Anti-trans protest fizzles in Edmonton
Philippines legislator proposes "Right to Care" act
My latest Out in the World column is up at the Los Angeles Blade, with news from the UK, Spain, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates.
Australia: Victoria state’s government plans to amend hate speech (vilification) laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity as banned grounds of hate.
Canada: About 200 anti-trans bigots rallied in Edmonton in support of several bills the Alberta government has introduced to ban medical treatment for trans minors, restrict discussion of LGBT issues in classrooms, and ban trans women from sports. To put that number in perspective, Edmonton is a city of a million people in a province of close to five million.
Philippines: A legislator has introduced a “Right to Care” bill that would grant partners in same-sex couples the right to make medical decisions on behalf of each other, mirroring a local initiative in Quezon City.
Burkina Faso: The military junta running the country is considering instituting the death penalty, which is particularly disturbing as the junta earlier this year criminalized homosexuality. Details on the capital punishment plan are scarce so far (ditto for the sodomy law, TBH). Burkina Faso is, along with Mali and Niger, part of a triad of former French colonies in the Sahel who’ve seen their governments collapse into military juntas, along with a deteriorating human rights and democracy situation over the past couple of years.
More fallout from the US election…
It’s looking increasingly like Republicans have narrowly won the US House again, giving them control of Congress. I still imagine it’ll be difficult for Republicans to actually pass legislation, as far as the last two years of GOP House control have gone, and they’re unlikely to get much legislation through Democratic filibusters in the Senate.
Alaska: Democrats appear to have made enough gains in the state house that both the state house and state senate will be led by bipartisan coalitions this term. Although Democrats will be the largest bloc of the coalitions, don’t get your hopes up for progressive legislation. GOP coalition leaders are already saying they’ll block anything that isn’t socially conservative – and in any event, the Republican governor would veto it.
Missouri: Democrat Wick Thomas is the first out nonbinary person elected to the state legislature. They represent a Kansas City district. Missouri has had openly gay state reps before — both Republicans who lost in primaries this year after they spoke out against anti-trans legislation.
Democrats also broke Republican supermajorities in Wisconsin, Montana, and North Carolina. This will allow Democratic governors in WI and North Carolina to block Republican legislation. In Montana, the Republican supermajority had blocked trans Democrat Zooey Zephyr — who won reeleection — from speaking on absolute bullshit grounds last year.
Democrats also managed to win a majority on the Kentucky Supreme Court and maintain majorities on the Montana and Michigan Supreme Courts.