Jax Gay Magazine March 2022

Antigay Purge Killed In Ukraine

By Maggie Wilson

A Chechen warlord and a close advisor to the region’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov was killed Saturday in Ukraine as Russia continues its invasion of the country. Russian human rights groups have said the advisor had been involved with the persecution of LGBTQ+ people.

Magomed Tushayev was killed during the battle at Antonov Airport known also as Hostomel Airport, according to the Washington Blade. The facility is an international cargo airport and sits northwest of Kyiv.

Tushayev led the “141 motorized regiment” of the Chechnya National Guard. His death was confirmed by the Ukrainian news outlet the Kyiv Independent and a spokesperson for Ukrainian

President

On Saturday, a video of Kadyrov appeared online where he boasted of Chechen victory in Ukraine, Al Jazeera reports. He said Chechen soldiers had entered Ukraine and that Russia’s military could easily take Ukraine’s largest cities.

“As of today, as of this minute, we do not have one single casualty, or wounded, not a single man has even had a runny nose,” Kadyrov said, rejecting what he called false reports of casualties that came from Ukrainian sources. “The president [Putin] took the right decision and we will carry out his orders under any circumstances.”

The Blade notes that Tushayev had directly been involved in persecuting LGBTQ+ people in

Chechnya. That includes a role in 2021 in the kidnapping of activists and gay man Ibragim Selimkhanov, who was taken from a Moscow subway station and forcibly sent to Grozny, Chechnya’s capital.

Selimkhanov was reportedly interrogated by operatives working for Tushayev. The activist was questioned about his connections to other human rights activists and journalists who were working to help queer people in Chechnya.

For years now, LGBTQ+ activists have reported that Chechen officials in the Kadyrov regime, including Tushayev, have rounded up dozens of men on suspicion of being queer, and have held them in detention centers for days while they are humiliated and tortured.

Volodymyr Zelensky.

I was born smiling. I love unicorns and drinking coffee, and I can be instantly cheered up when “It Takes Two” by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock comes on. I am a Black mother and am a woman living with HIV in Florida. In that state, if I do not have proof that I disclosed my HIV status to my sexual partners, regardless of whether or not transmission occurs, I can be arrested, charged with a felony, and sentenced to up to 30 years. In all honesty, because of the outdated language in these statutes, even if I have proof, a judge may not accept it. That’s just one way HIV criminalization statutes across the nation are problematic.

This February 28 marks the first year of HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day, a day when communities will mobilize with a collective voice to stand in solidarity to overcome HIV criminalization. In launching this day, I’ve had the privilege to collaborate with the Sero Project and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. They share in the unapologetic commitment to build momentum in equipping advocates locally and

nationally to create strategies that shift mindsets and change these laws. We cannot end the epidemic of HIV unless these laws are reformed and ultimately repealed.

As a product of abstinence-only education, I was pregnant at 19, then diagnosed with HIV at 21; in 2003, I learned the hard way about stigma and discrimination. To quell my fears, I began speaking out about living with HIV in 2007 and have been a part of the decision-making tables like my local Ryan White planning council. I traveled to Washington, D.C., to speak with legislators about people living with HIV having access to care. I stand on the shoulders of so many people who have died from complications of HIV and have faced stigma, discrimination, shame, and fear. I am grounded in this work because of those who are no longer here, who ads to the collective power and voices of the marginalized and invisible.

The thing is, when policymakers voted for HIV criminalization laws to be enacted in Florida, it was 1986.

I was 4 years old. People nationwide were afraid and called on the government for a

solution, needing funding for research to identify treatments for HIV The answer to one issue ultimately led to problematic laws that have been enacted in various states, some more specific and harmful than others. Over time, treatments became available, Ryan White funding created access to care for people with HIV, and people began living longer fuller lives. As time passed, the laws that seemed practical in 1986 were no longer. There has been progress in fighting HIV, including once-a-day treatments, pre-exposure prophylaxis, and the fact that a person living with HIV on their antiretroviral treatment six months or longer (and reaching an undetectable level of the virus) cannot pass the virus on to their partner sexually. The latter development has brought communities vulnerable to HIV and people living with HIV beyond the shadows of stigma. This HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day and the partnership with the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation adds to that, combining resources and community to continue to change states’s HIV-specific laws or health codes to remove

for people living with HIV. Iowa, Colorado, California, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, and Washington are just the beginning of these changes. Incredible victories supported by organizations like those in the Health Not Prisons Collective have forced legislators to face their stigmatizing enforcement of laws.

