David Cameron has pledged to tackle prejudice against transgender people and said “one of the most important things” is to combat bullying in schools related to sexual orientation.
“I think we need to take a look at what the issues are and what the specific issues of discrimination that trans people have,” said the prime minister. “I think one of the most important things is what happens in our schools, particularly homophobic and biphobic bullying.” Read More
Australia: MP sees gay plot in anti-bully scheme
In a presentation to Liberal MPs at Parliament House, Peter Abetz has warned colleagues that an anti-bullying program, Safe Schools Coalition Australia, is actually a "gay lifestyle promotion program" and should be stopped from coming to Western Australia.
The SSCA program, he said, crossed the line into advocacy and was "really not an anti-bullying program". "In fact, when you look at it closer, it really is little more than a gay, lesbian, transgender lifestyle promotion program," Mr Abetz said. "The militant gay lesbian lobby is trying to get this into our schools to 'normalise' what they consider the LGBTI agenda."
Shadow minister for disability services, mental health and child protection, Stephen Dawson, a supporter of the program, said the comments were "misguided and homophobic". Read More
Northern Ireland: Outrage over proposed anti-LGBT bill
LGBT activists across Northern Ireland are in uproar over a planned legal amendment that would allow anti-gay discrimination. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) – the biggest political party in Northern Ireland – is trying to introduce a so-called 'conscience clause' to equality laws that would allow businesses to refuse service to LGBT people if they felt it was in violation of their faith. Nearly 150,000 people have signed a petition against the bill. Read More
US: Everything you need to know about the gay discrimination wars in 2015
The fight over gay rights continues in conservative corners of the country, where legislators are advancing laws that would, intentionally or not, ensure that gay people can be refused service, fired or evicted simply for being gay.
There are no national laws protecting against these forms of discrimination, so the matter has been left up to individual communities. A growing list of cities, for instance, are passing gay anti-discrimination ordinances, which has raised the ire of their more conservative state houses.
In this year’s legislative session, similar bills in several states are striking back against gay rights. Read More
South Africa: Gay MP holds hands with partner at State of the Nation Address
Openly gay MP Ian Ollis has responded to the social media buzz sparked by him holding his boyfriend’s hand at the State of the Nation Address (SONA). Ollis was photographed arriving outside Parliament hand in hand with partner Adriaan Roets. The proud display of same-sex affection at a high profile official state function has been praised by the LGBT community.
Ollis, a DA MP, said that he was surprised by the fuss. “I didn’t realise that holding hands was such a ‘thing’,” he said.
Trinidad and Tobago: ‘Adoption law must deal with same-sex, disabled issues’
Persons who are disabled, gay and who choose to have a child through surrogacy should be included in the laws with respect to adoption. These were the views expressed by Independent and Opposition senators at the Senate sitting as they debated The Adoption of Children (Amendment) Bill, 2014.
Opposition Senator Shamfa Cudjoe said that we live in modern times where same-sex couples are treated equally in other countries with respect to adoption and the legislation should also reflect this. Read More
France: President calls for tougher laws on anti-gay and anti-Semitic hate speech
French President Francois Hollande has vowed to introduce tougher penalties for racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic crimes in the wake of last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris.
Speaking at a dinner hosted by the country’s Jewish community, the President called for “faster, more effective sanctions” against hate speech and added: “I want such speech to come under criminal law rather than press laws.” Read More
US: Members of congress object to free-trade deal with countries criminalizing LGBT people
Five out LGBT members of Congress objected to the inclusion of two countries with anti-LGBT laws that include punishment of death by stoning, in a free trade deal that the Obama administration is currently seeking to fast-track it for adoption.
A letter sent to the president, the members asked why Malaysia and Brunei are part of a trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which also includes several other nations in Asia and Latin America.
Labor unions and other advocacy groups have long voiced concern that TPP could set too low a bar for signatories, but the pact became a serious concern for LGBT-rights groups last spring after the sultan of Brunei imposed a version of sharia law with death penalty for homosexuality along with other sexual offenses. Read More
Kazakhstan: Senate approves ‘gay propaganda’ draft bill
The Senate of Kazakhstan has approved a draft law outlawing promotion of “non-traditional sexual orientation”. The bill, similar to the infamous Russian bill, is intended to protect children from harmful information. Although homosexuality has been legal in Kazakhstan since 1998, it is still widely frowned upon in society.
Aldan Smayil, member of Kazakhstan’s lower parliament, said: “The draft provides a ban on information products depicting cruelty and violence, provoking children to life-threatening acts, including suicide, containing scenes of pornographic, sexual and erotic nature, promoting non-traditional sexual orientation.
On presenting the draft, Mr Smayil said it’s intent was “to protect children from information that kills the feeling of warmth and humanity, which is harmful to the health and psyche, promotes violence and is, in short, spiritually devastating to the younger generation.” Read More
India's Justice Shah: Sec 377 damaging psychological well-being of homosexuals
Law Commission Chairman Justice Ajit Prakash Shah has said that the Supreme Court's December 2013 decision to uphold Section 377 of the IPC and re-criminalise gay sex was constitutionally wrong as it deprives homosexuals of basic rights and also affects them psychologically.
"Section 377 is discriminatory in its application, unreasonable in its intent, deprives a group of its personal autonomy and violates individual privacy and human dignity. Consequences of the laws in our country on gay sex include damage to the psychological well being of homosexuals, encouragement of violence and facilitation of police harassment and discrimination against the LGBT community," Justice Shah said. Read More
What to Do When 'I Do' Is Done
With the widely shared expectation that the Supreme Court will soon return to the issue of marriage and may strike down marriage bans nationwide, LGBT leaders find themselves asking a question that would have seemed improbable just a few years ago: What should be the priorities of the LGBT movement once legal marriage equality has been achieved?
The most likely candidate for the kind of coordinated, national- and state-level strategy that fueled the marriage equality campaign is a push to get all LGBT Americans covered by laws barring discrimination against them in employment, housing, health care, and public accommodations. Brutal persecution of LGBT people around the globe, often with the collusion or encouragement of American anti-gay activists, is another growing concern. Those issues are likely to draw support from across the ideological spectrum of LGBT organizations. Read More
Slovakia: Referendum to bar same-sex couples from marrying and adopting fails
A proposal to deny same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt failed in Slovakia on Saturday because turnout did not reach the 50% threshold required to become law under the country’s voting rules.
Though it didn't pass by default, the vote reflects a growing backlash in Eastern Europe against LGBT rights. Slovakia is one of four Eastern European countries to pass laws denying legal recognition to same-sex couples since 2012, the same time that a growing number of countries in Western Europe have adopted full marriage equality. Read More