Tag Archives: LGBT rights

The Times Of Israel reports: The government announced on Sunday that there are no intentions to change the law and allow gay couples to adopt in Israel. In response to a High Court petition, the state said that it was opposed to allowing same-sex couples to adopt because it would place an “additional burden” on the child. “The professional opinion …

The Korea Herald reports: Tens of thousands of people marched through central Seoul on Saturday to stand up for equality for sexual minorities in South Korea’s biggest pride parade, despite vocal opposition from anti-gay protesters. Despite sporadic rain, 85,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their supporters gathered at Seoul Plaza, rally organizers said. It was the largest crowd …

Last week Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered a secret address to an infamous anti-LGBT hate group which advocates for criminalizing homosexuality. (And against many other civil rights for LGBT citizens.) The DOJ repeatedly declined to release the transcript of Sessions’ speech, which only appeared later in the week on a right wing site after a Freedom Of Information Act demand …

TMZ reports: Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov sat for an interview with David Scott from Real Sports and it’s shocking. There are reports 27 people were recently murdered by the government – killed because they were gay, something the government has denied because the party line is that there are no gays in the country. Kadyrov says, “To purify our blood, …

The Washington Post reports: First, Caitlyn Jenner claimed she wanted to be a “trans ambassador” to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) during his presidential campaign. Then she cast her ballot for President Trump in the November election. And now, Jenner — the famed transgender icon and one of the few high-profile celebrities to throw staunch support behind the Republican commander in …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: A new bill led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in the U.S. Senate would make gay couples potentially eligible for a refund on their back taxes if they married more than three years before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act. The legislation, called the Refund Equality Act, …

Via press release: With the support of leaders from the civil rights, social justice and faith communities, Congressman Joe Kennedy III (MA-04) and Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), Ranking Member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, today reintroduced legislation to amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The Do No Harm Act would clarify that no one can seek religious exemption …

Reuters reports: Maltese lawmakers voted on Wednesday to legalize same-sex marriage on the Roman Catholic Mediterranean island, fulfilling Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s campaign promise to make this the first law brought before parliament in his new term. Malta was the 24th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage with today’s vote coming just two weeks after German lawmakers approved …

Via press release from the Democratic National Committee: You can judge a person by the company they keep and tonight – Attorney General Jeff Sessions is choosing to spend his time speaking in front of one of the country’s leading anti-LGBTQ hate groups. The Alliance Defending Freedom actively helped draft discriminatory legislation, worked to preserve laws criminalizing same-sex relations, and …

Time Magazine reports: The nation’s largest LGBT organization is setting aside $26 million to fund opposition to President Donald Trump’s agenda, the largest grassroots investment in the group’s 37-year history. The Human Rights Campaign’s move, which leaders are set to announce Tuesday, signals the group will ramp up spending on grassroots activism even after going all-in with Hillary Clinton in …

The Australian reports: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has poured cold water on a Liberal backbencher’s move to present a private member’s bill to allow a conscience vote on same-sex marriage. “The government’s policy is very clear: we support a plebiscite where all Australians would be given a vote on the matter and that remains our policy,” he told reporters in …

The Telegraph reports: Theresa May, who is at the G20 in Germany, released a message praising London for sending out a “proud and positive message to the world”. The Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s pledge to encourage other countries to ensure equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation, and to take a stand against hate crime at home. Mrs …

Deutsche Welle reports: A vote was not necessary in the upper house of Germany’s parliament, the Bundesrat, on Friday, because no state challenged the draft legislation. The original proposal for the law – and a large part of the initial pressure on Angela Merkel’s government to act – had come from the Bundesrat, where “marriage for all” (“Ehe für alle”) …

Buzzfeed News reports: The detention of LGBT people has resumed in the Russian republic of Chechnya, where dozens of gay men were reportedly tortured or killed by authorities earlier this year, according to the activist group Russia LGBT Network. The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta first reported that around 100 people had been kidnapped in the crackdown in April, but …

The New Zealand Herald reports: Green MP Marama Davidson used a harrowing example of the impact on her family of homophobia, remembering a young gay man who was killed by Davidson’s uncle in the 1980s. Her voice breaking, Marama spoke of the man during Parliament’s formal apology to the men convicted for consensual acts at a time homosexuality was illegal. …

From Russia’s TASS agency: US President Donald Trump’s possible question on the LGBT rights in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya at the upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t be left unanswered, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday. “If there is such a question [on gay rights] then there will be an answer,” Peskov said, pledging: …

The Independent reports: Parliament this evening approved the second reading of the bill introducing gay marriage, with one Nationalist MP, Edwin Vassallo, voting against. The committee stage, as announced this evening by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, will take place on Thursday and Friday with a final vote on the third reading to be taken on Wednesday 12 July. The Bill, …

The Guardian reports: A gay man in central China has successfully sued a psychiatric hospital over forced conversion therapy, in what activists are hailing as the first such victory in a country where the LGBT rights movement is gradually emerging from the fringes. A court in Zhumadian, in Henan province, has ordered a city psychiatric hospital to publish an apology …

Germany’s The Local reports: Bundestag Vice President Johannes Singhammer of Angela Merkel’s Bavarian sister party the CSU told Die Welt on Monday that his state’s government should bring the matter of same-sex marriage to the Constitutional Court. “In order to achieve legal clarity, I suggest that the Constitutional Court should be called upon,” Singhammer said. He added that individual citizens …

What’s On Weibo reports: Over the past few days, discussions about homosexuality are all over Chinese social media. On Friday, the China Netcasting Services Association issued new criteria to strengthen regulations over online audio-visual content on Chinese platforms. One of the new regulations regarded the removal of online content that “displays homosexuality”, grouping homosexuality together with incest and sexual perversity …