I joined this movement in 2016; having lived with HIV for 13 years and having never heard of the laws in this way, I had to be a part of that change. I believe in amplifying racial justice, I believe in expanding advocacy networks, and I believe fully in the power of the people. I think it’s essential to have awareness days like HIV Is Not a Crime Day, among all of our other HIV awareness

days, to support and empower people living with HIV who are impacted by mass incarceration. The opportunity to tell the stories of survivors who were held in prisons by systemic racism, heteronormative violence, sexual violence, and stigma adds to the collective power in decriminalizing HIV. While we wait to change laws, people are still vulnerable to policymakers' bias, and this awareness day, along with the tools it will offer, helps people become activated in the movement and make clear that criminalization is never a solution to a health challenge. The movement can be the force that alters the response to health challenges by uniting against policing, prosecution, and imprisonment in public health crises. I think it’s essential for the justice system to be informed by those

impacted by outdated, unjust, and dehumanizing laws.

Join me and others this February 28 and declare that HIV Is Not a Crime and take more steps toward removing the residue of stigma sticking to the fibers of systemic oppression and violence. Join survivors of HIV criminalization by showing support in amplifying this discussion beyond the capitol buildings, outside of the coalition strategy meetings, and into spaces that allow for radical, critical, and meaningful change.

Kamaria Laffrey is program director for HIV policy reform with the Sero Project, offering strategic planning and community mobilization training to state leaders living with HIV to change their HIV criminalization laws.

Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts Shares Sweet Tribute To Partner After Cancer Diagnosis

By Drew Baska

Good Morning America (GMA) host Robin Roberts has shared a heartwarming tribute to her partner after she was diagnosed with cancer.

The veteran news anchor announced she would be stepping away from Good Morning America from “time to time” on Thursday (23 February) as her partner Amber Laign was beginning chemotherapy after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Robin Roberts told fans that her “sweet” partner had been diagnosed “at the end of last year”. She added that Laign had undergone surgery last month and was starting chemotherapy.

Since then, Roberts has shared messages for her other half through the couple’s Instagram account dedicated to their beloved rescue dog, Lukas.

She shared an adorable photo of the Tibetan Spaniel Papillion mix standing on the sofa with a fluffy toy in his mouth.

“Love you mommy….. you got

this,” the caption read.

Roberts also shared a picture of Laign and Lukas on her personal Instagram. She snapped a candid shot of Laign holding a large camera as she sits outside with Lukas amid some freshly fallen snow in their backyard.

Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts Says Partner In ‘Good Spirits’

After Cancer Diagnosis

Robin Roberts said that she and her partner Amber Laign are “immensely grateful for all the well wishes and prayers” from fans, wishing they get the same “returned to you tenfold”.

“She’s in good spirits, enjoying her passion for nature and photography,” Roberts added.

Roberts came out publicly in 2013 and announced that she was in a long-term relationship with Laign.

The couple have been together for almost 17 years, Roberts wrote on Instagram last week, and have “helped each other through our challenges like my journey with cancer”.

Roberts underwent surgery and chemotherapy for breast can-

cer in 2007. Years later, in 2012, she shared that she was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder, myelodysplastic syndrome, and had a lifesaving bone marrow transplant. Robin Roberts said it was her turn to “be there for [Laign] like she was for me” during her health journey.

“We know many, many are facing cancer and other challenges,” Roberts said. “Like my mama said, ‘Everybody’s got something’. Please know that you are in our prayers and hopefully we’re in yours too. Blessings to all.”

While data from the Lesbian Bar Project has revealed that there are less than two dozen lesbian bars left in the United States, down from more than 200 in the 1980s, there's new hope for lesbian spaces in the post-lockdown era.

Recent reporting by The New York Times delved into a growing trend in LGBTQ+ nightlife: the revival of the lesbian bar. Citing the project's data, the paper examined if the desire and need for queer spaces have come back into focus.

