Connect with us

World

Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia

Qatari authorities give suspended sentence to British Mexican man arrested in Grindr sting

Published

on

(Los Angeles Blade graphic)

QATAR

Manuel Guerrero AviƱa (Photos courtesy of #QatarMustFreeManuel/X)

A British Mexican man who was arrested in a Grindr sting operation has been given a six-month suspended sentence and will be deported — although the state has 30 days to launch an appeal, during which he is not allowed to leave — the BBC reports.

Manuel Guerrero AviƱa, 44, was arrested on what his family are calling trumped up drug charges in Doha in February, after being lured to a fake meeting on the gay cruising app Grindr. This week, he was handed his sentence, which includes a fine of approximately $2,700.

Guerrero, who has lived in Qatar for seven years and works for an airline, has told the BBC he is considering an appeal. 

His family has previously told the BBC that he was approached online by a man named ā€œGio,ā€ who also used the screen name ā€œMikeā€ on both Grindr and Tinder. Guerrero invited ā€œGioā€ to his apartment, but when he went to the lobby to let him in, police were waiting and arrested him. 

Police searched his apartment and allegedly found amphetamine and methamphetamine. They later administered a drug test which they say show evidence he had used the substances. 

Guerrero says the drugs were planted as part of a sting operation targeting queer people. Under threat of torture and without a translator or lawyer, he was coerced into signing a document written in Arabic, a language he doesn’t read, admitting his possession of the drugs.

He spent 42 days in pretrial detention before being given provisional release, during which time police attempted to coerce him into naming other queer people. 

Complicating his situation is the fact that he lives with HIV. While in detention, guards frequently withheld his medication, which could have enabled the virus to build up a resistance to it. He ran out of his prescription, which is not available in Qatar, in April, and has had to use a local substitute.  

Several human rights groups have criticized the lack of due process in Guerrero’s case, the evidence that he was targeted for his sexual identity, and the implication that a wider crackdown on queer people is in the works. 

ā€œThis has been about his LGBT status from the start and his desire to express that status and his identity, and that’s what this case is about,ā€ James Lynch, co-director of the human rights organization Fair Square, told the BBC. ā€œHe’s an LGBT person and he was targeted through a dating app. You don’t do that, unless that’s the thing you are focused on.ā€

Qatari officials deny that Guerrero was targeted for any reason other than the possession of illegal substances.

Following Guerrero’s arrest, Grindr began displaying a warning to users in Qatar that ā€œpolice are known to be making arrests on the app.ā€

Same-sex intercourse between men is illegal in Qatar, with potential sentences of up to three years. The law also allows a death sentence to be imposed for unmarried Muslims who have sex regardless of gender, though there are no records it has ever been carried out.

UKRAINE

(Photo courtesy of Kyiv Pride 2024)

The Kyiv City Council denied a organizers of Kyiv Pride a permit to hold the annual human rights demonstration on the city’s metro system, citing security concerns and the need to maintain service on the subway network, the Kyiv Post reports.

Kyiv Pride organizers say they still plan to go ahead with their march in the metro on June 16 even without a city permit. 

Kyiv has not held a Pride festival since the latest Russian invasion began in February 2022. The organizers of Kyiv Pride say they were inspired to hold their march on the metro system by a similar event held in the war-torn eastern city Kharkiv in 2022, where the metro was the safest place to gather during Russian bombardment.

It’s partly because the metro is used as a bomb shelter during Russian attacks that the city denied a permit for the event. The city released a statement on June 3 calling on organizers to find another venue.

ā€œIn order not to endanger the participants and passengers, and to avoid possible provocations, the city authorities cannot allow the Equality March to take place in the metro,ā€ it said.

Organizers expect up to 500 people to take part in the Pride march this year. They’re asking participants to register in advance in order to limit the number of participants who show up at metro.

In a lengthy post on Kyiv Pride’s Facebook page, the organizers underscore the importance of holding a highly visible Pride festival, even during the upheaval of wartime. 

ā€œIt is our obligation before Ukrainian queer soldiers who are also supporting the March to ensure that they return from the frontlines to a more just legal environment,ā€ the post says.

ā€œBacked by society, the historic same-sex partnerships law and the law on hate crimes dropped from the parliament’s priority list. We must seize the opportunity to remind the government that ensuring dignity and equality for all Ukrainian citizens is not a second-tier priority. Organizing an LGBTQ+ civil rights march in Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian [sic] invasion is a complex and courageous endeavor.ā€

ITALY 

Alessandro Monterosso and Alec Sander (Photo courtesy of Monterosso’s Facebook page)

An Italian couple is planning to challenge social conventions even as they challenge the bonds of the earth itself, by becoming the first gay couple to get married in outer space.

Alessandro Monterosso, a 33-year-old health software entrepreneur, and Alec Sander, a 25-year-old recording artist, will exchange vows in 2025 aboard a private spaceflight offered by the U.S. company Space Perspective. 

