Anti-LGBT protests fizzle across Canada
Republicans try to undo progress in Michigan and Kentucky
My latest “Out in the World” column at the Los Angeles Blade is up, with stories from Canada, Taiwan, the European Union, and Georgia.
Canada: Dueling protests for and against LGBT-inclusive sex education took place across Canada over the weekend, but attendance was noticeably down among the anti-LGBT crowd compared to protests last year.
The protests are also tied into three provincial elections that are coming up next month: First up, British Columbia goes to the polls Oct 19, where the incumbent NDP government holding off a challenge from the new BC Conservative Party, which is running opposed to BC’s new LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum and a slate of other anti-LGBTQ policies.
New Brunswick votes on Oct 21, and Saskatchewan votes on Oct 28. Both provinces’ incumbent conservative governments are defending recent moves to restrict LGBTQ discussions in schools and require parental notification and consent if students are trans and want to use a different name/pronoun. A similar policy helped tank the Manitoba Conservatives earlier this year.
The few polls we have indicate tight races in all three provinces.
Japan: All of the leadership candidates for the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party support same-sex marriage, while most of the leadership candidates for the governing Liberal Democrats refused to answer. Both parties are selecting their leaders this week, ahead of elections scheduled for next year. Functionally, Japan’s LDP is the only party that ever governs, so they’re the ones to watch.
India: The Madras High Court is pushing the government to speed up progress on developing a trans-inclusive curriculum.
Thailand: Activists are hopeful that the same-sex marriage law passed this spring receives royal assent Oct 2, paving the way for marriages to begin in January. If it doesn’t, parliament has another procedure that can go around the king, but it would case further delays.
Namibia: It looks like all parties are racing to see which will be the most anti-LGBTQ ahead of November elections.
Mexico: LGBT activists in Tamaulipas are calling on the state to legalize gender change in line with several court orders. For now, trans people have to go through an expensive and time-consuming process to get an injunction to change their gender.
Tonga: Anti-LGBT lawyers who are pissed that the new Chief Justice is a gay man from Wales have expanded their petition for his removal to include signatures from members of the general public. Radio New Zealand had an update to this story that appears to be unpublished (frankly, it appeared to be sloppily written and biased, but we’ll see if they put out a new update).
Meanwhile, in the States
Michigan: The Sixth Circuit revived a pair of lawsuits challenging the state’s recently passed law banning discrimination against LGBT people. The case has been kicked back to the lower court that previously ruled the challengers didn’t have standing to be tried on the merits.
Kentucky: State Republicans say they’re working to figure out a way to repeal the Democratic Governor’s executive order banning conversion therapy, either through legislation or the courts.
Texas: State officials are continuing to search for ways to ignore court orders to change trans peoples’ legal genders.
Great photo and beautiful location.