Over at the Los Angeles Blade, I have a new edition of Out in the World, diving a little deeper into some of the big stories from Europe last week, including Monaco’s top court rejecting same-sex marriage, Germany passing a gender self-determination law, Czechia’s senate reviewing the same-sex partnership law, fallout from the UK’s youth gender care review, and Belarus declaring that LGBT people are pornography. My editor also added a piece about Italy cracking down on surrogacy.
And now the news:
🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos Islands (UK): The government has formally filed an appeal in the recent same-sex marriage case. Although the Supreme Court ruled that the territory did not have to recognize same-sex marriage or authorize a residency permit to a binational same-sex couple, the government is still peeved that the court ruled its refusal of the permit was unconstitutionally discriminatory. The case will be heard by the local Court of Appeal (and eventually up to the Privy Council in London).
🇮🇶 Iraq: Amid pressure from Western diplomats, parliament delayed voting on a bill that would criminalize homosexuality with the death penalty and would also criminalize promotion of homosexuality.
🇨🇦 Canada: The government of British Columbia has introduced legislation to make it illegal to protest at or near schools, in response to a growing trend of rabid, anti-LGBT psychos turning up at schools and banging on windows to protest the province’s inclusive sex ed curriculum. The legislation has an automatic sunset clause in summer 2026, in hope that the trend dies out naturally.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s Conservative premier has used legal tactics to quell an internal party revolt that stems in part from last year’s snap anti-trans education policies, but it’s continuing to cost him supporters. He’ll face voters in the fall.
🇦🇺 Australia: The Liberal Party (which is actually the right-wing party in Oz) has recruited two candidates with anti-LGBT track records for upcoming elections – Owen Mulder, who once said gay couples were a “direct violation of God’s law,” will be running in the Western Australia state election in March 2025, and Mark Wales, who took the opportunity of his first speech as a candidate to defend JK Rowling’s anti-trans views, will be running federally in September 2025 (boy Australia nominates candidates crazy early).
Western Australia’s Labor government still has not advanced bills to ban conversion therapy or to legalize surrogacy – WA is the only part of Australia where surrogacy is illegal (Northern Territory legalized it in 2022, something I’d missed in previous year-end reviews).
🇲🇽 Mexico: The government is trying to weaken the ability of the judiciary to suspend or amend laws by amparo (injunction), in what critics are calling a naked bid for authoritarian power. Longtime readers know that many recent LGBT rights battles were won through the courts, including over marriage, adoption, and trans rights.
Meanwhile in the States…
👏 Maine: The state senate gave final passage to a proposed trans care and abortion shield law. It’s off to the governor, who’s expected to sign it.
👏 Kansas: The Democratic governor vetoed a bill banning trans care for youth. She vetoed a similar bill last year, and Republicans were unable to override it.
🤷♂️🗳️ New Hampshire: The state house voted to shelve two anti-LGBT bills – one would have neutered the state’s conversion therapy ban, and the other would have required the state to only recognize “biological sex” in athletic competition and prisons. Again, New Hampshire’s narrowly divided legislature and open governor’s seat are top targets for Democrats in November.
🗳️ Michigan: Speaking of elections, special elections in two house districts tomorrow ought to finally restore the Democrats’ house majority, which should kick start progress on some stalled bills, including a hate crimes bill and sodomy decriminalization. (A bill to codify same-sex marriage likely won’t have enough Republican support to pass and be placed on the Nov. ballot, as a supermajority is required.)
😡 Ohio: A house committee advanced a trans student bathroom ban bill.
😡 Tennessee: The state senate passed a bill that would make it a crime to help trans youth access care, or help minors access abortion services. It’s scheduled for review in a house committee this week. The senate also gave final approval to a bill that strips provisions requiring teachers not to discriminated against students based on sexual orientation from the Teacher’s Code of Ethics – it now heads to the governor.
😡 Louisiana: The state house killed a proposed constitutional amendment to repeal the defunct ban on same-sex marriage. It’s still possible that lawmakers delete the ban in a proposed constitutional convention this summer.
😡 Idaho: The state legislature has ended this year’s session, having passed several anti-LGBT laws, including a bill barring trans students from using the name and pronoun of their choice without parental consent, a right to sue librarians who display “harmful content” to minors, and stripping the concept of gender from state law.