“We need a bar like this,” Erica Butts, a 26-year-old performer who attended Dave’s Lesbian Bar pop-up event in Queens, told the Times. “This is euphoric, it’s a dream.” Dave’s was created by Kristin Dausch, a nanny and performer in Astoria. Dausch has announced a plan to open a neighborhood lesbian bar to

promote local musicians, mutual aid organizations, and fundraising events. They’ve been pooling donations with the intent to open a permanent space by the end of the year.

Dausch isn’t alone. On the opposite coast, Lauren Richter, the founder of Hot Donna’s Clubhouse in Los Angeles, plans to turn that monthly event night into a brick-and-mortar venue this year as well. “It’s more of a safe haven than just a bar or a watering hole. It’s so important to have a community space to congregate,” she told the Times.

In order to do so, however, Richter needs to raise an estimated $1 million dollars and that’s just the beginning. As Jen Jack Gieseking, author of an upcoming book about the history of lesbian bars told the Times, the costs of running a lesbian bar can be prohibitive. “People assigned female at birth generally drink less than

people assigned male, and we have less leisure spending,” explained Gieseking. And queer women tend to find partners outside of bars, including through activism, volunteering, or potlucks, they added.

Despite this and other challenges, these pop-ups continue to, well, pop up in places like Lesbian Social Detroit, She Life in Miami, Somebody’s Sister in San Francisco, As You Are Bar in Washington, D.C., and GrrlSpot in New Orleans. All of this underscores what Kort Lee, an attendee of Dave’s event in February, told the Times. “A lesbian-centered space is really special,” said Lee. “I’m a trans nonbinary person, and lesbian culture is as expansive. There are not a lot of social spaces for lesbians, and it’s important to keep that history alive, evolving, and thriving.”

Fly High in Vegas Without Leaving the Ground

By Jennifer Davis

It’s easy to miss Las Vegas’s latest attraction. Tucked between a Hard Rock Cafe and an outpost of the discount department store Ross, the red-hued entrance to FlyOver Las Vegas is relatively discreet, especially in a city known for over-the-top shows. Walk inside and you’re quickly delivered from the cacophony outside into an entry with quiet music and soft lighting. It’s a perfect environment to prep your senses for what’s about to come.

Opened last year, FlyOver is a flight simulator, akin to the Disneyland ride Soarin’. In fact, FlyOver is the brainchild of Disney Imagineer, Rick Rothschild, who crafted Soarin’. FlyOver features two separate simulated rides, one covering the varied landscape of the Wild West and the other sweeping riders over Iceland’s stunning topography.

FlyOver feels like a full experience, well worth the relatively modest admission ($34 for a single ride, $54 for a double feature, and even cheaper for kids). Riders are led through a long hallway lit in bright, shifting, hallucinatory colors. From there, there are two pre-shows in two separate theaters — the space was a former multiplex that somehow both relaxes riders and builds anticipation for what’s to come.

The ride itself follows that blueprint, being somehow calming and enthralling in equal measure. Utilizing seats that move, a 52-foot-long screen, wind, mists, and scents (though it’s mostly impossible to smell anything through face masks), FlyOver whisks you away from Sin City mentally, if not physically. The Wild West ride is a blast and includes a journey up and over the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and, of course, Vegas. The more high-energy Iceland experience is one for the books (especially for those of us stuck stateside), transporting riders to an alien environment of glaciers, waterfalls, and the colorful capital of Reykjavík. After each

ride, giant maps outside the theater display where the awe-inducing aerial photography was taken.

FlyOver adds to a growing roster of interactive activities in Vegas including the Area15 art campus and a trippy Van Gogh exhibit at the Shops at Crystals that help further shift the city’s identity from a singularly-focused gambling mecca to a more diverse destination.

www.flyoverlasvegas.com

Right after coming from filming RuPaul’s Drag Race, it is a whirlwind of artistry, performing, connecting with people and traveling. A lot of things that I wasn't able to do before I had this platform I got to do, and I really enjoyed it. However, I felt there was a small component missing. I think the component, now looking back at it, was the educational/learning part of it. As artists, we’re always learning new things to better ourselves and what we put out there in the universe that will live on forever. So I found myself in an area where I was really happy traveling and connecting with people, but I still had the urge to learn and to grow.

