Canada celebrates 20 years of marriage equality
Crackdowns on queer people intensify in Malaysia, Tunisia; Republicans push more anti-trans measures across USA
For XtraMagazine, I wrote about the 20th anniversary of legal same-sex marriage nationwide in Canada, and how Canada’s marriage revolution helped catalyze a global movement for equality. Writing this piece reminded me that I’ve literally been covering this topic for 24 years, since the very beginning of my journalism career, so thank you to everyone who’s joined me in following this along the way. (The pic above comes from Xtra.)
Hong Kong: The city’s leader has announced his support of the bill for limited recognition of civil partnerships, but says he will accept what the Legislature decides. The minister of constitutional and mainland affairs is also urging passage. The bill passed its first reading on Wednesday.
Philippines: The Supreme Court has granted an annulment to a woman who discovered her husband is gay, because concealing homosexuality is akin to fraud, per the court and law. Lower courts didn’t believe the man was gay. LGBTQ groups say this is harmful stereotyping and are also calling for legalized divorce.
India: The Delhi High Court has asked the government for a response to a petition seeking to recognize same-sex partners in medical decision-making. This would be yet another expansion in couples’ rights after the supreme court rejected marriage equality in 2023.
Tunisia: National queer rights group Damj is denouncing a recent crackdown on LGBT people that’s led to a spate of arrests on gay sex charges over the past few weeks.
Malaysia: Similarly, police arrested 20 people at an alleged gay party in Kelantan.
Mexico: A Tamaulipas state legislator has introduced a bill to ban anti-LGBT discrimination in health care. An Aguascalientes state legislator is continuing pressure to advance a bill codifying same-sex marriage in the fall session.
Guyana: The national queer advocacy group SASOD has released its demands of politicians contesting the upcoming national elections Sept 1. They’re calling for decriminalization of sodomy, LGBT anti-discrimination laws, DEI initiatives in government, education, and health care, and emergency shelters for youth.
Meanwhile, in the States
The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission has released new guidance allowing discrimination complaints from trans people to go forward, as long as they are only related to hiring, firing, and promotion – and not about, for example, gender roles or bathrooms. Under the Trump administration, all complaints from trans people were immediately dismissed.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has sent a letter to all governors telling them to remove any rainbow crosswalks, under threat of cities losing their federal transportation funding. So far, Florida has said it will comply.
Massachusetts: The bill to repeal the sodomy and “walking while trans” laws has been reported out of the senate rules committee and will be on the orders of the day next Thursday, July 24, accompanied by a bill repealing the blasphemy law. While this does feel a bit like Lucy and the football, maybe this will finally be the year Massachusetts does away with these laws.
South Carolina: The city of Georgetown has passed an LGBT-inclusive hate crime ordinance, joining a growing list of SC cities with one. The state is one of just three without a hate crime law, the others being Wyoming and Arkansas.
New Hampshire: Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte vetoed two anti-trans bills and three other far-right bills. The bills would have banned books “harmful to minors” in schools and allowed businesses to discriminate against trans people. Republicans will not be able to override the vetoes.
Florida: The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a First Amendment claim made by a Miami-Dade County employee who was fired after publishing an anti-trans tirade.
Wisconsin: A school board in Waukesha County has voted to remove the word “gender” from its discrimination policy, and replace it with “sex,” in a move to align with Trump’s policies. Meanwhile, Green Bay city council passed a resolution calling on the state to pass a bill banning conversion therapy. The state supreme court recently allowed the governor to go ahead with a regulatory ban. And the Wisconsin Bar Association has redefined “diversity” to settle a lawsuit brought by a conservative group.
Colorado: The rural Montezuma-Cortez school board removed protections for LGBTQ people from its discrimination policies and introduced a policy to ban trans students from sports. The county is seeking to join a lawsuit with two other counties seeking to ban trans students from sports statewide, contradicting state policy.
Iowa: Dubuque city council restored “gender identity” protections to its anti-discrimination ordinance. The state removed gender identity from its discrimination law earlier this month.
Texas: Republicans have proposed a bill to ban trans people from using gender-appropriate bathrooms in government buildings as part of the upcoming special session, which was ostensibly called to deal with the floods, but hasn’t yet included a single bill filed to deal with the floods. Republicans are also talking about re-gerrymandering the state to eliminate up to five Democrat districts.
Ohio: Ohio Equal Rights is regrouping after the ballot board made them start the ballot process again for two initiatives to repeal the defunct same-sex marriage ban and ban anti-LGBT discrimination.