meals and expected their income to decline by 30 percent. lgbtq+ americans were slightly more likely to experience job loss due to covid-19, compared to the general population. also lgbtq+ themed organizations, businesses, and communities have been impacted both by covid-19 itself and its economic impact at disproportionate rates. gay bars such as the stonewall inn have required fundraising to stay afloat, and some without considerable fundraising capability have closed permanently. africa south africa discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is a legitimate reason to claim asylum in south africa. according to human rights watch, these asylum-seeking refugees come from other parts of africa such as "zimbabwe, democratic republic of congo, malawi, and nigeria". many of the lgbt refugees who move to south africa work in the service sector. some work as sex workers. victor chikalogwe of passop said that covid-19 lockdowns made living hard to sustain for this demographic. these refugees were uniquely vulnerable during the covid-19 pandemic because they were ineligible for receiving food aid. uganda on 29 march 2020, 23 gay men and trans women were detained by police at an lgbt+ shelter in kampala, uganda, run by the non-profit children of the sun foundation. those detained were accused of violating social distancing requirements, and 4 were released due to ill health. human rights watch called the charges a "bogus pretext" to harass lgbt+ people. the local mayor was allegedly filmed striking one of those detained with a cane, and those detained were apparently forced to reveal their faces to a camera. the african director at human rights watch called for the gay youth to be released. the united nations working group on arbitrary detention as well as the joint united nations programme on hiv/aids condemned the arrests the detained people as well as the human rights awareness and promotion forum alleged that the group suffered "cruel and inhuman" torture while in prison. reportedly, thirteen gay men, two bisexual men, and four trans women were among those detained, and they were all homeless. they won ush 5,000,000/= (or us$1,365) each in a case against government officials, for denying them access to lawyers. homosexuality is illegal in uganda, and it is seen by many ugandans as imported from the west. asia gagaoolala, described by reuters as "asia's first lgbt+ video streaming platform, dubbed the continent's 'gay netflix'", expanded with the hope of reaching people who are isolating because of the pandemic. indonesia the lgbt community in indonesia faced especial challenges related to employment, including those who work as street musicians or sex workers. some in indonesia's transgender community, including those of waria background, raised money to provide food aid and masks to people who required them. israel israel gay youth, speaking to army radio, reported soaring depression, family violence, and suicidality among lgbt+ teens in israel amid stay-at-home orders. the ceo of israel gay youth noted that many of the calls they received were from teens of arab and haredi descent, while noting that "no community is free of homophobia." japan a survey in japan indicated that lgbt people in the country were concerned that being infected with covid-19 could lead to them being outed, due to authorities tracing where the infection may have originated. some were also concerned about whether they might be able to access information about their partner while hospitalized, or take part in decision-making concerning their hospitalized partner. south korea in may 2020, an outbreak connected to lgbt-friendly nightclubs in seoul prompted a backlash and concerns over privacy. the incident was reportedly fueling homophobia in the country and resulted in what was described as "many malicious reports towards gay men." the atmosphere of stigma and taboo around the subject of being lgbt in south korea caused potentially infected south koreans to be reluctant to get tested or submit to contact tracing, risking further spread of covid-19. "gay club" and "gay coronavirus" were among the most searched terms on south korean social media following the incident, according to the washington post. the outbreak caused anti-gay rhetoric on south korean social media. gay men were stalked on dating apps, facing potential exposure. south korean press have reportedly contributed to the air of stigma, including by publishing personal information about those who were infected. some gay south koreans expressed anxiety and even suicidality over the situation, fearing job loss and public outing. authorities combed through mobile phone data in an attempt to identify people who did not volunteer themselves. south korean authorities also introduced "anonymous testing", requiring only a phone number to come forward, in order to mend fears of outing. turkey a top turkish muslim scholar and president of the directorate of religious affairs, ali erbaş, said in a ramadan announcement on 8 may 2020 that the country condemned homosexuality because it "brings illness", insinuating that same-sex relations are responsible for covid-19. turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan backed erbaş, saying that what erbaş "said was totally right." europe downloads for grindr and scruff, two gay dating apps, decreased in italy and spain. hungary on 30 march, hungary's national assembly passed a bill permitting prime minister viktor orbán to rule by decree for the indefinite period of the country's state of emergency. this bill controversially made the deliberate distribution of misleading information relating to the pandemic an imprisonable offense, drawing widespread criticism from opposition parties for the law's potential for abuse. orbán's government introduced an omnibus bill on 31 march which included a provision that would remove legal recognition for transgender people by changing the country's civil registry to explicitly refer to "sex at birth" ("szuletesi nem") instead of "nem" (which can refer to both sex and gender) and removing the ability to amend the register. the bill would also prevent transgender people changing their name to one matching their gender identity, as hungarian law requires given names to match that of their legal sex. the omnibus bill was passed into law on 19 may. portugal a study by the faculdade de psicologia e de ciências da educação da universidade do porto (fpceup) aimed at “assessing the psychological health and social support networks” of lgbt+ young people who live with their parental figures during the covid-19 