I was an active watcher of season 1 and 2 of HBO Max’s Legendary, and I had a few friends in the ballroom scene. When I was watching Legendary, I was drawing a parallel to my experience on television, because there is a pristineness to what we were seeing with the costumes and the production elements, but I felt like I had this newly equipped lens of being able to see through all that and see the nitty gritty. I knew there

me to having some interactions with people in the ballroom scene Arturo, the New York City father of Miyake -Mugler who led them to the win on season 2 of Legendary, and Naja Miyake-Mugler, who is very well known for drag's face and is also the New York City house mother. I will say that I’m not sure a lot of folks know this, but I had been in conversation with a lot of other houses as well.

I think the defining moment for me was when I got invited to a ballroom family gathering moment and no other house invited me to anything like that. I really appreciated that. I could instantly tell that MiyakeMugler was all about family and community and that was something that I didn't have. I spoke a bit about not having an immediate drag family on my season. So now, kind of seeing on the horizon the possibility of me having a ballroom family, I'd never thought about that. I quickly realized that this could not only enrich my experience as an artist as a drag queen but also as a person of color finding their way in New York City. I quickly found myself under their wing and I got swept into the ballroom scene and I love every second of it.

Before I joined I did not attend a lot of balls. I did know of OTA, which is at 3 Dollar Bill in Brooklyn on Mondays. But other than that, you know, what about the larger-scale balls that everybody was talking about? I wanted something more than just “I like ballroom scene because I saw Legendary.” That is that to me is the same parallel as “I like drag because I watched RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Drag Race isn't all of drag, it’s a snapshot of drag that we all love and that we all like to connect to. And it's a really great platform to then get to know drag artists and drag communities further from there. It’s the same with Legendary. If RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 was my undergrad, then I like to think of the ballroom scene as my graduate-level evolution this is me in grad school.

In August I went to Atlanta after the Muglers asked if I wanted to join the house. There, I reconnected with LaLa Ri, another Black artist that I respect and love, and we were

talking about the ballroom community. She was really excited for me, and I remember just getting ready for the induction & learning as much as I could in that period of time. At the induction, we had Zoom calls of house members all over the world. It was this long day of interviews and showcasing your talent. It was the first time I was really in front of everybody, but it felt like home & family. I got inducted, then literally the next day was the Balmain ball, and I made my debut with the House of Miyake-Mugler in our all black looking chic, looking fly. It was incredible. The most amazing feeling I've ever felt. I walked a category for the first time a few months later at the Icon ball, in October.

Naja is my ballroom mother. With anything related to ballroom, I'm constantly chatting with her about concepts and themes. It's so fun because I love makeup & I love selling face. I love giving it out there on the ballroom floor. It is a different feeling and different jush than performing a lip-sync number. Me & Naja talk about that a lot. I send her selfies of me in drag and she'll give me some notes and pointers, whether it be my eyebrows or the eye shapes that I'm creating or maybe using less glitter and trying to lean into more of a natural-looking face because I can. You know, like I don’t need glitter to get my tens. In preparation for Coldest Winter Ever, I created my

dress and a good friend of mine did my wig. I truly feel that when you're preparing, you have to believe in everything that you're doing, what you're putting on your face and your body. It helps you so much when you're selling the moment. When I put all of it on, for me there’s a final step in becoming that evolved Liv Miyake-Mugler. That’s interacting with my ballroom family. I put it all on and they're hyping me up, and they're telling me, Miss Thing you are giving! You are giving! Come on, sell it! Those are the moments.

It feels so supercharged when you’re battling it feels like supernova. You get to that level where you think you're at your highest the point and then you hear your house chant and you feel literally on fire. The anxiety and the rush and all of the things that I love about theater and theatrics and putting on a show are there. You can wait there for hours for your category. You’re anticipating going out there on the floor, but also you can't have any expectation of anything because you could get chopped. That's the reality of the ballroom floor.

When I was up there, I felt fully in the moment. And yes, the grand battle at the end with Mariah Paris Balenciaga was a moment but let's not forget the lead up to that: Me, tournament-style, annihilating all the other girls before her. For me, that was such an amazing moment because I

had to believe in myself. Even afterwards, my house was just very proud that I was able to really make a name for myself.

