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

Italy: Prime Minister wants a vote on civil union bill by October

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he hopes to get a long-stalled civil union bill through parliament in October. Renzi vowed early in his term to get make civil unions legal under Italian law before the start of 2014, but the bill stalled in the face of stiff opposition. Renzi was cautious with his new timeline in remarks quoted by ANSA.

Renzi outlined his new timeline as the bill’s lead author, Senator Monica Cirinnà announced a deal with conservative members of the Justice Committee to allow an amendment adding language designed to emphasize that civil unions were not considered equivalent with marriage between a man and a woman.

Opposition from Catholic leaders has helped keep the bill on ice despite the fact that 75% of Italians favored some form of partnership rights for same-sex couples and nearly half backed full marriage equality in a BuzzFeed News/Ipsos poll conducted earlier this year.   Read More via Buzzfeed

Italy: Mayor proposes tax on homosexuals

Joe Formaggio, the ultra-conservative Mayor in Albettone, a town in the province of Vicenza, recently made national headlines with his newest proposal: a tax on homosexuals.

His reasoning is simple: “Gay people don’t have sons, so they have to compensate for the future lower tax income.” He added that the new tax should help “normal families” like his. He has three children. Some historians were reminded of a similar law, the celibacy tax, which was in effect during the Fascist era between 1927 and 1943 to encourage more births.

As strange as it may seem, his proposals have actually received some local support. Read More via Lettera43

Burundi: New measures restricting the freedoms of organization

After the formation of his government, the President of the Republic His Excellency Pierre Nkurunziza in his speech to the nation announced new reforms. In these reforms, the President particularly noted the establishment of a Commission for national and international NGOs.

"We will examine in depth how to put feet on a commission of national and international NGOs, approve and monitor how they are doing their job: it is shown that a disorder exists in these organizations. The Commission will monitor the achievements of these NGOs to their contribution to the development of the country is more visible and increases in accordance with new regulatory provisions that will be defined soon."

Although these measures will affect all NGOs working in Burundi in general, organizations working on LGBTI theme will be affected in particular. At present, no identity LGBTI organization has been registered despite multiple attempts. The reforms announced by the President of the Republic may destroy the efforts and advocacy work already undertaken since 2009 by LGBTI organizations in Burundi. Read More via Mouvement pour les Libertés Individuelles