Nepal officially becomes 36th country with equal marriage
US Congress to vote tomorrow on expelling its messiest member
Nepal: Same-sex marriage has finally become legal in the Himalayan country after the government issued a directive to all civil offices telling them to comply with the Supreme Court judgment from earlier this year. At least one same-sex couple (pictured above) has already gotten married. Nepal has come a long way on LGBT rights fairly quickly, since same-sex intercourse was decriminalized in 2008.
Nepal is the first UN member state in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage (and second in Asia after Taiwan). This development is likely to be influential around its neighbors, particularly India and Bhutan, where the local LGBT communities have been pushing for legal marriage.
Lithuania: As the country’s Parliament prepares for a possible final vote on a civil union bill, a Christian Democrat MP writes an essay on why she will be voting in favor, and why she’s disappointed in many members of her party for standing opposed to it (the Christian Democrats are the largest part of the current governing coalition).
Although the bill passed second reading in May, the bill appears to be in danger of failing, as parties start positioning themselves for next year’s election. One member of the coalition-affiliated progressive Freedom Party defected to the opposition last week, leaving the government with only a two-seat majority.
Greece: The government is moving forward with drafting a same-sex marriage and adoption bill, although it’s not clear when it will be introduced in Parliament. The issue deeply divides the conservative governing party, and it’s not clear how many votes the government can count on from its own bloc of 158 MPs (out of 300). It can likely only count on about 70 votes from the opposition left-wing parties (SYRIZA, PASOK, and Course of Freedom) – the rest of the opposition is made up of far-right parties and anti-LGBT Communists.
Mexico: A federal judge has ruled that asexuality can no longer be considered a disease.
Malaysia: Johor state is creating a “rehabilitation” facility where homosexuals will be exposed to the dangerous pseudoscientific practice of “conversion therapy.”
Duly Noted
Catholic Bishops in Ghana have testified to Parliament that they support a proposed anti-homosexuality law even as they say homosexuals should be treated with dignity and without discrimination. Huh?
Meanwhile, in the States
Congress: Openly gay New York Republican Representative George Santos will face an expulsion vote in the House tomorrow, following the release of a damning ethics report before Thanksgiving. Politico reports that enough Republicans will back the expulsion vote to meet the 2/3 threshold required for it to pass. An expulsion would reduce the Republican majority to 8 votes, and if the Democrats clinch the byelection to replace him – a real possibility – it would be reduced further to 7 votes.
Iowa: A lawsuit has been filed to block a law that bans LGBT content in school libraries and discussion of LGBT issues in classrooms.