LGBT Rights Archive

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on LGBT rights and discrimination in various countries around the world. The recent court ruling paving the way for same-sex marriage in Taiwan prompted speculation about similar measures elsewhere in Asia. It was unclear, though, whether the ruling would help or hinder the same-sex marriage cause in China. Still, Chinese activists have been scoring victories of their own, among them increased cultural visibility and heightened popular awareness of the harms caused by “conversion therapy.” On Thursday, a court in the city of Guiyang ruled in favor of a transgender […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on LGBT rights and discrimination in various countries around the world. The climate for LGBT Poles has deteriorated under the Law and Justice Party, which came to power in 2015. Attacks on LGBT individuals and organizations are on the rise; legal protections against discrimination remain limited; and curricula reforms privilege nationalist themes over messages of tolerance. In an email interview, A. Chaber, executive director of the Campaign Against Homophobia, explains how LGBT activists are trying to adapt. WPR: What is the current state of LGBT rights in Poland, and […]

Last month, Colombia’s Congress rejected a referendum that would have prohibited same-sex couples from adopting children. The measure had previously passed the Senate but was defeated during its first debate in the lower chamber, the House of Representatives. LGBT activists hailed the vote as a remarkable affirmation of the rights of same-sex couples in Colombia, where legal victories for same-sex marriage, adoption rights and military service have made Colombia central to what many have called a “gay rights revolution” that has swept through Latin America over the past decade. Yet in a puzzling turn of events, the momentum in favor […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on LGBT rights and discrimination in various countries around the world. The recent vote by German MPs to legalize same-sex marriage was seen as an example of the law catching up with public opinion. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was certain same-sex marriage would be approved, voted against it herself, leaving people guessing as to whether her vote reflected her values or was a strategic calculation. In an email interview, Dr. Beate Küpper, social psychologist on the Faculty of Social Services at the Hochschule Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on LGBT rights and discrimination in various countries around the world. Argentina has moved rapidly from a country that used to ban LGBT organizations to a global champion of the community. Favorable conditions and savvy strategies have helped fuel the embrace of LGBT rights in Argentina. Since becoming the first Latin American country to approve gay marriage in 2010, Argentina has continued to be a leader on LGBT issues, moving forward with an expansion of transgender rights at home while pushing for LGBT rights generally on the world stage. […]