News
White House ‘not aware’ if Trump briefed on Chechnya anti-gay abuses
President remains silent as other world leaders speak out

White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she’s not aware if President Trump has been briefed on anti-gay violence in Chechnya. (Screenshot via CSPAN)
The White House said Wednesday it was unaware of whether President Trump brought up the issue of anti-gay abuses in Chechnya with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting Wednesday. In fact, it’s not clear that Trump has been briefed on the abuses at all.
Under questioning from the Washington Blade, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders couldn’t speak to whether anti-gay abuses in Chechnya came up in the meeting when asked about the omission of the issue from the White House readout.
“I mean a lot of times there are parts of the conversation that aren’t specifically included in a readout, but I’m not aware,” Sanders said. “I have not had that conversation. So I do not know, I was not part of that meeting. So I cannot speak to every detail and I would have to refer you to the readout on the specifics of what I know was discussed.”
Asked whether Trump has been briefed on the issue generally, Sanders replied, “That is something I would have to get back to you on. I am not 100 percent sure.”
UPDATE: Michael Anton, a White House National Security Council spokesperson, said via email to the Washington Blade the issue of anti-gay abuses in Chechnya “did not come up in the meetings” with Lavrov.
Concern persists over reports from Chechnya that local authorities have arrested more than 100 gay men and sent them to secret prisons for torture. At least four men have reportedly died as a result. On Tuesday, the Human Rights Campaign held a demonstration outside the D.C. residence of Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak over the reported abuses.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley has spoken out against the atrocities, but President Trump himself and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have said nothing. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May has spoken out and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she raised the issue during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The readout of the meeting Trump held at the White House indicates Trump raised the issue of Syria, Ukraine, cooperation in resolving conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere and a general “desire to build a better relationship between the United States and Russia.” But the readout says nothing about Trump bringing up the issue of anti-gay abuses in Chechnya.
Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of GLAAD, lambasted the White House in a statement for not being able to disclose if Trump was even aware of widespread reports of the anti-gay violence.
“It is shocking that the White House can’t even confirm if President Trump is ‘aware’ of the anti-LGBTQ violence in Chechnya. It seems President Trump is only aware of news that includes his own name,” Ellis said. “If President Trump doesn’t join Ambassador Haley and other world leaders in condemning this humanitarian crisis, it is only further evidence that his administration is working to force LGBTQ people around the globe back into the closet.”
Trump held the meeting with Lavrov the day after he terminated former FBI Director James Comey, who was investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election and potential collusion between Trump and Russia in the effort.
The Blade has placed a request with the Russian embassy in the United States seeking comment on whether the issue of reported anti-gay violence in Chechnya came up during the meeting.
Hungary
Hungarian authorities lift Budapest Pride ban
Country’s new government took office last month
Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the annual Budapest Pride march to take place.
“The Budapest Metropolitan Police has approved the 2026 Budapest Pride Parade and also has issued restrictive orders in relation to three counter-demonstrations,” a Budapest Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Politico.
Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.
Hungarian lawmakers last year passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify participants. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in last year’s Budapest Pride parade. The event became one of the largest protests against then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government since he took office in 2010.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12. The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021.
The EU on May 29 announced it will release more than €16 billion ($18.59 billion) in funds to Hungary that it withheld while Orbán was in office.
The Budapest Pride march will take place on June 27.
“We will march freely in fresh air for our rights, for the democratic Hungary,” said Budapest Pride on its Facebook page.
Colombia
Claudia López comes up short in Colombian presidential election
Former Bogotá mayor would have been country’s first lesbian head of government
Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López on Sunday finished fifth in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election.
López, a centrist who ran as an independent, received 225,517 votes. This figure is .95 percent of the total votes cast.
López was the Colombian capital’s mayor from 2020-2023. She was a member of the Colombian Senate from 2014-2018. López, whose wife is outgoing Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano, would have become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she would have won the election.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute honored López in D.C. in 2024.
“We need to listen to each other again, we need to have a coffee with each other again, we need to touch each other’s skin,” she told the Washington Blade during an interview. She hadn’t yet declared her candidacy, and did not specifically discuss her plans to run.
Runoff to take place June 21
Abrelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer who has praised U.S. President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, on Sunday finished first with 43.74 percent of the vote. Senator Iván Cepeda, a member of outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s Historic Pact party, came in second with 40.9 percent of the vote.
Neither men received a majority of votes. A runoff between them will take place on June 21.
Ghana
Ghanaian lawmakers approve anti-LGBTQ bill
Measure that would criminalize allyship awaits president’s signature
Ghanaian lawmakers on Friday approved a bill that would, among other things, criminalize LGBTQ allyship.
Reuters reported MPs approved the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, in a voice vote after parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee backed it.
MPs in 2024 approved a similar bill, but it faced legal challenges and then-President Nana Akufo-Addo didn’t sign it. Lawmakers last year reintroduced the measure after President John Dramani Mahama took office.
The bill awaits his signature.
Rightify Ghana, a Ghanaian LGBTQ advocacy group, in a series of social media posts notes MPs passed the bill days before the 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty will take place in Accra, the country’s capital.
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