NOTE: This week’s column mentions a group killing.
As Ukraine considers joining the European Union, its government met with representatives of the nation’s LGBTQ+ groups to discuss a proposed anti-discrimination law, including making hate crimes illegal, according to Erasing 76 Crimes. The Council of Europe noted that a joint dialogue dedicated to discussing such legislative initiatives took place in Kyiv. Following the meeting, a dedicated platform will be established to bring together civil-rights organizations working with vulnerable groups, with the aim of developing a methodology and advancing effective advocacy for the draft law.
Five men stood trial in Paris for allegedly harassing lesbian DJ Barbara Butch online for her participation in last year’s Olympic opening ceremony, per LGBTQ Nation. “We’re going to get you, fatso,” “Die whore,” “You will pay,” and “You’d better watch what you do, b**ch,” were some of the messages they’re accused of sending Butch on Instagram. The men are now facing charges of cyberharassment, and one is also facing a charge of death threats with a bias crimes enhancement for targeting someone because of her sexual orientation.
Two African cardinals—Robert Sarah and Fridolin Ambongo Besungu—have renewed their criticism of Pope Francis’ permission to bless people in same-sex relationships, hoping that Pope Leo may revoke the document, Fiducia Supplicans, which established this accommodation, according to New Ways Ministry. In an interview, Sarah said of the document, “It endangers the unity of the Church. It is a document that should be forgotten.” In July, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández—prefect of the Dicastery for Doctrine of the Faith that issued Fiducia—declared that, under Pope Leo, there would be no changes to the document or the blessing practice.
A new report from the Cairo 52 Legal Research Institute stated that transgender individuals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are ensnared in a vicious cycle of state-sponsored criminalization, systemic legal disenfranchisement and pervasive social hostility, Erasing 76 Crimes noted. Between Stigma and Survival: A Data-Driven Mixed Methods Analysis of Transgender Experiences, Rights and Priorities in the MENA Region also included a call to action for key stakeholders, including funders, policymakers, and NGOs and civil society.
Three trans women were shot dead and dumped by the side of a road outside Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, according to LGBTQ Nation. It was the second violent attack on transgender people in a week in Pakistan; days before, a trans woman was seriously injured in a knife attack at Karachi’s Sea View Beach. “These back-to-back tragedies show that the community is being systematically targeted,” Pakistan’s Gender Interactive Alliance said in a statement. Pakistan passed the Transgender Rights Act in 2018, although religious groups have railed against it.
The only daughter of Cameroon President Paul Biya published a video on social media asking voters to not cast their ballot for her father in the upcoming presidential election, according to Africa News. Brenda Biya (who is part of the queer community) said that she would “cut” all contact with her parents and said that her family had mistreated her, as well as people close to her “wanting her dead.”
More than 50 artists and performers signed a letter calling on feminist artist Judy Chicago to withdraw her exhibition on view at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in protest of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, according to Hyperallergic. Many of the letter’s signatories are Israeli, including video artist Guy Ben-Ner, photographer Eldad Rafaeli, painter Yoram Kupermintz and anti-war activist and music composer Ilan Volkov. “Judy Chicago: What If Women Ruled the World?” is running at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art through Dec. 27. The exhibition consists of a collaborative quilt composed of reflections from women around the globe, co-created by Chicago and Pussy Riot founding member Nadya Tolokonnikova.
Sauna—a reimagining of Romeo and Juliet that explores the love between a gay man and a trans man—will debut worldwide on Nov. 18 through Breaking Glass Pictures, per a press release. Based on the book by writer/activist Mads Ananda Lodahl, the film follows Johan (played by Magnus Juhl Andersen), a gay man yearning for intimacy and connection; and William (Nina Rask), a trans man navigating the early stages of his transition. Sauna is the first film in Denmark to cast a transgender actor in a leading trans role. The movie’s soundtrack features queer and underground Danish musicians, including Anton Falck of First Hate, hyperpop rising star Debbie Sings, gay pop icon Asbjørn and trans musician Raymonde Gaunoux.
