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#20GayTeen: 10 Big International LGBTQ News Stories This Year

This year's biggest international stories impacting the LGBTQ community.

This year's international news items for the LGBTQ community stretch across the globe and include key moments of both progress and setback. Here are some of the biggest stories that took place abroad in 2018.

Historic LGBTQ Representation at the Olympics

Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images

GANGNEUNG, Pyeongchang- FEBRUARY 20 - Pairs Figure Skater and Gold and Bronze medalist Eric Radford was on hand at the opening of Pride House hosted by Canada House at the Gangneung Ice Arena at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in Gangneung in Pyeongchang in South Korea. February 20, 2018. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

The 2018 Winter Olympics had a historic number of LGBTQ athletes, with a total of 15. Many of them won medals, including American figure skater Adam Rippon, who won a bronze, and also made headlines for criticizing Vice President Mike Pence as the choice to lead the U.S. delegation and for skipping the traditional White House visit.

Canadian pair skater Eric Randford became the first openly gay athlete to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics. Randford and skating partner Meagan Duhamel also became the first team to complete a quadruple throw jump at any Winter Olympic competition when she landed their throw quadruple Salchow.

Openly bisexual speed skater Ireen Wüst, from the Netherlands, also medaled, winning gold.

Marriage Equality Wins in Costa Rica

EZEQUIEL BECERRA/AFP/Getty Images

A couple is pictured during a demonstration in front of the Supreme Court of Justice in San Jose, on August 04, 2018 to demand the legalisation of same-sex marriage. - Protesters demand Costa Rica to enforce its commitment to international treaties, based on the response given by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (ICHR) on last January 9 saying the country must guarantee marriage between same-sex couples. (Photo by EZEQUIEL BECERRA / AFP) (Photo credit should read EZEQUIEL BECERRA/AFP/Getty Images)

This year's presidential election in Costa Rica saw the center-left's Alvarado Quesada handily defeated conservative Alvarado Munoz. Quesada ran in part on promising to allow same-sex marriage.

Then, this summer, the country's Supreme Court ruled the country's same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional and discriminatory, giving legislators a time limit of 18 months to change current law.

Sydney Gay Pride Celebrates Same-Sex Marriage

PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images

TOPSHOT - People take part in the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade in Sydney on March 4, 2017. Thousands of revellers took part in iconic festival, which celebrates sexual equality in the heart of Australia's biggest city. / AFP PHOTO / PETER PARKS (Photo credit should read PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)

This year's Sydney Pride Parade was particularly notable, coming on the heels of the nation legalizing marriage equality. It was also the 40th anniversary of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. And if that wasn't enough, Cher headlined the event.

This year’s Mardi Gras honored the 78ers, a group of people involved in the original protest, which took place on June 24, 1978 as a peaceful march for gay rights that sparked the annual parade.

Costa Rica Allows Trans People to Change Name, Gender on Documents

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SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA - JUNE 30: The 43rd annual San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Pride Celebration & Parade makes its way in Costa Rica on June 30, 2013 in San Jose, Costa Rica. (Photo by Fotogenia/LatinContent/Getty Images)

In another win for the LGBTQ community in Costa Rica, the country's high court ruled in favor of transgender people looking to change the name and gender marker on official documents to match their identity.

While transgender people have been able to change their legal name on documentation since 2013, it required a judicial order and changing the actual gender was not allowed.

U.K. Prime Minister Apologizes for Colonial-Era Anti-LGBTQ Laws

Dominika Zarzycka/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom gives his final remarks at the final press conference during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London, England, April 20, 2018. (Photo by Dominika Zarzycka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May apologized for colonial-era anti-LGBTQ laws that criminalized homosexuality, which is still in place in some nations.

"As the United Kingdom’s prime minister, I deeply regret both the fact that such laws were introduced and the legacy of discrimination, violence, and death that persists today," May said at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in May.

Turkish Police Attack Istanbul Pride

BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

Turkish riot policemen beats a LGBT rights activist as people take part in a march on July 1, 2018 in Istanbul, after Turkish authorities banned the annual Gay Pride Parade for a fourth year in a row. - Around 1,000 people gathered on a street near Istiklal Avenue and Taksim Square where organisers wanted to originally hold the parade, an AFP photographer said. Police warned activists to disperse but used rubber bullets against some who tried to access Istiklal Avenue. (Photo by BULENT KILIC / AFP) (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

In July, Turkish police attacked the Istanbul Pride march after around 1,000 demonstrators ignored a ban and gathered to wave rainbow flags and signs calling for acceptance and rights for the community. It was the fourth consecutive year that the demonstration had been banned, with the authorities citing safety concerns for the decision.

"The governor cited the excuse of security in its decision to ban the march and in one word, this is comical. Our marches went on peacefully without being banned for 13 years," organizers said in a statement.

Hong Kong Rules in Favor of Spousal Visas for Same-Sex Couples

VIVEK PRAKASH/AFP/Getty Images

Pedestrians walk outside the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on July 4, 2018. - A British lesbian won the right to live and work in Hong Kong with her partner in a landmark decision on July 4 by the top court in the city, where same-sex unions are not recognised. (Photo by VIVEK PRAKASH / AFP) (Photo credit should read VIVEK PRAKASH/AFP/Getty Images)

Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal ruled in favor of spousal visas for same-sex couples, a decision activists hope will accelerate LGBTQ equality in city. On Wednesday, justices ruled unanimously that a foreign lesbian couple—identified in court papers only as QT and SS—were entitled to spousal visas, overturning a previous ruling that would have prevented the pair from remaining in Hong Kong for work.

Marriage Equality Upheld in Bermuda

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Bermuda’s highest court ruled right of same-sex couples to marry in the British island territory. The judges ruled that banning same-sex couples from wedding in Bermuda was unconstitutional. The Bermudan Gov. John Rankin then signed a law rescinding equal marriage and replacing it with domestic partnerships. After back-and-forth, the Bermudan Court of Appeals ruled against government officials and in favor of marriage equality advocates.

Taiwan Votes Against Marriage Equality

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KETAGALAN BOULEVARD, TAIPEI, TAIWAN - 2017/10/28: LGBT activists prepare one of the large rainbow banners that is carried at the front of the Taiwan Pride Parade. Over 100 000 people were expected at the 2017 Taiwan LGBT Pride. The theme for the event was "Make Love, Not War - Sex Ed is the Way to Go" with organizers calling for greater education on the diversity of genders. (Photo by Craig Ferguson/LightRocket via Getty Images)

In November, voters in Taiwan rejected the legalization of marriage equality in a series of ballot referenda. The country's high court ruled in favor of marriage equality last year, but it was left to Taiwan’s legislature to amend the nation’s civil code or pass a law allowing for marriage equality. Had the vote gone the other way, Taiwan would have been the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.

Hundreds Flee Anti-LGBTQ Crackdown in Tanzania

Kevin Sief / The Washington Post via Getty Images

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - November 16, 2016: A gay man with HIV stands in a clinic in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Due to the government's crackdown on the gay community, the man has been afraid to pick his medicine up for two weeks, in spite of the massive risks to his health. (Photo by Kevin Sief / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Hundreds are feeling Tanzania after the government there instituted a crackdown against the LGBTQ community.

The governor of the country’s economic capital, Dar es Salaam, Paul Makonda, encouraged citizens to turn in those they knew to be, or suspected to be, gay, and said officials would scour social media posts to find LGBTQ people and arrest them. While the federal government distanced itself from the proclamation, arrests were reported and the fear spread throughout the region, causing the mass fleeing.

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