Latest news with #Bisexual
The Citizen
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
LGBTQ+ residents march in Mamelodi
NGO, Walk With Heart (WWH), recently held its fifth annual No Fear Pride March at Solomon Mahlangu Freedom Square. The annual celebration is dedicated to honouring the lives, visibility, and rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer (LGBTIQ) community in Mamelodi. Each year has a different theme during their panel discussion. This year's theme was 'Resisting the Resistance: Repositioning Ourselves as the LGBTQ+ community in Response to New Challenges from Global Superpowers'. The marchers gathered on June 28 at 08:00 at Solomon Mahlangu Square in Mamelodi West for the march, which started at 09:00. After arriving at the Denlyn shopping centre, the festivities included a panel discussion, DJs, and artist performances. The event was founded in 2019 by Andrew Lethole, Kgothatso Sethole, and Sifiso Sithole, also known as 'The Tholes'. They are based in and operate in Mamelodi, and say their mission includes raising awareness about HIV and Aids, facilitating testing and treatment, and addressing the broader challenges faced by the LGBTIQ community. 'The LGBTQ+ community continues to face discrimination and violence, as well as a lack of access to health services. The demise of agencies – like the Usaid – has resulted in many NGOs that used to provide health services to the LGBTQ+ community closing their doors due to lack of funding, which has resulted in the queer community going back to public health facilities, where they often face persecution,' Sethole said. WWH has collaborated with several other NGOs in the past, including the Aurum Institute, Access Chapter 2, and Not In My Name International. This year, they partnered with designers Agrippa Dumisani of House of Agrie Couture and Sello Gene of Gene Hunter Original, who provided the dresses for the drag performances. Thibo Café 2.0 is another collaborator that hosts WWH for their annual fundraising event. 'During our panel discussion on Saturday, there was an overwhelming message for all LGBTQ+ people in Mamelodi and beyond to truly unite and organise ourselves. Our community globally is under attack, and if we are to make it, it has to be together. Not all of us can storm the streets in protest; however, if we can make a difference where we are, wherever we are, it'll go a very, very long way,' Sethole said. The NGO looks forward to working on a smaller event during the South African Pride Month, in October, as well as the Mams Winter Pride event on July 26. 'Our message is clear, we are here, we are queer, we are part of the greater community, and we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. We want other parents who have children who are queer to know that there is nothing wrong with their children, and they ought to love and protect them and encourage them to be themselves, and hopefully seeing us marching and making a raucous in the street will help them in that,' Sethole said. ALSO READ: Spike in vehicle theft at north shopping centres Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to [email protected] or phone us on 083 625 4114. For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord's websites: Rekord East For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Euronews
28-06-2025
- Health
- Euronews
Pro-LGBTQ+ yet anti-abortion: What's behind Malta's differing stances?
When Belle de Jong shared her experience of having an abortion on national TV in Malta in 2021, she became the first woman in the tiny Mediterranean island nation to do so publicly. The reaction to her interview reflected how this aspect of healthcare remains deeply divisive on the staunchly Catholic island, which has the EU's most restrictive abortion law. 'I received literally hundreds of messages from (Maltese) women saying, thank you for speaking about it, either saying they had an abortion or implying it,' she told Euronews. But de Jong, a pro-choice activist and journalist, also received a wave of messages calling her a 'baby killer', which she said mostly came from older people. '(I also received) comments like, 'If you don't want to get pregnant, don't spread your legs', or 'Why didn't you just use protection?' Which, obviously, can fail,' she added. De Jong, who is from the Netherlands but has lived in Malta since 2017, underwent a termination while visiting her home country after her contraceptive pill failed. While she said it had been the 'obvious choice' for her at the time, she stressed the barriers that remain for women in Malta due to its draconian abortion law. 'People are afraid to Google things because imagine if the government finds out, many don't know where to get the pills, for how long you can take the pills … And after a certain point you will need to travel (to have a surgical abortion), meaning you need the money for that, you need to know where to go,' she said. 'And on top of all that, you can't tell anyone. So it's extremely isolating and scary, because you're constantly afraid of being investigated,' de Jong added. Malta's contrasting positions While a shadow was cast over Pride celebrations this month in some parts of Europe, Malta continues to boast a reputation for advancing LGBTQ+ rights. Last month, it once again came first in the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association's ranking of European countries — a position it has held for a decade. In recent years, Malta has advanced LGBTQ+ rights at a breakneck pace: since 2013, it has introduced same-sex civil partnerships, equal marriage rights, adoption rights for same-sex couples, a ban on so-called conversion therapy practices, and self-ID for trans people. But this stands in sharp contrast with its near-total abortion ban: the nation of a half a million is home to the EU's most restrictive abortion law, criminalising terminations even in cases of rape and foetal anomalies. The gulf between the state of these rights appears entrenched in Malta, with experts telling Euronews there seems to be little political will to expand access to reproductive rights as the majority of the population is opposed to abortion. For Robert Attard, Malta LGBTIQ Rights Movement's community outreach coordinator, the context of the nation's advance in queer rights is rooted in the movement's activism over the years and the end of a long spell of conservative governments. 