َAn Africa-based advocacy group working for continent-wide recognition of  the human rights of LGBTI Africans has won official recognition in South Africa. This tremendous gain will benefit Pan Africa ILGA and all its member organizations working to advance the rights of LGBTI people on the African Continent. 

Juana Mora Cedeño of the Rainbow Project, an independent Cuban advocacy organization, told the Washington Blade on Monday that authorities at José Martí International Airport in Havana early on July 6 stopped her and two of her colleagues who were returning from Colombia where they had attended a workshop on documenting LGBT rights abuses.

Nearly a decade before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that U.S. laws which criminalize “homosexual conduct” are unconstitutional in the 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas, a gay Cuban man won protection in the United States from the persecution he faced in his native land because of his sexual orientation. It was the first time that persecution based on sexual orientation was established as valid grounds for asylum in the United States.

Pope Francis made history when he said, of being gay: “Who am I to judge?” Now close Vatican-watchers say the pope is in a complex diplomatic spot in the case of a gay man France has nominated to be ambassador to the Holy See. France nominated Laurent Stefanini in January, but so far the Vatican hasn’t accepted the appointment. 

Becoming a father was a prime motivator for Randy Berry to accept what's sure to be a controversial new role at the State Department. Berry, 50, is the U.S. special envoy for the human rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender persons, the first such post ever created by a nation, according to the State Department. In that trailblazing role, he said he has an opportunity to help his two children grow up in a world more accepting than the one he was born into.