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UK: Gay Muslims Fleeing Arranged Marriages, Family Violence

Monday, January 11th, 2010

A British charity has witnessed a huge surge in gay Muslims fleeing arranged marriages, homophobia and family violence. The Albert Kennedy Trust, an organisation which houses homeless gay teens, has seen an increase in the number of Muslims coming to them for help over the past six months.

“They face threats of physical violence, actual violence and restriction of liberties,” said Trust support worker Annie Southerst, speaking to the BBC. “We’ve had people chased out of the house with knives and we have had issues around young people who had exorcisms planned to get rid of the gay demons, I suppose.

“They come to us because they’re homeless, or in danger of being homeless imminently. We sort out emergency accommodation for them.

Full Story from the Pink Paper: http://news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=2234

Click here for gay marriage resources in England.

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Posted in arranged marriages, gay, Gay Marriage, lesbian, marriage equality, muslims, same sex marriage, uk, united kingdom | No Responses »

RI: Legislature May Override Governor's Veto of Funeral Rights Bill

Friday, January 1st, 2010

Rhode Island lawmakers will try to override the governor’s veto of legislation allowing same-sex couples to plan the funerals of their partners. The bill received near-unanimous support from both chambers this year.

But it was vetoed by Republican Gov. Don Carcieri, who said it represented an erosion of the principles behind heterosexual marriage.

The governor said rights for domestic partners should be decided by voters, not by the General Assembly. The bill is among those scheduled to be dealt with before the House and Senate start their new sessions on Tuesday.

Full Story from the Nashua Telegraph: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/statenewengland/509373-227/ri-lawmakers-plan-override-vote-on-gay.html

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in bill, funeral rights, gay, governor carcieri, lesbian, override veto, rhode island, ri | No Responses »

Mexico: Will Gay Marriage Bring Gays/Lesbians to Mexico City?

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Tourism officials in Mexico say they hope to attract gay couples who want to marry in the capital city. The city became the first capital city to legalise gay marriage in Latin America last week.

According to Press Association, Alejandro Rojas, the city’s tourism secretary, said: “Mexico City will become a centre, where [gay] people from all over the world will be able to come and have their wedding, and then spend their honeymoon here.

“We are already in talks with some travel agencies that are planning to offer package tours that include flights, hotels, guides, and everything they need for the wedding, like banquets. We are going to become a city on a par with Venice or San Francisco.”

Full Story from Pink News: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/12/30/mexico-city-hopes-to-attract-gay-marriage-tourism/

Click here for gay marriage resources in Mexico.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in Gay Marriage, gay men, gay tourism, lesbian, mexico city | No Responses »

China: A Year of Gay

Monday, December 28th, 2009

As the year 2009 comes to a close, it does so having been a monumental year for China’s LGBT community. Beijing and numerous cities across China experienced the successful completion of 12 anniversaries and public events that expose LGBT culture and related issues like never before. China’s LGBT community, which is an acronym that refers to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, has adapted the terms tongzhi to refer to gays, lala for lesbians, ku’er for queer – an umbrella term for those who do not identify as heterosexual with regard to sexuality, sexual anatomy or gender identity.

The community is young. Most are in their 20s and 30s, are educated, working professionals with experience abroad who are now highly active and public organizers, authors, editors, designers, film directors, curators, activists and artists.

One catalyst was the Olympic Games in 2008, a landmark event that many in the LGBT community have interpreted as a “coming out” event. LGBT websites have allowed for communities to build, to advertise events, and to allow contact and information to be exchanged between LGBT members from big cities and small towns in China with those from around the world.

Full Story from China Daily: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2009-12/28/content_9236644.htm

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in 2009, china, gay, Gay Marriage, lesbian, lgbt | No Responses »

Mexico: Mexico City Legalizes Gay Marriage

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Mexico City lawmakers on Monday made the city the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, a change that will give homosexual couples more rights, including allowing them to adopt children. The bill passed the capital’s local assembly 39-20 to the cheers of supporters who yelled: “Yes, we could! Yes, we could!”

Leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard of the Democratic Revolution Party was widely expected to sign the measure into law.

Mexico City’s left-led assembly has made several decisions unpopular elsewhere in this deeply Roman Catholic country, including legalizing abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. That decision sparked a backlash, with the majority of Mexico’s other 32 states enacting legislation declaring life begins at conception.

Full Story from SFGate: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/12/21/international/i131903S07.DTL

Click here for gay marriage resources in Mexico.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in Gay Marriage, gay men, legalized, lesbian, marriage equality, mexico city, same sex marriage | No Responses »

Overview: Gay Rights in South America

Monday, December 21st, 2009

In 2002, Argentina was at the forefront of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) rights debate when it became the first country in the region to allow same-sex civil unions. After this landmark decision, other countries such as Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay, and even Spain followed suit. On November 13th, 2009, Judge Gabriela Seijas once again put Buenos Aires ahead of its neighbors by ruling that the Argentine government must recognize the marriage of José María Di Bello and Alex Freyre, a same-sex couple.