Mariah, I mean she is an absolute icon, and since I got on Drag Race, people have been telling me that I favored her & I was so honored that people would even connect me with her. She is an icon, and not just in ballroom but in drag and the Drag Race world. So I had to put all that out the window because I was on the battleground.

Our arms interlocking was such a kismet moment because when you're in it, you're focusing so much on yourself. When I was there, I almost don't remember the locking-in the moment. Like, you kind of just do it. It wasn't choreographed, obviously. Looking back, it's almost like the hand did it organically touching elbows. It was such an organic moment. That’s when I kind of knew that I was meant to be there. A moment like that cannot be as organic as it was without the notion of all of the stars aligning. That's what that felt like for me.

The moment after they announced grand prize to Mariah, it was such a great moment to just be existing. In the video, it is so cool to look back because you see the breaking of character when we were finally able to hug each other. It felt like we created something. And according to the internet, we did.

Prada's iconic triangular logo shines on a brushed-leather loafer tastefully updated with a ridged sole resembling tiny chocolate bars.

Thanks to Prada, you can wear the radiance of winter scenes — the light, the shine, the iridescence in new crystalencrusted accessories. Step out in this update of the classic penny loafer made of satin and studded with heat-sealed crystals. Sparkling like diamonds on your shoes, the crystals scatter glimmers of light with every step you take, whether in the TSA line or on

the streets of Paris. There even a matching Prada bucket hat, if you want to dazzle from head to toe. (prada.com)

Total quality as point of departure, constant innovation without abandoning tradition, searching and selection of materials combined with impeccable manufacturing. These are the product characteristics of this brand, an icon of "Made in Italy," founded by Mario Prada in 1913 and later developed into an international business by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli.

season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, but “The Icon” insists she preferred coming second.

The drag queen opened up about her time on the series during a chat with Trixie Mattel and explained how she struggled with the reception she received from viewers. The show’s finale saw Kandy battle against Gottmik, Rosé and Symone to claim the crown and the $100,000 cash prize in the grand final in 2021.

Indeed, the top four served sickening performances during a Britney Spears lip sync showdown. However, Symone beat out Kandy which saw the “Ebony Enchantress” become the triumphant Drag Race winner.

During the YouTube chat with her fellow performer, the 27year-old explained that she had been glad she didn’t win due to the fact she hadn’t been the fan-favorite like some had predicted.

“It was wild because when we left filming… everyone, myself, the queens, everyone thought I was gonna be like, fan-favorite number one at the time,” she

explained. “And I was like, I believed it.”

However, the fan reaction was completely different as she continued: “The response was the complete opposite. I was so confused. Why? And I was like, what am I doing wrong that people are not getting?”

Kandy, who was the series’ first Dominican competitor, was called a bully by some fans due to her outspoken opinions and attitude.

Revealing her reaction at the time, Kandy added: “Am I coming off too strong? Are people not used to seeing someone as real as me on Drag Race?

“I always tell people, if you watch the show back and see how much the girls actually loved me, doesn’t that tell you something? That those girls like me enough to want me to still be there, so why do you dislike me?”

The backlash caused Kandy to want to avoid causing further reasons for viewers to dislike her.

Speaking her final lip sync, she added: “The reality is I didn’t

want to have any chances of winning the show because of the backlash that I would have received.

“So I was like, you know what, not that I’m going to throw it, I’m going to go up there, represent for my country, pull out the flag, and have a good time, but like, I don’t want to come anywhere close… to winning Drag Race because the backlash would be insane.”

Trixie observed: “When you lose, every conversation starts with, ‘You were so good, I wanted you to win.’ When you win, every conversation is about did you deserve it.”

In fact, coming second seems to have been the most ideal situation for Kandy as she told Trixie that fans are much nicer to her now.

Walkout To Protest

Don t Say Gay’ Bill

By Jamie Massengill

Students across Florida have organized class walkouts on Thursday to protest the proposed “don’t say gay” bill under consideration by the Florida Legislature after an image spread on social media calling for students and schools to participate in the statewide action.

