The United States has announced that it will now be much harder for LGBTQ diplomats to get visas for their same-sex partners.
Beginning this week, diplomats and workers for international organizations will only be able to get visa benefits for their partners if they are married. The problem is that marriage equality isn’t legal in a lot of UN countries – marriage equality is allowed in only 12% of member states, actually – and getting married at home for visa benefits could put a lot of people at risk.
Alfonso Nam, the president of U.N. Globe, a gay rights advocacy organization for United Nations employees, said the policy would raise concerns among future United Nations employees, particularly those from countries hostile to gay, lesbian and transgender people.
“For same-sex couples serving the U.N., the U.S. is usually a desired destination for work,” Mr. Nam said. “It’s a place where you are able to bring your legal partner and get a visa.”
“Whether that will continue to remain the same is to be seen,” he added.
This is the danger of thinking too narrowly about LGBTQ rights in the world (and of having Trump for a president, but you knew that already). This will affect at least 100 families right off the bat and could affect the way these folks pursue their careers and their lives in the future. Bad, bad call.
Last month in Texas, a grieving family submitted an obituary to their local paper after the passing of their mother, Brenda Light.
The obituary they submitted mentioned that Brenda was survived by her son and his husband. But when they saw the obituary published in the newspaper, the reference to his husband had been deleted.
The obituary submitted to the Olton Enterprise included the line “Those left to cherish her memory include her son, Barry Giles, and his husband, John Gambill of Dallas”. But there was no mention of Gambill or the union in the published version.
“It wiped John completely off the picture like he didn’t exist,” Giles told Fox 4local news.
It was evidently not an oversight on the part of the newspaper, which is based in a town of about 2,200 residents more than 350 miles north-west of Dallas.
The publisher, Phillip Hamilton, doubles as a Baptist pastor. He told the station in a statement: “It is my religious conviction that a male cannot have a husband. It is also my belief that to publish anything contrary to God’s Word on this issue would be to publish something in the newspaper that is not true.
“The newspaper respects the first amendment rights of those who express such opinions. The newspaper’s decision to edit the obituary is both ethical and lawful. It would be unethical to publish a news item that is known by the editor to be false. Based on the truth found in the Word of God, I could not in good conscience identify Mr Gambill as the husband of Mr Giles.”
This is just disgusting. Your beliefs don’t invalidate someone else’s family.
This month, the British overseas territory of Bermuda became the first jurisdiction in the world to reverse a law legalizing marriage equality. Now, experts are worried that other countries and jurisdictions around the world might do the same.
“This could open the door to undo marriage equality elsewhere,” said Jordan Sousa, founder of Bermuda’s Gay Straight Alliance, one of several local advocacy groups for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, with 1,200-odd members.
Same-sex marriage has become legal in 26 nations since the Netherlands led the way in 2001. Austria and Taiwan are set to join this list following court rulings on the matter in 2017.
So it came as a surprise to many when Bermuda reversed its decision and introduced a new Domestic Partnership Act that let islanders form domestic partnerships but not marry. The government said gay couples who had wed would keep their status.
Only a dozen or so same-sex weddings have taken place in Bermuda or on cruise ships registered in the territory in the nine months since it became legal. It was unclear how many have gay marriages been canceled as a result of the new legislation.
This is horribly disappointing, and sets such a terrible precedent for other places struggling to accept equal rights. My heart is with you, Bermuda.
Last week, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that its signatory countries must provide same-sex couples with the same rights and protections as different-sex couples. This means marriage equality may soon be coming to about 20 Latin American and Caribbean nations.
The order covers Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Suriname, and Uruguay. Some of them already have marriage equality, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, and some parts of Mexico, but most do not. Some of them offer civil unions, but the court said a separate arrangement for same-sex couples is not acceptable.
Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis, who had promised to expand LGBT rights in his nation, had asked the court two years ago to rule on marriage equality, and today’s decision is its response, Reuters reports. The Costa Rican government praised the ruling, with Vice President Ana Helena Chacon telling a press conference, “The court … reminds all states on the continent, including ours, of their obligation and historical debt toward this population,” according to Reuters. There were celebratory rallies in Costa Rica and throughout the region.
