The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of rights of same-sex partnerships. The landmark ruling comes as a result of a legal action brought by the Bermuda Bred Company against both the Minister of Home Affairs and the Attorney-General.
Cyprus: House passes historic civil partnerships bill
Activists broke out in applause in the House on Thursday as the plenary gave the nod to a much-anticipated bill on civil cohabitation regulating the rights and obligations couples wishing to enter into a union other than a ‘traditional’ marriage.
Despite carrying the full force of traditional unions between two persons, regulating such issues like inheritance, adoptions are forbidden for couples entering into a civil cohabitation. The prohibition – which some argued is discriminatory – applies to heterosexual as well as same-sex couples.
“This bill is not about homosexuality, rather we are voting for freedom and equality… it is about allowing an alternative union,” said DIKO MP Nicholas Papadopoulos, who was in favour. Dissenting DISY MP Andreas Themistocleous objected that the bill effectively creates a new type of marriage, which would end up changing the fabric of family life in Cyprus.
Initially named cohabitation agreement, the law was renamed to civil cohabitation to reflect the fact that it is not an agreement whose terms were decided by the partners, but a state of affairs regulated by law. Read more via Cyprus Mail
Italy: Hundreds of married same-sex couples ‘stripped of legal recognition’ by court ruling
An Italian court has ordered cities to stop recognising the existing overseas marriages of same-sex couples. Italy has poor provisions for LGBT people party due to the strong influence of the Catholic Church, with no country-wide recognition of same-sex couples at present.
Over the past year a number of Mayors and city officials – including the Mayor of Rome – have officially recognised the weddings of gay and lesbian couples overseas, despite threats from the government not to do so.
However, they will now be compelled to stop doing so, and to strip existing same-sex spouses of their legal rights, after Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano took the issue to the Council of State, Italy’s highest administrative court. Read more via Pink News
Channel Islands: Plans for same-sex marriage to be introduced in Guernsey
Landmark plans to introduce equal marriage in Guernsey have been announced. It comes following a consultation which saw around 80% of the respondents say they supported the introduction of equal marriage locally.
Despite this support from the public, the Guernsey arm of the Catholic Church has voiced its concerns. The proposals also ask for Policy Council to monitor the progress of Union Civile internationally, whilst not actually asking for it to be introduced. The proposals will be debated at December's States meeting. Read more via ITV
Northern Ireland assembly fails to approve same-sex marriage
Israel: NGO petitions High Court to allow same-sex marriage
Israeli NGO The Aguda, also referred to as The National LGBT Task Force, petitioned the High Court of Justice on Sunday to allow same-sex marriage in Israel. In their petition, The Aguda claimed that the discrimination against the gay community in the field of marriage is unconstitutional and that if the rabbinical court should choose not to recognize same-sex marriages, those marriages should still be recognized by civil law.
The lawyers representing The Aguda, Ohad Rosen and and Hagai Kalai, argued that in accordance with previous court rulings, if the rabbinical court chooses not to recognize a marriage, the High Court has the authority to approve a marriage in the civil courts.
Oded Fried, executive director of The National LGBT Task Force: "The reality we live in is absurd; on the one hand, the rabbinical courts do not recognize same-sex marriages, and on the other hand, are reluctant to give up the exclusive jurisdiction to recognize them." Read more via Jerusalem Post
Australia: Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop lends support to same-sex marriage
Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop has effectively endorsed same-sex marriage, in her strongest comments to date about the landmark social reform. In an interview with the Ten Network's The Project, Ms Bishop, who has until now been guarded about her personal view on same-sex marriage, said she supported the government's plan to put the proposal to a plebiscite.
But the popular Foreign Affairs Minister, who only hinted at support for the reform during months of debate earlier this year, finally signalled her personal view. "I think the Australian people should have their say. I have absolutely no concerns about it myself, but I know there a lot of people who are deeply concerned about the issue," she said. Read more via The Sydney Morning Herald
Chile issues first civil marriage licenses to same-sex couples
Chile’s Civil Registry made an exception last month to its ongoing strike to perform the country’s first civil union ceremonies for same-sex couples. After 12 years of debate in the Chilean Parliament, President Michelle Bachelet signed the Civil Union Agreement into law in April, granting cohabitation rights to homosexual and heterosexual couples.
