U.S. President Joe Biden declared “I’m at home” as he made a historic address to the Irish Parliament, the BBC reported. Biden’s final engagement during his visit to Ireland was a banquet dinner held in his honor at Dublin Castle. The event, hosted by openly gay Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar, involved a reception in the Portrait Gallery followed by a dinner in St. Patrick’s Hall. Also, at Ireland West Airport Knock, Biden added, “There’s a lot at stake. A lot at stake. And I think the combination of Ireland—the whole island—Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the United States can change the way things occur on the continent.”
In Australia, a study from the Kirby Institute at Sydney’s University of New South Wales showed the effectiveness of HIV “treatment as prevention” strategies, including equitable access to PrEP and testing, in combating HIV transmission, according to The Los Angeles Blade. The study found a 27% increase in people accessing HIV treatment resulted in a 66% decrease in infections in New South Wales and Victoria—the continent’s states with the largest number of LGBTQ+ Australians during 2010-19. “Our research shows that investing in HIV testing is crucial for HIV elimination,” said Dr. Denton Callander, who led the research at the Kirby Institute.
Basketball Australia told transgender athlete Lexi Rodgers that she is ineligible to play elite-level basketball this season, The Guardian reported. Rodgers had hoped to play for the Kilsyth Cobras in the NBL1 South women’s semi-professional basketball league. “I sought a different outcome from Basketball Australia,” Rodgers wrote on Instagram. “I participated fully and in good faith with the process and eligibility criteria. Consistent with the views expressed by so many, I firmly believe I have a place as an athlete in women’s basketball.”
Prince Harry, the duke of Sussex, has narrated a new video promoting the work his organization, Sentebale, has done to help people with HIV in southern Africa, according to the Evening Standard. Harry and Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso co-founded Sentebale—which works with vulnerable children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana to ensure they have access to vital health services, especially HIV treatment—in 2006.
Research by Glasgow Caledonian University shows that gay and bisexual men are being abused by romantic partners but face multiple barriers regarding support, the BBC reported. The survey also found that one in four men experienced violence in same-sex relationships. Researchers heard from victims who shared sometimes harrowing accounts of abuse including physical violence, rape and psychological abuse from casual and longer-term partners—with a common factor being the issue of consent being understood by either victim or abuser. Academics have called for more awareness around the subject and improvements to support services.
Open for Business—a coalition of international companies that includes Google and Microsoft—criticized anti-LGBTQ+ legislation recently passed by Uganda’s parliament, warning it would damage the Africa country’s economy, Reuters reported. The bill imposes the death penalty for those who commit so-called “aggravated homosexuality”—same-sex relations with people under the age of 18 or when the perpetrator is HIV-positive, among other categories. Open for Business has previously spoken out against anti-LGBTQ+ measures in countries like Hungary, criticizing a plan in 2021 to ban the dissemination of LGBTQ+ content in schools.
The Washington Blade reported that, in the African country of The Gambia, LGBTQI+ people continue to face persecution, even though President Adama Barrow ousted Yahya Jammeh in 2016 after 22 years in power. The former president who is currently in exile in Equatorial Guinea introduced the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act 2014 that carried a life sentence for anyone who was found to be LGBTQ+; Jammeh, among other things, also threatened to slit gay men’s throats.
On April 19, iconic British singer Elton John urged U.S. senators not to ease up on the fight against HIV/AIDS, as Congress faces a September deadline for reauthorizing the multi-billion-dollar U.S. program to fight the disease, Reuters reported. “There is no better symbol of American greatness than PEPFAR, and you should all be very proud of your extraordinary efforts,” John, whose own foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to fight AIDS, told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on reauthorizing the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) via videolink. Congress must reauthorize PEPFAR for another five years before Sept. 30.
In the UK, Newcastle upon Tyne gay cabaret bar Eazy Street closed after 13 years with goodbye events on April 14-15, per The Northern Echo. The building, on 8-10 Westmorland Rd., was previously the site of late-night gay bar Camp David. The bar is not renewing its lease, as one member of the bar staff said it was “just too expensive to consider” at the moment.
The Cook Islands Parliament repealed provisions in its Crimes Act that criminalized homosexuality, Cook Islands News reported. The Crimes (Sexual Offenses) Amendment Bill 2023 amends the Crimes Act 1969, which states men can be jailed for five years for engaging in what’s been termed “indecent acts” with other men. The Cook Islands is a South Pacific nation with political ties to New Zealand.
