Tag Archives: homophobia

How Colonial-Era Laws Still Punish Gay People

A set of laws known as the penal code was exported from Britain to its colonies and is still affecting LGBTQ politics to this very day.

The penal code laws made being gay a criminal offence, and while Britain decriminalized homosexuality in 1967, it’s still illegal in over 30 former British colonies.

These countries didn’t have a history of homophobia before Britain enforced their own ideas of morality, but thanks to the empire these laws mean many live in fear. Zing Tsjeng investigates how the legacy of the empire is still ruining lives to this day.

Out Run

As leader of the world’s only LGBT political party, Bemz Benedito dreams of being the first transgender woman in the Philippine Congress. But in a predominantly Catholic nation, rallying for LGBT representation in the halls of Congress is not an easy feat.

Bemz and her eclectic team of queer political warriors must rethink traditional campaign strategies to amass support from unlikely places. Taking their equality campaign to small-town hair salons and regional beauty pageants, the activists mobilise working-class trans hairdressers and beauty queens to join the fight against their main political opponent, a homophobic evangelical preacher, and prove to the Filipino electorate that it’s time to take the rights of LGBT people seriously. But as outsiders trying to get inside the system, will they have to compromise their political ideals in order to win?

Culminating on election day, Out Run provides a unique look into the challenges LGBT people face as they transition into the mainstream and fight for dignity, legitimacy, and acceptance across the globe.

Out Run from Sideways Film on Vimeo.

Being Gay in Albania

Up until the mid-90s, if you were openly gay in Albania, you would be sent to prison. Many homosexuals still face bigotry and violence, even in their own homes.

In the last five years, Albania has seen a dynamic LGBTQ movement. Gay activists have created secret guest houses in Tirana that offer shelter to young homosexuals who have been brutally abused.

We traveled to Albania and recorded rare glimpses into the lives of people who have been victimized and neglected because of their sexual orientation in one of Europe’s most homophobic countries.