Canada's Charter of Rights not worth the paper it's printed on
Romania runs out of appeals to deny same-sex unions
More of me:
I have two pieces up on the Los Angeles Blade today: A profile of new Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney, who may be best known as the Oscar-winning co-writer of Moonlight. He’s got some interesting ideas for the future of the LA theatre.
And in more depressing news from my homeland, I wrote about how the Premier of Saskatchewan (one of Canada’s flyover provinces) plans to override the Charter of Rights to enact a “parental consent” law that requires parental permission for students to change their name or pronoun as used in schools. This comes after a judge issued an injunction blocking the province and its schools from enforcing the rule until the constitutional questions are decided. I explain more about how this “haha, j/k” section of the Canadian constitution works in the piece.
And from around the world:
Japan’s Supreme Court heard a case seeking to remove the sterilization requirement for trans people to change their gender. The plaintiff says it’s an unconstitutional violation of their inherent right to a gender identity.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, three more prefectures will begin issuing same-sex partnership certificates: Kagawa, Shimane, and Tottori, bringing the total to 17 with active registries and 2 that will soon be in effect out of 47.
The European Court of Human Rights has rejected Romania’s appeal of its decision ordering the country to create a form of legal recognition for same-sex couples. The Romanian government is about to introduce a bill to recognize certain same-sex marriages performed in EU countries for residency purposes only, after being required to do so by the European Court of Justice. It’s possible this decision pushes the government to liberalize its approach to same-sex families – but more than likely, legislators will continue to tread very slowly on advancing LGBT rights. The head of the country’s National Council for Combating Discrimination has called on the country to pass a civil partnership law in accordances
The Council of Europe also published a series of recommendations on combating discrimination against LGBTI people today. The recommendations include passing effective anti-discrimination and hate speech laws; recognizing same-sex couples on an equal basis; ensuring same-sex parenting is recognized; facilitating safe and legal gender recognition; banning conversion therapy; and ensuring the dignity of intersex people.
A committee of Latvia’s parliament voted to support a call not to ratify the Istanbul Convention on domestic violence, over (trumped up) fears that the Convention would entrench trans rights into Latvian law. A vote on the convention will still be held in parliament. Ratifying the convention is one of the priorities of the new government, but this vote doesn’t bode well for the government’s chances, nor for its stated desire to pass a same-sex civil union law.
As Slovakia’s election campaign nears its end and the Progressive Party takes a small lead in the polls, they’ve become the victims of a disinformation campaign led by a far-right party that is using AI to spread false messages about their candidates and the LGBT community. The election is tomorrow.
More than 2,000 same-sex couples have married in Cuba since it became legal last year.
Humorously Noted
The Onion reveals how Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill has actually made kids straight.
The Beaverton says Saskatchewan’s anti-trans policies are all the kids’ fault.
And in the States
Michigan’s Senate Committee on Health Policy reported out a bill to ban sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in health insurance. It heads to the full Senate for a final vote.
California Republicans will be meeting this weekend to decide if they should remove opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage from their official party platform, in a bid to win over Democrats and independent voters.