Miss Universe, Seoul and surrogates

Your Daily Package of newsy and naughty bits from around the world

Spanish trans woman to compete in Miss Universe

After winning Spain’s national beauty contest, Angela Ponce will go on to become the first transgender contestant in the Miss Universe pageant. [New York Times]

Two men flogged for gay sex in Indonesia

In Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province, two men accused of having gay sex were flogged in front of a crowd. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia where Islamic religious law is enforced. [Straits Times]

Seoul Queer Culture festival breaks attendance records

The yearly LGBT festival in the South Korean capital claimed over 100,000 attendees this year, despite religious protesters who gathered behind police lines. [JoongAng Daily]

Israelis protest discriminatory surrogacy law

Thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv this weekend to protest a law, expected to pass Monday, that would exclude gay couples from surrogacy. [Jerusalem Post]

Portugal passes gender change law

Portugal will join five other European countries as it passes a law to allow citizens to change their legal gender without a diagnosis from a doctor. [Agence France-Presse]

Niko Bell

Niko Bell is a writer, editor and translator from Vancouver. He writes about sexual health, science, food and language.

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