Europe shifts to the right in elections
Lesbians arrested in Comoros
My “Out in the World” column at the Los Angeles Blade today has news from Ukraine, Qatar, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, and even outer space!
Mexico: The federal conversion therapy ban that passed through congress earlier this year has been officially published into law. That ought to reduce some of the pressure to pass local versions in the 13 states that haven’t yet – although having a local option to prosecute these laws is usually pretty helpful too.
Venezuela: A kiss-in to protest discrimination at a mall in Caracas ended in fisticuffs when an anti-LGBT man punched one of the demonstrators.
Canada: Bigots in Prince Edward Island are apparently mobilizing in the shadows against guidelines issued by the ministry of education for including gender diverse teachers and students in schools. Notably, these guidelines were introduced by a Conservative government.
Comoros: Two women have been detained in the Indian Ocean nation on charges of same-sex intimacy after they reportedly asked an Islamic preacher to marry them. Although gay sex is illegal in Comoros, enforcement of the law has been rare.
Elections Wrap-up
EU: Far-right parties made major gains in EU Parliament elections over the weekend, but they’re probably not in a spot to immediately shake up the long-standing coalitions. We’ll see how it shakes out over time. While the far right made particularly strong showings in Italy, France, Belgium and Austria, they ended up underperforming in Germany, Scandinavia, Poland, and Spain.
Hungary’s ruling Fidesz Party also underperformed in the elections, although they’ll still send the largest delegation to the EU Parliament. It’s a possible show of weakness ahead of 2026 parliamentary elections.
France’s president reacted to his party’s defeat at the polls by calling a surprise snap parliamentary election, with its two rounds on June 30 and July 7 – yes, that’s less than three weeks away. Suffice it to say that if the far-right National Rally party does as well at these elections as they did in the EU elections, France’s LGBT community could face trouble.
Belgium’s right-wing and nationalist parties dominated the national elections that were held concurrently. It’s expected that government coalition negotiations will be a long and difficult process.
Bulgaria’s national election has also left a fractious parliament. Since none of the parties was particularly pro-LGBT rights, the result is unlikely to change much in the state.
San Marino: The was also an election in San Marino on Sunday. It appears Christian Democrats were the largest party, and could squeak out a majority in cooperation with a minor party. I haven’t heard of LGBT issues coming up in this election.
Coming up:
On June 14, a high court in Namibia is due to finally deliver a ruling in a case challenging the country’s sodomy laws. It’s widely expected the law will be struck down, but the fact that the ruling was delayed from its original date on the International Day Against Homophobia may be concerning. Meanwhile, a petition has been launched calling on the president to veto an anti-LGBTQ bill that was passed by parliament last year.
We don’t know when rulings in the sodomy cases in St. Lucia and Grenada are going to come, but it could be any day now.
It appears that previous reports that said the Court of Cassation in the Netherlands would deliver a final ruling in the same-sex marriage case for Aruba and Curacao (and possibly applicable to Sint Maarten) on June 12 were in error – the actual date is July 12. Sorry if I got your hopes up! Again, it’s widely expected that the court will rule for same-sex marriage.
Next week on June 18, the Thailand Senate is expected to vote on the same-sex marriage bill.
Meanwhile in the States…
Politico has a long read on how social conservatives appear to have conceded their fight against same-sex marriage. That sort of elides how Tennessee passed a bill to allow public officers to refuse to register same-sex marriages this year, and how Republicans have blocked efforts to protect same-sex marriage in states across the country this term (particularly Oregon, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Alaska). But the bigger point is interesting. There doesn’t appear to be any organized opposition to marriage amendments being put to voters in California, Colorado, and Hawaii this year.
California: Meanwhile, Governor Newsom has launched a campaign to support the marriage referendum.