The island of Bermuda is to hold its first march to celebrate LGBTI Pride this summer.
LGBTI people and same-sex marriage campaigners said the Bermuda Pride event would help to reinforce that gay people are part of island society.
A spokesman for OutBermuda, the main sponsor of the march, said: ‘OutBermuda is proud to support Bermuda Pride 2019.
‘There is an inherent value in a public celebration of our LGBTI community in Bermuda as a reminder that we exist and that we are members of the Bermuda community.
Beacon of hope
‘It is also a beacon of hope to LGBTI youth and others who feel that they are alone.’
The march is to be held on 31 August, according to the island’s main daily newspaper The Royal Gazette.
A march in Bermuda is ‘a huge step in the right direction’, said Winston Godwin-DeRoche. He had previously challenged Bermuda’s same-sex marriage ban with his husband, Greg.
The Gazette quoted him as saying: ‘In Bermuda we are so quick to sweep things under the rug if they challenge the status quo. People argue why isn’t there a straight Pride, and I say, really, be thankful you don’t need one.
‘Pride originated from Stonewall and the LGBTI community fighting back and resisting police because they’d had enough.
‘Pride has now become a celebration of that and remembering what it took to get where we are now. We are still fighting for equality in Bermuda.”
Equal rights campaigners Liz Christopher, David Northcott and Chen Foley organised the march, the Gazette said.
Ecstatic reaction
Mark Anderson, a Bermudian entertainer, who is gay, said he was “ecstatic” that a parade would be held in Bermuda.
‘I think this is the right timing for it. Now, Bermuda is going to be put on the map with all the other jurisdictions around the world. It will be recognised that Bermuda is joining the world in taking a stance with gay pride.’
‘I would like to see every Bermudian living abroad make a great effort in coming home and supporting this parade. And if they do, be sure to put it on their immigration slip.
Ecuador has voted in favor of marriage equality in a landmark ruling today (12 June).
Confirming the hopes of local activists, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled to legalize same-sex marriage in the country.
Today’s ruling centered on whether the Inter-American Court Ruling of January 2018, which recognized same-sex marriage, compels Ecuador to legalize same-sex marriage. Judges voted by five to four in favor.
Postponing the decision
The highest court in Ecuador was due to issue its ruling on 4 June, but delayed until today, with judges saying they needed more time.
‘The Constitutional Court, after meeting several hours, did not come to a decision regarding the consultation of Norma, referred by the criminal Court of the Provincial Courts of Justice of Pichincha, in the case of equal marriage.’
LGBTI rights in Ecuador
In 1998, Ecuador became one of the first countries in the world to constitutionally ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Article 67 of the Ecuadorian Constitution, adopted in 2008, recognized marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
However, Article 68 provides that stable same-sex couples shall enjoy the same rights and obligations as married couples, except for adoption. Civil unions became law in 2014.
The road to marriage equality
The South American country had started hearing arguments for and against marriage equality in April 2019.
A gay couple of 12 years is at the forefront of the movement trying to put pressure on authorities.
Efraín Soria and Javier Benalcázar have tried to legally marry for years. After the Civil Registry rejected their application for a marriage licence last year, they took the matter to the Provincial Court of Justice of Pichincha.
‘Today is a historic day, not only for Efrain and Javier, but for Ecuador as a whole,’ LGBTI activist Freddy Veloz Baez said after today’s ruling.
‘The Constitutional Court has stood on the right side of history and recognized that all Ecuadorians deserve the same rights, no matter our sexual orientation or gender identity.’
He furthermore added: ‘This fight started in 2013 and could have never be achieved without all the couples that stood against bigotry and decided to protest the Government’s lack of respect for their dignity and rights as citizens.
‘There is still a long road ahead in order to end homophobia in our society, but today we celebrate. For all the couples that will be able to marry and for the future generations, this will be a day to be remembered.’
Activists in Ecuador
Pamela Troya and her partner Gabriela Correa were also among the first LGBTI activists campaigning for marriage equality in 2013.View image on Twitter
‘This picture was taken on 5 August 2013, when @Gaby3081 and I appeared at the @RegistroCivilec to get married and our request was denied, marking the beginning of a lengthy battle,’ the activist wrote in March 2019.
She furthermore added: ‘Today, nearly six years after that day, we’re finally about to get marriage equality.’
