Greece to ban gay men from surrogacy
Meanwhile, Costa Rica and Mexico make some progress on parenting and trans rights
Greece: The government announced it will soon bar single men and men in same-sex couples from legal surrogacy, a significant rollback in rights after it legalized same-sex marriage and adoption last year.
Mexico: The state of Veracruz is the latest to pass a gender recognition law, allowing trans people to self-determine their legal gender.
Legislators have proposed a bill in the State of Mexico to recognize same-sex parents in law, but it hasn’t made much progress. Although Edomex hasn’t updated its adoption laws to include same-sex couples, at least four adopted children in the state last year.
Progress is being made on decriminalizing abortion following a supreme court ruling; Nayarit, Chihuahua, and Campeche are the latest states to decriminalize it, bringing the total to 23/32. Yucatan and Morelos continue discussing it, having both missed court-appointed deadlines.
Costa Rica: The constitutional court has ruled that same-sex couples must be granted paternity leave on an equal basis with straight couples.
Meanwhile, the government has proposed a gender recognition bill, but the state Social Security Fund is rejecting a part of it that would require it to cover sex reassignment surgery.
Colombia: Gaps in surrogacy law have left a same-sex couple with a legal nightmare as they’re unable to register their prematurely born son, who consequently lacks a legal name or nationality.
Australia: South Australia’s ban on conversion therapy came into effect on Monday.
Meanwhile, the country is gearing up for a federal election May 6. The incumbent Labor government has been better on tone than the Liberal-National coalition that preceded them, but to be honest, they’ve been rather disappointing on advancing big issues like closing a loophole on discrimination law allowing religious schools to discriminate against LGBT staff and students. On balance, they’re still probably better than the alternative.
Finland: The Prime Minister has reiterated that a proposed ban on conversion therapy will not go forward under his government.
France: The constitutional court has barred far-right leader Marine Le Pen from running in the 2027 presidential election after being found guilty of embezzlement of public funds. Her likely successor isn’t any better on LGBT rights.
Speaking of the far-right… Massive, pro-democracy protests are ongoing in Turkiye, Hungary, Serbia, and Georgia.
Meanwhile, in the States
Health and Human Services will not enforce a plan to require health providers to record date on patients’ sexual orientation or gender identity.
Wisconsin: While Republicans have passed a bunch of anti-trans bills through the state legislature, Democrats are proposing bills that would facilitate legal gender change and ban anti-trans discrimination. The Democrats’ bills stand no chance of passing, as Republicans control the legislature, and the Republican bills are going to be vetoed by the Governor.
Meanwhile, Democrats won a seat on the state supreme court, preserving its liberal majority ahead of cases that will determine abortion rights and gerrymandering in the state. Democrats also held onto the superintendent of education position, but a Republican-backed ballot question on adding voter photo ID to the constitution passed.
While we’re talking about state supreme courts, we still don’t have a final result in North Carolina’s supreme court election last November, which was narrowly won by the Democratic candidate, but has been subject to court disputes ever since.
Speaking of elections, Republicans held onto two congressional seats in special elections in Florida yesterday as well, although Democrats did better than one would expect in the deep-red districts.
Massachusetts: A committee hearing has been scheduled for April 8 on a bill to delete the state’s defunct sodomy and “walking while trans” laws. Let’s see if this is the year Massachusetts Democrats finally get this done.
Iowa: Republicans are advancing bills that would remove protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity from the state’s bullying code, and another bill that would ban DEI course requirements in colleges.
Maine: State Republicans would like to follow Iowa’s lead and remove protections for gender identity and expression from state nondiscrimination laws. Republicans are in the minority now, but this is what’s at stake in 2026.
Ohio: Republicans are trying to sneak a host of anti-LGBT laws into the state’s budget bill, including a ban on recognition of more than two genders, restrictions on library books, restrictions on pride flags, and banning support for trans youth and state-funded youth shelters. Republicans control the entire state government, so it’s unclear why the subterfuge.