Latest news with #LGBTI
RTÉ News
16 hours ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Green Party leader to attend Pride parade in Budapest despite ban
Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman has said that he will travel to Hungary to attend the Budapest pride parade on 28 June after Hungarian police said they are banning the parade. The march, which would be the city's 30th pride parade festival, is organised in support of the LGBTQI+ community, and had been planned for 28 June. "The police, acting within their authority over public assemblies, prohibit the holding of the assembly at the aforementioned location and time," the police said in a statement published on their website. They added that the decision could be appealed within three days at the country's supreme court. However, Budapest's liberal mayor Gergely Karacsony vowed to hold the march, despite the police ban. "Given that the municipality did not make its announcement within the framework of the law on gatherings, this interdiction has no value," he wrote on his Facebook page. He added: "Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest pride march on June 28 as a city event. Period." Speaking this afternoon, Mr O'Gorman said that the police move is the "most egregious attack" on the LGBTQI+ community seen in decades. "This is a very explicit erosion of the rights of the LGBTI+ community in Hungary. "It's an absolute attempt to silence them by their government. It's a clear breach of human rights. "And that's why it's important that elected reps from all over Europe rally around Hungarians, rally around people in Hungary who see this for what it is and support them at the Budapest parade this year," said Mr O'Gorman. Hungary's parliament, in which Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing Fidesz Party has a big majority, passed legislation in March that created a legal basis for police to ban LGBTQI+ marches, citing the protection of children. Mr Orban's government has a Christian conservative agenda and has been fielding an intensifying campaign against the LGBTQI+ community. It also pushed through constitutional changes in April stipulating that Hungary recognises only two sexes, male and female. Mr Orban previously said that organisers "should not even bother" organising pride in Budapest this year. Mr O'Gorman that the Hungarian government of Mr Orban "has been scapegoating the LGBTI+ community now for many years, and what they've done now is one further escalation".
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Australian gay rights organisation defends Iran even though the country's regime executes homosexuals
An Australian gay rights group has endorsed Iran 's military campaign against Israel - even though the fundamentalist Muslim theocracy executes homosexual men. LGBTI Rights Australia divided opinion on Facebook with a post which said: 'Iran has a right to defend itself.' The group - billing itself as 'Australia's largest online community advocating and campaigning for LGBTI rights' - has a series of social media posts condemning Israel, one of the few nations in the Middle East that holds gay pride rallies. The latest post was made on Monday afternoon, three days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorised a bombing campaign on Iran's nuclear facilities that has so far killed 224 people, including 14 nuclear scientists. Iran responded by firing rockets to Israel, killing 24 people, after Netanyahu accused the Muslim theocracy of having enough enriched uranium to develop a nuclear bomb to eradicate Israel, the world's only Jewish state. Amnesty International estimates more than 5,000 gay men and lesbians have been executed since the Ayatollah came to power in 1979. Same-sex attracted men in Iran are also pressured to undergo gender reassignment surgery even if they don't suffer from gender dysphoria. Women are also imprisoned and tortured in Iran for refusing to wear a hijab in public. A Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died in custody in 2022 after being detained by the morality police for refusing for not wearing her headscarf properly. Iran, led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has also been known to fund terrorist groups including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. LGBTI Rights Australia is far from the only gay rights group endorsing Israel's enemies, with the University of Sydney home to a 'Queers for Palestine' group despite Hamas torturing gay men. Many Aussies unleashed about the LGBTI Rights Group supporting Iran. 'The Islamic Republic does not represent the Iranian people and have been brutally suppressing them and the LGTBQI+ community for decades. The women of Iran have been begging for your attention'. 'I am horrified by the war, but defending the Islamic Republic and their incredible cruelty and devastation across the region isn't going to help,' she said. Another said: 'A huge number of Iranian's are very supportive of a West/Israeli action to overthrow the current regime. They want help getting out from under the rule of oppressive religious extremists that currently hold all the power.' 'The current Iranian regime is no friend of the LGBTI cause, let alone women's rights and patriarchy. 'You don't have to love Israeli policy to admit this: if you're queer, Iran is a regime that wants you erased. Israel is not.'
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Australian gay rights organsition DEFENDS Iran even though the country's regime executes homosexuals
An Australian gay rights group has endorsed Iran 's military campaign against Israel - even though the fundamentalist Muslim theocracy executes homosexual men. LGBTI Rights Australia divided opinion on Facebook with a post which said: 'Iran has a right to defend itself.' The group - billing itself as 'Australia's largest online community advocating and campaigning for LGBTI rights' - has a series of social media posts condemning Israel, one of the few nations in the Middle East that holds gay pride rallies. The latest post was made on Monday afternoon, three days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorised a bombing campaign on Iran's nuclear facilities that has so far killed 224 people, including 14 nuclear scientists. Iran responded by firing rockets to Israel, killing 24 people, after Netanyahu accused the Muslim theocracy of having enough enriched uranium to develop a nuclear bomb to eradicate Israel, the world's only Jewish state. Amnesty International estimates more than 5,000 gay men and lesbians have been executed since the Ayatollah came to power in 1979. Same-sex attracted men in Iran are also pressured to undergo gender reassignment surgery even if they don't suffer from gender dysphoria. Women are also imprisoned and tortured in Iran for refusing to wear a hijab in public. A Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died in custody in 2022 after being detained by the morality police for refusing for not wearing her headscarf properly. Iran, led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has also been known to fund terrorist groups including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. LGBTI Rights Australia is far from the only gay rights group endorsing Israel's enemies, with the University of Sydney home to a 'Queers for Palestine' group despite Hamas torturing gay men. Many Aussies unleashed about the LGBTI Rights Group supporting Iran. 'The Islamic Republic does not represent the Iranian people and have been brutally suppressing them and the LGTBQI+ community for decades. The women of Iran have been begging for your attention'. 'I am horrified by the war, but defending the Islamic Republic and their incredible cruelty and devastation across the region isn't going to help,' she said. Another said: 'A huge number of Iranian's are very supportive of a West/Israeli action to overthrow the current regime. They want help getting out from under the rule of oppressive religious extremists that currently hold all the power.' 'The current Iranian regime is no friend of the LGBTI cause, let alone women's rights and patriarchy. Another said: You're condemning Israel — the only country in the Middle East where LGBTQ+ people can live openly, serve in parliament, host Pride parades, and get legal protections — while cheerleading Iran, where being gay is literally punishable by death? 'You don't have to love Israeli policy to admit this: if you're queer, Iran is a regime that wants you erased. Israel is not.'