This decision makes Argentina the first Latin American country to attempt to institutionalize same-sex marriage. Despite the temporary block of Di Bello and Freyre’s wedding, ordered by a national judge on December 1st, Argentines will soon be engaged in a battle over the deadlocked debate when the country’s Congress and Supreme Court take up the issue in the coming months. With regard to the rest of the region, the pending question is whether or not other countries will once again follow in Argentina’s footsteps regarding the legalization of same-sex marriage.

As leftist governments continue to be elected throughout the region, the LGBT movement is approaching a crossroad: will these governments honor their stated values of equality and protect the gay community? Or, will a deeply-rooted, conservative Catholicism continue to prevent equal status for all members of society? As these progressive governments consolidate their bases on the basis of promises to the poor and disenfranchised, they must extend some of the same promises to the LGBT community. On this issue Argentina is unique in its regional context because it has now twice been the first to initiate the granting of equal status for its LGBT citizens. So far, several Latin American governments, like Argentina, are also moving to fulfill some of their promises and apposite principles by extending some rights through the institutionalization of same-sex civil unions, much to the chagrin of conservatives, religious leaders and others. In the meantime, the Argentine LGBT community will continue to commemorate the country’s willingness to be the first to tackle this contentious issue.

Full Story from Scoop.co.nz: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0912/S00539.htm

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in argentina, Gay Marriage, gay men, gay rights, latin america, lesbian, overview, south america | No Responses »

Hilary Clinton on the Persecution of Gays

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

“Once rights are established, governments should be expected to resist the temptation to restrict freedom of expression when criticism arises, and to be vigilant in preventing law from becoming an instrument of oppression as bills like the one under consideration in Uganda would do to criminalize homosexuality….

Over this past year, we have elevated into our human rights dialogs and our public statements a very clear message about protecting the rights of the LGBT community worldwide. And we are particularly concerned about some of the specific cases that have come to our attention around the world.

There have been organized efforts to kill and maim gays and lesbians in some countries that we have spoken out about, and also conveyed our very strong concerns about to their governments — not that they were governmentally implemented, or that the government was even aware of them. But that the governments need to pay much more attention to the kinds of abuses that we’ve seen in Iraq, for example.

Full Story from Metro Weekly: http://www.metroweekly.com/news/last_word/2009/12/hillary-clinton-says-concerns.html

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in gay rights, hillary clinton, iraq, lesbian, uganda, us secretary of state | No Responses »

Obama Administration Refuses to Comply With Judicial Order on Benefits for Lesbian Couple

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management still thinks it can’t authorize health care coverage for the same-sex spouse of a federal court employee even though a judge has ordered the agency to do, a government lawyer said Friday. Elaine Kaplan, the office’s general counsel, said in a statement issued Friday that the Department of Justice has determined that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act supersedes the recent ruling by Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski. DOMA, as the law is known, prohibits the government from recognizing same-sex unions.

“As the President has explained, the Administration believes that this law is discriminatory and needs to be repealed by Congress,” Kaplan said.

The dispute involves Karen Golinski, a staff lawyer at the 9th Circuit’s San Francisco headquarters. Earlier this year and again last month, Kozinski ruled that Golinski is entitled to enroll her wife in her employer-sponsored health plan because the court has a policy prohibiting discrimination against gay workers.

Full Story from The LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-gay-marriage-federal-employees,0,1977764.story

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in benefits, federal employee, gay, judge, lawsuit, lesbian, obama administration, partner, refused | No Responses »

Slovenia Close to Recognizing Gay/Lesbian Unions

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

The government announced on Thursday that the new family law bill which envisages the equalisation of same-sex unions with other family unions, gay marriage and adoptions by gay couples is ready to be sent into discussion at the National Assembly.

Full Story from STA (subscription): http://www.sta.si/en/vest.php?s=a&id=1460860

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in couples, gay, gay civil unions, lesbian, slovenia | No Responses »

TX: Houston Elects Lesbian Mayor

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

The fourth largest city in the United States has made history by electing its first openly gay female mayor despite a ferocious attack by conservatives who made an issue of the fact that she is a lesbian. Annise Parker, who has been city controller, never concealed her sexual orientation and in her victory speech after defeating fellow democrat Gene Locke, she declared: “This election has changed the world for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, just as this election is about transforming Houstonians’ lives for the better.”

On her campaign page, she said: “Annise and her life partner, Kathy Hubbard, have been together since 1990. They have two children.”

Her victory may surprise some who see Texas as a Conservative state where gay marriage is illegal. Yet, Parker fought on a platform of fiscal conservatism, crime issues, and taxes.

Full Story from Vancouverite: http://www.vancouverite.com/2009/12/13/houston-becomes-first-major-u-s-city-to-elect-openly-gay-woman-as-mayor/

Click here for gay marriage resources in Texas.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in elected, gay, Houston, lesbian, mayor, texas, tx | No Responses »

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