'The LGBTIQ rights movement has been lobbying for equal rights since 2001 … Once the government changed, the calls for equal rights were quite successful,' he told Euronews. Underlining the way society's perceptions can at times trail legislation, Attard said Malta has progressed alongside the raft of laws enshrining rights for LGBTQ+ people. 'I believe if there had been a referendum for equal marriage in 2014, it would not have passed. But surveys show over half of the island is now in favour of equal marriage and adoption. 'Being a small island really, really works in favour of us in this aspect. Let's say, a homophobic, very Catholic (person), realises her neighbour's nice son is gay … Since the rights started rolling in, people felt more comfortable in their own identity and there was this visibility.' However, he noted that trans people on the island still face a higher degree of discrimination, while LGBTQ+ asylum seekers also face challenges. Attard's organisation is part of the pro-abortion Voice for Choice coalition, and he sees the queer and reproductive rights as connected. 'We acknowledge the idea of bodily autonomy and that our rights intersect. Also, there are LBT people who are affected by this (abortion) law as well,' he said, noting that abortion remains 'taboo' and far more controversial. 'Malta is very family oriented — acceptance for civil partnership and adoption is much bigger. Children as young as 11 are shown anti-abortion propaganda at schools,' Attard added. The centrality of the family In Attard's view, moving the dial on abortion is a much tougher sell on the Catholic majority island — a perspective shared by all whom Euronews spoke to. Prof Marceline Naudi, associate professor at the University of Malta's Department of Gender and Sexualities, also attributed the intransigence on reproductive healthcare to 'the primacy of the family' in Maltese society. 'Malta is very family-centred (and) LGBTQ+ rights, although they can be seen to challenge the 'traditional family' form, so to speak, don't really impinge. When the rights took a leap forward, it was not seen as threatening the family. 'However, abortion is very clearly seen as (doing so). The anti-choice movement says 'unborn children' are part of the family,' Naudi added. The advancement of these rights was helped by a minister who drove the policies activists had been demanding for years, Naudi told Euronews: 'Helena Dalli, who then became European Commissioner for Equality, was pivotal in this moving forward.' 'There was a stronger political will to push for that than has ever been in abortion,' Naudi added. De Jong agreed with this, adding that she believed that expanding rights like equal marriage "were not as controversial but look very good for politicians ... you like you're going forward as a country". The country's blanket abortion ban was slightly eased in 2023, after the case of a US tourist who had to be airlifted to Spain to undergo a lifesaving abortion captured headlines internationally. But while the legislation initially proposed would have relaxed the ban to allow for abortions in cases where there was a risk to the pregnant person's health, it was subsequently amended to stipulate that they must be at risk of death to access an abortion — and even then, only after three specialists' consent. Naudi considered this amendment to be 'part of this right-wing backlash', observed globally spanning the rights of women and minorities. Dr Miriam Sciberras, CEO of Life Network Foundation in Malta, a group that describes itself as promoting "pro-life values in Maltese society", rejected the idea that the country's restrictive abortion legislation and advancement of LGBTQ+ rights were at odds. "Malta is both pro-LGBT and pro-life — these views are not contradictory. Both are rooted in the belief that every human life has value and deserves dignity. Both LGBT individuals and unborn children have historically faced, and sometimes still face dehumanization," she told Euronews in a statement. "Being pro-life means extending that same care to the unborn, who are also vulnerable and voiceless. A consistent ethic of human dignity includes all of us, born and unborn, gay or straight. Abortion eliminates a human life, the life of a child, gay or straight, period." In a month that sees many European countries host Pride celebrations — Malta holds its events in September — the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) warned of a 'backsliding'. 'Across Europe, we observe worrying developments of democratic backsliding, attacks on civil society and challenges to fundamental rights, including the rights of LGBTIQ people," FRA spokesperson Nicole Romain told Euronews. 