In Australia, two men—Adrian Lea and Meredith DC—were assaulted in a homophobic attack that left both bleeding and one with a fractured nose, PinkNews reported. In an interview with 9 News Perth Lea, who was left with a fractured nose, explained that he and Meredith were walking between two gay nightclubs when the attack occurred. In response to the attack, LGBTQ+ group Beyond A Hug called for a protest against anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes.
In February, French sociologist and HIV/AIDS activist Daniel Defert died at age 85, Out in Perth reported. Defert was the partner of writer, philosopher, and literary critic Michel Foucault, who died of an AIDS-related death in 1984. (The couple’s relationship lasted from 1963 until Foucault’s death.) Following his passing, Defert founded AIDES—the first national HIV/AIDS organization in France.
A Scottish Tory apologized after he tweeted suggesting there is a link between trans people and having learning difficulties—and he blamed a member of his staff for the post, PinkNews reported. In a now-deleted tweet, MSP Stephen Kerr criticized the Scottish government’s Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) bill, which would streamline the process for trans people in Scotland to legally change their gender by obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate. At one point, he (or a staffer) posted, “Why are more young people wanting to change their gender? Is there a link with having learning/development disabilities?”
Tributes were paid to actor, director and theater archivist Murray Melvin, who died at age 90; he never recovered from a fall he suffered in December, The Guardian reported. Producer/screenwriter Russell T Davies wrote on Instagram: “Murray Melvin (1932-2023), bless him, he played the wonderful villain in Torchwood, Bilis Manger, and he loved it! But what a career! He created the great, gay Geoffrey in A Taste of Honey, on stage and on film. Tons of work with Joan Littlewood and Ken Russell. Amazing. Such a gent.”
Fashion designer Dame Mary Quant died in her home in Surrey, UK, at the age of 93. According to NPR, she helped make hot pants, miniskirts and Vidal Sassoon bobs essential to the Swinging Sixties. Quant’s influence endures, with recent retrospectives dedicated to her work at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan. Also, Quant (who helped elevate models such as Twiggy) was the subject of a 2021 documentary directed by movie star Sadie Frost.
Hot off an awards season that saw her win an Oscar and a Golden Globe, among other prizes, Malaysian-born actress Michelle Yeoh (the LGBTQ+-inclusive Everything Everywhere All at Once) is the winner of Kering’s 2023 Women In Motion Award, WWD noted. The ceremony will be held during the French luxury group’s annual dinner to honor women in cinema at the Cannes Film Festival, running May 16-27.
At South Africa’s Durban Open Women’s Beach Volleyball tournament, female athletes sported QR code on precisely those areas the cameras tend to focus on—but viewers were in for a surprise, according to a press release from LUX. Upon scanning, viewers were directed to a short film, “Hey Camera,” which calls on those behind the cameras to end the blatant objectification of women and, instead, focus on their strengths. Bringing the #ChangeTheAngle campaign to life, LUX partnered with one of South Africa’s leading broadcasters, The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s SABC Sport. The film is at http://youtu.be/nNhekoeNh2g.
The U.K.’s first gay dating show is slated to air on BBC Three this summer, Variety noted. I Kissed a Boy, hosted by Dannii Minogue, features 10 single men hoping to find love in a sunny villa in Italy. The media publication also noted that unlike shows such as Love Island, I Kissed a Boy exhibits physical diversity—as in body type. There’s also a strong emphasis on representation, with contestants cast across the regions and nations, from cities to the countryside. There was also a high representation of gay people within the production team.
Gay UK TikTok influencer/comedian NoHun doubled down on his anti-trans attacks further by calling the trans community “mentally ill,” according to PinkNews. NoHun (real name: Raurie Williams) reportedly sent transphobic comments to performer Bailey J Mills’ boyfriend Logan Brown, who is documenting their pregnancy as a trans man. NoHun previously targeted Dylan Mulvaney for modeling a Nike sports bra and leveled anti-trans and anti-fat comments at singer Sam Smith during their Gloria tour.
Following a strong festival run including Rotterdam, San Francisco Indie FF and others, director Christos Massalas’ Broadway will hit theaters in New York and Los Angeles April 28, followed by a digital and DVD release May 16 from Dark Star Pictures, per a press release. The film (considered part of the Greek New Wave that includes The Lobster) focuses on a group of four young street performers and pickpockets in modern Athens who find an unexpected refuge in the “Broadway Stoa,” an abandoned entertainment complex. The balances of their makeshift family will be upset when a former team member is released from prison.