At One Time They Were Pro-LGBTQ+

But now it seems like you can only march in the “official” Pride Parade… and it is not New York City.

Cuba LGBT+ activists arrested at ‘unauthorised’ Pride march
Pink News
By Nick Duffy
12th May 2019

At least three LGBT+ activists in Cuba were detained as police broke up an “unauthorised” Pride march.

Activists went ahead with a planned march against homophobia in Havana on Saturday (May 11), making it several blocks before several participants were arrested.

The government-run LGBT+ group CENESEX, which is fronted by Raúl Castro’s daughter Mariela Castro, had abruptly cancelled plans for the 12th annual official Conga against Homophobia and Transphobia march, blaming “new tensions in the international and regional context.”

The group said the decision was taken “in compliance with the policy of the Party, the State and the Revolution.”

Did Putin probably had a little talk with Raúl Castro about the evils of the LGBTQ+ people?

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And on the other side of the Pacific more oppression…

China's transgender people driven to self-medicate, report says
CNN
By Ben Westcott
May 9, 2019

Hong Kong (CNN)Largely forgotten by China's health system, young transgender men and women are turning to dangerous alternatives such as a black market drugs and even life-threatening self surgery, according to a new report.

The study by human rights group Amnesty International, released Friday, reveals how China's transgender people face both widespread discrimination and daunting obstacles to important gender-affirming treatments.

"Interviewees give examples of them being discriminated against at work, being told by employers not to wear (their) hair long, or not to wear to wrong clothes -- 'You're driving away customers.' At home their family will tell them to suppress their gender identity: 'Be a man or have a child,'" Amnesty International China researcher Doriane Lau told CNN.

Lau said the consequences of the discrimination and isolation can be disastrous. One 30-year-old transgender woman, Huiming, told researchers when she was unable to obtain hormone treatment legally, she began to self-medicate in large doses in a desperate attempt to reconcile her body with her identity.

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Then in Russia more oppression…

Russia: New Anti-Gay Crackdown in Chechnya
Police Detain, Torture Men in Grozny
Human Rights Watch
May 8, 2019

 (Moscow) – Police in Chechnya have carried out a new round of unlawful detentions, beatings, and humiliation of men they presume to be gay or bisexual, Human Rights Watch said today. The new abuses come against a backdrop of absolute impunity for the vicious large-scale anti-gay purge in spring 2017. The Russian authorities should carry out an effective investigation into the anti-gay abuses and hold those responsible to account.

Human Rights Watch interviewed four men who were detained for between three and 20 days, between December 2018 and February 2019, at the Grozny Internal Affairs Department compound. Police officials there kicked them with booted feet, beat them sticks and polypropylene pipes, and tortured three of the four with electric shocks. One was raped with a stick. The men’s accounts are consistent with a crime report filed on January 29 with Russia’s chief investigative agency by the Russian LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) Network, a prominent LGBT rights group, which stated that in December and January, police in Grozny, Chechnya’s capital, rounded up and abused 14 men. The report suggested that the true scope of detentions was broader.

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The attacks continue here in the U.S.

Trump-Pence Admin Allows Medical Providers to Deny Lifesaving Care to LGBTQ People
Human Rights Campaign
By Charlotte Clymer
May 2, 2019

“The Trump-Pence administration’s latest attack threatens LGBTQ people by permitting medical providers to deny critical care based on personal beliefs,” said HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy. “The administration’s decision puts LGBTQ people at greater risk of being denied necessary and appropriate health care solely based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Everyone deserves access to medically necessary care and should never be turned away because of who they are or who they love.”

HHS announced today the issuance of the final rule that will sanction discrimination by healthcare providers who believe their personal beliefs should determine the care a patient receives. The rule could allow virtually any individual or entity involved in a patient’s care — from a hospital’s board of directors to the receptionist that schedules procedures — to put personal beliefs ahead of a patient’s health. This regulation will undoubtedly empower health care providers to deny necessary care to LGBTQ people and women.

This regulation will deter health care organizations and providers from taking necessary action to guarantee that all patients have access to the care they not only deserve but also are legally entitled to. In practice, the broad reach of the rule could allow health care providers to refuse to provide not only abortion and sterilization procedures, but also to deny treatment or preventative care for AIDS or HIV, hormone therapy treatment and transition related care and in-vitro fertilization for lesbians, single women or interfaith couples. The rule is especially dangerous for those already facing barriers to care, particularly LGBTQ patients, patients of color and those who are struggling to make ends meet.

At one time the communist countries bragged about being inclusive countries but now in the Putin era they are becoming anti-LGBTQ+ just like the U.S. under Trump.

We are becoming the new scapegoats for the world’s ills.