Costa Rica has already embraced the ruling, and hopefully there will be many more countries to come! To be continued.
[Image: Two people wearing white wedding dresses kissing and holding hands before a wire arch, with flowers and greenery in the background.]
This week, the highest court in Austria ruled that marriage equality will be the law of the land, effective 2019. (Better late than never!)
Austria has allowed same-sex couples to form civil partnerships since 2010, but only different-sex couples were allowed to marry. The court rightfully ruled that this is discrimination.
“Today, the differentiation between marriage and legally registered partnerships can no longer be upheld without discriminating against same-sex couples,” the court said. “For the separation into two legal institutions implies that homosexual individuals are not equal to heterosexuals.”
The court recommended that marriage be opened to all couples starting in 2019, unless Austrian lawmakers change legislation to stipulate otherwise.
With the ruling, Austria becomes the 16th European country to grant marriage equality. A similar law took effect in neighboring Germany in October. The Netherlands was the first country to approve marriage equality; same-sex couples have been marrying there since 2001. Same-sex marriage has been legal across the United States since 2015.
Woohoo! Congrats, friends in Austria. 2019 can’t come soon enough.
Finally! After years of work and a months-long survey campaign to hear from citizens, Australia’s parliament has overwhelmingly passed a bill to legalize marriage equality.
Officials broke into a standing ovation of applause when the decision was announced. Weddings will start as early as January 6, 2018.
Some broke into a rendition of the chorus of one of the country’s many unofficial anthems: “I am, you are, we are Australian.”
The prime minister Malcolm Turnbull told the house that “Australia has done it - every Australian had their say, and they said ‘it’s fair, get on with it’.”
“We’ve voted today for equality, for love, it’s time for more marriages, more commitment, more love, more respect,” he said. “This is Australia: fair, diverse, loving and filled with respect.”
“It’s fair, get on with it.” Yes. So happy for you, Australia.
So, Barbie supports marriage equality (and maybe has a girlfriend?) and I am here for it. (via NewNowNext)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that on November 28, he will issue a former apology for the way the Canadian government previously persecuted LGBTQ people.
The address is “expected to be the most comprehensive ever offered by any national government for past persecution of sexual minorities,” the outlet wrote.
Trudeau’s address will likely focus largely on Canada’s past treatment of LGBTQ service members and other government employees. From the 1950s until 1992, many of those the government suspected of being gay were interrogated, put through humiliating tests to expose their sexual orientation and expelled from their Canadian government positions.
The forthcoming apology is one of several redresses recommended by the Canadian LGBTQ advocacy group Egale, which has been working with Trudeau’s administration to address sexual minority equality issues in Canada.
Meanwhile in the United States, Team Trump is basically trying to recreate our horrific past, not apologize for it. Oh, Canada.
The results are in: A whopping 61.6% of Australians voted “yes” on a survey asking whether to legalize marriage equality.
While the vote doesn’t immediately legalize same-sex marriage, prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has said that Parliament now has until Christmas to make nationwide marriage equality a reality. Same-sex marriage has been banned in Australia since 2004. The controversial voting campaign lasted several months.
After a national vote that was resisted at every turn by marriage equality advocates who viewed it as an affront because it determined the right to equality before the law by a majoritarian vote, prominent LGBTI Australians celebrated that the Australian values of fairness and equality were reflected in the outcome.
Large public gatherings in major cities, including Sydney and Melbourne, saw marriage proposals, tears and the popping of champagne corks as Australia’s chief statistician, David Kalisch, announced the result in the capital, Canberra. […]
For Hannah Collins and Heather Ford, there was no time to waste. When Kalisch finally announced that the yes campaign had secured 61.6% of the vote in Australia’s voluntary same-sex marriage postal survey, Ford proposed. “Heather got down on her knee, mate, and the date is 4 April,” Collins said.
Love, love, love, love, love. Congratulations, Australia. Love wins again.