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Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
Qatari authorities give suspended sentence to British Mexican man arrested in Grindr sting
QATAR
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 Aviña, 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 “Gio,” who also used the screen name “Mike” on both Grindr and Tinder. Guerrero invited “Gio” 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.
“This 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,” James Lynch, co-director of the human rights organization Fair Square, told the BBC. “He’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.”
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 “police are known to be making arrests on the app.”
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
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.
“In 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,” 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.
“It 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,” the post says.
“Backed 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.”
ITALY
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 fiancé wanted to hold the wedding in space.
“I 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: but can I also get married in space?” Monterosso told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“It 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,” 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.
“Couples 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,” Monterosso says. “The 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.”
Monterosso and Sander already have their sights set on more distant shores.
“For our 20th anniversary, we are aiming for Mars,” Monterosso says.
AUSTRALIA
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 “recognizes 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.
“To 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.
“Everyone 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,” 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.
“I rise as the only openly gay member of the Legislative Assembly to contribute to this apology,” Greenwich said in the state parliament. “I am one of only two in this chamber’s 186-year-old history. This in itself shows how much work we need to do.”
Indonesia
Indonesia’s top Muslim clerical body proposes criminalizing LGBTQ people, advocacy
Proposal underscores increased pressure against community
Indonesia’s top Muslim clerical body has proposed replacing the term “LGBT” with “LGSP,” grouping lesbian and gay people with sodomy and sexual abuse, as it prepares a proposed law that would criminalize conduct and advocacy it consideres prohibited.
Asrorun Niam Sholeh, head of the Indonesian Ulema Council’s Fatwa Commission, announced the proposal in Jakarta in late July, saying the council was preparing an academic paper and draft bill to submit to the government and MPs
The council in August also warned men against wearing women’s clothing during Independence Day festivities, despite a long-standing tradition in some Indonesian communities of men dressing in dresses and hijabs to play football as part of the annual celebrations. In a statement issued Aug. 7, the Fatwa Commission said such cross-dressing was “haram,” or forbidden under Islamic law, and linked the practice to what it described as a covert campaign by the “Lesbian, Gay, Sodomy and Obscenity (or LGSP) movement.
Indonesia on Aug. 17 marks its 1945 declaration of independence from the Netherlands with flag ceremonies, neighborhood gatherings, and a lively tradition of community competitions known as “lomba tujuhbelasan.” Children and adults take part in games ranging from sack races and cracker-eating contests to tug-of-war and “panjat pinang” — teams climb a greased pole to reach prizes at the top. Some communities also hold football matches in sarongs or “daster,” a loose-fitting house dress traditionally associated with women, turning the celebrations into an occasion for communal play and laughter.
The pressure extends beyond religious authorities.
In a report published in July, Human Rights Watch said attacks against LGBTQ university students had escalated during June’s Pride Month, while at least 10 public universities had recently adopted discriminatory regulations and curbed student media coverage and social media discussions about gender and sexual diversity. The rights group said the measures undermine freedom of expression and academic freedom.
Reacting to Pride Month celebrations, the Ulema Council called for “sexual deviation” to carry criminal penalties heavier than those for adultery and said it was preparing a draft law to criminalize LGBTQ conduct and campaigning.
President Prabowo Subianto in October 2025 signed Presidential Regulation No. 111 of 2025, which sets Indonesia’s General National Defense Policy for 2025–2029 and classifies the spread of LGBTQ culture as a non-military threat to the state. The provision places it among other perceived threats that include terrorism, radicalism, separatism, and the spread of prohibited ideologies.
The regulation drew public attention in July after Indonesian media reported on the provision, prompting Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid to warn that it could institutionalize discrimination against LGBTQ people.
“Amnesty International Indonesia unequivocally condemns these attacks and intimidation by both state and non-state actors based on perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Amnesty International Indonesia. “We urgently call upon the Indonesian government to repeal this regulation and uphold its constitutional mandates and the international human rights treaties it has ratified.”
Indonesia on Jan. 2 began enforcing a new national criminal code, replacing the Dutch-era penal code that had governed the country for more than eight decades.
MPs had approved the 345-page code in December 2022 after years of debate and public protests over provisions concerning morality, religion, and individual rights. Among its new provisions is Article 411, which makes sexual intercourse outside marriage a criminal offense punishable by up to one year in prison.
