In Cameroon, after six months without a trial, the young imprisoned lesbian couple Yane and Hage were set free through the intervention of Project Not Alone, according to Erasing 76 Crimes. That initiative—backed by readers’ donations and a grant from the Attitude Foundation—feeds and frees innocent victims of anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Cameroon and Nigeria. The couple (identified here by pseudonyms) had lived peacefully in their studio apartment in Ebolowa, Cameroon, until one day in January, when Yane rejected an advance from a lustful neighbor. The couple (who are hoping to eventually open a restaurant) were set free on Aug. 12. To donate to Project Not Alone to help them and other victims of African homophobia, click this link. (The U.S. tax-deductible donation will be made via PayPal and the St. Paul’s Foundation.)
Students in Australia walked out of the Australian Catholic University’s (ACU’s) commencement after the keynote speaker made troubling comments about LGBTQ+ and abortion rights, New Ways Ministry noted. Attendees at that ceremony are calling on the university to apologize, arguing that the political nature of former union boss Joe de Bruyn’s speech was not appropriate for graduation. The ACU National Student Association is also demanding that the university take away de Bruyn’s honorary doctorate due to his “homophobic and offensive remarks.” ACU acknowledged the hurt caused by de Bruyn’s speech, but did not apologize, citing his right to free speech. de Bruyn is former president of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, and he has received an honorary doctorate from ACU.
Scientists have now hinted that “The Two Maidens” who have been found tragically clutching each other in the ruins of Pompeii were probably same-sex lovers, according to WION. The people of Pompeii had died tragically after Mount Vesuvius erupted 2,000 years ago; the bodies hugging each other were given the name “The Two Maidens” because they were trapped in an eternal embrace. In a new DNA analysis, researchers from the Max Planck Institute have found that at least one, if not both of them, was a man. Superintendent of the Pompeii archaeological site Massimo Osanna said, “The fact that they were lovers is a hypothesis that cannot be dismissed.”
In Russia, a 22-year-old woman who owns a gay club that was raided by police in the Siberian city of Chita has been placed under house arrest after being charged with extremism—and now faces up to 10 years behind bars, according to Erasing 76 Crimes, citing media outlet Chita.ru. Far-right Russian blogger Vladislav Pozdnyakov said that police raided the club in Chita where, he claimed, trans people “held orgies.” The nightclub, Jackson, reportedly was a private establishment with a strict door policy that was only open to visitors who had called in advance.
Art-house distributor/streamer Mubi canceled an entire festival it had planned in Turkey after local authorities banned a screening of Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, per NBC News. When the company was told to pull the screening at the last minute by authorities who deemed it to contain “provocative content,” Mubi opted to cancel the festival altogether, saying that the ban targeted the “very essence and purpose” of the event. Queer—releasing in the U.S. with A24—had its global debut in Venice, to positive reviews. After that festival, Mubi acquired the film for multiple territories, including the U.K., Ireland, Canada, Latin America, Germany, Austria, Benelux, Spain, Turkey and India as well as all rights, excluding theatrical, in Italy.
Australia’s ABC News ran a piece on Wicked Women—Australia’s first erotic zine for lesbians and trans folk—and how photos from the 1988-96 zine will be recreated for next year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. “Dykes in the media were portrayed as these man-hating hairy women but when I looked around at my friends, I could see that we were really hot—like we were freaking gorgeous,” said Wicked Women co-founder Tiger Salmon about starting the zine. In the late ‘80s, Salmon and partner Jasper Laybutt had come across a women-run erotica magazine from San Francisco aimed at lesbians called On Our Backs. With nothing like it in Australia, the couple was inspired to create something for their own community.
Out Emmy-winning journalist James Longman has been named the chief international correspondent for ABC News, per a press release. Longman is a crucial part of ABC News’ royal coverage and helped to lead our standout reporting of the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles. Fluent in Arabic and French coupled with knowledge of the Middle East, Longman has also been an asset in covering the war in Syria, where he was among the first journalists to witness the fall of Baghouz, the last ISIS town, and the first to interview American ISIS bride Hoda Mothana.