British Harry Potter actress Emma Watson spoke recently about her feelings concerning UK anti-trans author/movie producer J.K. Rowling, according to Them. Despite her differences with Rowling, Watson emphasized her positive memories with Rowling as a child, adding, “I think it’s my deepest wish that I hope people who don’t agree with my opinion will love me, and I hope I can keep loving people who I don’t necessarily share the same opinion with.” On social media, Rowling responded, “Like other people who’ve never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is,” according to People.
In Poland, Dancing with the Stars is featuring a same-sex couple of two women, which includes the “star” of the pair, rower Katarzyna Zillmann, according to Outsports. After coming out publicly, Zillmann won a medal at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. “Life writes beautiful scripts,” Zillmann wrote in Polish on Instagram. “Years of intensive training have led me to the dance floor, where alongside an outstanding teacher I can find myself again and fall in love with dancing without limits.”
A same-sex couple in a horror movie was reportedly altered to appear heterosexual for the film’s release in China, according to Them. Together—a body-horror movie directed by Michael Shanks and starring real-life married couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco—began pre-release screenings on Sept. 12. Bloomberg reported that in the original version of the movie, a gay male couple is featured; however, in the version that was screened in China, one of the men’s faces was replaced with a woman’s. Social media reports of the change were confirmed by four anonymous Chinese viewers. In 2019, the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody was released in China, but with the removal of same-sex kissing and the word “gay.”
Queer art has often been neglected and marginalized in the past but a new exhibition in Germany called “Queer Modernism. 1900 to 1950” is trying to overcome old prejudices and show the significant contributions LGBTQ+ artists have made to the genre of modernism, the AP noted. “This is the first major exhibition on this topic in Europe, if not worldwide,” said Susanne Gaensheimer, the director of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen museum. Featuring more than 130 works by 34 artists, the show (running Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 15, 2026) focuses on themes such as desire, gender and sexuality, but also discrimination and oppression. Artists include Claude Cahun, Hannah Höch and Jean Cocteau, among many others.
Trans actor Elliot Page and cisgender comic actress Julia Shiplett made their red-carpet debut at Milan Fashion Week in Italy while attending the unveiling of Gucci’s spring/summer 2026 collection, LGBTQ Nation noted. It’s the first public relationship that Page has been in since his early 2021 divorce from choreographer Emma Portner. Page was sporting an Artists4Ceasefire pin—a symbol of his opposition to Israel’s ongoing military actions against Palestine.
European soccer organization UEFA is inching toward a vote to suspend Israel over the war in Gaza, per the AP. A majority of UEFA’s 20-member executive committee is expected to support any vote in favor of suspending Israeli teams from international play. A suspension would prevent Israeli national and club teams from playing in international competitions including next year’s World Cup. Israel’s men’s team is set to resume its World Cup qualifying campaign next week with away games against Norway and Italy.
Iconic British musical duo Pet Shop Boys have announced a new remix album, Disco 5, that will have special guests such as Noel Gallagher and Primal Scream, NME noted. The synth-pop duo will release the latest installment of their long-running Disco record series on Nov. 21 via Parlophone. The 12-track album will feature Pet Shop Boys’ reimaginings of songs by Gallagher, Primal Scream, Tina Turner, Claptone and more.
Married at First Sight UK star Davide Anica, a 34-year-old flight attendant, revealed to his fellow contestants that he had a difficult relationship with his father, who struggled to understand the reality figure’s sexuality, according to Instinct. “Dad kicked me out. He just didn’t understand it. He didn’t get it,” Anica said, although he also confirmed that the relationship has since been repaired, adding, “I love my dad and he loves me.”
Italian actor Luca Calvani—who made his U.S. television debut at 27 on a 2001 episode of Sex and the City and has since competed on Italian versions of both Survivor and Big Brother—has tied the knot with longtime boyfriend Alessandro Franchini, per Queerty. The couple got married at the ancient Fattoria di Paterno in Tuscany, Italy, surrounded by friends and family, including Calvani’s 16-year-old daughter. “More than an event, we wanted a celebration of life. The kind made of true friends, of families intertwined, of dreams coming true,” the couple told Vanity Fair.