In a country with a historically Catholic majority and socially conservative culture, many Chileans have protested the government’s increasingly liberal social agenda. Activists count the law as a victory in the move toward legalizing same-sex marriage. A survey in September showed 60% of Chileans support same-sex couples’ right to marry, up from 50% last year. Supporters see civil unions as a step toward a more modern and tolerant society.
High-profile evangelical pastor Javier Soto has vocally opposed homosexual advances in society, including the recent release of a book called Nicolás Has Two Dads. Soto’s opposition provoked the leader of the Homosexual Integration and Liberation Movement (Movimiento de Integración y Liberación Homosexual), Rolando Jiménez, to urge evangelical Christians “not to allow themselves to be deceived by these pastors who offend and hurt people just for being different than the majority.” Read more via World Mag
Ukraine finally passes anti-bias law, a prerequisite for visa-free travel to EU
Ukraine’s parliament passed amendments to the Labor Code that will end lingering Soviet-era workplace discrimination over sexual orientation, political and religious beliefs.
The law was the most controversial bill in parliament among a package of anti-corruption and other legislation the European Union requires in its visa liberalization action plan.
The voting process has been excruciating, requiring six rounds of voting and frantic consultations before it finally passed. In the last unsuccessful vote, 219 lawmakers voted in favor, seven votes short of the votes that are needed for a bill to pass. Parliament’s speaker Volodymyr Groysman announced: “Dear deputies: Seven votes stand between us and a visa-free regime,” before calling a break.
Arguing in favor of the bill, Groysman said that “the individual and his rights are at the foundation of our society.” He ensured that the anti-discrimination measure had no bearing on the broader issue of gay rights. “God forbid same-sex marriages in our country,” he said. Read more via Kyiv Post
Isle of Man leader draws line under 'dark days' and aims to legalise gay marriage
Allan Bell, leader of the self-governing island, says he has been in a relationship for 21 years. Until homosexuality was decriminalised in 1992, two men caught having sex with each other in the Isle of Man faced life in prison. 23 years on, the island is hoping to follow Ireland, the UK, the US and others by bringing in equal marriage.
The chief minister, Allan Bell, said a public consultation would be launched this month on the introduction of laws to enable same-sex couples to be married. Bell said: “The message the Isle of Man has to send out in 2015 is that we are a tolerant, inclusive, open society. We abhor discrimination of any description and are outward looking and engaged with the outside world.”
It is an open secret on the island that Bell has been in a relationship with another man for 21 years: “People know that I’m gay. I’ve never made a secret of it, but no one has ever asked me.” Read More via the Guardian
Kim Davis Needs to Read the Bible Again
Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, returns to her post soon, after spending five nights in jail and then a few more days recovering at home. A Pentecostal Christian, Davis says “God’s authority” instructs her not to issue licenses for gay marriage, even though the law compels her to. Presidential contenders, including Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee, both fundamentalists, have praised her stance.
It’s undeniable that the earliest scripture books, the ones Christians call the Pentateuch and Jews call the Torah, don’t like same-sex relations. At the Garden of Eden, God decrees that a man will be the husband and a woman the wife. (See the second and third chapters of Genesis, ideally a scholarly translation such as the New Revised Standard; this article cites the N.R.S.V.) In Leviticus 18:22, the text states, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” In 20:13, Leviticus specifies that both parties in male-male sex shall “be put to death.”
That seems open-and-shut, though one might wonder why Davis, Cruz, Huckabee and the like seek only to deny gays marriage, rather than execute them as God decreed.
US: Kentucky clerk Kim Davis may have invalidated marriage license forms, deputy clerk says
Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, returned to her post after spending five nights in jail. A Pentecostal Christian, Davis says “God’s authority” instructs her not to issue licenses for gay marriage, even though the law compels her to. Presidential contenders, including Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee, both fundamentalists, have praised her stance.
Brian Mason, deputy for Davis is worried he's been issuing invalid marriage licenses, according to papers filed in federal court. Davis has replaced the original marriage license forms with forms that don't carry her name, the name of the county or any reference to a clerk or deputy clerk, said Mason's lawyer, Richard Hughes. Hughes said: "Mr. Mason's concern is he does not want to be the party that is issuing invalid marriage licenses"
"It also appears to this counsel those change were made in some attempt to circumvent the court's orders and may have raised to the level of interference against court's orders," Hughes said.
Lawyers for the couples who received altered licenses have now filed a motion asking for unaltered marriage licenses. Read More via Salon