'It is essential that all EU countries stay the course and respect fundamental rights. Because how we treat the LGBTIQ community is a litmus test for the strength of our democratic societies'. More women taking abortion pills One thing is clear: abortion bans do not prevent women from ending unwanted or unviable pregnancies altogether. Prof Isabel Stabile of the University of Malta, who is a gynaecologist, told Euronews that some 600 pregnancies were terminated in Malta last year using abortion pills — a number that has risen in recent years. Stabile is a member of the non-profit Doctors for Choice, which was founded in 2019 to provide information for those who want to end a pregnancy. Healthcare professionals in Malta can give information about overseas abortion and refer patients to the Abortion Support Network without any fear of legal repercussions, their site states, noting that providing such information to patients is backed by the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. 'We provide an information service through our website and have an abortion doula service,' she said. "Women can call us with questions about what's normal, shall I go to the hospital … We talk to somewhere between one and two women every day.' The risk of prosecution remains a concern for women, she said. 'For women, the legal risk is intense. If they go to the hospital, and for some reason, in some way, the fact that they had an abortion is revealed either through them or through a partner or whatever, then they are liable to a three-year prison term. "It is a serious concern, we've had women prosecuted in the past,' she said, noting it is often the island's 'most marginalised' at risk, though there have been no imprisonments in over two decades. Doctors who carry out abortions outside of Malta's restrictive law are liable to a four-year prison term as well as the loss of their medical license. Like others Euronews spoke to, Stabile said that in private, several representatives backed pro-choice positions — but were not willing to put their necks on the line politically. The government tends to ignore Doctors for Choice, Stabile said. 'The last thing it needs is women dying. It is far better to leave us alone, let us do our work, and not have a revolution on their hands. 'The abortion numbers have shot up in recent years, because it's safe, it's available. Abortion care is health care. It is also, unfortunately, illegal.' Euronews has reached out to Malta's government for comment. An emerging public conversation Three years after she went on TV to speak about her decision to end a pregnancy, de Jong led a campaign to garner Maltese support for a pro-choice European initiative. The My Voice, My Choice campaign aims to secure free access to abortion across the bloc. She succeeded in collecting the required threshold of 4,230 signatures needed for Malta, noting that most preferred to do so online rather than in person due to stigma. 'The campaign was an eye-opener — it showed there was more support than we were aware of. Most of these people would never post about their pro-choice views on Facebook," de Jong said. Still, she agreed with others that a public conversation is beginning to emerge on the island — and believed this has to grow before representatives will act. 'It's so important to change public opinion. Over the past six years or so, that discussion has, slowly but surely, started to come out,' she added.
Cision Canada
11-06-2025
- Cision Canada
Travelling with Pride: A 2SLGBTQI+ Canadian's Guide to Safe Adventures Français
OTTAWA, ON, June 11, 2025 /CNW/ - As you pack your bags to join the global Pride celebrations in 2025, be sure to equip yourself with knowledge about the countries you'll visit, so that your adventures are as safe and enjoyable as possible. It's important to keep in mind that laws, cultural norms, and social customs regarding sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) can differ dramatically from what we experience in Canada. Take some time to get to know your destination. A great place to start is the Government of Canada's Travel Advice and Advisories. Keep in mind that in some countries, same-sex relationships are illegal, or 2SLGBTQI+ people might face legal challenges tied to things like public morals or vagrancy laws. More research to understand what you might encounter during your travels is always good idea, like the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association's map of sexual orientation laws in the world which provides valuable insights into the legal landscape for 2SLGBTQI+ people worldwide. And don't forget to sign up for the Registration of Canadians Abroad service. It's a handy way to stay in touch with the Canadian government in case something unexpected happens, like civil unrest, while you're travelling. In addition to understanding the laws, it's crucial to consider your personal safety. Be aware of your online presence and how your social media accounts or dating apps might be viewed by authorities in countries where discrimination against the 2SLGBTQI+ community is widespread. Always be cautious of public displays of affection, as some regions might be hostile to such gestures. Stay informed and vigilant about local customs and avoid putting yourself at risk. For those traveling with children or considering adoption or surrogacy abroad, be aware that some countries may not recognize 2SLGBTQI+ family structures or may have discriminatory policies. Researching adoption laws and ensuring proper documentation for your children can help you avoid unnecessary complications. Most importantly, remember that consular services are available to assist you while abroad. Contact the nearest Canadian government office at your destination or the 24/7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre in Ottawa for consular help while you are outside Canada. Should you face any challenges, the Canadian government can offer support to help ensure your safety and rights are upheld. To learn more about how to travel safely and confidently during Pride Season 2025, visit .
