Lucy Middleton profile background image
Lucy Middleton profile image

Lucy Middleton

Deputy Editor Openly

Thomson Reuters Foundation

Lucy is the Deputy Editor of Context's sister platform for LGBTQ+ news and features Openly.

March 14, 2024

Stefana Budimirovic and Radica Stevanov share a home and dreams of starting a family, but the lesbian couple's relationship does not exist in the eyes of the law in Serbia - one of more than a dozen European nations yet to recognise same-sex unions.

"Everything (we have) is in just either one of our names," said Budimirovic, 33, as she described the everyday problems the couple face. "(Radica's) name needs to be on the paperwork for the house, we need to be legally covered."

February 28, 2024

LGBTQ+ people in Ghana are at increasing risk of eviction from their homes as lawmakers prepare to vote on an anti-LGBTQ+ bill that requires landlords to stop same-sex relations from taking place on their property, rights campaigners say.

Ghana already criminalises same-sex relations, but if the bill becomes law, possible jail terms would be lengthened and a slew of new offences introduced - including simply identifying as LGBTQ+ or of showing support for LGBTQ+ rights.

January 04, 2024

There were huge milestones and setbacks for LGBTQ+ rights around the world during 2023.

Same-sex marriage was legalised in nations including Slovenia and Andorra, gay sex was decriminalised in Mauritius and the Cook Islands and self-identification laws for transgender people were passed in Spain, Finland and New Zealand.

November 22, 2023

Britain's first report into the lives of asexual people has triggered a national conversation about the difficulties they have in coming out at work and raised the question of whether they should be legally protected.

The research, carried out by Stonewall and asexual activist Yasmin Benoit, calls for the orientation to be specifically named in legislation aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination.

February 15, 2023

Nicola Sturgeon has announced she is resigning as Scotland's First Minister after eight years in the role.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) leader has been hailed as a champion of LGBTQ+ rights, and in December oversaw a landmark bill aimed at making it easier to legally change gender.

August 30, 2022

Concern is growing that the scramble for scarce supplies of monkeypox vaccines could see some nations and high-risk groups miss out - recalling unequal global access to COVID-19 vaccines and HIV medication.

The outbreak, which has reached nearly 100 countries outside of Africa, where the virus is endemic, is overwhelmingly being transmitted among men who have sex with men. They are getting priority for vaccination globally, but some face a longer wait than others.

July 29, 2022

Major social media companies are not doing enough to protect LGBTQ+ users from abuse and harassment on their platforms, an analysis by U.S. rights group GLAAD has found.

The index analysed five leading platforms - Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok - all of which were ranked as having "inadequate" measures to support and protect LGBTQ+ users. Each scored less than 50 out of 100.

July 18, 2022

It was getting an abortion after being raped as a teenager that drove transgender man Adri Perez to help set up an LGBTQ-inclusive fund in the U.S. state of Texas to support others wanting to end their pregnancies.

The Supreme Court's reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalised abortion in the United States has spotlighted global inequalities in access to the procedure, including for trans men, who face challenges from gendered abortion laws to economic marginalisation and discrimination.

June 27, 2022

LGBTQ+ rights groups are concerned that gay, bisexual, and transgender refugees could face persecution if they are sent to Rwanda under Britain's policy to deport some asylum seekers to the East African nation.

Britain says asylum seekers who enter the country illegally could be flown to Rwanda, where they will be allowed to seek asylum or ask to be returned to their home countries.