Italy bans foreign surrogacy
Florida shuts down courses on race, queer, and gender studies at state universities
I have a profile of comedian and TikTok star Tim Murray (pictured above) ahead of his solo show Witches playing in Los Angeles (this past Monday) and Washington DC (next Thursday) in the Los Angeles Blade.
Italy: The Italian Senate gave final passage to Prime Minister Meloni’s bill to ban foreign surrogacy. Surrogacy is already banned in Italy. Critics say this bill is targeted gay couples, as they can’t hide the use of a surrogate the way straight couples can. It’s the latest assault on gay parenting from Meloni’s government, which previously stripped legal parenthood from same-sex couples in Italy.
The Vatican: Meanwhile, down the street, the Pope met with trans and intersex activists.
Mexico: A bill to ban conversion therapy in Tamaulipas state was introduced in the local congress. A federal law already bans it.
Philippines: Quezon City’s “Right to Care” card, which identifies same-sex partners who can make medical decisions for and visit a partner in hospital, won an international design award. Philippines doesn’t have any other legal recognition of same-sex couples.
Meanwhile, in the States
The Advocate has endorsed Kamala Harris for president. I’m sure we were all on the edge of our seats for that endorsement.
The Pentagon has updated the records of 800 people let go under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to give them honorable discharges.
Republicans are ramping up anti-LGBTQ attack ads against Democrats in the final weeks of the election. Most of the ads focus on trans issues, particularly youth sports.
New Hampshire: The Republican challenging gay Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas for his congressional seat has a long history of legislating against LGBT rights in the state legislature.
Florida: Under the direction of Republican Gov. DeSantis appointees, the state university system is gutting hundreds of courses in a bid to shutdown “woke ideologies” on campus.
New York: Regular reminder that NY has an equal rights/non-discrimination/abortion rights question on the ballot.