Veteran gay U.S. filmmaker Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine; Carol; Safe) will lead the competition jury at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival. According to Deadline, Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle described Haynes as a “dazzlingly gifted writer and director” in a statement. Haynes’ last feature was 2023’s Oscar-nominated May December, which stars Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore. Haynes had been set to next direct a gay romance flick starring Joaquin Phoenix; however, the film was shuttered after Phoenix pulled out. The Berlin Film Festival is slated to run Feb. 13–23, 2025.
Belgian DJ/producer Stephen Fasano—known professionally as The Magician—released his debut studio album, Voyage, via his Potion Records imprint, according to a press release. The Magician is celebrating the album with collaborations from Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, Bipolar Sunshine, Boy Matthews “MYSTERY” visualizer, Alioth, Nampa and others. With a solo career spanning 15 years, he has had multiple top-10 hits and original remixes for artists such as Lykke Li, Clean Bandit, Years & Years, Tom Grennan and many more. Last year, Garcon listed The Magician (who has upcoming tour dates in Paris, Amsterdam, London and other spots) as one of the top queer DJs in the world.
The International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) announced its board of directors for 2025-2026, per a press release. New members include Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir (London), Keshav Suri (New Delhi), Sophia Hyder Hock (D.C.) and Danny Guerrero (Los Angeles); Shaibu-Lenoir and Guerrero were IGLTA Foundation Fellowship recipients. Google’s Dougal McKenzie and EveryQueer’s Meg Ten Eyck are chair and vice chair, respectively, of IGLTA’s board executive committee.
Russia recently imposed an outright ban on the 2005 award-winning film Brokeback Mountain by making it impossible to even download pirated versions of the film, according to TVP World. Brokeback—which tells the story of a forbidden love between two cowboys in 1960s rural Wyoming (played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal)—was initially banned from streaming services in 2023, along with other films considered to be “LGBT propaganda.” Now, Russia’s media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, identified three pirate websites that made the film available and blocked the ability to download the film from them as well. Directed by Ang Lee, the movie gained critical recognition; garnered three Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, two BAFTAs and dozens of other awards; and brought in $178 million at the box office against a modest $14-million budget.
The Billie Jean King Cup Finals began in Malaga, Spain in a closer partnership with the Davis Cup and with some added attention given to the victims of the deadly floods that recently devastated eastern Spain, ESPN noted. The International Tennis Federation announced a donation to the Spanish Red Cross to support relief and recovery efforts in the region, and Spanish player Paula Badosa said she would donate half of her prize money to help the victims. Previously known as Fed Cup, the competition—which will end Nov. 20—was rebranded in 2020 to align with former tennis star Billie Jean King.
Korean-Italian-American actor Alex Landi—whose best known role was as Grey’s Anatomy‘s Dr. Nico Kim, the first openly gay male surgeon and the first male Asian surgeon in the show’s history—will return to streaming services with the Korean romantic-comedy series Mr. Plankton, per Instinct Magazine. The series, currently on Netflix, stars Landi as John Na, although the show itself centers on the love story between the world’s unluckiest woman (played by Lee Yoo-mi) and a man born by accident (Woo Do-hwan). After starring on Anatomy, Landi was in shows such as Station 19 and Insatiable, and received plenty of exposure in Doja Cat and SZA’s “Kiss Me More” music video in which he was dressed up as an astronaut and was also shirtless between the two musicians.
The UK media outlet The Guardian has joined a litany of businesses in no longer posting on X (formerly Twitter), per Variety. The Guardian stated that “the benefits of being on the platform formerly called Twitter” have now been “outweighed by the negatives.” The publication cited the “often disturbing content” found on the platform and said the way X handled the recent U.S. presidential election “crystallized” its decision.
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