Worst Countries for LGBTQ People in 2025

Feb 19, 2025

What’s behind the Police Targeting of Gay Men in Madrid? | The Take

Feb 18, 2025 | In Madrid, gay men say targeted police raids and humiliating strip searches are on the rise, defying Spain’s image as a leader in LGBTQ rights. Authorities claim it is part of a drug crackdown, but activists insist deep-rooted homophobia is driving the arrests. What is behind these allegations, and what does it mean for queer communities across Europe?

In this episode:

Christo Casas, Journalist and Anthropologist

Episode credits:

And that’s the Take. This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé and Chloe K. Li, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Melanie Marich, Hanah Shokeir and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Noor Wazwaz.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad Al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.


This video is not suitable for children. – Mark

1946 The Movie – Straight Love vs. Gay Lust? The Church Lied

Feb 7, 2025 | Straight couples love. Gay couples lust.” A lie built on a mistranslation.

"1946 is a feature documentary that follows the story of tireless researchers who trace the origins of the anti-gay movement among Christians to a grave mistranslation of the Bible. It chronicles the discovery of never-before-seen archives at Yale University which unveil astonishing new revelations, and casts significant doubt on any biblical basis for LGBTQIA+ prejudice." 1946 The Movie »

Gay Life and The Enlightenment | Sir Noel Malcolm: The History of Homosexuality (4/4)

Jan 28, 2025 | In this lecture, Sir Noel Malcom makes the case that there was not a sudden surge in homosexuality after The Enlightenment, instead it was a continuation of practises which had always existed. Historians should consider the history of Europe and sexual exploration outside of Florence, as the focus on this area to the determent of others has led to many having been misled.

Sir Noel Malcolm is a British historian and author, known for his work in early modern history and the relationship between Europe and the Islamic world. He's a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, and has written extensively on Thomas Hobbes, among other subjects. Knighted in 2014, he's also a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature.

His book upon which these lectures were based, has been nominated for the 2025 The Duff Cooper Prize. It can be purchased here.

The first three parts of this lecture series can be found here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Effeminate versus Masculine Gay Men | Sir Noel Malcolm: The History of Homosexuality (3/4)

Jan 21, 2025 | Homosexual sexuality was not the same in every European country. In Western Europe, men could grow beards and tried to be stereotypically masculine to appeal to the same sex. In the Mediterranean, they would try to look as feminine as possible: shaving and trying to maintain a slender physique. In this lecture, Sir Noel Malcolm tracks these differences.

Sir Noel Malcolm is a British historian and author, known for his work in early modern history and the relationship between Europe and the Islamic world. He's a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, and has written extensively on Thomas Hobbes, among other subjects. Knighted in 2014, he's also a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature


Parts 1 & 2 here.

The History of Christianity and Homophobia | Sir Noel Malcolm: The History of Homosexuality (2/4)

Jan 16, 2025 | How has Judaism and Christianity understood and treated homosexuality throughout history? Throughout this fascinating lecture, learn how the answer is that it was radically different and varied across time and place. Discover the influence theology has had in the development of how various romantic acts were legally categorised.

Sir Noel Malcolm is a British historian and author, known for his work in early modern history and the relationship between Europe and the Islamic world. He's a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, and has written extensively on Thomas Hobbes, among other subjects. Knighted in 2014, he's also a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature


Part 1 of this lecture is to be found here.

How Historians Study Gay History | Sir Noel Malcolm: The History of Homosexuality (1/4)

Jan 14, 2025 | The same romantic behaviours have been categoried in radically different ways by varying cultures throughout history. This has created numerous issues for professional historians when trying to understand the historical homosexuality. In this lecture, these issues are covered as well as the stark differences in who was considered sexually 'deviant' in the High Islamic Age as well as The Renaissance Mediterranean.

Sir Noel Malcolm is a British historian and author, known for his work in early modern history and the relationship between Europe and the Islamic world. He's a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, and has written extensively on Thomas Hobbes, among other subjects. Knighted in 2014, he's also a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature

«The Majority of the Vatican Priests Are Gay» | Sternstunde Religion | SRF Kultur | 2020 | Reupload

Mar 31, 2020 | It is well-known that the Vatican frowns upon men who love men. But that the centre of power of the Roman Catholic Church should at the same time be one of the largest gay communities worldwide was new to many when Frédéric Martel brought this thesis to the world in 2019.

