A Moroccan court sentenced feminist/queer-rights activist Ibtissame “Betty” Lachgar to two-and-a-half years in prison and fined her $5,000 for “blasphemy,” Metro Weekly noted. The court ruled that she violated the country’s criminal code against offending Islam or the monarchy by posting a photo of herself on social media wearing a shirt reading “Allah is lesbian.” At trial, Lachgar said she did not intend to offend, insisting the T-shirt was a political statement using a long-standing slogan against sexism and violence toward women.
Canada is urging residents with gender-neutral passport markers to exercise caution about coming to the United States, The Advocate noted. “While the Government of Canada issues passports with a ‘X’ gender identifier, it cannot guarantee your entry or transit through other countries,” according to an official advisory. “You might face entry restrictions in countries that do not recognize the ‘X’ gender identifier. Before you leave, verify this information with the closest foreign representative for your destination.” Currently, most trans, non-binary and intersex U.S. residents can obtain accurate passports.
Sarah Mullally was appointed the new archbishop of Canterbury, becoming the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide—and the first woman to hold the role in its 1,400-year history, CNN noted. In 2018, Mullally was made bishop of London —the Church of England’s third most senior bishop after the archbishops of Canterbury and York. Justin Welby, the former archbishop, resigned in 2024 because he failed to report John Smyth, who was accused of physically and sexually abusing dozens of boys in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Council of Europe approved a “comprehensive framework” designed to protect the rights of intersex people, according to Watermark Out News. The European LGBTQI+-rights group ILGA Europe, along with Organization Intersex International Europe, noted the recommendation “covers a comprehensive range of topics for the advancement and protection of intersex rights, from the prohibition of non-consensual interventions and treatments, access to justice, redress and monitoring mechanisms, tackling hate crime and hate speech, prohibiting discrimination in the areas of education, employment and sport.” The Council of Europe is a European human-rights body with 46 member states that operates separately from the European Union.
Get Golden Visa released a list of the 11 most LGBTQ+-friendly countries. Topping the list was Malta, which legalized marriage equality in 2017; and criminalized hate crimes and hate speech based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics in June 2012. Other countries on the list included (in order) Portugal, Finland, Spain, Norway, Iceland, Belgium, Denmark, Canada, The Netherlands and Greece.
On Oct. 6, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and his government resigned just hours after Lecornu announced his cabinet line-up—making it the shortest-lived administration in modern French history and deepening the country’s political crisis, Reuters reported. Enemies and allies threatened to topple the new government, with the right-leaning Lecornu saying that meant he could not do his job. Lecornu—Macron’s fifth prime minister in 21 months—stayed in the position for only 27 days, joining such individuals as Gabriel Attal, who’s openly gay.
Supporters of queer Syrians aim to revive Mawaleh, the country’s first queer cultural magazine, per Erasing 76 Crimes. Advocates have said that their “work is at risk. Our website is outdated, unsafe, and limits our reach. To continue protecting and amplifying queer voices, Mawaleh urgently needs a full relaunch: secure, multilingual and globally accessible.” A fundraising page aims to resurrect the publication; Mahmoud Hassino, the journalist who started Mawaleh in 2012, said, “The world hasn’t gotten any less chaotic, and our voices are needed more than ever. So, we’re doing what any queer icon would do: we’re staging a comeback.”
In Uganda, Pastor Martin Ssempa has been using the killing of Charlie Kirk to promote his own homophobic agenda and to seek buyers for Ssempa’s recently published anti-LGBTQ book, per Erasing 76 Crimes. On social media, Ssempa blamed queer people for Kirk’s assassination, stating, “New information on the killing of @charliekirk11 show that it was well planned by the LGBTQ forums.”
South African Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya ended a seven-year legal challenge against sex eligibility rules in track and field, despite winning a ruling at the European Court of Human Rights in July, ESPN noted. Patrick Bracher, an attorney for Semenya, emailed The Associated Press that they wouldn’t take her appeal back to the Swiss supreme court. Semenya is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 800 meters; she has been banned from running in her favorite race at major international meets since 2019 because she refused to follow rules that stipulate she take medication to artificially reduce her hormone levels.
Electronic Arts (EA) has been acquired by an investment consortium consisting of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners for $55 billion—but some gamers are worried about how the acquisition could impact the content in EA’s games, particularly LGBTQ+ material, according to Forbes. Among other games, EA has single-player and story-driven franchises like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Both of these games have LGBTQ+ followings because players are able to enter romantic relationships with certain characters, regardless of the player’s gender. A Reddit user recently asked, “Am I the only one who is scared by EA being purchased by people as conservative as Kushner and the Saudi Royal family?” Affinity Partners is owned by Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband.
British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor (“Murder on the Dancefloor”) recently criticized transphobia, according to PinkNews. “These people make trans people their whole personality and spend their entire day checking their socials and being angry, whereas trans people themselves just want to be under the radar and live their lives,” Ellis-Bextor told The Independent. Ellis-Bextor has long had an LGBTQ+ following and last year said she loved playing at Pride events because there was always a “very inclusive, supportive, warm audience.”
Gay Northern Ireland-born fashion designer Jonathan Anderson said that growing up against a backdrop of the he decades-long conflict known as The Troubles helped shape his world view, the BBC noted. He told BBC Radio 4, “I think back to where Northern Ireland was before the Good Friday Agreement and realize when you start to see each other’s differences and talk, you can get resolution.” Anderson recently unveiled his first women’s ready-to-wear Dior collection at Paris Fashion Week.
British pansexual singer Yungblud announced that he will be returning to North American shores in 2026 for a 24-date headline run, per a press release. Starting on May 1 in Sterling Heights, Michigan, Yungblud and his band will be making stops across all major cities including New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, Los Angeles’ Greek Theater, Phoenix’s Arizona Financial Theatre, Toronto’s Coca-Cola Coliseum and many more on the Live Nation-promoted tour. Yungblud recently wrapped a sold-out North American tour and performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
LGBTQ+ Russia-born Australian tennis player Daria Kasatkina is ending the season early for the sake of her mental well-being after hitting a “breaking point” on tour, according to Tennis. Kasatkina, a French Open semifinalist in 2022, said that she has been depleted by the tour schedule, a stressful process to gain permanent residency in Australia, and the inability to see her parents. Kasatkina—who is engaged to figure skating Olympic medalist Natalia Zabiiako—told the Times of London in 2023 that she can’t go back to Russia “as a gay person who opposes the war” in Ukraine.
Contestants on the latest season of Big Brother UK are being reprimanded for misgendering and using anti-LGBTQ+ language toward other housemates, according to Them. Recently, houseguest Caroline misgendered trans fitness instructor Zelah, leading to Caroline being formally warned about her behavior and Zelah giving an emotional confession. The drama was followed by another competitor, George, being evicted after mocking gay housemate Sam.