The Kenyan Supreme Court ordered opposition MP Peter Kaluma to pay an LGBTQ+-rights activist approximately $5,000 (Ksh500,000) for challenging its ruling that allowed his former organization to register as a non-governmental organization, The Washington Blade reported. The court ordered Kaluma—who has sponsored the country’s anti-homosexuality bill—to pay former National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) Executive Director Eric Gitari the amount after it dismissed his appeal of its ruling last September. Gitari was a defendant in the case after leading the push for NGLHRC’s registration as an NGO amid opposition by the government because Kenya criminalizes LGBTQ+ rights and relations.
Pope Francis has again used a slur against gay people for which he had already apologized last month, according to Reuters, which cited the ANSA news agency. Italian media had attributed to the pope the use of the word “frociaggine”—a vulgar Italian term roughly translating as “faggotness”—on May 20 during a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops. According to ANSA, Francis repeated the term on June 11 as he met Roman priests, saying “there is an air of faggotness in the Vatican” and that it was better that young men with gay tendencies not be allowed to enter the seminary. Asked about the latest report, the Vatican’s press office referred to a statement it had issued regarding that meeting with the priests, in which the pope reiterated the need to welcome gay people into the Church and the need for caution regarding them becoming seminarians.
A new draft law from Georgia’s ruling party would deprive same-sex couples of their rights, Politico noted. Shalva Papuashvili— the speaker of Georgia’s parliament and one of the leaders of the governing Georgian Dream faction—brought forward a package of legislation targeting so-called “LGBT propaganda” that echoes laws in neighboring Russia. As part of the proposed crackdown, same-sex marriages would not be registered and only “heterosexuals” would be allowed to adopt children. Changing gender would be illegal, as would any “medical manipulation for the purpose of gender reassignment,” Papuashvili said.
Team USA named the 12 players on the women’s basketball team for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics—and half the team is LGBTQ+, according to Outsports. The out players on the squad that famously doesn’t include Caitlin Clark are Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Chelsea Gray, Alyssa Thomas, Brittney Griner and Jewell Lloyd. The 2024 Paris Summer Olympics are July 26-Aug.11.
In Senegal, a court jailed two men for “spreading false news” after they accused Ousmane Sonko, the country’s new prime minister, of tolerating homosexuality, per the BBC. Activist Bah Diakhate and Imam Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Ndao were sentenced to three months in jail and fined 100,000 CFA francs ($165) each. They were angry that Sonko had allowed a visiting French politician to express his support for same-sex marriages. Same-sex acts are banned in the mainly Muslim West African country and are punishable by up to five years in prison.
In Ukraine, the Kyiv City Council did not grant organizers of Kyiv Pride a permit to hold the annual human-rights demonstration on the city’s metro system, per The Washington Blade, citing the Kyiv Post. The city council cited security concerts for the denial. Kyiv has not held a Pride festival since the most recent Russian invasion began in February 2022.
Manuel Guerrero Aviña—a British-Mexican man who was arrested in Qatar in what his family called a “honeytrap operation” on Grindr—has been given a six-month suspended sentence and will be deported, the BBC noted. His family say police planted drugs in his apartment; Guerrero Aviña believes he was targeted because he is gay. Qatari prosecutors have up to 30 days to appeal the sentence, meaning he can’t leave the country immediately, even if he were to accept the verdict.
Warner Bros. Pictures acquired openly gay director Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language film debut The Room Next Door for key international territories, including the U.K., Spain, Italy, Germany and Latin America, per Variety. Starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, Alessandro Nivola and John Turturro, the film will also be released in the Nordics, Central and Eastern Europe (excluding Poland) and some of the Asia Pacific markets, including Japan. The Room Next Door follows Martha, a flawed mother working as a war reporter, and Ingrid, her spiteful daughter who is an auto-fictional novelist; while a serious misunderstanding separates the mother and daughter, another woman is the keeper of their pain and bitterness.