Space Perspective is not yet in commercial operation, but its website says it will offer bespoke experiences aboard a luxury capsule that is lifted to the edge of space by a hydrogen-filled balloon at a speed of 12 miles per hour.

Monterosso and Sander have booked a whole capsule for them and six guests at a cost of $125,000 per person, an even $1,000,000 total. They say they are not seeking sponsors.

Monterosso and Sander first met in Padua in 2017, and they dated for four years until Sander broke it off because it was difficult to date while Monterosso was still in the closet. A year later, they met up again and Monterosso asked Sander to marry him. Sander agreed, but he didn’t immediately know that his fiancĆ© wanted to hold the wedding in space.

ā€œI was planning the trip as a civilian, to fulfill my childhood desire to become an astronaut. When I came into contact with the aerospace agency we relied on, it came naturally to me to ask:Ā but can I also get married in space?ā€ Monterosso told theĀ Corriere della Sera newspaper.

ā€œIt seemed like such a romantic idea. I had struggled so much to accept myself as homosexual, not because I wasn’t sure, but because of the social context, and I told myself that now I would have to tell the whole world how I felt. Firstly because I know that there are many people who experience what I experienced, and then to confirm the infinite love I feel for Alec,ā€ he says. 

But Monterosso and Sander have a political message behind their space wedding as well. Same-sex marriage is not legal in Italy, and its current far-right government has cracked down hard on same-sex parents.

ā€œCouples like us are not always well regarded in Italy. In other places in the world, they are even illegal. In Russia we are considered terrorists. Well, we just want to say that it’s time to normalize everything and amplify this message as much as possible. And if it is therefore so difficult to get married on Earth, then we are going to do it in space, with a galactic wedding whose aim is precisely to normalize these loves,ā€ Monterosso says. ā€œThe message is aimed at people, because even today we still feel eyes on us if we hold hands while walking down the street. But if people normalize, politics must adapt.ā€

Monterosso and Sander already have their sights set on more distant shores.

ā€œFor our 20th anniversary, we are aiming for Mars,ā€ Monterosso says. 

AUSTRALIA

Sydney Mardi Gras 2024 (Photo courtesy of the New South Wales government)

The government of New South Wales issued a historic apology this week to queer people who were persecuted under old laws that criminalized same-sex intercourse.

New South Wales decriminalized same-sex intimacy in 1984, one of the last Australian states to do so. Forty years later, it has become the last state to issue an apology for criminalizing queer people, after all other states did so in 2016 and 2017.

Delivering a speech in the state parliament, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said he ā€œrecognizes and regrets this parliament’s role in enacting laws and endorsing policies of successive governments’ decisions that criminalized, persecuted and harmed people based on their sexuality and gender.

Minns’s apology acknowledged people were harmed by these laws even if they weren’t directly charged or convicted under them.

ā€œTo those who survived these terrible years, and to those who never made it through, we are truly sorry. We’re sorry for every person convicted under legislation that should never have existed. For every person that experienced fear as a result of that legislation.

ā€œEveryone who lost a job, who lost their future, or who lost the love of family and friends. We are very sorry for every person, convicted or otherwise, who were made to live a smaller life because of these laws,ā€ he said.

People who had been convicted under New South Wales’s old sodomy laws have been eligible to have the convictions expunged since a law change in 2014.

Minns’ government recently passed a ban on conversion therapy in March, making New South Wales the fourth jurisdiction in Australia to do so.

The state’s only openly gay MP, Independent Alex Greenwich, says that the apology has to be followed by more action to promote equality.

He’s put forward his own bill that would close a loophole in anti-discrimination law to ban discrimination by religious schools against LGBTQ students and teachers, and would allow trans people to change their legal gender without having to undergo a medical procedure.

ā€œI rise as the only openly gay member of the Legislative Assembly to contribute to this apology,ā€ Greenwich said in the state parliament. ā€œI am one of only two in this chamber’s 186-year-old history. This in itself shows how much work we need to do.ā€

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

Celebrity News

My evening with Madonna

Gay icon headlined the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam

Published

on

From left: Madonna, Stuart Price, and Kylie Minogue perform at the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam on Aug. 2, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Cejlon Studio)

Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key will be on assignment in the Netherlands through Aug. 10. They will be covering World Pride in Amsterdam.

AMSTERDAM — Madonna and 6,000 of her closest friends celebrated World Pride at Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall early Sunday morning. I was fortunate enough to be one of them.

Madonna last Wednesday nearly broke the internet when she said on social media in Dutch that ā€œI got somethin’ I wanna talk about,ā€ referring to an opening line in ā€œDanceteria,ā€ one of the tracks on her ā€œConfessions IIā€ album that has received rave reviews since its July 2 release. The track has been on near constant replay on my playlist since I first heard it.

MISTR — a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term care that has organized Madonna’s Club Confessions shows in the U.S. and the U.K. — later confirmed the rampant speculation. I woke up on July 30 to an email in my inbox from MISTR and the World Pride Music Festival PR team that said I was on the press list.