Article 412 makes living together as husband and wife outside a legally recognized marriage punishable by up to six months in prison. The offenses can be prosecuted only after a complaint by a spouse, parent or child, but rights groups have warned that the provisions can disproportionately affect same-sex couples, whose relationships are not legally recognized in Indonesia.
Purba Widnyana, chairman of GAYa Nusantara, an Indonesian LGBTQ rights organization, told the Washington Blade that the situation for LGBTQ people in Indonesia has become increasingly worrying.
Widnyana told the Blade that the concern extends beyond increasing violence, pointing to stronger anti-LGBTQ sentiment in public spaces, on social media and within educational institutions, as well as in politics, including Presidential Regulation No. 111 of 2025.
“The impact is not always in the form of physical violence. Many LGBT+ people, especially trans women, that mostly work in entertainment or other informal jobs, beginning to lose job opportunities because they are considered to pose a ‘risk’ to the event organizers,” Widnyana said. “There are also concerns that the rising stigma and fear could deter people from accessing health services, including HIV test and STI, due to the fear that their identity or sexual orientation might be revealed.”
Widnyana said the changing environment has placed an additional burden on LGBTQ organizations; making spaces for gatherings, educational activities, and public information campaigns increasingly sensitive.
“We are constantly in alert mode,” he said, adding that since the previous wave of anti-LGBTQ sentiment in 2016, organizations have developed security and risk-mitigation plans before holding events. Previously, he said, the primary concerns were physical attacks, raids and threats that could force venues to cancel events. Now, organizations also have to account for online attacks, including WhatsApp hijacking and social media account hacking, as well as the possibility of an event or organization being targeted after going viral.
“It’s been limiting our movements,” he said.
Asked about the proposed LGSP framework and its decision to replace the term LGBTQ with a classification combining sexual orientation with sexual conduct, Widnyana said the council was conflating fundamentally different concepts.
“I really don’t know where to begin. They are definitely confused by mixing identities, in this case sexual orientation, with sexual behavior and actions that are understood as violations or offenses, that are sodomy and sexual indecencies,” he said.
Widnyana said the change should not be viewed as merely a change in terminology.
“The change shifts how Indonesians understand or perceive LGBT+ issues, moving from identities, rights and existence to behavior, morality, and criminality,” he told the Blade. “We also see it in the context of narrative that has been for so long evolving that frames LGBT+ as the ‘product of the West’ or ‘Western propaganda’,” he said. “In this framework, LGSP can be interpreted as their effort in rejecting how LGBT+ people define themselves and changing it with a category that is defined by those who oppose the existence of LGBT+ people.”
Widnyana also pointed to Indonesia’s long history of diverse gender identities and expressions, citing traditions such as the “bissu,” “calalai,” “calabai,” and “waria,” as well as artistic traditions in which men perform female characters. He cautioned against imposing modern LGBTQ categories on those traditions, but said gender and sexual diversity are not foreign to Indonesian history.
Widnyana said his main concern was the lack of clarity around terms such as “campaigning,” “promoting,” and “spreading LGBT+ culture,” which he said could be interpreted broadly enough to affect legitimate work in education, health care, human rights, and community services. He cited HIV and sexual health information, legal assistance for victims of violence, discrimination research, training on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics, and academic discussion as examples. Widnyana also questioned whether a gay man publicly saying he is gay and demanding to live safely, or a transgender woman speaking about discrimination she has experienced, could be deemed “campaigning” or “spreading LGBT+ culture.” Such legislation, he warned, could turn existing social stigma into a tool for systematically limiting the lives, expression, services and LGBTQ organizations.
“For me, the situation is becoming more difficult. And I think we need to look beyond just what the law says. Because sometimes, when we talk about Indonesia, people say, ‘Well, being LGBTQ+ is not generally criminalized under the national criminal law,’” said Arisdo, outreach representative of Pelangi Nusantara, an LGBTQ community group in Indonesia advocating for love, equality, and the right to live with dignity. “technically, that’s an important distinction. But that’s not really what people on the ground are experiencing. What we’re seeing is more pressure. More harassment. More public shaming. More people being targeted simply because they are perceived to be LGBTQ+.”
