Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) people frequently experience violence directed toward their sexuality, gender identity, or gender expression. This violence may be enacted by the state, as in laws prescribing punishment for homosexual acts, or by individuals. It may be psychological or physical and motivated by biphobia, gayphobia, homophobia, lesbophobia, and transphobia. Influencing factors may be cultural, religious, or political mores and biases.
Cottaging is a gay slang term, originating from the United Kingdom, referring to anonymous sex between men in a public lavatory, or cruising for sexual partners with the intention of having sex elsewhere. The term has its roots in self-contained English toilet blocks resembling small cottages in their appearance; in the English cant language of Polari this became a double entendre by gay men referring to sexual encounters. See also gay beat in Australian English.
Down-low is an African-American slang term specifically used within the African-American community that typically refers to a sexual subculture of Black men who usually identify as heterosexual but actively seek sexual encounters and relations with other men, practice gay cruising, and frequently don a specific hip-hop attire during these activities. They generally avoid disclosing their same-sex sexual activities, even if they have female sexual partner(s), they are married to a woman, or they are single. The term is also used to refer to a related sexual identity. Down-low has been viewed as "a type of impression management that some of the informants use to present themselves in a manner that is consistent with perceived norms about masculine attribute, attitudes, and behavior".
Cruising for sex, or cruising, is walking or driving about a locality, called a cruising ground, in search of a sex partner, usually of the anonymous, casual, one-time variety. The term is also used when technology is used to find casual sex, such as using an Internet site or a telephone service.
A gay bathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath, is a public bath targeted towards gay and bisexual men. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "the sauna", or "the tubs". Historically, they have been used for sexual activity.
Men who have sex with men (MSM) refers to all men who engage in sexual activity with other men, regardless of sexual identity. The term was created by epidemiologists in the 1990s, to better study and communicate the spread of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS between all sexually active males, not strictly those identifying as gay or bisexual, but also for example male prostitutes. The term is often used in medical literature and social research to describe such men as a group. It does not describe any specific kind of sexual activity, and which activities are covered by the term depends on context. An alternative term, males who have sex with males is sometimes considered more accurate in cases where those described may not be legal adults.
Gay cruising describes the act of searching about a public place in pursuit of a partner for sex. This activity has existed in England and Wales since at least the 17th century and has a colourful legal history. It differs from prostitution in that the parties involved do not seek money for sex, and from gay nightclubs or bathhouses in that they are not on private premises, although they may take place on private land to which the public have been granted access.
Same-gender-loving, or SGL, a term coined for African American and African Diaspora use by activist Cleo Manago, is a description for homosexuals in the African American community. It emerged in the early 1990s as a culturally affirming African American homosexual identity.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Australia significantly advanced over the latter half of the twentieth century and early twenty-first century, and are now ranked among the highest in the world. Opinion polls and the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey indicate widespread popular support for same-sex marriage within the nation. A 2013 Pew Research poll found that 79% of Australians agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, making it the fifth-most supportive country surveyed in the world. With its long history of LGBT activism and annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, Sydney has been named one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Sierra Leone face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Male same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Sierra Leone and carries a possible penalty of life imprisonment, although this law is seldom enforced.
Corrective rape, also called curative rape or homophobic rape, is a hate crime in which one or more people are raped because of their perceived sexual orientation, such as homosexuality or bisexuality. The common intended consequence of the rape, as claimed by the perpetrator, is to turn the person heterosexual.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the Australian state of New South Wales have most of the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexual cisgender people.
The history of violence against LGBT people in the United Kingdom is made up of assaults on gay men, lesbians, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex individuals (LGBTQI), legal responses to such violence, and hate crime statistics in the United Kingdom. Those targeted by such violence are perceived to violate heteronormative rules and religious beliefs and contravene perceived protocols of gender and sexual roles. People who are perceived to be LGBTQI may also be targeted.
Since reports of emergence and spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the United States between the 1970s and 1980s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has frequently been linked to gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) by epidemiologists and medical professionals. It was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in homosexual men in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in 1981. The first official report on the virus was published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on June 5, 1981, and detailed the cases of five young gay men who were hospitalized with serious infections. A month later, The New York Times reported that 41 homosexuals had been diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma, and eight had died less than 24 months after the diagnosis was made.
Sexual activities involving men who have sex with men (MSM), regardless of their sexual orientation or sexual identity, can include anal sex, non-penetrative sex, and oral sex. Evidence shows that sex between men is significantly underreported in surveys.
Chennai has LGBTQIA cultures that are diverse concerning- socio-economic class, gender, and degree of visibility and politicisation. They have historically existed in the margins and surfaced primarily in contexts such as transgender activism and HIV prevention initiatives for men having sex with men (MSM) and trans women (TG).
Squirt.org, launched by Pink Triangle Press in 1999, is a Canadian website which describes itself as a place "where men meet other men for sex, cruising, hookups, dating, fun and friendship". The website, based in Toronto, is available worldwide. It includes user-generated listings of parks, saunas, public toilets and popular sexual locations for men who have sex with men (MSM). It was called "unique and ideal for cruising world-wide" by the 2006 Spartacus International Gay Guide.
Ross Warren was an Australian journalist for WIN TV who was killed as part of the Gay Gang Murders on 22 July 1989. Having disappeared after a night out with friends on Oxford Street, Warren's car was discovered outside Marks Park, Sydney, a popular gay beat. His car keys were found two days later at the bottom of the adjoining cliffs. Police initially theorized that Warren had faked his own disappearance, concluding after four days that he had accidentally fallen into the sea. A search was undertaken, however his body was never recovered. In 2005, the case was recategorised as a homicide, the previous investigation being described as "grossly inadequate" and "shameful" by the then-deputy coroner Jacqueline Milledge. Today his murder is seen as one of many slayings and hate-crimes committed on the cliffs of Marks Park in the 1980s and 90s. His name is listed on a memorial to the victims of these crimes located at the site.
The gay gang murders are a series of suspected anti-LGBT hate crimes perpetrated by large gangs of youths in Sydney, between 1970 and 2010, with most occurring in 1989 and 1990. The majority of these occurred at local gay beats, and were known to the police as locations where gangs of teenagers targeted homosexuals and trans individuals. In particular, many deaths are associated with the cliffs of Marks Park, Tamarama, where the victims would allegedly be thrown or herded off the cliffs to their deaths. As many as 88 gay men were murdered by these groups in the period, with many of the deaths unreported, considered accidents or suicides at the time.
The Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Students Association (GaLTaS) was an Australian LGBT organisation active from 1991 to 1998 that was established during a wave of gay gang murders to publicise widespread problems of anti-gay bullying and violence in Australian schools, as well as to offer support and a path to redress for its victims. It was founded by two Committee members of the New South Wales Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby: gay activist Derek Williams, a New Zealand born teacher at Randwick Boys High School and Jennifer Glass, an 18-year-old lesbian New South Wales high school student. Previous attempts to set up support organisations such as the similarly named 'GAYTAS' in 1978 had not survived, with same-sex relationships at that stage still a criminal offence in New South Wales until law repeal in 1984. However, GaLTaS prevailed after LGBT+ students themselves spoke openly to both LGBT+ and mainstream media. The organisation was registered on 17 September 1992 as an Australian Incorporated Society, and was managed by a committee elected at each AGM, headed by two co-convenors. Parents were invited to all meetings, both individually and through a working association with PFLAG and the P&C. Williams was subsequently six times re-elected its male co-convenor, and after the resignation of Glass, teacher Jacqui Griffin became female co-convenor for the major part of GaLTaS' significant activism.