Following today’s ruling, she tweeted: ‘I have no words, I don’t know how to express it. This is unbelievable … we’re going to get married.’View image on Twitter
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled in January 2018 that countries should treat same-sex couples ‘without discrimination’.
This court is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Most Latin American and a few Caribbean countries are among the members.
The ruling had a positive effect with Costa Rica vowing to legalize same-sex marriage. Courts in Ecuador also ruled that banning same-sex marriage was illegal.
After the ruling, a number of couples applied in courts to tie the knot. Eight same-sex marriage cases are currently ongoing in Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca, according to El Comercio.
A landlord evicted a group of 76 LGBTI refugees in Kenya with no notice. Locals beat and stoned one man who tried to leave.
The refugees known collectively as Great Lakes were living in the Kangemi area informal settlement in the west of Nairobi. But Great Lakes leadership claimed on Monday (10 June) that their landlord wanted them out of the properties ‘immediately.
A local Kangemi chief even joined in on the eviction calling the group cursed and said ‘LGBT are not wanted here’. The chief accused them of spreading disease and called the police on them.
One refugee who wanted to remain anonymous said the landlord gave them three hours notice to leave. But as they tried to leave, locals had gathered around outside threatening to beat and kill them.
‘The incident yesterday was worse than it’s ever been,’ one refugee who asked not to be named told Gay Star News.
‘We paid our rent on time but were surprised when the owners of the house came in to tell all LGBTI refugees to get out with all our properties and without any notice.
‘All children with their mothers went outside, men started to taking properties out, but then locals who were with the homophobic community were there, ready to beat or kill us, saying to us [we should go] back to our homelands.
‘Five people from the local community beat one of our members before we rushed to intervene and help.’
RefCEA argued the eviction was ‘a clear violation of the Tenancy Agreement from PATAYA PROPERTIES Item 11. According to that agreement, tenants should receive one month’s notice of an eviction.
The Great Lakes group are predominantly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, with some from Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia and Ethiopia. Among the group are roughly 14 lesbians, 10 children, 20 trans women, one intersex and the remaining are gay and bisexual men.
The refugee who spoke to GSN said the situation remained tense.
‘The situation now is very difficult as during the night we were in two rooms with 76 LGBTI from the Great Lakes group. We distributed a meal equitably but we have no security and we can not even walk outside’ he said.
‘Our lives are in danger and we are in an extremely precarious position.’
The 76 refugees lived in six rooms measuring 2×2 meters and sharing three or four to a single bed. But now they are only living in two rooms.
RefCEA said this showed a ‘greater failure by the Kenyan government and UNHCR services to adequately provide for LGBTQI refugees’.
‘All LGBTQI refugees in Kenya are living in less than optimal conditions,’ said Michael B. Clark, RefCEA Advisory Board.
‘However, the conditions for this group are among the worst I have seen, ever. The situation is dire.
‘The Refugee Coalition will work with local and international partners over the next two days to secure funding for safe housing, transportation, security, and food.
‘It is estimated that we will need 6 houses to hold 12 people each, at an estimated cost of 580,000 KSH / $5,800 USD (€5,124) by the morning of Wednesday 12 June 2019 to ensure all Great Lakes LGBTQI refugees are evacuated to safety.’
Botswana has decriminalised homosexuality. The southern African nation’s High Court rejected sections of the penal code that criminalise same-sex relations and impose up to seven years in prison .Activists and rights groups cheered the unanimous ruling, which called the sections unconstitutional.
High Court said in its ruling that penalising people for who they are is disrespectful, and the law should not deal with private acts between consenting adults. The right to privacy includes sexual orientation, which is innate and not a fashion statement, the judges said.
Reading the unanimous ruling of a panel of judges in front of a packed courtroom, Justice Michael Leburu said that sexual orientation “is not a fashion statement” and that the laws as they stood violated citizens’ rights to privacy and freedom from discrimination.
While seldom enforced in Botswana, the laws carried the possibility of up to a seven-year jail sentence.
Homosexuality is criminalized in more than half of African countries, many of which inherited penal codes from colonial powers such as Britain. The subject is widely seen as taboo, and discrimination and harassment are rife. Last month, a Kenyan high court heard a similar case but dismissed it.
