Italy: Poor turnout for Rome anti-gay union protest

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Rome's Circus Maximus arena to protest against a civil unions bill for same-sex couples, a hot-potato issue for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government.

But while organisers had been hoping to attract one million people and authorities had prepared for 500,000, journalists at the scene estimated the numbers to be in the tens of thousands. Official numbers were not immediately available.
   
"Without limits, our society will go mad!" organiser Massimo Gandolfini told the "Family Day" rally, as grandparents, parents and children held up banners reading "Wrong is wrong" in the capital's ancient Roman chariot racing stadium.  

 Read more via The Local
 

Italy: Thousands march for gay rights

A bill, which the Senate will start examining on Thursday, is the first to get to parliament. If approved, the draft legislation will enable same-sex couples to commit themselves to one another before a state official, to take each other's names and, in certain circumstances, adopt each other's children and inherit each other's residual pension rights.

"The first time I marched with these slogans, it was 10 years ago, and I was pregnant. I hope this time it works," said bank worker Costanza Tantillo, who joined the Rome protest with her partner and their two children, nine-year-old Beatrice and Ludovico, four.

Two women who marched nearby held up a sign that read: "Stella and Paola, we've been together for 30 years and you still don't acknowledge us." Protests had been planned for 90 towns and cities across Italy, under the slogan "Wake up Italy! It's time to be civil."  Read more via The Local 

A history of same-sex unions in Europe

As Italy’s Senate prepares to vote on the introduction of civil unions, we take a look at the rights of gay and lesbian couples across the continent. Legal recognition of same-sex partnerships is far from uniform across Europe.
 
Even within the EU laws differ significantly. The bloc’s website describes the differences between the 28 member states as “huge”. 

Read more via Guardian
 

Portugal: The President blocks adoption laws for same-sex couples – just weeks before leaving office

The new law had passed through Portugal’s Parliament last last year, granting full adoption rights to same-sex couples, and allowing lesbian couples to receive medically assisted fertilisation. Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva, of the centre-right Social Democratic Party, blocked the law just two months before he is set to leave office.

He claimed in a statement that the law doesn’t regard “the child’s best interest” as a priority, which he claims is more important than equality for gay couples. He added: “It is important that such a big change on a sensitive social topic is not entered into force without a broad public debate.”

The left-wingers who dominate the country’s Parliament will try to override Silva’s veto on the issue. Despite the stalling on the issue, many same-sex couples are already raising children together in Portugal under existing laws. 

 Read more via Pink News
 

Japan: Different-names ruling leaves door open to possibility of same-sex marriages

Last month the Supreme Court handed down its verdict on a lawsuit filed by people who objected to the Civil Code requirement that married couples be registered under one surname. The majority of the 15 judges ruled that the plaintiffs’ rights were not being violated by the law, and the media debate that followed pivoted on the question of constitutionality versus culture, or the assumption that Japan had some unusual social need for couples and their children to be identified by one name only.

Within this discussion, Sota Kimura, an associate professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University and presently one of the most in-demand media pundits when it comes to constitutional matters, brought up the wording the judges used in their decision. Kimura pointed out that this is the first time the Supreme Court has ruled on a case concerning Article 24, which defines marriage as a legally binding union between two people who mutually agree to enter into that union. Although English translations of the Constitution typically describe marriage as involving “both sexes,” the word ryōsei can also be interpreted to mean “two parties,” and Kimura believes it was this interpretation the judges were stressing. While the court said there is nothing unconstitutional about compelling married couples to register under one name, they didn’t expressly limit marriage to a man and a woman.

According to Kimura, if a same-sex couple someday sues the state to have their marriage legally recognized, lawyers can use this ruling as a precedent to claim that such a union is guaranteed by the Constitution. The Constitution does not use the word danjo (men and women), so it is not manifestly apparent that the two “parties” have to be of different genders. Read more via The Japan Times 

China: Gay man sues for right to marry

A court has accepted China's first same-sex marriage case, lodged by a gay man against a civil affairs bureau for denying him the right to marry, in a decision hailed as a step forward for gay rights. While homosexuality is not illegal in China, and large cities have thriving gay scenes, same-sex marriage is not legal and same-sex couples have no legal protections.

A court in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, accepted the lawsuit filed by Sun Wenlin: "Our marriage law says there is the freedom to marry and gender equality. These words can be applied to same-sex marriage."

Activists said the court's acceptance of the case was significant and would likely lead to more such cases. "In China, courts often reject politically sensitive cases, so the fact that the lawsuit is accepted signals some official willingness to address discrimination against LGBT people, which is encouraging," said Maya Wang, a China researcher at New York-based group Human Rights Watch.  Read more via Channel News Asia 

Greece: 26th European country to recognise same-sex partnerships

A same-sex civil union bill has passed with a wide majority in the Greek Parliament. The landmark legislation passed due to support from political parties like the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), To Potami and the Union of Centrists, along with some New Democracy members of parliament.

“This ends a period of backwardness and shame for the state, which led to our country receiving international rulings against it,” said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. “Instead of celebrating, though, maybe we should apologize to hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens that have been denied their rights all these years.”

The law passed recognizes same-sex unions, however campaigners have said it does not go quite far enough: “The bill does not provide equality before the law, especially in regard to adoption and custody of children, but it comes close,” LGBT campaigner Leo Kalovyrnas said. “Politicians in this country tend to hide behind the church but they, too, across the board, are homophobic.”

Comments made earlier this month by the bishop of Kalavryta sparked controversy, as he condemned homosexuals as “freaks of nature” and encouraged people to ”spit on them.”  Read more via International Business Times

German Parliament will be forced into debating marriage equality

Germany’s governing body--the Bundestag-- is being forced to discuss two proposed laws on marriage equality.

The chamber’s judicial committee refused to discuss the proposed laws for the ‘introduction of the right of marriage for people of the same gender’ on three separate occasions. Now they are being forced into the discussion because Renate Kuehnat – leading the Green Party – made use of a loophole in the proceedings that states a fraction can demand debate of an interim if it has not been discussed 10 weeks after a motion was presented.

In October, following an update on law regulating civil partnerships, numerous MPs passed a motion demanding marriage equality. Now it’s down to the speaker’s office to decide if, and if so when, the debate will be set. Read more via Gay Star News 

Mexico: Supreme Court overturns same-sex marriage ban

Mexico’s Supreme Court has struck down a law banning gay marriage in the state of Jalisco. Two gay couples challenged the state’s civil code after their were denied the right to marry after their applications to do so were rejected.

Nevertheless, the nation’s highest court has once again ruled that move discriminated against the LGBT community and is therefore unconstitutional. It added that state authorities could not “deny benefits to the claimants or set charges related to the regulation of marriage.”

However, same-sex marriage has not been specifically written into law, and same-sex couples may still require a judge’s approval before being wed. Read more via PinkNews 

Slovenia to put gay marriage to popular vote

Slovenians are going to hold a referendum on 20 December to decide whether to implement gay marriage legislation in the central European country. In March, gay marriage bill was passed but opponents backed by the Catholic Church have forced a referendum in an attempt to repeal the law.

The Slovenian constitutional court gave the green light for the referendum. Under Slovenian law, if a group can gather 40,000 signatures on a petition within a month, they can seek a referendum on new legislation.  If more than a third of the electorate take part and deliver a majority vote against the law, it will be scrapped.  Read more via West Info