Czech MPs to "compromise" on equal marriage

UK government does another U-turn on conversion therapy

A lot of news in today’s edition!

First, I have a story in Xtra Magazine looking at reactions to India’s Supreme Court decision denying same-sex marriage, and where the Indian queer rights movement goes from here.

I also have a story up today on the Los Angeles Blade about a second wave of coordinated anti-LGBT protests which once again struck cities across Canada. Protesters are against discussing sexual orientation or gender identity (or sex ed at all) in classrooms. The protests come just one month after a coordinated series of protests in 80 cities, which I also covered for the Los Angeles Blade.

These latest protests may have been inspired by Saskatchewan’s legislature giving final approval to a law that will require students to get parental consent if they wish to change their name/pronoun used in school, using a procedure that allows the government to bypass the Charter of Rights.

Czechia: The various parties in the Parliament appear to be nearing a compromise on same-sex marriage. The “compromise” appears to be that registered partnerships will become an “marriage in all but name” and in return, conservative parties will stop obstructing the bill in parliament, and will also abandon their own bill to ban same-sex marriage in the Czech Constitution.

LGBT groups and liberals are not happy with the compromise, but MPs seem to want to deliver at least some of the benefits that will come with advancing a bill – for example, allowing adoption, which will help thousands of existing same-sex families that have difficulties with the legal aspects of parenthood.

The compromise agreement will be debated by the various party caucuses this week, and if it looks like they can go forward, some MPs believe it can be passed by the end of the year.

UK: Well, that didn’t take long. Apparently PM Sunak is ditching plans to introduce a conversion therapy ban after 40 of his MPs revolted on the issue. The new plan will essentially kick it to after the next election, scheduled for 2025, by introducing a draft bill to be studied by a committee of MPs.

Japan: A report indicates that several municipalities have introduced laws banning the outing of queer people, calling it a serious human rights violation.

Meanwhile, appeals of the recent same-sex marriage court cases begin this week, with the first being heard tomorrow in Osaka and Friday in Aichi. More appeals will be heard next week in Tokyo and Sapporo.

Israel: The IDF has announced it will recognize the family rights of same-sex partners of deceased soldiers. Note that the far-right coalition government that has run Israel for most of the last two decades has blocked same-sex marriage and passed judicial reforms with the goal of making achieving LGBT rights through the courts more difficult.

South Africa: The national Human Rights Commission has ordered schools to stop forcing children to wear school uniforms that don’t conform with their gender identities. Going forward, schools will also have to provide a gender-neutral option.

Nigeria: Police arrested 76 people for allegedly participating in a same-sex wedding.

Elections Roundup

Venezuela: Primaries were held yesterday to elect the opposition candidate who will face the dictator Maduro in next year’s elections and the winner was a former legislator who supports same-sex marriage. A complication is that she has been technically disqualified from running because, remember, she’s facing a dictator. Maduro recently agreed to hold elections under international monitors next year (date pending).

Switzerland: Elections returned a Parliament that is slightly more right-wing, but it appears that left-wing parties have maintained a majority. Still, Swiss Parliament tends to work by consensus, so the shift to more right-wing politicians may affect how fast future LGBT initiatives progress.

Argentina: The hardline right-wing anti-LGBT Presidential candidate advanced to the runoff election, but only placed second after the incumbent party pulled off a surprising upset. The runoff vote is Nov. 19.

Meanwhile, in the States…

Pennsylvania: State House Democrats advanced a bill out of committee that would ban the “gay/trans panic defense” on a party-line vote. The bill stands exactly zero chance of passing through the State Senate, which is controlled by Republicans.

Texas: The State Supreme Court will hear the case of a judge who does not want to perform same-sex marriages and is suing the state agency that reprimanded her for it.

Navajo Nation: The Washington Post has a report on what’s going on the with the same-sex marriage bill, and opposition to the proposed referendum on it.