Madonna was indeed going to headline the World Pride Music Festival that Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced, and I was going to be there. OMFG!!!!

The gay icon had one more surprise in store.

The Dutch internet on Saturday once again broke over speculation that Kylie Minogue was going to appear alongside Madonna. I was getting ready to leave our hotel in Amsterdam on Saturday night when I saw a video of the two of them together.

ā€œMadonna is now teasing Kylie Minogue on her social media … she may be one of her ā€˜special guests’ tonight,ā€ I wrote in a text to Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff at 8:46 p.m.

ā€œHave fun! This is turning into the gayest concert ever,ā€ he responded.

I arrived at AFAS Live shortly before 11 p.m. My press contact walked me and two other Dutch journalists into the venue’s cavernous main room known as the Black Box. We made small talk for a few minutes before I started to walk around and listen to Josh Harrison who was on the decks.

Madonna was scheduled to take the stage at 1:30 a.m., but she is known for being late — she is Madonna and she does what she wants. Hayla, a British singer, and Bebe Rexha are among those who performed ahead of Madonna. Thousands of sweaty men — including a group of Australians next to me who were eagerly awaiting Kylie’s anticipated appearance — packed the Black Box and were dancing, anticipating what was to come.

International News Editor Michael K. Lavers awaits Madonna at AFAS Live in Amsterdam on Aug. 2, 2026. (Courtesy photo)

MISTR CEO Tristan Schukraft at one point came on stage and declared Madonna was indeed in the building. The moment for which we were all eagerly waiting finally came shortly before 2:30 a.m.

ā€œMother is here and this is gay heaven,ā€ said Madonna when she took the stage.

Stuart Price, who produced her ā€œConfessions on a Dance Floorā€ album in 2005, manned the decks during Madonna’s set.

She opened it with ā€œI Feel So Freeā€ from ā€œConfessions II.ā€ Madonna then sang ā€œBring Your Loveā€ and ā€œDanceteriaā€ to which this reporter — and everyone else — sang along.

Madonna then teased a surprise before she began to perform ā€œLove Sensation.ā€ Kylie soon appeared on stage. It was nearly too much for my fellow partygoers from Australia. It was indeed the gayest concert ever!

Madonna and Kylie performed ā€œLove Sensationā€ together. They then sang ā€œHung Upā€ and ā€œSorryā€ from ā€œConfessions on a Dance Floorā€ to round out the set that ended shortly after 3 a.m.

Madonna and I share the same birthday — Aug. 16 — and I would like to think she and Kylie gave me an early birthday present. In all seriousness though, it was an amazing night for me and for everyone else who was fortunate enough to be there.

ā€œOn the dance floor I feel so free,ā€ says Madonna in the opening of ā€œI Feel So Free.ā€

For those few precious hours at AFAS Live I did not think about the Trump-Vance administration and the myriad ways it is destroying the U.S. I did not think about the National Guard troops deployed to D.C. I did not think about the pointless wars that continue to ravage Ukraine and other countries around the world. I simply lost myself on the dance floor and celebrated an icon who has always stood with my community.

Thank you, Madonna.

Continue Reading

Netherlands

Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade draws hundreds of thousands

Gay Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten among participants

Published

on

A scene from the 2026 Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key are on assignment in the Netherlands through Aug. 10.

AMSTERDAM — Hundreds of thousands of people lined Amsterdam’s canals on Saturday for the city’s annual Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade.

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, who is openly gay, is among those who participated in the parade that featured more than 80 boats. Participants held signs and posters that, among other things, read “proud to be intersex” and “lesbians love you and a free Palestine.”

The Washington Blade saw at least two attendees holding fans that read “fuck Trump.” One of the boats also compared President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “the kissing couple.”

(Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)

(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)

The parade took place a week after a terrorist attack at Berlin’s Christopher Street Day left one person dead and more than two dozen others injured.

It passed the Homomonument, a memorial to gays and lesbians who have suffered persecution. The Homomonument has been transformed into a makeshift memorial to the victims of the July 25 terrorist attack in the German capital.

View on Threads

The Canal Parade took place during World Pride, which will end in Amsterdam on Aug. 9.

Continue Reading

European Union

Poland’s top court rejects recognition of same-sex marriages from other EU countries

Ruling sets up potential clash with bloc

Published

on

(Bigstock photo)

Poland’s top court this week rejected the recognition of same-sex marriages legally performed in other EU countries.

The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg last November ruled in favor of a same-sex couple who challenged Poland’s refusal to recognize their German marriage. Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court in March reaffirmed the decision.

The couple, who lives in Poland, brought their case to Polish courts in 2019. The Supreme Administrative Court referred it to the EU Court of Justice.

The Polish government in May announced it will recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other EU countries. Polish President Karol Nawrocki on July 17 vetoed bills that would have extended rights to same-sex couples.

The Constitutional Tribunal ruling, which it issued on July 28, was unanimous and final. It also sets up a potential clash between it and the EU Court of Justice.

Continue Reading

Popular