Mexican state allows first LGBT adoption
Iowa Republicans continue crackdown on queer people
This weekend, I covered the Los Angeles Blade’s 7th Annual Best of LGBTQ Awards at Heart nightclub in Weho.
Meanwhile, in the rest of the world…
Mexico: The State of Mexico (Mexico’s most populous federal entity, comprising much of the Mexico City suburbs) just registered its first same-sex couple adoption. Same-sex marriage only became legal in the state in 2022, but the state did not update its adoption laws. Nevertheless, the bureaucracy and courts are allowing it, because the Supreme Court has already ruled that adoption must be allowed.
Chile: LGBTQ activists are lobbying the government after the census department announced it was removing a question about sexual orientation from the upcoming census.
Ecuador: Congress passed a law allowing trans people to update their name and gender on their official identity documents without having to provide proof of surgery or medical intervention. This comes after a Constitutional Court fight that began in 2017.
Canada: The town of Westlock, Alberta will hold a citizen-initiated referendum on Feb 22 on banning Pride flags (and other political, social, commercial flags) on lampposts and crosswalks.
China: Radio Free Asia has a report on a growing crackdown on LGBT expression and organization.
At the UN: Universal Periodic Reviews continued of Malaysia, Jordan, and Central African Republic. Oddly, it doesn’t seem that any country made LGBT-specific recommendations to them, not even calling on Malaysia to decriminalize sodomy. However, several countries called on Malaysia to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which international law has already found requires sodomy to be decriminalized (Malaysia is one of only about 20 countries that has not ratified it). Malaysia and Jordan were called on to abolish capital punishment.
European integration: Turkey has formally ratified Sweden’s accession to NATO, and Hungary has said it will do so at the end of February, bringing a close to two years of drama and extortion around both states’ crackdowns on human rights.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has begun formal EU accession talks, and the EU is urging Bosnia to press ahead with reforms to begin talks this year.
Meanwhile, in the States…
The Department of Defense is updating its policies so that veterans in same-sex marriages will be covered for assisted reproduction, in response to a pending discrimination lawsuit. Meanwhile, trans veterans have filed a suit to compel the VA to cover gender-confirming surgeries, which the agency has been slow to offer.
Iowa: A Republican legislator has filed a bill to amend the state civil rights act to remove “gender identity” as a protected class, and instead incorporate “a diagnosis for gender dysphoria or any condition related to a gender identity disorder” under the protected class of “disability.”
While the legislator himself has said he isn’t even sure it should pass and just wants a conversation about it in committee, it’s an extremely bizarre bill. On its face, it would still preserve at least some protections for some trans people, but only in so far as they’re medicalized or treated as disabled. The bill will receive a committee hearing on Wednesday.
State Republicans are also working on a bill to ban municipalities from banning conversion therapy. The approach copies what Indiana Republicans did last year and comes after several of the larger communities in Iowa banned conversion therapy.
Utah: The state legislature passed bills ending legal recognition of trans people and banning DEI programs in public institutions, including universities.
Virginia: State House Democrats passed a bill that would bar state officials from denying a marriage license on the basis of the sex, gender, or race of the partners. It goes to the state senate for approval and then to the Republican governor. This seems like a strangely unnecessary bill, because the state has already updated its marriage laws and has an LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination law. Earlier this month, Democratic lawmakers put off an actually useful initiative, which would have begun the process of amending the state constitution to remove a defunct same-sex marriage ban.
Maine: State Democrats killed a “transgender sanctuary bill” that would have protected trans people seeking care in the state from persecution by officials in other states.