Chile: President signs civil unions bill

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on Monday signed a bill into law that will allow gays and lesbians in the South American country to enter into civil unions.

“Today is a historic day for sexual diversity,” said Rolando Jiménez, director of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, in a press release. “The state for the first time recognizes that there is not just one way to make a family. From today the state protects family diversity and takes responsibility for historic injustices based upon prejudices and taboos that never should have existed.”  Read More 

Peru: LGBT supporters march for civil union debate

An estimated 3,000 Peruvians in support of LGBT rights marched Saturday in the capital city Lima after the country's Commission of Justice repeatedly failed to address a bill that would recognise civil unions for same-sex couples. The bill had its hearing postponed until after the Easter holiday. If passed, the civil union legislation would expand inheritance laws for same-sex couples in Peru. 

The march's main objectives were to encourage citizens to demand equal rights for people LGTBI; support the legal and equal recognition of same-sex couples (gay marriage); and support passing laws that explicitly protect sexual orientation and gender identity with the inclusion of these categories in the criminal offenses against discrimination and hate crimes.  Read More

Peru: Leftist Legislator claims Mein Kampf 'Is Right' about gay people

Leftist legislator Rubén Condori Cusi cited Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as an inspiration for his vote against legalizing same-sex civil unions in the South American nation. Following the vote, Condori Cusi called homosexuality “a misconduct” and added, “Matters regarding cleaning, ironing, cooking, those are gender-exclusive.”

While some leftist leaders in Latin America–including Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, and Rafael Correa of Ecuador–have paid lip service to the LGBT cause, all three have close ties to the Islamic Republic of Iran, a nation that openly executes its own citizens on charges of “sodomy.” Argentina and Venezuela have also been implicated in aiding not just the Iranian government, but the Shiite Islamist terrorists of Hezbollah. Read More 

Nigeria: Presidential elections "Vote for me; I too oppose gay marriage"

Anti-gay politics continue in Nigeria, as the presidential campaign of Muhammadu Buhari denied the accusation that Buhari struck a deal with Western nations to repeal Nigeria’s new anti-gay law in exchange for supporting his campaign to unseat President Goodluck Jonathan.

“There is no relationship between General Buhari and any western nation concerning gay marriage and such pervasive orientations that are not in conformity with our cultures and values,” said Olayemi Success, national coordinator of the campaign’s Buhari Volunteer Network.

Buhari will not seek to repeal the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, that provides up to 14 years in prison for anyone who enters into a same-sex marriage and up to a 10-year sentence for anyone who attends a same-sex wedding in Nigeria, makes a  “public show of same-sex amorous relationship,” or belongs to a “gay organization.” Read More

Slovenia: 11th EU nation to approve gay marriage

The Slovenian Parliament has adopted by 51 to 28 votes a new law that authorises same-sex weddings. Deputies have also voted in favour of legalising adoption by gay and lesbian couples. There was a small protest outside the parliament as the vote took place, but recent polls showed that 60 per cent of citizens are in favour of gay marriage. Read More

Navajo Nation: Tlingit and Haida tribal council adopts statute allowing same-sex marriage

In a unanimous vote Friday, the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s Executive Council adopted a new statute that allows same-sex couples to marry under tribal law.

“We are pleased to expand our Tribal Court to meet the needs of our tribal citizens,” said Tribal Court Chief Justice Debra O’Gara in a prepared statement. ”Our court can now be utilized by tribal citizens for the happy occasion of marriage without discrimination and regardless of gender.” Read More

Mexico’s quiet marriage equality revolution

Courts in more than two-thirds of Mexico’s 31 states have granted same-sex couples the right to marry over the past two years in a series of rulings that will likely make marriage equality a reality nationwide in the near future.

The wave of rulings throughout Mexico hasn’t caused the uproar that has followed rulings in the United States over the past year striking down state laws barring same-sex couples from marrying. Couples have not rushed to marry nor have conservatives organized major protests.
This is in part because the technicalities of Mexican law have meant these decisions have been much more narrow in their immediate impact. Each decision applies only to the individuals who have brought the cases, and other same-sex couples will still have to sue in order to marry.   Read More

China: Alibaba’s Latest Marketing Campaign Supports Same-Sex Marriage

Alibaba marketplace Taobao will celebrate Valentine’s Day by sending gay couples to the U.S. and other countries where same-sex marriage is legal. 

Taobao, China’s largest online marketplace by far, will team up with Danlan, a gay-focused website, as well as advocacy groups including Beijing LGBT Center and PFLAG China, for We Do. Public votes will narrow down the 20 couples listed on We Do’s site to ten, who will receive a free trip to California, one of the states in the U.S. where same-sex marriage is legal. Read More

Chile: Congress approves same-sex civil unions

After hours of debate, the Chile’s Civil Union bill was approved by 86 votes to 23, with two abstentions, in the Chamber of Deputies yesterday. The Senate passed the bill last year. The new law will recognise the civil unions of couples living under the same roof, whether the couple is heterosexual or same-sex, and provides them with certain legal rights.  Read More

Inside The Last-Ditch Conservative Campaign To Target LGBT Americans

In this progressive climate, the battle has shifted to the state level, where conservatives are waging a last-ditch campaign to target LGBT Americans. Two months into 2015, the volume of legislation that allows religion to be used for discrimination is already higher than the total for 2014. 

The legislation introduced so far tends to fall into three broad categories: bills that could facilitate discrimination on the basis of religious freedom, bills that specifically target officials who marry same-sex couples and bills that would allow anyone to refuse to recognize a couple's marriage based on religious beliefs.  Read More