5 THINGS TO KNOW

‘Who’s going to believe me?’—why it’s so hard to talk about domestic abuse in LGBTQ relationships.

Celia Vasquez* was in graduate school when the abuse began. Her partner of a few months groped her in public, threw a suitcase at her while she napped on the couch, and threatened to throw her out, she tells SELF. There was jealousy, screaming, and hostility towards Vasquez’s friends when they overheard the fighting. Read the full article HERE.

DESTINATIONS

Indonesia’s crackdown on gay men: ‘It does not get better, does it?’

Steven Handoko admits it was not his most dignified moment. Naked as the day he was born, the bookish 25-year-old had been invited on stage by one of the strippers hired for a party at the Atlantis Gym. That hardly qualified as outrageous behaviour in the red-light district of Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta, where the Atlantis was located. Read the full article HERE.  

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Roy Moore shares Advocate post, stokes homophobia over Doug Jones’s gay son.

Roy Moore is apparently a reader of The Advocate. The accused pedophile and anti-LGBT Republican politician, who has yet to concede defeat in the Alabama U.S. Senate race, shared an interview with the gay son of his opponent, Doug Jones, on his Facebook page earlier this week. Read the full article HERE.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Salt Lake City makes history by electing its queerest city council ever.

Salt Lake City quietly made history during November’s special elections. The Utah capital tapped two LGBTQ candidates to join its city council. Chris Wharton and Amy Fowler will join openly gay member Derek Kitchen on the Salt Lake City Council, giving the board three queer representatives in total. Read the full article HERE.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

In LGBT-welcoming Britain, Church of England tries to find its path.

Britain’s transgender community recently got an unlikely new ally: the Church of England. Last month the church released guidelines for its 4,700 schools, which aim to tackle transgender bullying. Most of the advice deals with anti-bullying policies and training for staff. But one section stated that pupils should feel able… Read the full article HERE.  

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Was the Kremlin involved in meddling in the Brexit poll too?

Boris Johnson and Sergey Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, clashed over alleged Russian meddling in the EU referendum when they met in Moscow yesterday. Speaking after their talks, the foreign secretary lauded the countries’ long relationship but said that Britain “could not ignore” a list of disagreements with Russia over Ukraine, Syria, North Korea… Read the full article HERE.