealed the proportion of people reporting both bisexual and homosexual behavior has been rising for decades.
LGBTQ activists take part in a protest in Moscow.
WORLD / Society
Dec 21, 2023
LGBTQ+ Russians ask: Should I stay or should I go?
Rights activists fear the ruling could open the door to arrests and prosecutions.
Commuters watch videos on their mobile phones as they travel in a suburban train in Mumbai, India.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 14, 2023
Bollywood star in lycra or deepfake? AI on social media takes toll
More than 90% of deepfake videos online are pornographic, according to technology experts, and most are of women.
Drag queen Kylie Sonique Love performs at the third edition of Opulence. While the LGBTQ community suffered a few setbacks this year, there were also many occasions in which people could let loose and celebrate the scene.
LIFE / Lifestyle / 2023 in Review
Dec 10, 2023
Politics and pageantry for Japan's LGBTQ community in 2023
The year was one in which more Japanese members of the LGBTQ community began to push for rights such as marriage equality.
Drag queens (from left) Trinity the Tuck, Manila Luzon and Kylie Sonique Love headlined the most recent edition of Opulence, Tokyo's fast-growing drag performance extravaganza.
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 10, 2023
The opulence of Manila Luzon
The Asian American drag queen who rose to stardom after a stint on "RuPaul's Drag Race" pays things forward with her Philippines-based show "Drag Den."
LGBTQ activists gather outside Russia's Supreme Court building in Moscow on Thursday. The Supreme Court's banning of the "international LGBTQ+ social movement" resulted from a request from the justice ministry.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 1, 2023
Russia's Supreme Court bans LGBTQ movement and labels it as 'extremist'
The move forms part of a pattern of increasing restrictions in the country on expressions of sexual orientation and gender identity.
An pride flag is seen under a rubber door mat at an entrance to a basement of an office building in Kherson, Ukraine, in 2022.
WORLD / Society
Nov 14, 2023
Can EU talks boost LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine, Moldova and Bosnia?
Several candidate countries have faced criticism over lack of protecting LGBTQ+ rights.
Paris Saint-Germain fans ahead of a match against AC Milan last month
SOCCER
Nov 9, 2023
Amazon under fire over homophobic slurs in broadcast of PSG game
During the Sept. 24 match between bitter Ligue 1 rivals, thousands of PSG supporters chanted homophobic slogans referring to their opponents.
Pope Francis greets people during the weekly general audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican on Wednesday.
WORLD / Society
Nov 9, 2023
Transgender people can be godparents or baptized, Vatican says
The Vatican's doctrinal office posted three pages of questions and answers on the topic in response to queries from a bishop in Brazil.
Participants pose for photos at a news conference ahead of the Gay Games in Hong Kong on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 3, 2023
First Gay Games in Asia set to begin, despite pushback
The event, which features both LGBTQ and heterosexual athletes, will see 2,381 people compete in sports including football and badminton.
The civil case centers on whether a foreign national in a same-sex partnership with a Japanese citizen should be granted “long-term resident status,” which allows residency for up to five years in Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 2, 2023
Tokyo High Court rejects same-sex couple's residence status lawsuit
The civil case centers on whether a foreign national in a same-sex partnership with a Japanese citizen should be granted “long-term resident status.”
Plaintiffs, lawyers and supporters march to the Tokyo District Court on Nov. 30, the same day the court ruled that Japan’s lack of legal protections for same-sex couples is unconstitutional.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 27, 2023
Japan's 'failed' same-sex marriage lawsuits can still propel reform
Even unsuccessful cases challenging Japan’s failure to recognize same-sex marriage have gotten courts to acknowledge a constitutional problem.
Participants hold a giant rainbow flag during a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Pride Parade in Hong Kong
WORLD / Society
Oct 25, 2023
How nations allow or restrict legal gender change
A small number of countries have made it easier for transgender people to change their legal gender, while other nations have restricted such changes.
Lawyers Kazuyuki Minami (left) and Masafumi Yoshida (right) representing a transgender woman show off signs that say "unconstitutional" and "sent back" to a lower court, during a news conference Wednesday in Tokyo after a Supreme Court decision.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 25, 2023
Supreme Court hands down landmark decision on transgender rights
A law requiring sterilization surgery to change a person's legal gender has been declared “unconstitutional."
A photo of Henry Li and his husband, Edgar Ng, hangs on a wall in their apartment at Ma On Shan in Hong Kong.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
Oct 25, 2023
Hope and heartbreak after Hong Kong court decision on LGBTQ partnerships
The LGBTQ community has seen incremental legal victories, but same-sex marriage remains out of reach.
Kanata Kimoto had his womb and ovaries removed in Thailand when he was 24, so he could have his legal gender status changed. Now he questions whether such an invasive and costly procedure was necessary.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 22, 2023
Calls grow to abolish Japan's surgery requirement for gender change
Between 2004 and 2022, a total of 11,919 people had their gender changed through the law in Japan.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?