After having published "In the Closet of the Vatican" simultaneously in eight languages, the French author and journalist was invited to countless talk shows, but the Vatican was shrouded in silence.

Whoever felt somehow different - just homosexual - as a young man in the 30s, 40s and 50s of the last century, found an oasis in the Roman Catholic Church, according to Martel. Men living among men, wearing different clothes and singing in a choir, that would have been the salvation for many, which was also accepted by society.

While most of the men Martel spoke to are very old, their world view remains: Homophobic on the outside, homophile on the inside. This led to a dangerous double standard, a culture of silence, which had very unhappily promoted the scandals around the Catholic Church.


Klicken Sie hier für die deutsche Version dieses Interviews.

Vatican Allows Italian Gay Men to Train to Be Priests, if They Remain Celibate

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Candidates for the seminary should not be disqualified based on sexual orientation, according to new church guidelines in Italy.

The Vatican has approved new guidelines for Italy that say that an applicant for the seminary cannot be rejected simply because he is gay, as long as he remains celibate.

The guidelines say that seminary directors should consider sexual orientation as only one aspect of a candidate’s personality.

They do not change the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching that “homosexual tendencies” are “intrinsically disordered,” and that men with “deep-seated” gay tendencies should not become priests. But they clarify that if a candidate remains chaste, his sexual orientation should not disqualify him from entering the priesthood.

The Catholic church has struggled for years with the contradiction that the priesthood has long been a refuge for gay men, while church teaching rejects same-sex relations. » | Elisabetta Povoledo | Friday, January 10, 2025

Leer en español aquí.

Amish and Gay: What Happens If You Are Amish and Gay?

Dec 28, 2024 | What happens if you are Amish and gay?

Discover the untold story of being Amish and gay in a community where tradition and faith dictate every aspect of life.

This video explores the struggles, secrets, and resilience of individuals navigating the delicate balance between their identity and their deeply rooted Amish upbringing. Watch as we dive into the challenges, emotional conflicts, and courageous stories of those who dare to live authentically in a world that may not accept them.

Disclaimer: Images used are AI generated, used only as a representation.

Being Gay the Medieval Way! | Homosexuality during the Middle Ages...

Jan 7, 2022 | Throughout history, there have always been people who belong to the LGBTQ community. In Antiquity same-sex relations were common, and it was acceptable for men to have both male and female lovers outside of marriage. Regarded as a way of controlling the population, Plato compared the acceptance of homosexuality to democracy and its repression to tyranny. Both the terms heterosexuality and homosexuality were not created until the 19th century, and there was no understanding of these terms in the Middle Ages. No one in medieval Europe would have referred to themselves or anyone else as ‘gay’, ‘straight’, ‘lesbian’, ‘transgender’ or ‘bisexual’. There was only normal and abnormal sexual behaviour, and what was normal was decided by the Christian Church at that time. For the most part, there aren’t many historical resources during the Middle Ages about same sex relationships between women, although any sort of sex that did not result in conception was known as sodomy. In fact, the church was antagonistic to any form of sexual expression at all.

Pope Francis: Being Gay “Must” Be Made Legal Worldwide

God bless Pope Francis! Listen to Pope Francis speaking SENSE about being gay.

Homosexual SS Officers in Auschwitz

Oct 27, 2024 | Theo Le Grec

The Brutal Fate of Homosexuals in Nazi Germany

Aug 17, 2024 | WARNING: “This documentary is under an educational and historical context. We do NOT tolerate or promote hatred towards any group of people, we do NOT promote violence. We condemn these events so that they do not happen again. NEVER AGAIN. All photos have been censored according to YouTube's advertiser policies.”

Explore the harrowing history of homosexuals during Nazi Germany in this eye-opening video, detailing the persecution, resilience, and untold stories of LGBTQ+ individuals under the Third Reich. Beginning in 1933, when Adolf Hitler rose to power, the Nazi regime intensified its efforts to eradicate homosexuality, which they deemed incompatible with their vision of a racially pure and morally strict society. This dark chapter in history saw the enforcement of Paragraph 175, a law criminalizing homosexual acts, which led to the arrest and conviction of approximately 100,000 men.

