First things first: I have a bunch of stories up on the Los Angeles Blade today:
This week’s Out in the World column, with stories from Thailand, France, UK, the Vatican, and Namibia.
I have a sneak peak at the Gay Men’s Chorus of LA’s upcoming Gala fundraiser
A look at the Personal Stories Project, an online archive of first-person accounts from LGBTQ people from across America and beyond
Plus, all the details from the relaunch of The Abbey, West Hollywood’s most iconic gay nightclub, featuring Cher, Ricky Martin, Lance Bass, Jean Smart, and more!
And now, the news:
🇳🇦 Namibia: Last week’s judgement decriminalizing gay sex has been published online by the Human Dignity Trust, a UK-based NGO that supported the litigation. The court struck down the common-law offences of “sodomy” and “unnatural sexual offences,” plus similar references to sodomy in the Criminal Procedure Act, Immigration Act, and Defense Act.
(The reference in the Criminal Procedure Act spoke to sentencing; the Immigration Act reference barred anyone with a conviction for sodomy, either in Namibia or abroad, from entering Namibia; and the Defense Act reference was a list of crimes that Namibian courts would not have jurisdiction over if committed between members of a visiting military. Suffice it to say, none of these laws has actually been put to use in Namibia.)
The court upheld previous decisions stating that although “sexual orientation” isn’t specifically listed as a prohibited ground of discrimination in the constitution, sexual orientation discrimination is still prohibited on the ground that the constitution requires all people to be treated equally.
Honestly, the ruling is pretty tight and doesn’t seem to give the government much room to appeal. We’ll have to wait and see how the government reacts to the news.
🇲🇽 Mexico: Even though state law in Zacatecas hasn’t been updated to allow same-sex couples to adopt (as far as I know), it appears the state is allowing adoptions to happen on an equal basis with straight couples.
🇵🇱 Poland: The coalition partners met again today to decide on what to do with civil unions. It does look like the compromise that will emerge is that the civil union legislation will drop all rights to step-child adoption – the bill apparently does not include joint adoption – in order to get it passed. That would still be a big improvement for most couples, and would likely place couples in a good legal position to sue for the right to adoption. The People’s Party, whose leadership opposes adoption, is going to discuss the matter internally this week.
Meanwhile, in the States…
😡 The US Supreme Court launched a broadside against the right to marriage last week, ruling that the right to marriage does not imply a right to reside with one’s spouse in the United States.
The ruling concerned a straight binational couple. The husband, a Salvadorean national, was denied entry to the USA, and the wife, an American, was suing to learn why. The government actually released the information when it lost in lower court (it was apparently a bullshit belief the man was a gang member) but continued the appeal to SCOTUS for some reason. SCOTUS’s six Republican judges decided to go further than simply ruling on whether the government was required to disclose its reason, and instead ruled that the right to liberty did not imply a right to live with your spouse.
The Democrats all dissented, with Sotomayor furiously criticizing the ruling for being a clear broadside on the rights associated with marriage, and pointing out that the burden of this ruling will disproportionately fall on same-sex couples, who might not have the right to live together in the other spouse’s country of origin.
I’d think the other obvious group this would disproportionately affect is binational couples of color, and particularly Latinos, given the facts of this very case, where a visa officer apparently invented gang tattoos that her husband didn’t have to deny him entry on what sure seems like racist grounds.
☕ Washington: A judge has blocked portions of the “parents rights” law from going into effect. The judge has blocked sections that could require schools to out trans students to their parents, and requires schools to share any medical or mental health records of students with their parents. The initiated law was passed by Democrats to keep it off the ballot in hopes that courts would strike it down.
🔔 Pennsylvania: Montgomery County, a suburb of Philadelphia, issued a nondiscrimination proclamation while calling on state legislators to pass a non-discrimination law, which has been blocked by Republicans in the Senate. Again, it’s only going to pass if Democrats win unified control in November. And given that, it’s wild that Democrats aren’t even fielding candidates in 8 of the 25 senate districts up for election (they need a net gain of 3).
🏔️ Colorado: State primaries are tomorrow, and probably the most interesting race is the primary for the open congressional district 4, where anti-LGBT idiot Lauren Boebert has moved to try to better her chances at reelection.
Tomorrow also has primaries in New York, South Carolina, and Utah.