President Obama and the First Lady visited Saudi Arabia this week to pay their respects after the death of King Abdullah. Predictably, that ignited controversy: Abdullah presided over some tentative human rights reforms, but Saudia Arabia also has a brutal history of executing homosexuals, abusing migrant workers,… » 1/28/15 12:10pm Wednesday 12:10pm

An El Salvadoran woman known as "Guadalupe" currently serving a 30-year sentence for a 2007 miscarriage has been denied a pardon. Guadalupe—who was convicted of murdering her unborn baby—was expected to be cleared on Friday by the El Salvadoran Congress. But after a nail biting 43-42 vote, her release was denied. » 1/17/15 6:15pm 1/17/15 6:15pm

"I did not kill. I did not kill," were the last words uttered by Laila Bint Abdul Muttalib Basim, who was beheaded Monday in Saudi Arabia after being dragged through the streets by four police officers. » 1/17/15 5:30pm 1/17/15 5:30pm

The United Nations has been trying for weeks to investigate reports that Sudanese soldiers raped over 200 women and girls in late October in the village of Tabit, North Darfur. A leaked internal UN report says the Sudanese military is deliberately making it hard for its peacekeepers to investigate the claims,… » 12/10/14 1:10pm 12/10/14 1:10pm

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina are suing the Russian government over their 2012 imprisonment. » 7/30/14 10:20am 7/30/14 10:20am

"I sleep in the park because I have nowhere to go," explained thirteen-year-old Bala* as we waited for chai that would never arrive. Bala described how she was raped by strangers on a nightly basis while trying to survive on the streets of India, "At night, the men come by drunk. There is nothing to protect me." » 4/24/14 9:16pm 4/24/14 9:16pm

As Uganda battles to pass the anti-gay bill which would jail offenders for life (and has already overseen dozens of arrests), it seems that they have a huge force to contend with: the voice/search results of the people. Scott Bixby at the Daily Beast reports that of the top countries who search for gay porn, nearly… » 1/17/14 6:45pm 1/17/14 6:45pm

Here's some shitty news. Four days after unanimously approving policy allowing a few very basic rights to transgender students, the East Aurora School District 131 in Illinois has revoked it, claiming that they didn't allow time for input from state officials. We all know this is a bunch of bullshit because the… » 10/24/12 10:00am 10/24/12 10:00am

Last week, Chick-fil-A's CEO confirmed what liberal fun-ruiners already knew — the restaurant not only serves up delicious waffle fries, but also some good old fashioned from-scratch bigoted homophobia. Like Mom used to make! The CEO's admission further ignited the already red and itchy culture wars that divide the… » 7/23/12 3:10pm 7/23/12 3:10pm

Joyce Banda, who was recently sworn in as Malawi's first-ever female president, has said that she plans to repeal her country's laws against homosexuality in her first state of the union address, a bold move, notes the Atlantic Wire's Connor Simpson, since homosexuality has been criminalized in 37 African countries… » 5/20/12 4:00pm 5/20/12 4:00pm

Twenty-one year old college student Jordan Ramos enjoys the same ill-advised things that her fellow University of Iowa students enjoy — going to bars in downtown Iowa City, drinking a little bit, climbing up onto things, and dancing on them while other people go "WOOO!" So when bouncers at a local establishment barred… » 5/01/12 10:25am 5/01/12 10:25am

A Georgia trans woman was fired from her job as a legislative aide after she went public about her gender transition. Now, a court has ruled she should get her job back. » 12/07/11 10:10am 12/07/11 10:10am

In Kyrgyzstan, up to 15,000 women a year are victims of bride kidnapping, in which men abduct them and sometimes rape them as a way of forcing them into marriage — once they've spent the night with a man, their families often won't take them back. The practice is illegal, but the law is rarely enforced, and even when… » 11/29/11 1:45pm 11/29/11 1:45pm

According to news reports out of Saudi Arabia, Saudi women are outraged that the government plans to allow Moroccan maids into the country to replace Filipina and Indonesian women, out of the belief that Moroccan women will seduce their husbands. Oh, by the way: There's a vacuum in the Saudi domestic market in… » 9/20/11 10:10am 9/20/11 10:10am

A Canadian comedian has been fined $15,000 by a human rights tribunal for unleashing a tirade of sexist and homophobic insults against a lesbian couple in the audience. But some are concerned this decision will limit the rights of performers. » 4/22/11 9:45am 4/22/11 9:45am

The Czech Republic is being criticized for still testing gay male asylum seekers by monitoring blood flow to their penises while they watch straight porn. Arousal gets you sent back to wherever you're being persecuted. Unsurprisingly, this is deeply problematic. » 12/08/10 6:22pm 12/08/10 6:22pm

A Pakistani woman sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam will be pardoned after the accusations were found to be baseless. She has said that the charges were fabricated by women who didn't like her. » 11/23/10 5:52pm 11/23/10 5:52pm

Iranian authorities have reportedly ordered that Sakineh Ashtiani be executed for adultery tomorrow, and protesters are mounting a last-ditch effort to save her. » 11/02/10 1:40pm 11/02/10 1:40pm

The British government's plan to pay for a mentally disabled man's visit to a prostitute has sparked an interesting debate: is sex a human right? » 8/18/10 9:30am 8/18/10 9:30am