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
Travelling with Pride: A 2SLGBTQI+ Canadian's Guide to Safe Adventures
OTTAWA, ON, June 11, 2025 /CNW/ - As you pack your bags to join the global Pride celebrations in 2025, be sure to equip yourself with knowledge about the countries you'll visit, so that your adventures are as safe and enjoyable as possible. It's important to keep in mind that laws, cultural norms, and social customs regarding sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) can differ dramatically from what we experience in Canada. Take some time to get to know your destination. A great place to start is the Government of Canada's Travel Advice and Advisories. Keep in mind that in some countries, same-sex relationships are illegal, or 2SLGBTQI+ people might face legal challenges tied to things like public morals or vagrancy laws. More research to understand what you might encounter during your travels is always good idea, like the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association's map of sexual orientation laws in the world which provides valuable insights into the legal landscape for 2SLGBTQI+ people worldwide. And don't forget to sign up for the Registration of Canadians Abroad service. It's a handy way to stay in touch with the Canadian government in case something unexpected happens, like civil unrest, while you're travelling. In addition to understanding the laws, it's crucial to consider your personal safety. Be aware of your online presence and how your social media accounts or dating apps might be viewed by authorities in countries where discrimination against the 2SLGBTQI+ community is widespread. Always be cautious of public displays of affection, as some regions might be hostile to such gestures. Stay informed and vigilant about local customs and avoid putting yourself at risk. For those traveling with children or considering adoption or surrogacy abroad, be aware that some countries may not recognize 2SLGBTQI+ family structures or may have discriminatory policies. Researching adoption laws and ensuring proper documentation for your children can help you avoid unnecessary complications. Most importantly, remember that consular services are available to assist you while abroad. Contact the nearest Canadian government office at your destination or the 24/7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre in Ottawa for consular help while you are outside Canada. Should you face any challenges, the Canadian government can offer support to help ensure your safety and rights are upheld. To learn more about how to travel safely and confidently during Pride Season 2025, visit the official Government of Canada travel resources for more information and practical tips. SOURCE Global Affairs Canada View original content to download multimedia: Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Toronto officials raise Progress Pride flag at city hall to kick off month of festivities
Toronto officials raised the Progress Pride flag at city hall on Monday to kick off a month of festivities celebrating the city's 2SLGBTQ+ community. Mayor Olivia Chow said it's more important than ever to support Toronto's 2SLGBTQ+ community. Chow was joined by Coun. Chris Moise, chair of the Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Advisory Committee, and city staff. "It's not a choice. It is who we are. It's in the city's DNA that we will always support the LGBTQ community," Chow said in an interview after the flag-raising. "We know that when we come together, we're stronger. We will not be divided and we'll stand shoulder to shoulder with the community and supporting it every way. I invite all Torontonians to enjoy Pride Month." Those involved, including drag performer Sanjina DaBish Queen, said Pride started as a protest and it's important to support the transgender community. "The light just needs to be on trans people right now. It does. We're very important to the community. We're important to this world. And we just want to live. We just want to breathe." Pride Toronto recently reported two of its largest sponsors, Home Depot and Google, have said they no longer want to sponsor the festival, but executive director Kojo Modeste said the withdrawal of support won't affect this year's festivities. "We already have contracts that we are obligated to. Where we might feel it, it's next year. But I do believe that all three levels of government will come on board. We're going to have more sponsors." City representatives said they'll continue to support Pride in Toronto in whatever ways they can. "At the end of the day, it's their loss," Chow said. "And if American companies want to pull out from supporting Pride, we will step in, Canadian companies will step in, the government will step in." Throughout the month of June, Pride events will be held across Toronto. Pride culminates with the festival weekend that runs June 27 to 29. That includes Toronto's Pride Parade, which is the second largest in the world.
