Another Japan prefecture announces LGBT couples registry
Trinidad activist vows to challenge all anti-LGBT laws
Japan: Oita Prefecture is the latest to announce that it will begin offering partnership certificates to same-sex couples, starting next year. Oita becomes the 21st of Japan’s 47 prefectures to offer same-sex couple registries (including three others that begin next year), in addition to hundreds of municipalities across the country. The latest bunch of prefectures brings the total to 55% of Japan’s population living in a jurisdiction that offers a partnership registry.
And the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the requirement for trans people to undergo sterilization surgery before they can change their legal gender is unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, PM Kishida reiterated his tepid opposition to same-sex marriage, saying it needs further discussion. And appeals of recent court decisions continue to be heard this week and next. Marriage For All Japan says the next meeting of the Osaka High Court on the same-sex marriage appeal will be Feb 14 2024, five years to the date of the original filing.
Hong Kong: The Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that same-sex couples should have equal inheritance rights. This is the latest victory for the LGBT community in Hong Kong; earlier this year, the CoA gave the government two years to create some kind of civil union system.
Trinidad & Tobago: As the Court of Appeal is about to hear the governments challenge to the 2018 decision that decriminalized gay sex, the activist who brought the original case says he will continue to fight all the way to the UK Privy Council (T&T’s final court). he also wants to push to end all other anti-LGBT laws in the country, including seeking equal marriage, and striking down the ban on homosexuals entering the country (it’s a real thing!).
Mexico: Legislators from the left-wing MORENA ironically party appear to be blocking consideration of a gender identity law in Tamaulipas state.
Ukraine: The Justice Ministry has given its formal approval to the draft civil union bill before parliament.
Spain: Left-wing parties have agreed to form a new coalition government, and the agreement includes a section on upholding LGBT rights.
Sweden: Turkey’s President Erdogan has submitted ratification of Sweden’s NATO bid to Parliament for approval. Hungary still needs to ratify the bid, too. I cover this stuff since euro-integration has been one of the driving forces of LGBT rights progress on the continent, and NATO, while not part of the EU, is part of that larger trend. NATO is also a bulwark against Russia’s westward expansion.
Meanwhile, in the States
Democrats in the Senate have introduced an anti-bullying bill. No Republicans have signed on to the bill.
Michigan: The State Senate committee on civil rights will hold a hearing tomorrow on the “institutional desecration” bill, which will be the state’s first hate crime bill to be LGBT inclusive. A broader hate crime bill awaits hearing in the House committees.
The State House committee on the judiciary will hold a hearing tomorrow on a package of bills that will update assisted reproduction and surrogacy laws in the state. If I’ve read the bills correctly, part of the law will codify automatic parenthood for same-sex parents (ie, if a lesbian couple becomes pregnant, they can self-declare the non-birthing parent to be a parent, saving a cumbersome formal adoption process).
Texas: The state Supreme Court began hearings today in the case of a judge who refuses to perform same-sex marriages.