Australia: Activists protest against ban on documentary

Activists angered by the banning of a documentary about same-sex parenting in schools have staged a protest outside the offices of Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Around 150 people reportedly attended the rally, which was sparked by the controversial banning of the Gayby Baby film and the surrounding media coverage. Members of the group Community Action Against Homophobia have held a rally outside the newspaper’s Surry Hills office today to declare "homophobia has no place in schools".

The documentary was prohibited by NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli from being shown during class time, unless it directly relates to students' curriculum. Burwood Girls High School planned to screen the film, directed by former student Maya Newell, but was forced to cancel. A number of teachers also attended and spoke at the rally in support of the cause.  Read more via 9news 

Iraq: ISIS throws 9 homosexuals from tall building in Mosul

According to a local source in Nineveh province, ISIS organization threw nine civilians from a tall building on charges of homosexuality in the city of Mosul. The source, who asked anonymity, added: “ISIS militants rounded up a number of citizens in the city to see the implementation of the judgment of the so-called Shariah judge.”

In June 4, 2015 ISIS threw three civilians from the top of an insurance company building located in Dawasa area in the city of Mosul on charges of sodomy. Read More via Iraqi News

Israel: Latest country to reveal over half of young people ‘not 100% straight’

It seems the whole world is opening up in its approach to sexuality. A recent UK survey found that 49% of young Brits identify as something other than “100% heterosexual”. A similar survey in the US found that 78% of Americans identified as heterosexual – but only 4% of those said they were “100% heterosexual.”

Now, Israel is the latest country to jump on the bisexual bandwagon. The Israeli website Mako & the Pannels Institute conduct a study asking non-religious Israeli Jews over the age of 18 about sexual preferences.

Once again, the results revealed that the younger generation see themselves on a sexual spectrum. Researchers found that 67% of respondents considered themselves to be heterosexual, but only 3% of those said they were “100% homosexual.” The remaining 30% said they were somewhere in-between straight and gay. Read More via Pink News 

Senegal: Seven men jailed for six months, guilty of homosexuality

Seven men have been jailed for six months in Senegal, after they were found guilty of homosexual acts. Homosexual acts are banned in the West African country. It is punishable by up to five years in prison and fines of up to $2,500 (£1,500).

Defence lawyer, Abdoul Daff, said the mother's failure to appear in court should have caused the case to collapse. "There was neither material evidence nor testimony in order to corroborate the claims," he added.

Gay rights activist Djamil Bangoura from the group Prudence said he was disappointed by the verdict: "It is such a pity to see these Senegalese men condemned in front of everyone just because they are gay."  Read More via the BBC 

South Africa: Lesbian minister tells Con Court dismissal was unconstitutional

The potentially ground-breaking case in which a lesbian minister has taken legal action against the Methodist Church of South Africa (MCSA) for firing her was heard by the Constitutional Court.

Ecclesia de Lange was dismissed by the church in January 2010 after she announced to her Western Cape congregation that she would be marrying her same-sex partner at the time. Representing de Lange, Advocate Anna-Marie de Vos told the court that the church “acted unconstitutionally, unlawfully and unfairly” in firing the minister: “The right of freedom of religion does not automatically give the church the right to discriminate unfairly,” she said.

Wim Trengove, the church’s legal counsel, said that its ministers must subscribe to the fundamental tenets of the church, including that “marriage is an institution between one man and one woman.”  Read More via Mamba 

Uganda: Homosexuality in schools - what experts have to say

A few weeks ago, the country was awash with news about one of the most prominent boys only schools sending all their students home due to the ‘rampant homosexuality activities’ in the learning facility.

Standing in the heart of Mbarara town, Ntare School has over the years been known to expel students that have been suspected of engaging in same sex relationships and the latest incident is said to have been triggered after the students’ fraternity attempted to lynch students who were suspected of being gay.

This is a scenario that is very common in most Ugandan schools especially same sex institutions; however, it raises a few questions. Is expulsion the way to go, what happens to the students after they are expelled – on not only an academic level but also psychological and social levels.

Asked what they think is a better approach for schools, the experts concurrently agree that while it is not the schools place to nurture or even encourage homosexuality, they should find more subtle ways of dealing with the problem. Embarrassing these still maturing children only causes more harm than good. Read More via Kuchu TImes 

Spain: Suing the health ministry to have a baby

A lesbian couple has lodged a case against the Spanish health ministry, regional authorities and a Madrid hospital after they were denied artificial insemination purely because they are gay.

Women’s Link Worldwide, the human rights group helping the couple, say the two women were refused as the government regulation states artificial insemination can only be given to couples who have tried for a year to get pregnant through sexual intercourse.

This regulation, according to the group which was only imposed in November, is discriminatory as it excludes lesbian couples. Read More via Gay Star News

Italy: Court appeal hopes to ban a child having two legal mothers

An appeal has been filed in Turin attempting to overturn a 2014 result which allowed two women to be parents of one child. The ‘double motherhood’ was described as: ‘A violation of the fundamental principles of our legal system’ in the appeal.

The two women, one Italian and the other Spanish, were married and then divorced in Barcelona. While in Spain, they were legally recognized as a family, and both mothers may share in the concerns of the child. However in Italy they had to be reapply to be recognized as a family: a kind of recognition the Italian courts weren’t prepared to give. The Italian mother applied for and was successful at making both her and her ex-spouse mothers of the child, who was born in 2011 and conceived through artificial insemination.

Attorney General Marcello Maddalena, who signed the appeal, said the child violates the ‘fundamental’ idea that offspring should come from people of different sexes. ‘The ban on assisted procreation techniques for people of the same sex is [in the interest of] the public order,’ he wrote in the appeal. 

Read More via Gay Star News
 

Australia: Anti same-sex marriage group warns of 'Dad-less' kids risk

An Australian anti same-sex marriage group has marked Father's Day by releasing a video warning of the dangers of children growing up without Dads. The Marriage Alliance commercial uses American statistics to back its claims that children without fathers are more likely to drop out of school, run away from home, be involved in crime and end up in prison.

Spokeswoman Sophie York said same-sex couples were deliberately denying children their fundamental right to have a male and female role model. While the video did not mention divorce, death and other circumstances that might result in a child growing up without a father, Marriage Alliance said in its statement it did acknowledge those factors.

"But deliberately putting a child into fatherless parental arrangement as occurs with a same-sex relationship or a legalised same-sex marriage means putting that child at extreme risk," it said. "It legitimises an increase in fatherless kids." Read More via Sydney Morning Herald

Denmark: First transgender couple married in the Danish National Church

Isabel Storm and Cecilia Mundt will be the first transsexual couple ever to be married in a Danish National Church. They say in a interview with DR news: "It is important to us that we get married in a church and not by the mayor at city hall. We love each other and it is wonderful that the Danish Church accepts that".

The priest, Henrik Fuglsang-Damgaard, at Sct. Bendts church is happy to be the first priest ever to marry a transsexual couple: "I think it is a nice decision that they want to follow their heart, and are not afraid of showing God and people around them that they stick together. I believe that God it happy about Cecilia and Isabel found each other." Read More via DR.dk 

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.” 

 Read More via The New Yorker
 

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