A man is facing death for protecting his lesbian mother and sister in Pakistan. Musa, a name we’ve given him to protect his identity, helped support his family from a cruel and vengeful father. The 24-year-old’s mother, Sadia (also a changed name), fled to the UK and was given full refugee status in three weeks. Sadia’s ex-husband planned for their 15-year-old daughter to be forcibly married as revenge for his wife leaving. But Musa fought back. He defied his father and helped his sister esc

A bisexual man was tortured after trying to get evidence of the anti-LGBTI purge in Chechnya. Elbrus, a 32-year-old from Russia, fled after being kidnapped, tortured, threatened and blackmailed. He is one of the survivors of the ongoing persecution of LGBTI people in Chechnya. LGBTI people are being rounded up, detained, tortured and executed in Chechnya. The ‘gay purge’ has been happening periodically since the end of 2016. Chechen authorities have targeted human rights defenders, their cri

A gay teen says his family cut off his earlobe to ‘mark’ him as an abomination. Modou, a 19-year-old from The Gambia, is seeking asylum in the Netherlands on the basis of his sexual orientation. Homosexuality is punished with life imprisonment in The Gambia. Former President Yahya Jammeh threatened to ‘cut the heads’ off any LGBTI person. Gay teen forced to come out to his family ‘I was so afraid to tell my family about my sexuality,’ Modou said to Gay Star News. At 15, he was discovered in

Brandon, 18, received a diploma from West Kent college in Tonbridge, a town south-east of London. He was receiving a level three distinction in acting at the college. The crowd was also mostly theatre students, and Brandon saw a lot of people acting ‘extra’ – like bowing or waving. ‘I just said to my friends, “how iconic would it be if I did a death drop?”,’ he tells Gay Star News. ‘All my friends were into it. So when I got up there, and all friends were cheering, I just thought let’s do it

PETA has called out a gay porn studio for using an alligator in a sex scene. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has issue with a scene from Men.com. Starring Diego Sans and Kaleb Stryker, the scene filmed on location in the Florida Everglades. Director Marc MacNamara also said filming was at an alligator pit. The actors also apparently got very ‘close’ and ‘personal’ with the animal actor. The film, shot in May, premiered this week. PETA calls out film studio for using alligato

Joseph Nicolosi penned a book that spread the dangerous and harmful practice of attempting to ‘cure’ a person’s sexual or gender identity. He was the co-founder of the National Association of Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) and a prominent leader in the ex-gay movement. His book, A Parent’s Guide To Preventing Homosexuality, is one of the most well known ‘conversion therapy’ books. But now, it has been removed from the UK and US versions of Amazon. Rojo Alan, from Peterborough, w

A gay boxer proposed to his boyfriend in the ring after winning a competitive match for the first time. Anthony Ash, 32 from Cardiff in Wales, proposed to his partner Yanko after 11 years. And, of course, he said yes! Boxer proposes to boyfriend in the ring Anthony subscribed to a white collar boxing class with Elite Fitness after turning 30. His first big match came at a gala event on Saturday (15 June) after months of training. Beating his opponent, he took the microphone from the refe

Pope Francis is facing off against a conservative backlash on LGBTI rights inside the Vatican. But insiders say he could be forced to make sacrifices in exchange for progress on basic gay rights issues. And it could be trans people that face the worst of it. Pope Francis’ struggle to make LGBTI change in the Catholic Church Gay Star News exclusively revealed in March the Vatican was planning to make its biggest LGBTI rights statement in history. But, at that stage, it was unknown how far Fr