Poland: Negotiations are continuing in the government coalition to get the civil unions bill introduced. The Equalities minister has now said that if the coalition doesn’t agree by the end of June, it will be introduced as a “parliamentary bill,” which I think is the equivalent of a private members’ bill. That means it’ll have lower priority in parliament and may indicate it doesn’t have enough votes to pass. The sticking point appears to be adoption rights, which the Left is insisting on, but the most conservative members of the coalition seem to oppose (though this may be a smokescreen, and they may continue to oppose it even if adoption is removed). The government wants to have an announcement by Warsaw Pride this weekend, but will be holding a meeting to discuss it further next week.
There are still other obstacles ahead for the bill: the senate, where the government coalition has a majority but senators have been blocking the agenda, and the president from the opposition party, who has threatened a veto and is in power until next year at the earliest.
Note, the government still hasn’t introduced a promised hate crime and hate speech law, either.
Over in neighboring Lithuania, squabbling over civil unions continues, and the Freedom Party appears willing to play hardball by blocking appointment of a conservative to the European Commission to retaliate over their reneging on the civil union bill.
Colombia: The bill to ban conversion therapy died in the senate committee examining it, as senators used enough delay tactics to force it completely off the agenda. The bill’s sponsor says she plans to reintroduce it July 20.
Dominican Republic: Local news is really running with this one constitutional lawyer’s opinion that same-sex marriages performed abroad ought to be recognized under existing domestic law. It will likely take a test case to get this established, however.
China: The government has signaled it won’t follow Taiwan in legalizing same-sex marriage. That’s unsurprising given increasing crackdowns on LGBT expression in China.
Greece: After his party took a drubbing in EU elections this weekend, Greek PM Mitsotakis is now saying that he is going to pause pushing forward new LGBTQ rights legislation, suggesting the new priority is changing minds rather than laws. Some speculate that the new same-sex marriage and adoption law passed this year alienated his party’s traditionally conservative base. For context, Greece is already one of the highest-scoring countries on ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map Index, and most of what remained to be done involved making it easier for trans people to update their legal gender, and automatic parental recognition for LGBT couples.
Switzerland: The government has commissioned an inquiry into anti-LGBT discrimination in the army.
Meanwhile, in the States…
It’s a day of all good news from the USA!
The Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to ban the abortion drug mifepristone, due to the plaintiffs’ lack of standing. That keeps access to the drug safe for now, but Republican legislators are starting to make the case for restricting access to contraception and mifepristone, so watch out and vote Blue.
Pennsylvania: Lawmakers advanced a bill to repeal the defunct ban on same-sex marriage from state law out of a House Committee on a bipartisan vote. The bill is likely to pass through the House, which has a narrow Democratic majority, but I’ll be surprised if it even gets to a hearing in the Republican-controlled senate. Winning control of the senate is likely a top goal of Democrats in November, but because only half of seats are up for grabs, it may take until 2026 for that to happen, if at all. There is no constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania.
Massachusetts: The state house unanimously passed a law to grant equal recognition to same-sex parents yesterday. The bill now goes to the senate, where it’s expected to pass as it has bipartisan support. Still no action on the sodomy bill in the state house, though.
Missouri: Kansas City council yesterday voted to stiffen penalties for hate crimes by adding property crimes like vandalism to the list of offences eligible for stiffer penalties.
Cherokee Nation: The Native government is recognizing its first official Pride Month.