Laverne Cox on Cosmopolitan

5 LGBT things you need to know today, Jan. 23

1. The 2018 Oscar nominations were announced this morning. Among the LGBT notables were "Call Me by Your Name," which got nods for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Actor for lead Timothée Chalamet...
Simon Williamson, columnist with Georgia Voice

Simon Williamson: I find it hard to be forgiving

My cousin, about 15 years older than me, who grew up under the real throngs of apartheid South Africa, the rails of which were lubricated by ideology similar to what you know of the American South, was really s...

5 LGBT things you need to know today, Feb. 10

1. A new proposed bill in Texas would let therapists who practice conversion therapy keep their licenses, even if conversion therapy is banned. 2. Doctors say a man in Canada contracted a Truvada-resistant s...

5 LGBT things you need to know today, Jan. 23

1. The baker of Donald Trump's inauguration cake got a lot of flak over the weekend for replicating Duff Goldman's 2013 cake for the Obamas. But she's also not taking any profit: all proceeds the Trump team pai...
Simon Williamson, columnist with Georgia Voice

Simon Williamson: Being polite in shitty company

South Africa, whence I hail, and whence I write this, is a fairly bizarre place. It largely parallels the American South in many key ways, but the repair job is much newer, the anger more raw, and the wounds le...

Simon Williamson: Our work for equality is never done

In my native South Africa, the rights of gay people are, as written in law, sacrosanct. When the folks who ran apartheid cried "uncle," and our political leaders went into negotiations over a new constitution, ...
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Petition seeks to end ‘corrective rape’ against lesbians

Avaaz, a global web human rights advocacy organization, issued a call today for its users to sign a petition asking South Africa President Jacob Zuma and Jeffrey Radebe, minister of the country’s Department of Health, to address “corrective rape,” the practice of sexually assaulting lesbians to “cure” their sexuality.

Avaaz’s petition reads:

We call on you to publicly condemn 'corrective rape', criminalise hate crimes, and ensure immediate enforcement, public education and protection to victims. This terrible practice can only be stopped with leadership from your office and throughout government.