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And now, the news
🇹🇷 Turkiye: The government has once again banned Istanbul Pride, and has actually gone to the effort of blocking roads and metro stations to prevent the march from happening. The Erdogan government has long opposed LGBT rights and blocked Pride marches in the capital.
🇦🇼 Aruba: Last week, a same-sex marriage bill died in parliament on a 10-10 tie vote with one abstaining, just like what happened in March. In Aruba, if a bill fails to get a majority in two votes, it is considered dead.
The Court of Cassation in the Netherlands is due to rule July 12 on a case seeking the right to marriage in Aruba and neighboring Curacao (the ruling doesn’t seem to have direct application to Sint Maarten, the other constituent country of the Netherlands). It seems likely that the islands will still be the next to legalize same-sex marriage anyway.
🇺🇦 Ukraine: An MP tells the BBC that the draft bill on civil partnerships has been blocked in committee by legislators who have been pressured by religious groups.
🇵🇱 Poland: Still no agreement on civil unions in the coalition government, but it looks like the Left is coming around to compromising on adoptions just to get any kind of law in place that they can amend and expand later.
🇸🇬 Singapore: A gay couple has staged a lavish wedding to protest the island nation’s ban on same-sex marriage. Symbolic weddings have also recently occurred in Hong Kong and India.
🇵🇭 Philippines: The Commission on Human Rights has once again called on lawmakers to pass the SOGIESC Non-Discrimination bill, which has languished in Congress for more than 20 years.
🇳🇦 Namibia: The president is rejecting calls from an anti-LGBT group to fire the justice minister, amid (apparently false) allegations that she is lesbian and/or trans. A spokesperson says he does not hire or fire people based on sexual orientation. The group also wants the president to sign the anti-LGBT bill passed by parliament last year to ban gay marriage and LGBT activism, and is calling for a mass demonstration in the capital in August.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica: A legislator affirms that the bill to ban conversion therapy is going to pass despite a boycott threatened by conservative lawmakers. We’ll see.
🇨🇦 Canada: John Banks, the activist who organized Montreal’s first Pride march has passed away at age 80.
Also, the federal Liberal Party had a shocking defeat in a byelection in a central Toronto district that has been a Liberal stronghold for 40 years, so warning signs are flashing again that the (lately quite anti-LGBT) Conservatives are poised for a massive victory next fall.
Meanwhile in the States
🪖 President Biden is expected tomorrow to announce a blanket pardon for military service members convicted of sodomy or attempted sodomy under military courts before congress repealed the sodomy section of the US Military Code of Justice in 2013. The pardon is separate from the ongoing review of servicemembers who were discharged for homosexuality, and is expected to affect 2,000 people.
🏳️⚧️ The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case in the fall challenging state bans on gender care for trans youth. AP has a good explainer.
📉 Gallup polls have shown declining support for same-sex marriage in the USA, particularly among Republicans, where support has slipped below 50%. Still a supermajority of Democrats and Independents support it.
🏳️🌈 Activists are working on ballot initiatives in Ohio and Oregon to add anti-discrimination protections, abortion rights, and same-sex marriage rights to the state constitutions. It’s too late to appear on the November ballot, so they’re aiming for 2026.
In Oregon, state Democrats attempted to pass the same amendment through the legislature last year, but backed off as part of a compromise with Republicans who were boycotting the legislature and denying quorum (though they could try again next session if they win a larger majority in November, or if Republicans give up the boycott strategy, now that they are aware it has consequences).
Democrats hold no power in Ohio, so a citizen initiative is the only way to advance it. A ballot question this year will end gerrymandering in the state if it passes, which may help Democrats regain power in the state.
😡 Utah: In college campuses across the state, LGBT centers and other cultural resources are closing, to comply with the state’s law banning “DEI” offices.
😐 Massachusetts: The legal parentage equality bill has been given first reading in the state senate and sent to Ways and Means. Often that’s death for these bills, but lets hope it gets advanced out. Meanwhile, the sodomy decriminalization bill has just passed five months in the House Ways and Means Committee.
👍Oklahoma: The state supreme court slapped down the board of education’s attempt to fund a Catholic charter school, saying it would violate both the state and US constitutions’ separation of church and state. The governor has said he wants to appeal to the Supreme Court, but I don’t think SCOTUS can rule on a violation of the state constitution.