Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe, Asia, and Australia

UNITED KINGDOM

“RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” winner The Vivienne, born James Lee Williams, has passed away at age 32, their representative Simon Jones says.

In a post on Instagram, Jones announced the star’s passing and requested privacy for Williams’s family.

“It is with immense sadness that we let you know our beloved James Lee Williams — The Vivienne, has passed away this weekend. James was an incredibly loved, warm-hearted and amazing person. Their family are heartbroken at the loss of their son, brother, and uncle. They are so proud of the wonderful things James achieved in their life and career,” Jones says.

“We will not be releasing any further details,” the statement says.

Williams was born in Wales but grew up in Liverpool, where they started their drag career in the late 2000s. In 2015, RuPaul appointed them “UK Drag Ambassador,” leading to them competing in and winning the first season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” in 2019. She returned to the franchise in 2022 for the seventh season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” tying for seventh place. 

The Vivienne also appeared on several other reality competition shows, including the 15th season of ITV’s “Dancing on Ice” and the Christmas edition of “The Great British Sewing Bee.” Their final TV appearance was last month on the Christmas edition of the UK game show “Blankety Blank.”

Beyond the screen, they released their EP “Bitch on Heels” in 2022, and toured as the Wicked Witch in the 2024 West End revival of “The Wizard of Oz.”

Tributes to The Vivienne poured in on social media in the wake of the announcement.”

“Heartbreaking 💔 I don’t know how to say how I feel,” wrote “Drag Race” judge Michelle Visage on Instagram. “My darling @thevivienne_ we go back to when I started coming over here to the UK. You were always there, always laughing, always giving, always on point. Your laughter, your wit, your talent, your drag. I loved all of it but I loved your friendship most of all. You were a beacon to so many.”

The death has come as a shock to many.

RUSSIA

Russian clubgoers have been fined for dressing “too gay” as part of the country’s ongoing crackdown on LGBTQ people and expression.

At least seven people were ordered to pay the fines after a raid on a nightclub in Tula, about 120 miles south of Moscow, in February 2024, according to independent Russian media outlet Verstka, which reviewed court documents and video footage of the raid.

Those fined were charged with “trying to arouse interest in non-traditional sexual relations,” which is a crime under Russia’s so-called “LGBT propaganda” laws. They included a man who wore “crosses of black tape glued to his nipples” and a “women’s style corset,” and another man who wore “pink socks” and “an unbuttoned kimono.”

Other offending wardrobe on men included a crop top, black leather shorts, and fishnet stockings.

A judge ruled their clothing was “’inconsistent with the image of a man with traditional sexual orientation,” and fined the men.

Two of the men were ordered to pay fines of 50,000 rubles (approximately $450). That’s a little more than the average monthly salary in Tula, according to Russia’s official statistics agency, Rosstat.

Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ people has expanded dramatically over the last several years. The initial propaganda law targeted only expression that could be seen by children, but it was expanded in 2022 to criminalize all forms of LGBTQ organization and expression. In 2023, the Russian Supreme Court declared the “international LGBT movement” to be an “extremist” organization, which was backed up the following year with a decision labeling the “movement” to be “terrorist.”

Verstka reports that at least 131 cases of “LGBT propaganda” charges were brought to Russian courts in 2024, with fines ranging up to 200,000 rubles (approximately $1,850.) 

SINGAPORE

LGBTQ activists are crying foul after the Singapore government introduced the island’s first workplace nondiscrimination bill without any protections for queer workers. The are calling on the government to amend the bill to add prohibitions on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity before it passes into law.

A coalition of activists called SAFE (Supporting, Affirming and Empowering our LGBTQ+ friends and families) published a statement on its Facebook page calling on the government to rethink the bill.

“SAFE and our community partners who have co-signed this statement are resolutely against the bill’s exclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity as protected characteristics under the bill. We deem it as extremely discriminatory, which runs counter to the objective of the bill which is to address discrimination in the workplace in the first place,” the statement reads. “Often when parents share with us their fears for their children who have come out to them, discrimination against their queer or trans children rank high on the list. It is thus distressing for our parent community that the exclusions may inadvertently encourage discriminatory and bullying actions towards their children who are LGBTQ+ persons.”

SAFE’s statement also notes that unfair workplace practices also compound the discrimination that LGBTQ people face in other aspects of life, including in housing and education, which contributes to economic precarity.

Singapore’s Manpower Ministry says the new Workplace Fairness Legislation codifies existing, non binding guidelines on fair employment practices that were introduced in 2007, including prohibiting discrimination based on age, nationality, sex, marital status, pregnancy status, caregiving responsibilities, race, religion, language, disability, and mental health conditions. But those guidelines were issued 15 years before Singapore finally decriminalized homosexuality in 2022.

Singapore is home to one of the largest and most visible LGBTQ communities in southeast Asia, and the annual Pink Dot festival attracts thousands of people to celebrate Pride and demand greater rights. 

AUSTRALIA

The Palace Hotel in Broken Hill has been officially recognized as an LGBTQ landmark for the role it plays in the iconic film “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” 

In the 1994 film, a trio of drag queens stay at the hotel while driving their bus, the titular Priscilla, from Sydney to Alice Springs in the Outback. 

Fans of the film have long flocked to the Palace Hotel — famous for its many murals — and the hotel even offers guests the “Priscilla Suite” where the characters stayed in the film.

Palace Hill was already listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register, but this week Culture Minister Penny Sharpe announced that its listing would be amended to officially recognize the hotel’s significance to the queer community.

“The interior of the Palace Hotel, with its extensive murals, was a prominent filming location of ’The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,’” the new listing reads. “[The film] introduced LGBTQIA+ themes to mainstream audiences in Australia and internationally. ‘Priscilla’ represented a monumental shift in cinema of the representation of gay and transgender people in Australia.”

“The Palace Hotel has been closely associated with the LGBTQIA+ community and Australian drag artistry since the film’s release.”

Sharpe says the new listing honors the hotel’s importance in queer history.

“Now we’re ensuring its significant role in the history of Australia’s LGBTQIA+ community is officially recognized and celebrated,” Sharpe wrote in a post on Instagram.

Last year, it was reported in Deadline that a sequel to Priscilla was in the development, with the director and cast attached to return. It’s not yet known what the plot of the sequel will be, or if the queens will return to the Palace Hotel.