Sodomy law challenge heard in Dominican Republic

Australia backtracks; census will count gay people

I have a new “Out in the World” column at the Los Angeles Blade – you should be able to find it here by the time this goes out.

🇩🇴 Dominican Republic: The Constitutional Court heard a challenge to laws banning same-sex intercourse between police or military officers on Friday. Gay sex is legal for civilians in the Dominican Republic, but these laws make it the last remaining Latin American country that criminalizes gay sex of some kind. Five other Caribbean states – all former British colonies – criminalize gay sex, but all have court challenges pending. The decision is pending.

🇦🇺 Australia: The government is trying to walk back from the census controversy, by including a single question about “sexual preference” on the 2026 census. The question obviously still leaves out trans and intersex people.

Meanwhile, the embassy in Iran chose to celebrate “Wear It Purple Day” (it’s an Aussie thing to celebrate LGBTQIA+ Awareness). This DNA Magazine article doesn’t have any comment from actual Iranians about it, so lord knows what anyone made of it.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong: The government has cut back funding for organizations that serve LGBTQ people. The situation in Hong Kong has become harder for queer people generally since Beijing began cracking down on the territory’s unique freedoms several years ago.

🇵🇭 Philippines: The government has reconstituted a Media and Gender Equality Committee to promote gender fairness, including for LGBTQ people, in the media.

🇹🇴 Tonga: The appointment of openly gay Welsh barrister Malcolm Leslie Bishop as new chief justice of the supreme court for a four-year term has caused some controversy. Sodomy is illegal in Tonga, and it’s possible Bishop will preside over a potential future challenge of the law.

BTW, it’s common in these South Pacific microstates for judges to be appointed from outside the country, due the small pool of indigenous people with legal training.

🇱🇹 Lithuania: The right-wing Regions Party has submitted a bill that would impose fines on educational institutions that distribute information about LGBTQ people. The bill is unlikely to become law soon, as parliament is not currently sitting and elections are scheduled in October. But it’s part of an alarming trend sweeping across Eastern Europe, with similar laws in Russia, Georgia, Hungary, and Bulgaria, and another proposed in Slovakia. Lithuania already has a ban on “LGBT propaganda” on the books, which the European Court of Human Rights has already ruled violates the Convention.

🇩🇪 Germany: The far-right and anti-LGBT Alternative for Germany party got the largest and second-largest number of votes in two state elections over the weekend. The AfD is unlikely to become part of the government as other parties have sworn not to work with them, but this obviously points to trouble for next year’s national elections.

🇬🇷 Greece: Opposition SYRIZA Party leader Stefanos Kasselakis had a ceremonial marriage to his partner Tyler McBeth in a ceremony on Friday. They were already married last October in Brooklyn, New York, but same-sex marriage became legal in Greece in February.

🇨🇦 Canada: Longtime 2SLGBTQIA+ advocate Dr. Kristopher Wells has been appointed to the Senate, ‘representing’ Alberta. Wells researches gender and sexuality and has led many important initiatives for queer youth. His appointment lasts until the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Canada’s Senators are appointed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and nominally represent the provinces/regions they come from. Under reforms initiated by current Prime Minister Trudeau, Senators are selected by an “Independent Advisory Board” and are not meant to be political appointments. But, come on. Abolish the Senate.

Trudeau has appointed 75 of the currently sitting 99 senators, and there are 6 more vacancies to fill. (The senate currently has a majority of 54 female members. None is openly lesbian as far as I know. No openly trans people has ever served in the senate or house.)

Meanwhile, in the States

🌴California: The state assembly gave final passage to a bill to require insurance providers to cover fertility treatments for LGBTQ couples. It awaits Gov. Newsom’s signature.