Czech senate begins dealing with partnership bill... or not
UK review of gender care enrages trans activists
🇨🇿 Czechia: Senate committees have been examining the enhanced civil partnership bill that was passed by the lower house earlier this year. While some senators have put forward an amendment that would have replaced it with equal marriage, no committee has accepted the amendment, in part because there’s no guarantee the lower house would reconsider. Meanwhile, an anti-LGBT group is lobbying the Senate to water-down the partnership law by stripping the right to stepchild adoption. One more committee will weigh in on Tuesday before the senate deals with the bill in plenary.
The Senate can either pass the bill as it came from the house or take no action, in which case the bill goes to the president, who’s expected to sign it into law. Or, it can amend the bill or reject it, in which case it goes back to the house, who will either have to reaffirm the bill or accept the amendment with an absolute majority of 101 votes in favor before it gets sent to the president. The original bill managed 118 votes.
🇵🇱 Poland: Prime minister Donald Tusk says the draft civil union law is “ready” but won’t be submitted to parliament until the four parties in the coalition have agreed on it. They’re each set to decide on their positions next week.
🇬🇧 UK: The government’s review of gender care has come back, and it’s come under fire for its biases against gender care. In particular, the review ignored studies supporting gender-affirming care because they weren’t double-blind, which is an impossible standard (a teen is going to notice very quickly if they’re not being given hormone therapy), and relied on outdated and discredited science and gender stereotypes. The report concludes that doctors should be more cautious about providing care or social transition to youth up to age 25. The opposition Labour Party has said it will work to bring in the reports recommendations if elected.
🇳🇱 Netherlands: The Amsterdam City Council chamber where the first modern gay marriages were held in 2001 is getting a renovation, and some Dutch news outlets are concerned that a piece of history will be lost in the facelift.
🇨🇼 🇦🇼 Since we’re talking about the Netherlands, we’re still expecting the Court of Cassation in The Hague to rule on same-sex marriage in Curacao and Aruba by the end of May.
🇨🇴 Colombia: A judge was sentenced to 15 years of disqualification for refusing to marry a same sex couple.
🇦🇷 Argentina: Activists are working toward advancing a conversion therapy ban, but this sounds at odds with the agenda of the radical right-wing government running the country.
🇲🇽 Mexico: A legislator is also trying to push a conversion therapy ban in Michoacan state. The federal ban awaits a final vote in the senate.
🇨🇩 DR Congo: An opposition MP has put forward a bill to criminalize homosexuality. It’s unlikely to pass, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
🇿🇦 South Africa: The proposed harmonized Marriage Act is open for public comment, but it’s unlikely to pass before elections May 24.
Meanwhile in the States…
👍Connecticut: A proposed equal rights and abortion amendment cleared its first committee hurdle on Tuesday, and goes to both houses for approval. It requires ¾ majorities in both houses to pass, and Democrats do not have that margin on their own, so they’d need substantial Republican buy-in.
A similar amendment is being considered by Minnesota Democrats.
👍Pennsylvania: The state boards of Psychiatry and Osteopathic Medicine have both announced policies that conversion therapy is unprofessional conduct that could bring administrative penalties. Pennsylvania won’t pass a full legal ban on conversion therapy – or likely any other pro-LGBT legislation – unless and until Democrats take control of the senate in November – they need a net gain of three seats from the 25 up for election.
👍 Florida: A federal judge has ruled that the state cannot require that a trans teacher use gender-inappropriate titles or pronouns.
🤷♂️ Tennessee: The legislature passed a bill banning first cousins from marrying. The bill was only opposed by two Republicans, one the grandchild of first cousins, who defended first-cousin marriage as being better than same-sex marriage (which is still barred in defunct statutes and the state constitution in Tennessee).
🤷♂️ South Carolina: Just days after Myrtle Beach passed a hate crimes ordinance, Summerville city council was considering one, but voted 4-3 to postpone the vote to next month. SC is one of just three states without a statewide hate crime law.
😡 Louisiana: House Republicans pushed two bills out of committee that would ban teachers from discussing LGBT topics in classrooms and would bar students from changing their name or pronoun without parental consent. They also killed a bill that would have outlawed employment discrimination against LGBT people.