Congress ejects George Santos
Russia bans LGBT activism as "extremist"
I have a story in the Los Angeles Blade today about how anti-LGBT extremist troll LibsOfTikTok targeted a nonbinary teacher in British Columbia, Canada, prompting involvement from the RCMP after harassment was directed at the teacher and school.
Lithuania: The President says he no longer thinks it’s possible for parliament to pass the draft civil union law, with elections coming up in just 10 months. Ok, ok, that’s not entirely fair. Next year has presidential elections in May, followed by European Parliament elections in June, and parliamentary elections in October. Still, it’s not a great advertisement for democracy if legislatures can’t accomplish major things for an entire calendar year every four years.
Russia: The Supreme Court has assented to the government’s request to have the “international LGBTQ movement” declared an extremist organization, essentially making all LGBT activism illegal.
The move drew condemnation from the Czechia Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which local LGBT activists noted was a bit rich, considering the government is currently holding up popular equal marriage legislation in Parliament.
Slovakia: The Minister of Culture, a known homophobe, is angry that a mobile phone advertisement may have alluded to a boy not being straight, and she’s threatening to amend the law to somehow ban such advertisements in the future. Slovakia is currently governed by a far-right, pro-Russian party.
Chile: The government has passed a new regulation that bans unnecessary surgeries on intersex children. Meanwhile, local LGBTQ activists are encouraging voters to reject a proposed new constitution that was drafted by largely right-wing politicians.
India: The Supreme Court denied a petition seeking to protect LGBT people under sexual harassment law by having it read to be gender-neutral. Under current law, only an “aggrieved woman” can be protected from workplace harassment.
Nepal: Fresh from their victory in getting same-sex marriage legalized, the first LGBT couple to get married says they will continue their push for equality, including getting laws updated so that same-sex couples have equal rights to inheritance, property, and adoption.
Meanwhile, in the States
The George Santos of it all: The crooked gay congressman was ousted in a 311-114 vote this morning. That leaves Republicans with just an 8-seat majority for now. A by-election to fill his seat will be held on either Feb 20 or 27, and if a Democrat wins the suburban New York seat, it shrinks the Republican majority to 7 (although upcoming resignations may swing this number up or down a bit too).
Lambda Legal filed for summary judgement in a case seeking to overturn the ban on people living with HIV enlisting in the military. The military has already conceded that it can’t discharge soldiers for being HIV-positive.
California: Anti-trans activists have been given the go-ahead to begin collecting signatures for a trio of proposed initiatives that would bar trans kids from medical treatment, bar them from playing school sports, and require schools to forcibly out them to their parents. The bigots have until April 29 to collect more than a half-million signatures.
Minnesota: While state Democrats consider asking voters to pass amendments to the state constitution to protect abortion rights and forbid anti-LGBT and other discrimination, a poll shows both have strong support.
New York has already approved putting an abortion-and-equal-rights amendment on the 2024 ballot, and at least 11 other states are considering putting abortion questions on the ballot next year.