Welcome to another Monday! The sun is shining, summer’s about to begin and there’s never a shortage of queer news here at Xtra. We’ve rounded up the top five biggest queer stories right now, so sit back with a coffee and read on to keep up to date with what’s happening in LGBTQ2S+ news.
1. Uganda’s president signed one of the world’s harshest anti-queer laws, including the death penalty for those found engaging in “aggravated homosexuality”
2. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was re-elected this weekend, doubled down on his attacks on the LGBTQ+ community in his acceptance speech
3. LGBT Youth Scotland has deleted its Twitter in protest of Elon Musk’s dangerous attitudes towards the queer community
4. Inside Out, Toronto’s queer film festival, is back for its 33rd year
5. The recently launched NL Queer Research Initiative archives queer history in Newfoundland and Labrador—the first of its kind in the province
1. Uganda’s president has signed one of the world’s harshest anti-gay laws, including the death penalty for those found engaging in “aggravated homosexuality”
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has signed the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law, which imposes the death penalty as well as 20-year jail sentences for those found to be “promoting homosexuality.”
The law, which is one of the harshest in the world, is “state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia” Ugandan rights activist Clare Byarugaba told CBC News.
A joint statement from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released a joint statement today highlighting how the oppressive law will further jeopardize the fight against AIDS in Uganda.
“Uganda’s progress on its HIV response is now in grave jeopardy,” the statement said, emphasizing how the law will “obstruct health education and the outreach that can help end AIDS as a public health threat.”
2. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was re-elected this weekend, doubled down on his attacks on the LGBTQ+ community in his acceptance speech
Turkish president Erdoğan will continue his term until 2028, having secured a victory in the country’s leadership election. The politician, who has been in power since 2014, is notorious for his anti-LGBTQ+ views, which he reiterated when he targeted the queer community during his acceptance speech.
“In our culture, family is sacred,” Erdoğan said, referencing the traditional values that he claims are at odds with being queer. “No one can interfere. We will strangle anyone who dares touch it.”
Global leaders including Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau and Rishi Sunak congratulated Erdoğan after his victory.
3. LGBT Youth Scotland has deleted its Twitter account in protest of Elon Musk’s dangerous attitudes toward the queer community
A charity supporting young queer people has removed its Twitter account, after criticizing the “increase in extreme views” since Elon Musk acquired the platform last year.
Dr. Mhairi Crawford, chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, told Aberdeen Live she felt there was “no other option” but to delete the organization’s account following safety concerns on the app.
“Our following on Twitter was the largest across all of our platforms, but we have noticed a troubling increase in extreme views and targeted attacks toward members of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as our own charity directly,” Crawford said. “We want to create safe spaces for young people to feel hopeful about the world around them and their own futures and, ultimately, Twitter does not make this possible.”
“We hope our move will give other organizations confidence to leave platforms where negativity is so prevalent.”
A survey from Amnesty International, GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign found that 60 percent of respondents reported an increase in abusive and hateful speech on the app since Musk’s takeover, with 40 percent reporting the same level of abuse as before. No respondents reported a decrease in abusive and hateful speech.
4. Inside Out, Toronto’s queer film festival, is back for its 33rd year
The Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival is currently showcasing over 107 films from 30 countries, as part of the festival’s 33rd iteration. The festival will run until June 4, with screenings taking place in-person and online.
Films on show include trans indie flick 20,000 Species of Bees, a Spanish narrative about an eight-year-old trans child exploring her name and identity with the women of her family, and This Place, following the story of a queer Indigenous woman navigating her family history.
On June 3, the festival will host its annual Pitch, Please! pitch competition, inviting five filmmakers with short films in the festival to present a two-minute pitch to a jury and the audience. Winners take home $5,000, with international juries separately announcing individual awards for the festival.
5. The recently launched NL Queer Research Initiative archives queer history in Newfoundland and Labrador—the first of its kind in the province
Newfoundland and Labrador is now home to an immense collection of rare archives, which build a picture of the province’s vibrant LGBTQ2S+ history. The NL Queer Research Initiative was first thought up by Sarah Worthman, who realized during a project about queer history in the First World War that her province was the only one in Canada without a queer history archive.
“My dream of this organization is for kids in the province to grow up and know that their community is a part of our history,” explained Worthman to CBC News.
Worthman and her team are also working on other projects, including the Inuit Queer History Project, which aims to “investigate the precolonial and ongoing history of queerness in Labradorimiut culture.”
The archive is available to search online, and is continually expanding with ongoing voluntary donations of records and photographs.
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