Lgbtq

Suspect in deadly Berlin Pride attack killed in confrontation with police

The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride attack that left one person dead and 29 injured was shot and killed by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city, authorities said. Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed following a search that lasted nearly 24 hours after the attack in downtown Berlin. Prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group. Ballout was suspected of driving a van into a crowd near Berlin's Pride festival Saturday night before apparently stabbing others with a machete in what authorities believe was an Islamic extremist terror attack. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the attack occurred a few hundred meters (yards) from a party near the Brandenburg Gate that was supposed to close out the city's Pride festival. Ballout was tracked down around 6 pm Sunday at a garden in Spandau, a Berlin suburb, the city's police department wrote on X. They said he apparently ran toward officers

1 dead, 16 hurt after van rams Berlin Pride event, police identify suspect

A van slammed into people gathered for Berlin's famed LGBTQ+ event on Saturday night, killing one person, injuring at least 16 others and prompting police to call off the celebrations and a concert in the German capital hours after they had begun. Berlin police said they have identified a suspect who has not been arrested and he has ties to Islamic extremists in the German capital. "The suspect is known to police. He is known to us as a member of Islamic circles here in Berlin, and our search for this person is proceeding at full speed," said police spokesman Florian Nath. He did not identify the suspect by name. Earlier, police said some of the victims had life-threatening injuries. In a post on X, police called on everyone to leave the site of the event immediately as ambulances and firefighters attended to the victims. "We are conducting an intensive search for possible suspects," police officer Florian Nath said on a short video released on the Berlin police account on X. Whit

Queer India Now: The ordinary lives of queer Indians take centre stage

The queer community has been criminalised for a long time, its rights debated and discussed in courtrooms, laced with social prejudice

Policy vs reality: Hurdles to transgender welfare schemes raise concerns

As the Transgender Amendment Bill gets the President's nod amid concerns, a picture from the ground

King Charles III dedicates Britain's 1st national memorial to LGBTQ+ troops

King Charles III on Monday dedicated Britain's first national memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops, 25 years after the UK ended a ban on homosexuality in the armed forces. The king, who is the ceremonial head of the armed forces, laid flowers at the monument in the National Memorial Arboretum in central England at a service attended by scores of serving troops and veterans. The sculpture takes the form of a crumpled bronze letter bearing words from personnel who were affected by the ban. Between 1967 and 2000, soldiers, sailors and air force personnel who were or were thought to be gay or transgender were labelled unfit to serve and dismissed or discharged from the forces. Some were stripped of medals or lost their pension rights, and many struggled with the stigma for decades. The government lifted the ban after a 1999 ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. In 2023 then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak formally apologised for what he called an appalling .

How HR can Shape the Future of Business

HR is now a strategic voice shaping people, culture, and business. In this episode, Urvi Aradhya, CHRO at K Raheja Corp, shares insights on comebacks, leadership, diversity, and the future of HR.

Over 20 states sue Trump admin over frozen funding for school programmes

More than 20 states have sued President Donald Trump's administration over billions of dollars in frozen funding for after-school and summer programmes and more other programmes. Aiden Cazares is one of 1.4 million children and teenagers around the country who have been attending after-school and summer programming at a Boys & Girls Club, the YMCA or a public school for free thanks to federal taxpayers. Congress set aside money for the programmes to provide academic support, enrichment and child care to mostly low-income families, but President Donald Trump's administration recently froze the funding. The money for the 21st Century Community Learning Centres is among more than USD 6 billion in federal education grants Trump's Republican administration has withheld, saying it wants to ensure recipients' programs align with the president's priorities. After-school programmes for the fall are in jeopardy In Rhode Island, the state stepped in with funding to keep the summer programs .

NYC, San Francisco, others wrap Pride Month with mix of parties, protests

The monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride reaches its rainbow-laden crescendo as New York and other major cities around the world host major parades and marches on Sunday. The festivities in Manhattan, home to the nation's oldest and largest Pride celebration, kick off with a march down Fifth Avenue featuring more than 700 participating groups and expected huge crowds. Marchers will wind past the Stonewall Inn, a Greenwich Village gay bar where a 1969 police raid triggered protests and fired up the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The site is now a national monument. In San Francisco, marchers in another of the world's largest Pride events will head down the city's central Market Street, reaching concert stages set up at the Civic Center Plaza. San Francisco's mammoth City Hall is also among the venues hosting a post-march party. Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and Toronto, Canada are among the other major North American cities hosting Pride parades on Sunday. Several global cities including

Trump's attack on DEI hits UK as corporate sponsors abandon LGBTQ pride

Companies doing business in the US have rushed to appear politically neutral after President Donald Trump signed executive orders demanding the end of what he calls 'illegal DEI'

White House says America needs more electricians, not 'LGBTQ Harvard grads'

White House escalates criticism of Harvard, says federal funds should support trade schools producing electricians and plumbers, not LGBTQ graduate majors from elite institutions

