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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Womxn: Working is a recently produced documentary that examines sex work activism in South Africa. Sex work is still criminalized in the country and this important work assesses the damage these archaic laws continue to deal sex worker communities, denying them their rights and freedoms. Directed by Shanelle Jewnarain, the film applies an important feminist […]
Although Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government banned Pride gatherings in his country recently, around 100,000 people showed up to March on the 28th in a significant “fuck you!” showing of fierce resistance and solidarity. The amendment to Hungary’s constitution that led to the Pride ban was motivated by “child protection” according to the government. More […]
