International News
Gambian president Yahya Jammeh is one of Africa's most outspoken anti-gay leaders. Photograph: Wang Lei/Xinhua Press/Corbis
President Yahya Jammeh signs bill into law under which ‘aggravated homosexuality' can lead to life imprisonment
LGBT people in Iraq have long been persecuted. But the rising tide of turmoil today puts many at imminent risk of death. The Islamic State prescribes death for the "practice" of homosexuality. Furthermore, evidence gathered for two briefings by IGLHRC and its partners, MADRE and the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, demonstrate the direct effect of the collapse of the rule of law on LGBT persons, through unfettered violence by sectarian militias.
This is the second ruling from an African court this year upholding the right to form LGBT organizations.
A court in Botswana's capital, Gaborone, ruled on Friday that the government cannot refuse to register the LGBT organization known as LEGABIBO (Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals of Botswana).
People with LED lights take part in forming a giant pink dot to promote acceptance of the LGBT community in Singapore on June 30, 2012. Tim Chong / Reuters
"Whilst we understand the deeply-held personal feelings of the appellants, there is nothing that this court can do to assist them. Their remedy lies, if at all, in the legislative sphere," the court rules.
Nigerian president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan addresses the 69th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 24, 2014. Lucas Jackson / Reuters
A judge ruled that the person who brought the challenge couldn't sue because he is straight and not directly harmed by it, the plaintiff's attorney told BuzzFeed News.
Gay and trans youth living in a Kingston sewer in Dec. 2013. J. Lester Feder/BuzzFeed
Gambia's National Assembly passed a bill last month that imposes a life sentence in jail for "homosexual acts,"