The Hisba Board (religious police) in Kano, a mostly Muslim region in Northern Nigeria, have arrested 25 people attending the wedding of two men, accusing them of “organising same sex marriage.” The situation for LGBT people in Muslim countries continues to deteriorate, as we also see with new anti-LGBT legislation proposed by the government even […]
Federal Appeals Court Says Inmates Have No Right to Medical Transition
The federal appeals court for the 2nd circuit overturned a trial court decision to rule that prison inmates “have no clearly established rights to be treated by gender-dysphoria specialists or to receive specific treatments for gender dysphoria.” The case concerned a biologically male inmate serving a 75 year sentence for murder in Connecticut, who sought […]
Filipino Cruise Workers Harassed with False Pornography Charges
We have featured stories in the past where suspicions of sexual immorality are manipulated as excuses to apprehend immigrants. In one of the latest examples of this phenomenon, Customs and Border Patrol agents used trumped-up charges of possessing illegal images of minors to coerce 18 Filipino workers on a Carnival cruise ship, who had valid […]
New organization fosters growth and reimagines queer relations in rural Ireland
Queers Sheds is an LGBTQ+ community mobilizing network that was started in 2024 in County Clare, Southern Ireland. Its founders were interested in developing opportunities for rural queers to find each other and stay connected. While queer bars and clubs can do wonders for community building in urban settings, rural queers often don’t have access […]
Men publicly punished in Indonesia for same-sex physical affection
Two young men aged 20 and 21 were recently whipped in the same park where they were caught kissing and hugging in a bathroom by police in April. This happened in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province – the only province in the country where Sharia law is still practiced. The men initiated contact with each other […]
The Norma Jean Almodovar Papers
For all my sex work scholars and aficionados out there…you’ve just been gifted a treasure trove of research! Norma Jean Almodovar is a former Los Angeles traffic officer turned sex worker turned sex work activist and founder of the nonprofit International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture, and Education (ISWFACE), and her personal archive of […]
South African Left Calls for Decriminalizing Sex Work
Parliamentarian Julius Malema, head of the pan-Africanist Marxist party Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa, has endorsed decriminalizing sex work at a Women’s Day rally, linking this move to a broader agenda of protecting women from violence. Whether this will provide new impetus to the long-stalled bill proposed by the South African cabinet in 2022 […]
Paying for Pride: A Queer Conundrum Continued
Dr. Daniel Conway – Reader in Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster, UK and a Research Associate at the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg – participated in the 13th Annual Conference of the Sexuality Studies Association in Toronto earlier this summer. His presentation was based on research from […]
St. Lucia Decriminalizes Homosexuality
The island nation of St. Lucia is the latest to join its neighbors (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Dominica) in moving to decriminalize same-sex relations. Colonial throwbacks like “buggery” and gross indecency” had previously been punishable by up to 10 years in prison under St. Lucia’s Criminal Code. Regional advocacy groups […]
Let’s celebrate the life of Andrea Gibson, Colorado’s queer poet laureate
It’s not really Hard Copy’s style to announce a death as news but Andrea Gibson was a phenomenal fuckin’ burst of light on this planet and we’d like to take the opportunity to make you aware of them and their work if you’re not already a fan. As an activist and poet – as well […]