A student at Colonial High School in Orlando, Dariel Cruz Rodriguez, shared footage from a protest held at the

school. In it, a female student takes to the microphone to denounce the legislation, that would limit discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in Florida schools that aren’t deemed as “age appropriate” by the state.

“Schools are a safe space away from home, especially for LGBTQ+ students who don’t receive that kind of support at home,” she said. “Gender identity is not taboo. It’s not something we should ignore or take away from our primary schools.”

And that’s not the only place protests are occurring.

Rodriguez, vice president of the student council at Colonial High School, told The Advocate, “We as students need to stand up for each other. As issues arise that can negatively impact our peers, we have to show love and solidarity to one another because that is how we can accomplish change. No matter our age, we are still a group of committed people who want to be heard.”

He said the walkout was organized in collaboration with the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance.

And that’s not the only place protests are occurring. A senior at a high school in Flagler County, Fla., was suspended after handing out Pride flags during the walkout, Flagler Live reports. Senior Jack Petocz, the student organizer of the walkout, had several meetings with the administration, including principal Greg Schwartz, about the event.

Local TV station WTSP broadcast aerial footage of students at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg flooding en masse out of class.

Michael Womack of Equality Florida sent photographs of a protest at Freedom High School in Orlando. He said it was “sent to me by one of the teachers who saved me.”

Womack emphasized that the walkouts were student-led. “We did not organize them,” he wrote in another tweet.

Students from Rutherford High School in Plant City also poured out of class in large numbers, one waving a hand-written poster proclaiming “You can’t SILENCE LGBTQ youth!!!”

That particularly touched Equality Florida Chair Nadine Smith, who tweeted: “This is my alma mater. I was senior class president. An honor student. Captain of sports teams. Head yearbook photographer. And I was deeply closeted. Totally isolated and depressed. The Don’t Say Gay bill wants that for students today. We say NO!” Students in Sarasota lined the streets to chant, “No homophobes. No In nearby Lakewood Ranch, walkouts drew media attention. “I feel that we have to take our time out of our day to talk about it,” junior Nicole Bundy told the Tampa Bay Times. In Tallahassee, students in the afternoon started marching around the Florida Capitol in protest of the bill, which already passed in the Florida House and will be considered by the Senate next week. Students ended up filing around the entrance to the House and Senate floor, waving rainbow flags and cheering, “We will not be victims.”

The walkouts are taking place as LGBTQ+ activists protest Walt Disney World for not taking a stance against the bill despite holding commercial Pride events like Gay Days annually.

Apple Adds Gender-Neutral Siri Option Voiced By Queer Person Called Quinn

By David Vandygriff

Apple is testing out a gender-neutral Siri voice in its latest iOS beta, reportedly named Quinn.

iOS 15.4, currently in testing, will offer a new voice option for its digital assistant that isn’t explicitly male or female, Axios reported.

Apple confirmed that the new voice was recorded by a member of the LGBT+ community, but it didn’t offer any comment about the voice actor’s identity.

The tech giant told Axios that it was “excited” to introduce the new Siri voice to give “users more options to choose a voice that speaks to them”.

“Millions of people around the world rely on Siri every day to help get things done, so we work to make the experience feel as personalized as possible,” Apple said.

The gender-neutral voice, simply labelled as option five on the Siri menu, was added to the beta of iOS 15.4 that was released to developers and the public on Tuesday (22 February).

But Steve Moser, an iOS

developer and MacRumors contributor, reported on Twitter that the filename refers to the new gender-neutral voice as “Quinn” – perhaps a reference to the trans footballer and Olympic gold medalist.

The new voice is part of an effort by the tech giant to offer a more diverse array of options. It arrives nearly a year after Apple added two Siri voice options recorded by Black actors and stopped defaulting to using a femalesounding voice.

Apple said in a statement at the time that the company was continuing its “long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion” by offering “products

and services that are designed to better reflect the diversity of the world we live in”.

Previously, Siri defaulted to a female voice, but now users are required to select their preferred option when starting the process of setting up their devices. They can change Siri’s voice at any time in the future if they prefer.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is one of the richest – and most powerful – LGBT+ people in the world. However the tech giant drew criticism last year when it was accused of enabling the widespread censorship of LGBT+ apps in 152 different countries in a damning report.