The book George Sand: True Genius, True Woman will be out July 16, a press release noted. Described as “a graphic biography of female novelist George Sand, whose life and work championed women’s rights, gender expression and sexual liberation,” the book—with Severine Vidal and Kim Consigny as its authors—is a biography of one of the great pioneering figures of 19th-century French literature. The release also noted that Sand (real name: Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin) was “not just as the daring, scandalously cross-dressing, bisexual, cigarette-smoking divorcée novelist, but [was] the brilliant chronicler of her changing time—and, therefore, of ours.”
British actor Matt Smith was praised online for gently correcting a red-carpet interviewer who misgendered his House of the Dragon co-star Emma D’Arcy, who is nonbinary, according to Variety. Sue Perkins incorrectly used “she” when referring to D’Arcy. “I can’t take the credit, [but] I have to say, aren’t they brilliant?” Smith answered, using D’Arcy’s preferred “they/them” pronouns. “They are absolutely brilliant and you’re in for a real treat with Emma this year, I think Emma’s put in … a really great performance.” Season two of House of the Dragon will premiere June 16.
Out Spanish actor Omar Ayuso—who rose to fame playing fan-favorite queer Muslim character Omar Sanaa on the Netflix series Elite—will star in the upcoming Spanish-language musical-comedy series Mariliendre, according to Queerty. While on the red carpet at an event celebrating the Spanish streaming service Atresplayer, Ayuso told Raw Magazine about the fashion-forward character he plays: “His name is Luis. He’s a supermodel and he has an explosive personality, very colorful, noisy, with over-the-top energy.” The term “mariliendre” is the Spanish equivalent of “f*g hag”—a phrase series creator Javier Ferriero hopes to reclaim.
On Piers Morgan Uncensored, Kevin Spacey cried to the host about having to sell his Baltimore home because he “can’t pay the bills” that have piled up, The Wrap noted. The embattled actor explained that the many legal bills for the criminal charges he’s amassed from sexual-assault allegations have left him reeling financially. The two-time Oscar winner also used the interview to admit to “being too handsy” and “touching someone sexually” without their consent. The most recent allegations came from the Investigation Discovery documentary Spacey Unmasked, which contained interviews with Spacey’s brother Randall Fowler and alleged victims detailing alleged incidents that took place at London’s Old Vic Theatre.
Season three of the show Bridgerton revealed that one of its most beloved characters is officially LGBTQ+, per PinkNews. In the first season, fans watched on with bated breath as Benedict Bridgerton (played by Luke Thompson) briefly flirted with the show’s only queer character, Henry Granville (Julian Ovenden); yet the season ended with Bridgerton pursuing Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New). However, Arnold introduces Bridgerton to her friend, newcomer Paul Suarez (Lucas Aurelio)—who it seems she is in a polyamorous relationship with. Immediately, there is sexual tension between Bridgerton and Suarez.
An angry father climbed onstage and punched a comedian after the entertainer said on social media that the man’s three-month-old son would grow up to suck “black c**k,” according to LGBTQ Nation. It all began when Alberto Pugilato—a resident of Madrid, Spain, and a self-identified activist with the anti-LGBTQ+ Spanish Nationalist Party—posted an image of himself and his son on X, writing “Pride and Joy.” The comedian Jaime Caravaca commented, writing, “Nothing and no one can prevent the possibility that he is gay and when he grows up he gets tired of sucking black c**k.” Video of the comedian’s June 3 performance shows Pugilato climbing onstage during Caravaca’s stand-up routine and sucker-punching the comedian in the head. Caravaca later told the audience that he had received death threats for his social-media post.
In Canada, comedian/actor Rob Schneider was reportedly booed off the stage for making, among other things, anti-LGBTQ+ jokes, according to PinkNews. The Four Seasons Ball took place in Saskatchewan, with Schneider’s allegedly misogynistic, transphobic and COVID-denying jokes not going well with the audience. In its apology statement, the Hospitals of Regina Foundation wrote, “While we recognise that in a free and democratic society individuals are entitled to their views and opinions and that comedy is intended to be edgy, the content, positions and opinions expressed during Mr. Schneider’s set do not align with the values of our foundation and team. We do not condone, accept, endorse or share (his) positions, as expressed during his comedy set and acknowledge that in this instance the performance did not meet the expectations of our audience and our team.”