pandemic concluded, based on a survey of 632 young lgbt+ people, who most did not feel comfortable in their families during confinement. of the people surveyed, 59% said they were uncomfortable in the family and three out of 10 felt “quite uncomfortable” living at home with parental figures during social confinement. in addition, 35% of young people felt “suffocated” because they were unable to express their identity within the family, whereas in the case of young people whose family was aware of their identity, 35% stated that they “deal badly or very badly " thereby. this study, with a longitudinal and intercultural character, also concluded that six out of 10 participants considered that the pandemic had “greatly” affected their lives. with regard to social support networks, half of the young people admitted to feeling isolated from their friends and 35% "extremely isolated" from their partners. “as for the present study, if for some young people the covid-19 pandemic had no impact on their social support networks, an important proportion felt quite isolated from their friends”, says fpceup. ukraine patriarch filaret, a prominent religious leader in ukraine who heads the uoc-kp, claimed that covid-19 was "god’s punishment for the sins of men", linking it to same-sex marriage. he was sued by insight, a ukrainian lgbt+ group, for his comments. patriarch filaret later tested positive for covid-19, and was hospitalized. a spokeswoman for amnesty international ukraine said about the matter that filaret's comments "are very harmful because they could lead to increased attacks, aggression, discrimination and acceptance of violence against certain groups." united kingdom plymouth citybus' "pride bus" before a controversial rebranding in the united kingdom, sexually active gay and bisexual men were restricted from donating plasma for a national health service's (nhs) coronavirus research trial. this is because the research trial followed the same rules as the existing blood donor rules. more than a hundred pride events were postponed or cancelled, including pride in london, birmingham pride, manchester pride, leeds pride, brighton pride and the national uk pride event which was to take place in newcastle upon tyne. other pride events, including bristol pride, announced that their events were to be online-only. traditional seven-colour rainbows were used to show support for the nhs, with some using the lgbt rainbow flag for the same purpose. plymouth citybus rebranded their "pride bus" to celebrate the nhs instead, leading to accusations of straightwashing before an apology from the company. in london, lgbtq venues received a total of £225,000 in emergency funding to help with financial issues pertaining to the pandemic. among those who received funds was the royal vauxhall tavern, south london's oldest surviving gay venue. north america canada in 2020, canadian health professionals and researchers noted that lgbtq+ people in canada were uniquely vulnerable to both contracting covid-19 and suffering under social-distancing regulations. lgbtq+ people, they argued, are more likely to be immunocompromised and or suffer trauma during quarantine from isolation from community or proximity to unaccepting family members. pride toronto, canada's largest and most prominent pride festival, officially cancelled its pride events, such as the dyke march, trans march and the pride parade, as did fierté montréal. several pride festivals announced plans to proceed with online "digital pride" festivals. these include pride toronto, vancouver pride, calgary pride, sudbury pride, and capital pride in ottawa. pride toronto's plans included an "online pride parade" hosted by comedian brandon ash-mohammed on june 28, which included video of registered participants delivering pride-related messages for broadcast both as an online stream and a live special on cfto-dt and cp24. online drag balls, featuring prerecorded video performances by all 12 queens from the first season of canada's drag race, were produced by both pride toronto in june and fierté montréal in august. canadian drag queens have also coped with the pandemic by creating and touring drive-in drag shows, including a national canada's drag race live at the drive-in tour featuring the canada's drag race contestants, as well as livestreaming performances on social networking platforms such as instagram, facebook live or twitch. vancouver pride was targeted by scammers who posted fraudulent posters around the city's west end soliciting donations via bitcoin. glad day bookshop announced various plans to support lgbtq artists and performers during the pandemic and the associated shutdown of most venues that they depend on for income, including a crowdfunded emergency survival fund to provide loans and grants, and gd tv, a zoom-based online channel for lgbtq artists, writers, musicians, dancers and drag queens to livestream readings and performances. the toronto queer film festival launched the queer emergencies fund to offer grants to lgbtq filmmakers for the creation of new short works, and the inside out film and video festival announced a program offering production grants of up to $2,500 to projects impacted by pandemic-related shutdowns. the vulnerability of many lgbtq businesses was spotlighted in early may when pegasus, a popular bar in toronto's church and wellesley village, announced that it was at risk of closing because its landlord was refusing to participate in the canada emergency commercial rent assistance program. the federal government program had been designed to help protect small businesses from closure by subsidizing their rent during the shutdown, but still leaves businesses vulnerable because it requires buy-in from the landlord as well. the 519 community centre followed up with an open letter suggesting that the entire church and wellesley village was in danger of disappearing if the federal and provincial governments did not take steps to improve their protection of small businesses. in early june, it was announced that the landlord had finally agreed to participate in the program. residents of the neighbourhood have also noted a significant increase in crime and violence, related in part to an impromptu encampment of homeless people setting up tents in barbara hall park. twisted element, a gay bar in calgary, alberta, similarly went through bureaucratic hassles as it attempted to shift its business model from a nightclub to a pub-style restaurant so that it could remain in operation. several residents of toronto launched club quarantine, a popular zoom-based online club night