Local Sweden
2 days ago
- Politics
- Local Sweden
European anti-racism council raises concerns over Swedish government policy
Parts of the Tidö Agreement, the policy document agreed between the three government parties and the far-right Sweden Democrats, have led the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) to raise concerns over integration and discrimination in Sweden. Advertisement ECRI regularly monitors the situation in EU member states when it comes to racism and intolerance, giving credit for positive developments and raising its concerns if it believes policy risks making things worse. In its sixth report on Sweden, the commission praised the progress Sweden has made since the last report was issued at the end of 2017. This include the fact that Sweden has set up a museum about the Holocaust and criminalised Holocaust denial, issued new guidelines for investigating hate crimes and is attempting to increase the number of children with immigrant backgrounds attending preschool. However, it also found that there were some areas of concern ‒ many of which are policies directly listed as government aims in the Tidö Agreement ‒ which it argued could increase "the feeling of marginalisation and exclusion among migrants". "There are shortcomings in many teachers' capacity to teach about racism and intolerance, including LGBTI issues, while current confrontations and conflicts in and outside Europe (including the current conflict in the Middle East) and manifestations of racism and intolerance in society are reflected in classrooms," the report reads. It also highlighted the fact that Sweden's Discrimination Act does not list sex as a protected characteristic, nor does the Criminal Code list it as a potential motivation for hate speech or hate crimes. "Available statistics show that Black persons and people of African descent, often young, are common victims of hate crime, despite significant underreporting due to a lack of trust in the criminal justice system on the part of the victims," the report reads. Advertisement ECRI specifically mentioned some policies included in the Tidö Agreement as cause for concern, writing that proposals such as tightening the conditions for family reunification, restricting permanent residency rules and deporting foreign nationals for conduct not considered appropriate "are likely to increase the sense of marginalisation and exclusion among migrants, and thus be harmful to integration". In addition to this, it criticised the introduction of "security zones" or areas where the police are able to carry out stop and searches of people or vehicles without necessarily suspecting that a crime has been committed, warning that they bring "great risks of racial profiling." Sweden was given a number of recommendations. The commission said that Sweden should "reinvigorate the role of education as a tool to better live together in intercultural societies" as well as creating a better understanding within education of issues linked to racist and homophobic stereotypes, or stereotypes related to religion and beliefs. This, it said, could include better publicising existing resources as well as providing compulsory training for teachers on these issues. Swedish authorities and public officials were also encouraged to take a "prompt, firm and public" stance against racism and hate speech against LGBT people. It also called for Swedish authorities to collect "anonymised and disaggregated" data on hate crimes and review police guidelines on stop and search activities, specifically when it comes to the treatment of children and young people.
05-06-2025
- Politics
EU court urged to rule against Hungary's anti-LGBTQ+ law
BUDAPEST, Hungary -- The advocate general for the European Union's highest court on Thursday urged the court to rule that Hungary violated the bloc's laws and fundamental values when it passed legislation barring the availability of LGBTQ+ content to minors under 18. The non-binding opinion from the European Court of Justice's Advocate General, Tamara Capeta, states that the legislative changes adopted by Hungary's right-wing populist government violate several rights protected by the EU, 'namely the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex and sexual orientation, the respect for private and family life, the freedom of expression and information, as well as the right to human dignity.' Hungary's law, adopted in 2021 by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ruling Fidesz party, prohibited the display of content to minors that depicts homosexuality or gender change, while also providing harsher penalties for crimes of pedophilia. The government has argued its policies, including a more recent law and constitutional amendment that effectively ban the popular Budapest Pride event, seek to protect children from what it calls 'sexual propaganda.' But critics of the legislation have compared it to Russia's gay propaganda law of 2013, and say it conflates homosexuality with pedophilia as part of a campaign ploy to mobilize Fidesz's conservative voter base. In her opinion, Capeta rejected Hungary's justification that the measures are aimed at protecting children, since the legislation 'prohibits portrayal of ordinary lives of LGBTI people, and is not limited to shielding minors from pornographic content, which was prohibited by the law in Hungary already.' She also wrote that Hungary has not offered any proof that content which portrays the ordinary lives of LGBTQ+ people has a negative effect on the healthy development of minors. 'Consequently, those amendments are based on a value judgment that homosexual and non-cisgender life is not of equal value or status' to heterosexual life, Capeta wrote. She urged the EU court to rule in favor of the bloc's executive commission — which launched an infringement procedure against Hungary over the law shortly after it was passed — on all counts. Opinions by advocates general are often but not always followed by the European Court of Justice, which will make a final ruling on the case at a later date.