The enclave state of San Marino has banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The citizens of the small state in the Italian peninsula has voted in a referendum. The motion passed with 71.46% of votes on Sunday 2 June.
This is another major victory for the local LGBTI community. Until 2004, homosexuality in the country was punishable by three to 12 months of jail time.
The attitude towards the community has changed over the last few years.
In November 2018, San Marino also passed civil union laws for same-sex couples.
The LGBTI community in San Marino
Article 4 of the constitution will now include a new clause among all the specifications on which the principle of equality applies before the law.
The clause ‘without any discrimination on the base of sexual orientation’ will be now part of the article.View image on Twitter
It has become the eleventh country in the world to include LGBTI rights into its constitution, following into the footsteps of UK, Sweden, Portugal, Malta, Bolivia, Ecuador, New Zealand, Mexico, South African and the Fiji Islands.
A village in the Philippines which has survived typhoons, poverty and isolation will rise together to host its first Pride.
The LGBTI community in San Julian in Eastern Samar is working hard despite a limited budget to put on Rampa Este.
‘Rampa’ is Filipino gay slang which means ‘sashay’ or walk with pride or happiness. ‘Este’ means east in the local Waray language.
Rampa Este is a jam packed multi-day festival. Organizers launched with painting a rainbow crossing in the middle of towns.
Festival founder, Roel Andag, said the rainbow crossing sent a message. That message was not only to people in town but to other LGBTI people in the region. They want other LGBTI people to know San Julian is a safe place for them.
‘We painted the rainbow crossing to let other rural organizations know that they can also organize just like San Julian Pride,’ Andag told Gay Star News.
‘We make our intersectionality (LGBT+ identity, rural, poverty and proneness to natural disasters such as Haiyan in 2013) our unique identity and strength.
Rampa Este Pride
San Julian is often at the center of natural disasters which exacerbate its poverty and isolation. In 2013, the deadly Haiyan typhoon ripped through the Philippines, killing more than 6,300 people.
Even though people in town are supportive of the Pride organizers are still struggling to cover costs.
‘Locals are very supportive because they see that San Julian Pride is a credible and active organization,’ Andag said.
‘We also, at every opportunity, make it known that San Julian has a municipal anti-discrimination ordinance which passage we actively lobbied with the local government.’
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has claimed he was once gay but “cured” himself of homosexuality in controversial remarks made during a trip to Japan.
According to Rappler, a Filipino news publication, Duterte mocked his political opponent Senator Antonio Trillanes IV by saying his movements show he is homosexual. Duterte also reportedly “confessed” that he was gay before he met his ex-wife Elizabeth Zimmerman.
“Good thing Trillanes and I are similar. But I cured myself,” Duterte said during a speech on Thursday, Rappler reported. “When I began a relationship with Zimmerman, I said, this is it. I became a man again.” He subsequently added: “Duterte is gay. So I am gay, I don’t care if I’m gay or not.”
RELATED: In 2017 Duterte called the head of the Commission on Human Rights a “gay pedophile” for objecting to police killings of teenagers. That same year Duterte ordered police to shoot any “idiots” who resist arrest. Also in 2017, Duterte imposed martial law and “joked” that soldiers are now allowed to rape up to three women. Duterte has bragged of “personally” murdering suspected criminals and has compared himself favorably to Adolf Hitler, saying that he would happily execute millions of drug users. Trump has praised Duterte’s “unbelievable job” in giving police and vigilante squads free rein to murder suspected drug users and dealers and invited him to visit the White House. An estimated 6000 Filipinos have been slain in the streets on Duterte’s orders.
In a bid to reduce the number of younger viewers on porn sites, all internet users will have to prove that they are over 18 to prevent themselves being blocked from seeing adult content from July 15.
The new regulations will mean that porn websites will have to enforce a strict age verification process, which may include users entering their personal details onto the site.
“We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to be online.”
—Minister for Digital Margot James
If adult websites do not adhere to the new rules they may become completely inaccessible to UK users.
“Adult content is currently far too easy for children to access online,” Minister for Digital Margot James said in a statement on the issue.
“We’ve taken the time to balance privacy concerns with the need to protect children from inappropriate content,” she added.
“We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to be online, and these new laws will help us achieve this.”
Access to pornography “corroding childhood”
Relaxed verification procedures for online adult content is an issue politicians have been fighting against for many years.
