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

Two father babies could become a reality

Children may be born with parents of the same sex following a breakthrough which scientists believe paves the way for “two dad” families.

Researchers from Cambridge University and Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science say they have shown for the first time that human egg and sperm cells can be made from stem cells in the skin of two adults. 

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Britain's House of Lords approves conception of three-person babies

Britain has become the first country in the world to permit the use of “three-person IVF” to prevent incurable genetic diseases.

The House of Lords voted by 280 votes to 48 on Tuesday evening to approve changes to the law allowing fertility clinics to carry out mitochondrial donation. Babies conceived through this IVF technique would have biological material from three different people – a mother, father and a female donor. Read More

Sex redefined: The idea of two sexes is simplistic.

Biologists now think there is a wider spectrum than that. As a clinical geneticist, Paul James is accustomed to discussing some of the most delicate issues with his patients. But in early 2010, he found himself having a particularly awkward conversation about sex.

Sex can be much more complicated than it at first seems. According to the simple scenario, the presence or absence of a Y chromosome is what counts: with it, you are male, and without it, you are female. But doctors have long known that some people straddle the boundary — their sex chromosomes say one thing, but their gonads (ovaries or testes) or sexual anatomy say another. Parents of children with these kinds of conditions — known as intersex conditions, or differences or disorders of sex development (DSDs) — often face difficult decisions about whether to bring up their child as a boy or a girl. Some researchers now say that as many as 1 person in 100 has some form of DSD.  Read More

Canada: Ontario's New Sex-Ed Curriculum Triggers Heated Debate

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne strongly defended the province's revised sex-education curriculum Tuesday as she faced Opposition criticism that was branded as "homophobic."

Wynne, who is openly gay, took issue with a comment from Progressive Conservative Monte McNaughton, who has frequently criticized the premier's "sex-ed agenda."  Read More

Japan requires schools to help gay students

The Japanese education ministry has issued a document to schools and the education board requiring educational institutions give attention and support to LGBTI students.

Local media reports that LGBTI students are often abused and bullied on Japanese campuses, while experts and scholars are recommending schools carry out effective responses earlier to prevent suicide. Read More

Northern Ireland: Outrage over proposed anti-LGBT bill

LGBT activists across Northern Ireland are in uproar over a planned legal amendment that would allow anti-gay discrimination. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) – the biggest political party in Northern Ireland – is trying to introduce a so-called 'conscience clause' to equality laws that would allow businesses to refuse service to LGBT people if they felt it was in violation of their faith. Nearly 150,000 people have signed a petition against the bill. Read More

US: Everything you need to know about the gay discrimination wars in 2015

The fight over gay rights continues in conservative corners of the country, where legislators are advancing laws that would, intentionally or not, ensure that gay people can be refused service, fired or evicted simply for being gay.

There are no national laws protecting against these forms of discrimination, so the matter has been left up to individual communities. A growing list of cities, for instance, are passing gay anti-discrimination ordinances, which has raised the ire of their more conservative state houses.

In this year’s legislative session, similar bills in several states are striking back against gay rights.  Read More

South Africa: Gay MP holds hands with partner at State of the Nation Address

Openly gay MP Ian Ollis has responded to the social media buzz sparked by him holding his boyfriend’s hand at the State of the Nation Address (SONA). Ollis was photographed arriving outside Parliament hand in hand with partner Adriaan Roets. The proud display of same-sex affection at a high profile official state function has been praised by the LGBT community.

Ollis, a DA MP, said that he was surprised by the fuss. “I didn’t realise that holding hands was such a ‘thing’,” he said. 

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Trinidad and Tobago: ‘Adoption law must deal with same-sex, disabled issues’

Persons who are disabled, gay and who choose to have a child through surrogacy should be included in the laws with respect to adoption. These were the views expressed by Independent and Opposition senators at the Senate sitting as they debated The Adoption of Children (Amendment) Bill, 2014. 

Opposition Senator Shamfa Cudjoe said that we live in modern times where same-sex couples are treated equally in other countries with respect to adoption and the legislation should also reflect this.  Read More

US: Members of congress object to free-trade deal with countries criminalizing LGBT people

Five out LGBT members of Congress objected to the inclusion of two countries with anti-LGBT laws that include punishment of death by stoning, in a free trade deal that the Obama administration is currently seeking to fast-track it for adoption.

A letter sent to the president, the members asked why Malaysia and Brunei are part of a trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which also includes several other nations in Asia and Latin America.

Labor unions and other advocacy groups have long voiced concern that TPP could set too low a bar for signatories, but the pact became a serious concern for LGBT-rights groups last spring after the sultan of Brunei imposed a version of sharia law with death penalty for homosexuality along with other sexual offenses. Read More

France: President calls for tougher laws on anti-gay and anti-Semitic hate speech

French President Francois Hollande has vowed to introduce tougher penalties for racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic crimes in the wake of last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris.

Speaking at a dinner hosted by the country’s Jewish community, the President called for “faster, more effective sanctions” against hate speech and added: “I want such speech to come under criminal law rather than press laws.”  Read More