Arisdo told the Blade that transgender women are facing escalating violence, citing Pelangi Nusantara’s documentation of 10 attacks in Bogor between March and July 2026 involving 45 victim-survivors. He said the emergence of “Boti Hunter” groups was particularly alarming, reflecting a shift from anti-LGBTQ rhetoric toward actively targeting people. He added that fear of being outed or attacked prevents many victims from reporting violence, while doxxing and online harassment are increasingly forcing LGBTQ organizations to limit their visibility.
Hungary
New Hungarian government to scrap anti-LGBTQ adoption law
Prime Minister Peter Maygar ousted Viktor Orbán in April
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Maygar has said his government will amend a law that essentially bans same-sex couples from adopting children.
Lawmakers approved the effective adoption ban in 2020, when then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government was in power. Maygar announced plans to amend the law on Saturday when he was speaking to supporters in Budapest, the Hungarian capital.
Orbán and his government faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown that also included laws banning Pride events.
Maygar in April ousted Orbán in Hungary’s elections.
Turkey
Dozens detained after Turkish authorities raid LGBTQ groups, businesses
Raids targeted gay bars, activists’ homes
Authorities in Turkey over the weekend detained dozens of people during raids they carried out against gay bars and LGBTQ activists’ homes across the country.
The BBC reported the raids were part of the government’s “My Family is Safe” campaign.
A statement from a group of Turkish advocacy groups the Washington Blade received on Sunday noted Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said the operation included “162 individuals, nine associations, and 13 businesses across 15 provinces.” Prosecutors in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydın, and Mersin are coordinating the campaign.
Kaos GL, one of the country’s largest advocacy groups, was among the targets.
“The authorities have referred to allegations including ‘obscenity,’ ‘facilitating prostitution or providing premises for prostitution,’ exposure of children to allegedly obscene content, drug-related offenses, and other morality-related offenses,” reads the press release the Blade received. “Information from the field indicates that additional allegations, including forming a criminal organization, may appear in some investigation files.”
“The reported inclusion of the offense of “establishing an organization for the purpose of committing crimes” under Article 220 of the Turkish Criminal Code is particularly alarming and, if confirmed, would mark a significant escalation in the criminalization of LGBTI+ human rights activism,” it added. “While LGBTI+ activists and organizations have recently faced and continue to face investigations and prosecutions on grounds such as ‘obscenity’ and alleged violations of the Law on Associations, the use of an organized-crime allegation represents a qualitatively more serious threshold, both in terms of the gravity of the accusation and the potential penalties involved.”
Turkish authorities under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government over the last decade have cracked down on LGBTQ and intersex activists in the country.
Police in 2015 used tear gas and water cannons against people who were about to participate in an Istanbul Pride march. Authorities in 2017 arrested nearly two dozen people who defied a ban on Pride events in the city.
Police in Ankara, the Turkish capital, in 2019, arrested 18 students and an academic who participated in a Pride march at the Middle East Technical University. They faced up to three years in prison, but a court in 2021 acquitted them. Police in 2022 violently broke up a Pride parade at the same Ankara university.
Turkish authorities in July refused to allow a gay cruise ship — the Scarlet Lady, a Virgin Voyage vessel that Atlantis Events chartered — to dock in Kusadasi, a resort town on the Aegean Sea.
Kusadasi is in Aydın Province, one of the provinces in which authorities conducted the raids. Turkish officials also refused to allow the Scarlet Lady to dock in Istanbul.
A Turkish source on Sunday told the Blade the “My Family is Safe” operation began on the 46th anniversary of a military coup that toppled the country’s government in 1980.
“The fact that this operation began on the night of Sept. 12 — the 46th anniversary of the 1980 coup — is highly significant in terms of the foundations of the prohibitive and repressive mindset directed at the LGBTI+ community,” they said. “Moreover, many LGBTI+ organizations had been subject to official inspections last week.”
“Conducting this operation on a Saturday night shortly thereafter also serves the purpose of heightening fear and anxiety within the community,” added the source.
The source asked the Blade not to reveal their identity.
ILGA-Europe in a statement described the raids as “the systematic dismantling of LGBTI civil society.” Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire is among the European officials who have publicly condemned them.
The Blade will update this story with additional details as they become available.
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