Lucy Middleton

U.S. President Donald Trump's foreign aid cuts are making life more dangerous for LGBTQ+ people in Uganda, one of most prominent gay activists in the East African country said.

In 2023, Uganda toughened its colonial-era law criminalising same-sex relations with new legislation that included the death penalty for what it calls serial offenders and a 20-year prison sentence for the "promotion of homosexuality".

Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš has entered into coalition discussions with anti-LGBTQ+ parties after his ANO party triumphed in the Czech Republic election at the weekend, leaving activists concerned for the future of marriage equality.

Babiš, a former prime minister, won the election with 34.5% of the vote. He told reporters he had begun talks with the far-right parties Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and Motorists for Themselves about forming a government.

As LGBTQ+ rights are rolled back globally and activists wage legal battles to decriminalise same-sex relations, courts have a vital role to play in protecting minorities, said Tim Otty, founder of London-based rights group Human Dignity Trust.

Same-sex relationships are still criminalised in 64 countries, the majority in Africa, and although activists have won victories - St Lucia decriminalised in July, while Namibia did the same in June last year - progress remains fragile. 

Ahead of Moldova's pivotal parliamentary election on Sunday, waves of online disinformation have swept through the tiny Eastern European country, with the lives of LGBTQ+ people at the centre of the digital storm.

Social media platforms, including TikTok, Facebook and Telegram, have been awash with fake content created by Russian influence campaigns seeking to discredit the country's pro-European government, experts said.

A pivotal parliamentary election in Moldova this month could tilt the tiny East European country towards Russia, threatening a drive to join the European Union and sparking fears among LGBTQ+ people that their rights could also be on the line.

The governing pro-EU party could lose its majority in the Sept. 28 vote with a poll this month putting a pro-Russian opposition group in the lead. There have been widespread reports of a dynamic, pro-Russian disinformation campaign.

LGBTQ+ groups say new rules governing how businesses and public institutions in Britain provide for transgender and non-binary people risk creating increased segregation and exclusion.

Britain's Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is finalising updates to its services, public functions and associations code to reflect an April Supreme Court ruling that said the legal definition of a "woman" under the Equality Act 2010 did not include trans women.

A fringe nationalist party opposed to LGBTQ+ rights emerged as one of the big winners in Japan's upper house elections on Sunday, muddying long-standing efforts to legalise same-sex marriage.

Japan is the only G7 nation without marriage equality, despite mounting pressure from a series of high-court rulings in the last 16 months declaring it unconstitutional.

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed multiple executive orders in his first three months in office that impact the lives of LGBTQ+ Americans, from healthcare, to legal recognition, to protection from discrimination.

Those who do not comply with the directives have begun facing a backlash from the administration.

An upstart nationalist party opposed to legalising same-sex marriage is gaining support in Japan ahead of a vital election that will determine which lawmakers could be involved in drafting such legislation in the country next year.

Japan is the only Group of Seven nation without marriage equality, despite mounting pressure from a series of high court rulings in the last 16 months declaring this to be unconstitutional.

Since the decriminalisation of same-sex relations in Namibia, the man who brought the case says he is hopeful the Supreme Court will uphold the landmark decision when it rules on a government appeal.

But activist Friedel Dausab decried what he described as a backlash against LGBTQ+ communities in the southern African country in the year since he won his case at the High Court.