Hong Kong's top court upholds same-sex couple rights

Half-dozen Mexican states legalize abortion

Photo by Normandy Europa.

Tomorrow’s my birthday and I’m feeling a little introspective, so before we dive into today’s looooong newsletter — my 238th since starting this substack last summer — I just wanted to say how much I appreciate all of you for following along. It really brightens my day to know that you all care enough about the global fight for equality to support this project, whether that’s by sending me news tips, sharing the newsletter, or even just being a regular reader.

Of course, if you’d like to support this substack in a more direct way, I always appreciate paid subscribers. I want to keep this substack accessible to anyone who needs it anywhere in the world — especially as we seem about to head into some dark times globally — but if you can afford to make a contribution, it really does help me keep this going.

Alright, enough of that. Some good news to start off today:

Hong Kong: The city’s Court of Final Appeal upheld earlier rulings affirming that same-sex couples have rights to housing and inheritance. The ruling is in line with last year’s CFA ruling that the city must provide legal recognition for same-sex couples by Sept 2025 – until then, same-sex couples must marry abroad and only have limited rights defined by court rulings such as this one.

Meanwhile, in mainland China, a trans woman was awarded damages after she was forced to undergo electroshock “conversion therapy” at a hospital after coming out to her parents.

Cambodia: LGBT activists are again calling for legalization of same-sex marriage, perhaps buoyed by legalization in neighboring Thailand.

Australia: The Victoria state government introduced legislation to expand hate speech laws to cover LGBT people today. It’s expected that the bill will pass by March and come into effect next September. The announcement comes after the New South Wales government’s review of hate speech laws concluded with a recommendation that it not update the laws last week.

Gabon: A new constitution was enacted by referendum this month, and it includes some important privacy rights protections that should help maintain (limited) LGBT rights in the country. On the other hand, it also includes a new article banning same-sex marriage.

Uganda: A court has awarded damages to 20 people who were arrested on LGBT-related charges during the COVID era (paywalled, Barron’s).

Namibia: Parliamentary elections are tomorrow, and two openly queer candidates are running. I don’t think they’re likely to get elected given that they’re from extremely minor parties, but I don’t have any polling data to back up that hunch.

Either way, their candidacy is a watershed in a country where gay sex was illegal until this summer.

Romania: The first round of the presidential election put a far-right nationalist figure in first place, with a center-right opposition figure Elena Lasconi apparently advancing to the second round. Lasconin has a reputation as a reformist and progressive, and it’s unclear at this point who is best positioned to win the election. Lasconi and her “Save Romania Union” party have waffled on LGBT rights in the past, but is friendlier than most Romanian parties, and is clearly the better option of the two.

Lithuania: The civil union bill is basically dead, so says the likely prime minister following last month’s elections. But the governing Social Democrats are being pretty hypocritical to lament this after they did all they could to block the bill in the previous parliament, and have now entered a coalition with a far-right nationalist party.

UK: Today and tomorrow, the UK Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to Scotland’s legal definition of a woman, which in some cases includes trans women who have undergone or are beginning to undergo gender recognition. The case has been wandering through courts for years, and as become ground in the anti-trans hysteria affecting much of UK politics for the past half-decade.

Grenada: In a general win for human rights last month, the Supreme Court has struck down laws allowing flogging and whipping as punishment for crime, partly on the basis that the punishment didn’t apply to women, which is discriminatory. We’re still waiting on the court to rule on the constitutionality of the country’s buggery laws.

The Interamerican Court of Human Rights has used the Trans Day of Remembrance to urge all member states to protect trans and gender diverse people.

Abortion rights advance in Mexico

Mexico: Several states have officially decriminalized abortion – at least up to 12 weeks of pregnancy – over the past several weeks. The State of Mexico (making up the Mexico City suburbs) passed a law yesterday; Zacatecas passed the law last Wednesday, San Luis Potosi did it earlier this month, and Jalisco and Michoacan did it in October. Last Tuesday, Chiapas amended its state constitution to remove a clause about life beginning at conception, the first step in legalizing abortion. Mexico City is considering going further and decriminalizing all abortions – a bill to do that advanced out of commissions earlier this month. Durango state is planning to consider a bill in the new year.

All of this is in response to a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that abortion cannot be criminalized – but in the Mexican judicial system, the existing state laws still have to be individually repealed to give the ruling effect. This is just like the same-sex marriage progression in Mexico.

Along with Mexico, 18 states have decriminalized abortion, while another two have had their abortion laws blocked by the courts.

Meanwhile, in the States…

Congressional Republicans are dropping stunt bills to ban trans people from bathrooms on federal property and define trans (and intersex) people out of existence. These bills stand no chance of passing through the Senate

Michigan: Democrats face a time crunch to get the last of their agenda passed before Republicans take control of the state house in January, with only a handful of scheduled sessions in December. On the bubble: a hate crime law, a discrimination ban for schools, a ban on LGBT book bans in libraries, updates to sex ed, and mandatory fertility coverage by insurers. Repealing the sodomy law doesn’t look to be a near priority.

Ohio: A campaign is underway to put an anti-discrimination amendment on the ballot in a future election – possibly as early as 2026. The proposed amendment would also repeal the defunct state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. If advocates manage to get it on the ballot, it would be a first for a red state.