“I want to talk about the internet,” he said. “The impact it is having on the innocence of our children. How online pornography is corroding childhood. And how, in the darkest corners of the internet, there are things going on that are a direct danger to our children, and that must be stamped out.”
“Introducing age verification is a world-leading step forward to protect children,” a spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) told PinkNews in March.
“Adult content is currently too easy to access on the internet, we’re making sure the protections that exist for children offline are provided online too.”
When the ban finally comes into full force, Britain will become the first country in the world to have an age verification for online porn.
A gay man from London has won parental rights over the child he had with his former partner via a surrogate following their split.
The High Court’s verdict is groundbreaking, as it marks the first time a non-biological father has been given rights in this type of case.According to The Times, the decision was made by Mrs. Justice Theis in February but has only now been made public.
While no names have been released, the same publication reports that the former couple are to be referred to as K and L. The former is their daughter’s biological father, having used his sperm to create an embryo at a US clinic back in 2017. The child, known only as N, was born in Canada in October that same year.
Canadian surrogacy laws
L’s lawyers explained to the court that he and K had been in a relationship for quite some time and had been living together in London when they decided to start a family. The pair temporarily moved to Canada as the laws tend to be similar to the UK’s regarding the surrogacy process, but there are certain benefits such as both parents’ names being cited on the original birth certificate.
The news should reassure other unmarried couples, whether they are straight and gay, who have a child through surrogacy (Pexels)
In the UK, the biological mother’s name appears on the document unless the parents apply to have it removed.
K and L had applied for parental responsibility orders shortly after they returned to the UK but they had difficulties seeing the process through after their relationship began to break down and on one occasion, the police were called after they disagreed on how their daughter should be cared for.
THE VERDICT
Nevertheless, Theis stated in court that since N had lived with both of her parents for the majority of her life so far, to refuse her from full access to them now would deny her of “the social and emotional benefits of recognition of that relationship and would not have the legal reality that matches the day-to-day reality.”
This way, N’s relationship with K and L is secured “in a lifelong way.”
Previously, a child could be made parentless if a biological parent died before parental orders for non-biological parents were made (Creative Commons)
She concluded: “I have no doubt, on the evidence the court has, a parental order will provide N with the security and stability her lifelong welfare needs require, and in those circumstances that order will be made.”
When asked what the unprecedented decision means in terms of similar cases in the future, Karen Holden of A City Law Firm told The Times: “[The ruling] paves the way for greater protection, but also highlights the ongoing need for urgent reform of the statute.”
A 17th-century portrait was returned to Poland’s National Museum nearly eight decades after it was seized by Nazis. This recovery was in part thanks to the cooperation of the gay couple who purchased the painting, unaware of its origins.T
Back in 2016, the Department of Homeland Security showed up at their door, explaining the situation to them. Saddened, they allowed the officers to take the artwork, Portrait of a Lady by Flemish artist Melchior Geldorp.
The portrait is now back at the National Museum in Warsaw. Its return was welcomed in a ceremony last September, attended by Poland’s culture minister, the American ambassador, and the couple themselves.L
Now, the couple, Craig Gilmore and David Crocker, are working to advance LGBTI rights in Poland. The Times of Israel reports that the couple was recently back in Poland, using the connections they made with their goodwill gesture to reach out to the local LGBTI community. They are offering the community financial donations and messages of solidarity.
LGBTI people in Poland face a great deal of discrimination. Last month, the chair of Poland’s ruling conservative party deemed LGBTI rights a ‘threat to the nation.’
In early April, Gilmore, who is an opera singer, proposed to Crocker, an artist, at a park in Warsaw. He said yes. All this was filmed. Both men are 55, and have discussed marriage during their 20-plus years together. However, Gilmore said it ‘felt right’ to propose in Poland, where neither same-sex marriage nor civil unions are legal.
Gilmore said they hoped the gesture will ‘invite the Polish LGBTQ community to join in our joy. David and I are confident that very soon they will prevail in their struggles.’
Poland’s LGBTI community appreciated this message of solidarity but still saw its limits.
‘It was a nice and brave gesture to do it in Warsaw, the capital of one of the few remaining EU countries not to recognize any form of partnership between people of the same sex. But the problems are too massive and profound to be changed symbolically,’ Vyacheslav Melnyk, director of Campaign Against Homophobia, told the Times of Israel.