The video delves into the infamous raids of gay clubs and bars in Berlin, once a haven for LGBTQ+ individuals during the liberal Weimar Republic. Names like Magnus Hirschfeld, a pioneering sexologist and gay rights advocate, emerge as tragic figures whose work was destroyed in the notorious book burnings of 1933. Hirschfeld's Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was ransacked, and his extensive research on sexuality was lost forever.

Viewers will learn about the brutal conditions in concentration camps like Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald, where an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 homosexual men were imprisoned. The pink triangle, a symbol of shame and stigma, was forcibly worn by these men, marking them for severe mistreatment, forced labor, and often, death. Heart-wrenching personal accounts, like that of Pierre Seel, a Frenchman deported to Schirmeck-Vorbruck concentration camp, highlight the human cost of this persecution. Seel's later memoirs provide a rare, firsthand account of the horrors faced by gay men during this period.

The video also touches on the post-war period, revealing how the suffering of homosexuals was largely ignored or forgotten. Unlike other victims of the Holocaust, gay men were not immediately liberated but often re-imprisoned under the same Paragraph 175. It wasn't until 1969 that homosexuality was decriminalized in East Germany, and 1994 in reunified Germany.

This video is a crucial reminder of the resilience and courage of those who suffered under Nazi tyranny. It underscores the importance of remembering and honoring their stories to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated. Join us as we uncover the forgotten history of homosexuals during Nazi Germany, shedding light on a dark past to educate and inspire future generations.

Life in Russia for the LGBTIQA+ Community | Reggie Yates Extreme Russia | Documentary‬

Aug 18, 2024 | Reggie Yates gets up close and personal with three very different communities in contemporary Russia, exploring what it's like for young people there, 24 years after the fall of the Soviet Union. Award-winning filmmaker Reggie Yates travels around the world investigating big issues such as gun violence, racism, gay rights and addiction. From Cape Town to Chicago, London to Moscow, Reggie explores controversial topics and goes on a journey through the extremes of life all over the world. In the last five years, Reggie has become synonymous with critically acclaimed documentaries.

Documentary Central »

Update: Old Hollywood Stars You Didn’t Know Were LGBTQ+

Aug 2, 2024 | Welcome to TimelessHollywood! We're thrilled to have you join us on our latest adventure in 'Update: Old Hollywood Stars You Didnt Know Were LGBTQ+'. From epic landscapes to thrilling experiences, get ready to embark on the journey of a lifetime! Music by Kevin MacLeod

Homosexuality in Christianity and Islam - Being Gay in the Bible and Quran

May 10, 2023

Adam Elmasri Online here.

Cameroon Reacts to Brenda Biya's Same-sex Kiss | DW News

Jul 14, 2024 | A recent Instagram post by Brenda Biya, daughter of Cameroon's President Paul Biya, has sparked media speculation about her sexuality. The post features a photo of Brenda kissing Brazilian model Layyons Valença, shared on the final day of Pride Month. Cameroonian law prohibits same-sex relations with penalties of up to five years in prison, but Ms. Biya is currently living abroad. So how is the story being received in Cameroon? Blaise Eyong reports from the port city of Douala.

Professor Tim Wilson: The Gay Biblical Texts in Context

Jul 2, 2024 | And why the interpretation often put out is wrong and prejudiced.

Slur by Francis Lays Bare the Church’s Contradictions on Homosexuality

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The pope used homophobic slang and cautioned prelates about admitting gay men into seminaries. But ordination has also long been a refuge for gay faithful.

When reports spread that Pope Francis had used an offensive anti-gay slur while speaking to Italian bishops at a conference last month, many Catholics were both shocked and baffled. How could a pope known for his openness to and acceptance of L.G.B.T.Q. people use homophobic slang and caution prelates about admitting gay men into seminaries?

But the question, and the apparent inconsistency in Francis’ messaging, reflect the deep contradictions and tensions that underlie the Roman Catholic Church’s and Francis’ relationship to homosexuality.

The church holds that “homosexual tendencies” are “intrinsically disordered.” When it comes to ordination, the church’s guidelines state that people with “deep-seated” gay tendencies should not become priests.

Yet ordination has also long been a refuge of sorts for homosexual Catholic men, according to researchers and priests, who say that at least thousands of clergymen are gay, though only a few are public about their sexual orientation because of the stigma it still carries in the church. » | Emma Bubola and Elisabetta Povoledo, Reporting from Rome | Saturday, June 22, 2024