On 24 May 1988 the Local Government Act 1988 including Section 28 came into effect. Section 28 was a legislative designation for a series of laws across Britain that prohibited the "promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities. It caused many organisations such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender student support groups to close, limit their activities or self-censor. It was taken off the statute book in 18 September 2003. 1/

Cameroon lesbian couple forced to remain in prison by unjust fines. Project Not Alone is raising money to free them along with 10 other imprisoned queer Cameroonians.

#LGBT #LGBTQ #LGBTrights #humanrights #LGBTQrights #ProjectNotAlone #homophobia #Africa @76crimes #lesbian #Cameroon

https://76crimes.com/2025/05/20/cameroon-lesbians-prison-unjust-fines/

Fundamentalist Funeral

My wife is attending a funeral today that will be difficult for her. Her mother asked her to attend in support of her sister and brother-in-law, the older brother of the deceased who died too young of hemorrhagic stroke that runs in the family. I probably would have attended myself in other circumstances. But, I have the excuse of still being in recovery from surgery that makes it difficult for me to sit or stand for a long time. Yet, I do not regret not attending. And, I will not put my family or friends through a funeral ritual when my time comes.

My wife’s sister and her husband are Trump voters. The funeral is happening at a Lutheran church of the Missouri synod. I read about the teachings of that conservative version of Lutheranism in a document published by the same church. Those teachings include support for capital punishment that relies mostly on Old Testament passages and only little on New Testament scriptures about the authority of government officials with absolutely no words related to punishment. Furthermore, there is no mention whatsoever of Jesus’ teachings about forgiveness. Unsurprisingly, gay marriage and gender identity are rejected in other teachings. The Missouri synod, again based on their own document, teaches a literal interpretation of the Bible which is described as the consistent and unchanging word of God. There is much more in their teachings that I did not bother to read about. I had read enough. And, I did not tell my wife much about what I specifically read.

My wife was sobbing as she told her mother on the telephone how she feels about attending the funeral. I think she feels like her presence legitimizes bigotry. Being woke about gender identity and sexual orientation, as my wife has been for at least the last 45 years and I have been since shortly after meeting her 35 years ago, is a fairly recent phenomenon for many progressives. But it is a core value for us that is important enough to make today extremely difficult for my wife. Imagine being a black person attending a funeral for a Klan member, or a Jew attending a funeral for a Nazi. I think it’s like that for her.

You see, our daughter identifies as transgender and lesbian. My sister-in-law says our daughter is pretending to be a woman. And, I expect her husband thinks the same way. We don’t communicate much anymore, and when I have reached out I have felt a coldness. The minister presiding over the funeral undoubtedly would not welcome our daughter as she is. And, the deceased who was a church member likely believed the minister’s teachings.

I am reminded of a story an old friend once told me. He and his late partner, a gay activist who died of AIDS, were attending a church service together when the presiding minister said something homophonic during a sermon. Later in the service, the minister asked the congregation if they had any requests for intercessionary prayers. The late partner asked out loud for a prayer that members of the congregation give up their hateful homophobia. Perhaps my wife will have a similar opportunity today. If she does, I hope she takes it.

Today in LGBTQ History May 22, 1930: Harvey Milk, gay rights activist and San Francisco’s first openly gay city Supervisor, was born. Former supervisor Dan White assassinated him and Mayor George Moscone. White only got a couple years in jail using the infamous Twinkie defense leading to the White Night Riots in San Francisco.

Pew study: How Much Discrimination Do Americans Say Groups Face in the US in 2025? | Large majorities of Americans say numerous groups in the United States face at least some discrimination but who how much depends on who you ask.
#discrimination #racism #lgbtq #trans #homophobia #transphobia

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/05/20/how-much-discrimination-do-americans-say-groups-face-in-the-u-s/

Today in Labor History May 21, 1979: The White Night Riot occurred in San Francisco, California, the day before Harvey Milk’s birthday. On November 10, 1978, ex-cop and former city supervisor, Dan White, murdered Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, and the popular progressive mayor, George Moscone. His murder trial concluded on May 21. The jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter. However, the prosecutor had asked for a finding of first-degree murder. It was, after all, premeditated. This verdict was likely influenced by the absurd Twinkie Defense, in which his lawyer argued that it could not have been premeditated due to his diminished capacity and depression, a symptom of which was his recent shift from a healthy diet to a junk food diet. A similar defense had failed repeatedly to get students excused from exams and school detentions.

Needless to say, the public was outraged. However, there had been decades of police harassment and physical abuse of San Francisco’s LGBTQ community lead up to this miscarriage of justice. Tensions were already high. And this ruling, which virtually absolved White of his homophobic crime, was the torch to the powder keg. Things began with a peaceful march through the Castro district. But when the crowd arrived at City Hall, violence began. People attacked the windows of City Hall. When the cops tried to protect the building, people hurled rocks and bottles at them, forcing them to run inside. Where ever the cops showed up, people threw rocks at them. At least a dozen cop cars were torched. They busted windows in the financial district and in government buildings.

Many people were injured. The riot caused hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of property damage to City Hall. And when the riot was finally subdued, the cops made a retaliatory raid on the Elephant Bar, in the Castro District. Cops in riot gear beat patrons. They arrested 24 people.

Furthermore, the double assassination of Moscone and Milk dramatically altered the political landscape of San Francisco. Under Moscone and Milk, the city was moving in a progressive, pro-neighborhood direction. With the new mayor, Diane Feinstein, city politics returned to the traditional, conservative, pro-Chamber of Commerce, law and order framework that had preceded Moscone and Milk, and the followed after them to this day.

Whenever you look at the sort of discourse that goes on in anti-LGBT spaces, it becomes apparent that so much of this anger and fear comes from a place of self-induced hysteria.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/a-case-study-in-homophobic-hysteria-67a12d3213bb

We Queers have noticed......

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/17/britain-europe-lgbtq-rights-uk-rainbow-map-gay-man

Happy International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, 17 May, 2025!

Today in LGBTQ History, May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). This date was chosen to commemorate the 1990 decision to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2009, the WHO added transphobia to the name of the campaign, and organized activities that year to highlight an end. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness of violence, discrimination, and repression of LGBT communities throughout the world.

Today is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia.
#Homophobia #IDAHOBIT #17thmay

Today is the 17th May, also known as the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. And today I'd like to talk about a harmful practice that continues today: heterosexual men using claims of closeted homosexuality to call out homophobes (see attached picture, which got more than 107K positive votes on reddit). (1/5) #idahobit #17thmay #homophobia

Is that Grindr in your pocket...

On 17 May modern-day Priests of #Antinous urge you all to support International Day Against #Homophobia, #Transphobia and #Biphobia. See how here: https://antinousstars.blogspot.com/2025/05/today-is-international-day-against.html #IDAHOT #IDAHOBIT #IDAHOBIT2025 #IDAHOT2025 #IDAHOTB2025 #DayAgainstHomophobia #InternationalDayAgainstHomophobia #DayAgainstHomophobiaAndTransphobia #DayAgainstHomophobiaBiphobiaAndTransphobia