World

France soars over last big hurdle in race to marriage equality

Ken Williams - SDGLN Editor in Chief
April 9th, 2013

PARIS – France’s Senate today took a huge step toward approving marriage equality in the first of a series of votes on the proposed law.

After more than 10 hours of debate, the Senate voted 179-157 on Section 1 of the bill, which will remove all gender references on marriage applications.
The upper chamber did not change the language of the bill, which was approved 329-229 by the National Assembly on Feb. 12 with 10 deputies abstaining.

Zambia gay rights activist arrested after TV appearance

BBC
April 9th, 2013

LUSAKA, Zambia -- A prominent gay rights activist has been arrested in Zambia after appearing on a live television calling for same-sex relations to be decriminalized.

Paul Kasonkomona had been charged with "inciting the public to take part in indecent activities", police chief Solomon Jere told AFP news agency.

He was detained as he stepped out of the studios of privately owned Muvi TV in the capital, it reports.

Homosexual acts are illegal in deeply conservative Zambia.

LGBT community remembers Margaret Thatcher for the homophobic Section 28 law

Ken Williams - SDGLN Editor in Chief
April 8th, 2013

LONDON – Amid all the accolades and tributes being paid to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who died today at age 87, are voices from the LGBT community who remember the conservative leader for legislating the anti-gay law, Section 28.

Peter Tatchell, one of the leading human rights activists in the United Kingdom, criticized “The Iron Lady” for her anti-gay positions and for other reasons.

“Margaret Thatcher was an extraordinary woman but she was extraordinary for mostly the wrong reasons. So many of her policies were wrong and heartless,” he said.

Breaking ground in South Africa with a traditional Zulu gay wedding | VIDEO

Melanie Nathan - Special to SDGLN
April 8th, 2013

(Editor's note: Melanie Nathan is Editor of the O-blog-dee-o-blog-da blog, where this story was first published. She is a frequent contributor to San Diego Gay & Lesbian News.)

South Africa is a leader in the world of equality, enjoying an all inclusive constitution, where same-sex marriage is legal and discrimination against LGBTI people outlawed. However that has not stopped homophobia and fear to embrace LGBTI South Africans as fully equal.

Canadian couple closing restaurant due to anti-gay abuse by townsfolk

Brody Levesque - LGBTQ Nation
April 4th, 2013

MORRIS, Manitoba, Canada — A gay couple in Canada said they are closing their Manitoba restaurant after just four months because of ongoing anti-gay abuse leveled against them and their employees by local residents.

Uruguay legalizes marriage equality

Ken Williams - SDGLN Editor in Chief
April 2nd, 2013

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay – The Uruguay Senate voted 28-8 today to approve a marriage-equality bill.

In December 2012, the lower house of Congress voted 81-6 in favor of a bill. President José Mujica has vowed that he will sign the bill into law.

Uruguay will join Argentina as the only two South American countries to provide marriage for all its citizens. Same-sex marriage is offered in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and parts of the United States, Mexico and Brazil.

Gambia’s president says no gays allowed; if caught, "will regret being born"

LGBTQ Nation Staff
April 1st, 2013

Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh, speaking Thursday night at the opening of the country’s Parliament in Banjul, used the occasion to send out another warning to gays, saying they are not allowed in Gambia, and if caught, “will regret” being born.

Jammeh said homosexuality is “satanic,” “anti-god, anti-human, and anti-civilization,” reported Freedom Newspaper in Gambia.

Lesbian couple weds in Oaxaca after Mexico's high court ruling

SDGLN Staff
March 30th, 2013

OAXACA, Mexico -- Two lesbians last week made history in Oaxaca by becoming the first same-sex couple to marry after Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that the state's marriage law was unconstitutional.

The Oaxaca Front for the Respect and Recognition of Sexual Diversity, which was a party to the legal challenge to the high court, said the two women got married on March 22 during a private ceremony.

Mexico City, one of the world's largest metropolitan areas, also has legalized marriage equality.

Cameroon enforces harsh anti-homosexuality laws | VIDEO

Human Rights Watch
March 25th, 2013

Cameroon prosecutes people for consensual same-sex conduct more aggressively than almost any country in the world, four human rights organizations said in a report released last week.

The organizations – Alternatives-Cameroun, Association for the Defense of Gays and Lesbians (ADEFHO), the Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS (CAMFAIDS), and Human Rights Watch – found that at least 28 people have been prosecuted for same-sex conduct in Cameroon since 2010.

Report: Cameroon most aggressive country in prosecuting suspected gays

LGBTQ Nation Staff
March 22nd, 2013

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Cameroon prosecutes people for consensual same-sex conduct more aggressively than almost any country in the world, four human rights organizations said in a report released Thursday.

The organizations – Alternatives-Cameroun, Association for the Defense of Gays and Lesbians (ADEFHO), the Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS (CAMFAIDS), and Human Rights Watch – found that at least 28 people have been prosecuted for same-sex conduct in Cameroon since 2010.

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