In my annual State of Pride post last year I mentioned that, like the infamous snowbirds of my home states of New York and New Jersey, Pride, which is most often celebrated June in the Northern hemisphere, migrates south when the weather turns cold around these parts. Which makes total sense, since who wants to wear leather chaps in the snow? It also happens that some of the biggest and more symbolic Pride celebrations have just taken place, so let’s take a look at them.

With the recent attention and international backlash aimed at Uganda over the last few months, more and more Ugandan ex-patriots have come forward to fight against their government’s hateful policies. One such activist goes by the name Moses and you may recognize his voice from a clip like the one that played during an episode of The Rachel Maddow Show, which features a young man appearing at a press conference for an event protesting the National Prayer Breakfast with a bag over his head to protect his identity. Below, Moses shares more of his personal story with TNG.

With all of the domestic news on the gay rights front, it’s sometimes hard to remember that news in this area is being made all over the world. And when you add to that equation the fact that the T is often ignored in favor of the LGB in most instances, it can be difficult to find the latest headlines in the trans rights movement throughout the international community. It turns out, however, at the moment, there’s a lot going on around the world, so let’s check some of it out.

This week I feel a little like a college professor assigning homework for an upcoming lecture. I’m a little swamped working on putting together several interviews relating to the gay rights struggle in sub-Saharan Africa forfuture Global Gaze columns and thought that now would be a good time to pause and offer some suggestions for some refresher reading on the subject for those interested.

When surveying the list of nations in the world in which homosexuality remains a crime and then reading news stories about countries, like India, that have recently decriminalized same-sex acts and relationships, it’s easy for the international community to pat itself on the back for a job well done and turn its attention to another region or issue. As two recent stories out of the UK have demonstrated, however, there are a host of issues that must be dealt with in a country long after homosexuality is formally legalized.

As I’ve already mentioned in previous posts, while the focus of many international gay rights activists has rightly centered on Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill in recent months, the situation for LGBT individuals in nearby sub-Saharan African countries has been growing worse, possibly thanks to the increased furor in Uganda. One country that the world should be watching very closely is Malawi, there the plight of queer individuals is becoming as similarly bleak as their counterparts in Uganda, regardless of whether this may be indicative of a broader regional trend.

I’ve been writing about the desperate situation LGBTQ Ugandans now find themselves in for weeks now. And while keeping oneself informed is important and there are some signs that international pressure seems to be working in making the Ugandan government slowly step away from the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, it’s difficult not to feel helpless when watching such events unfold from half a world away. So, when an organization presents us with an opportunity to show queer Ugandans support and solidarity without having to leave one’s home city, it’s hard not to take notice.

One such organization, Full Equality Now! DC, has done just that for DC-area residents. The group has planned two events, a protest rally today and an interfaith meeting tomorrow, to protest the role of American conservatives in Uganda. In order to better understand the purpose of the events and how U.S. citizens might further get involved, I chatted with FENDC’s own Colin MacDonald.

Several months ago I wrote a Global Gaze post about a couple of areas of the world where efforts were taken ostensibly to protect or serve the LGBT community in a country that turned out harming said community instead. I figured that this week would be a good time to briefly highlight the brighter side of that coin and present a couple of cases where anti-gay individuals actually wound up shooting themselves in the foot, so to speak. Is this exercise a bit self-indulgent and schadenfreude-tastic? Perhaps. Am I the kind of guy who would allow that to stop him? Not at all.

Are pageants like Mr. Gay China helping or hurting the international LGBT community?

It’s the perennial and fundamental question belying any activist’s strategy: Do you work within the current system of government to achieve change or take the more revolutionary route and work outside of it, challenging its very nature? When applied to an issue such as marriage equality, the question becomes whether to work through legislators and the court system to achieve access to same-sex marriages or take matters into your own hands and instigate a confrontation between yourself and your state and society.

As I’ve highlighted several times in the past, the latter route was the one taken a lesbian couple in Russia recently, which began a global discussion of the gay rights struggle in that country and even got the European Court of Human Rights to investigate the situation further. In other parts of the world, similar approaches are being taken today by same-sex couples, with varying results. Even more interesting, perhaps, than the outcome of these couples’ individual unions is the effect their actions may have on their entire region and even the international community as a whole.

As I’ve highlighted several times in the past, the latter route was the one taken a lesbian couple in Russia recently, which began a global discussion of the gay rights struggle in that country and even got the European Court of Human Rights to investigate the situation further. In other parts of the world, similar approaches are being taken today by same-sex couples, with varying results. Even more interesting, perhaps, than the outcome of these couples’ relationships is the effect their actions may have on their entire region and the international community as a whole.