US gay blood ban ends
Singapore and Bulgaria take baby steps toward fighting anti-LGBT discrimination
The USA Red Cross began applying its new screening criteria that allows men who have sex with men to donate blood, provided they have not had new or multiple anal sex partners in the preceding three months – the same criteria will apply to all prospective donors.
Ohio will have results in its referendum to make referendums more difficult for citizens to organize tonight.
Bulgaria’s Parliament passed a sweeping reform to its domestic violence laws that will capture violence within non-marital relationships, apparently including same-sex relationships. The bill has thus sparked outrage among the usual far-right suspects.
Signapore’s Parliament has proposed a new “Worlplace Fairness” bill, which would ban most types of discrimination, but does not clearly ban anti-LGBT discrimination. It does however ban discrimination on the basis of “sex,” which courts around the world are coming to understand includes sexual orientation and gender identity.
Dominican Today reports that the 16th annual Dominica Republic Pride Caravan went off without a hitch this weekend in Santo Domingo.
South Africa’s neighbors Lesotho and Zimbabwe have each blocked queer performers from entering, citing supposed Christian values, causing some consternation in SA.
Ghana’s Parliamentary Speaker predicts parliament will pass its latest anti-gay bill by the end of the year.
One of Costa Rica’s opposition parties has listed among its fall session priorities three bills that would strength anti-discrimination law, create new penalties for hate-motivated crimes, and ban conversion therapy.
Service Announcement: Posts will become a little more sporadic for the next two weeks or so, as I’ll be on vacation with spotty access to internet, but I will do my best to get at least a couple updates weekly. Regular service should resume as of Aug 25.