SC questions bar on LGBT+ persons from blood donation, seeks expert opinion

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to seek expert opinion for removing the bias in the medical guidelines that bar transpersons, gay men and sex workers from donating blood. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh was acting on a batch of pleas against the blanket ban on blood donations by such persons from the LGBTQIA+ community. Aren't we creating a kind of segregated group? By these methods, stigma, biases and prejudices are all enhanced," the bench told Centre's lawyer, additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati. Bhati said the guidelines challenged in the petitions were issued by the Blood Transfusion Council of India which viewed these categories as "high-risk" and barred them from donating blood. Justice Singh, however, said, "What is worrying me...are we going to brand all transgenders as risky and thus indirectly stigmatise these communities? Unless you can show with some medical evidence that there is some kind of link between transgenders an

Supreme Court lets Trump's transgender military ban take effect, for now

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump's administration to enforce a ban on transgender people in the military, while legal challenges proceed. The court acted in the dispute over a policy that presumptively disqualifies transgender people from military service and could lead to the expulsion of experienced, decorated officers. The court's three liberal justices said they would have kept the policy on hold. Just after beginning his second term in January, Trump moved aggressively to roll back the rights of transgender people. Among the Republican president's actions was an executive order that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honourable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one's personal life and is harmful to military readiness. In response, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy that gave the military services 30 days to figure out how they would seek out and identify ...

Rulings coming fast in lawsuits over Trump's immigration, DEI policies

The Trump administration was handed a rapid-fire series of court losses Wednesday night and Thursday in lawsuits filed over its policies on immigration, elections and its crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programmes in schools. But the legal disputes playing out across the country are far from over, and administration attorneys pushed back, asking the federal appellate courts and the US Supreme Court to overturn some of the unfavourable decisions. Here's a look at the latest developments in some of the more than 170 lawsuits filed over President Donald Trump's executive orders. DEI Judges blocked the administration from enforcing its diversity, equity and inclusion crackdown in education in at least two lawsuits Thursday. The decisions came ahead of a Friday deadline that the Education Department set for states to sign a form certifying they would not use illegal DEI practices. A federal judge in New Hampshire blocked a series of directives from the Education Department

Hungary set to ban LGBTQ+ pride, raise fears of broader rights rollback

Hungarian lawmakers are preparing to vote on a constitutional amendment viewed by many critics as both a crackdown on the freedoms of assembly and expression and the most recent move by the populist government to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ communities. The amendment, which will almost certainly be passed on Monday by the two-thirds majority of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's nationalist Fidesz party, would permanently codify a ban on public events held by LGBTQ+ communities including the popular Pride event that draws thousands annually in the capital, Budapest. It will also provide a constitutional basis for denying the gender identities or sexual characteristics of minority groups, and allow for some Hungarians to have their citizenship suspended if they are deemed to pose a threat to Hungary's security or sovereignty. Here's what the amendment will do, what it entails for LGBTQ+ Hungarians, and for some of the basic rights of all citizens in the Central European nation. A ban

USCIS announces policy update recognising only two biological sexes

The USCIS also detailed how it will consider sex as listed on birth certificates when processing immigration benefits

Muhsin Hendricks, first gay imam killed for his support to LGBTQ+ rights

The killing of the imam has left the LGBTQ+ community in shock. His efforts to create safe spaces for LGBTQ+ Muslims made him a pivotal figure in the fight for inclusivity

Second judge pauses Trump's order against gender-affirming care for youth

A second federal judge on Friday paused President Donald Trump's executive order halting federal support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth under 19. US District Court Judge Lauren King granted a temporary restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration last week. Three doctors joined as plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in the Western District of Washington. The decision came one day after a federal judge in Baltimore temporarily blocked the executive order in response to a separate lawsuit filed on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children. Judge Brendan Hurson's temporary restraining order will last 14 days but could be extended, and essentially puts Trump's directive on hold while the case proceeds. Hurston and King were both appointed by former President Joe Biden. Trump signed an executive order last month halting federal funding for institutions that provide th

'Stop attack on democracy': Protesters rally against Trump, Musk across US

US protests: Protests erupted across the US as demonstrators voiced opposition to President Trump's policies, Elon Musk's influence, and Project 2025

Godrej, Radhika Piramal, KSF launch Rs 2 cr Pride Fund for India's LGBTQIAs

"Today will go down in history. What a celebration of queer joy and queer resilience", Godrej Industries said in an Instagram post

Families sue over Trump's order to halt funds for gender-affirming care

A group of families with transgender children filed a lawsuit Tuesday over President Donald Trump's executive order to halt federal support for gender-affirming health care for transgender people under age 19. PFLAG, a national group for family of LGBTQ+ people; and GLMA, a doctors organisation, are also plaintiffs in the court challenge in US District Court in Baltimore. It comes one week after Trump signed an order calling for the federal government to stop funding the medical care through federal government-run health insurance programs including Medicaid and TRICARE. Kristen Chapman, the mother of one of the plaintiffs in the case, said her family moved to Richmond, Virginia, from Tennessee in 2023 because of a ban on gender-affirming care in their home state. Her 17-year-old daughter, Willow, had an initial appointment scheduled for last week with a new provider who would accept Medicaid. But Trump signed his order the day before and the hospital said it could not provide care.