Tag: equality

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U.N. passes gays rights resolution

In what the U.S. State Department is calling a “historic step,” the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva passed a resolution Friday supporting equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation.

The resolution, introduced by South Africa, is the first-ever U.N. resolution on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons.

It passed with 23 votes in favor, 19 opposed and three abstentions, amid strong criticism of South Africa by some African nations.

Suzanne Nossel, deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations, told CNN, “It really is a key part in setting a new norm that gay rights are human rights and that that has to be accepted globally.”

“It talks about the violence and discrimination that people of LGBT persuasion experience around the world,” she said, “and that those issues … need to be taken seriously. It calls for reporting on what’s going on, where people are being discriminated against, the violence that is taking place, and it really puts the issue squarely on the U.N.’s agenda going forward.”

More at CNN.com

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Omaha Clergy: Being Gay Not A Sin

Omaha area ministers will publicly unveil a proclamation on Wednesday calling for an end to religious and civil discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Rev. Eric Elnes, pastor of Countryside Community Church, said the proclamation was created because, “we were just fed up with the popular notion that the Christian point of view is anti-gay.”

Elnes, who leads an Omaha church of 1,500 members at 87th Street and Pacific Street, said more than 100 ordained Christian ministers have signed the proclamation, including leaders from Lutheran, Episcopalian, United Church of Christ, Methodist and Presbyterian churches.

“We believe homosexuality is not a sin. It’s not a birth defect or a choice. God created people this way. And if God created them this way, they need to be honored for who they are, and fully included in church life and wider society,” said Elnes, whose words are reflected in the document.

More at ketv.com

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Civil Unions in Illinois today – Celebrate!

More than 30 same-sex couples marked the first day of civil unions in Illinois by taking vows in downtown Chicago’s Millennium Park Thursday morning.

“For me it means a lot — making this commitment. But I also feel like we’re part of history here,” Shanelle Moffett told the Chicago Sun-Times as she prepared for the ceremony with her partner, Tenisha Watkins.

Couples could obtain civil union licenses beginning Wednesday at county clerk’s offices, but there was a one-day waiting period before ceremonies could take place. The Illinois civil unions law offers same-sex and opposite-sex couples the state-level rights and responsibilities of marriage.

While couples all over the state were taking advantage of the new law, the biggest event was in Chicago, the largest city in Illinois and home to the state’s largest and most visible gay population. At Millennium Park Thursday, judges and one minister presided over ceremonies, the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus performed, and Illinois governor Pat Quinn and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel addressed the gathering.

I know I address the issue of equality a lot on this blog. When I began it, I never knew civil rights would be such a “front and center” issue for me here. But it’s been a natural evolution for me, and I realize how important equal rights are for everyone in this country.

Getting married in California – Michael and I are one of the 18,000 couples that got to keep our legal marriage status – was more powerful than I ever dreamed it would be. When you grow up in this country and realize you are gay, marriage equality is something you don’t dream to be a reality. But it is today. At least in some states. And I believe we will someday soon see marriage equality across the entire country. It’s just fair and right.

So celebrate for the kids in Illinois today taking their step forward. It’s a good thing.

Forward.

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NV Gov. signs two more LGBT friendly bills into law

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, a Republican, signed into law bills prohibiting discrimination in housing (SB368) and public accommodations (SB331) on the basis of gender identity or expression.

SB368 prohibits discrimination in housing and certain other transactions involving real property on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

SB331 relates to public accommodations, revising provisions relating to unlawful discrimination based on sex and gender identity or expression in places of public accommodation.

Last week he signed AB211, a bill prohibiting discrimination in employment on the basis of gender identity or expression.

Taken together, the three new laws represent fairly comprehensive anti-discrimination protections for trans people in Nevada.

However, as housing, employment and public accommodations were each handled in separate bills, the outcome could have been less desirable.

The laws will go into effect on October 1.

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CT Congressman asks that same-sex ceremonies be allowed on naval facilities

Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) sent a letter to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus Wednesday, asking him to uphold an April decision allowing same-sex ceremonies to be held at naval facilities. Connecticut is home the Naval Subase New London.

“Since 2008, same-sex couples in Connecticut have had the legal right to marry. I find it disgraceful that citizens of our state serving in the armed forces aren’t afforded that same basic right,” Murphy said.

“It should go without saying that government policy should not prohibit the religious or civil official of their choice to perform the marriage — that should be left up to the couple and the official,” Murphy wrote in his letter to Mabus. “When the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has been eliminated, neither the Navy nor Marine Corps will be able to discharge a service member for marrying someone of the same sex. With our state’s proud Naval and Marine Corps tradition, I anticipate that some number of same-sex couples will want to marry in Navy chapels by Naval chaplains.”

The Navy issued the initial decision after Congress passed a law repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, but since suspended the guidance sent to naval bases after receiving a letter from a group of House Republicans, according to Murphy.

The Pentagon has stated it may be mid-summer before the DADT policy is eliminated.

Murphy has been a long-time supporter of the efforts to repeal DADT.
(via thinkprogress.org)

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Chilean President to send parliament Civil Unions bill

Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera has announced that he will forward to parliament a bill that would grant both heterosexual and homosexual couples living outside of marriage the ability to access a form of civil unions granting them many of the same rights as marriage.

Pinera announced his intentions in an interview published Saturday by daily El Mercurio.

The conservative lawmaker said his bill seeks to “protect and safeguard” the civil rights of couples living outside of marriage and “safeguard the dignity of those couples, whether of opposite sex or even the same sex.”

This comes just one week after Chili’s largest LGBT rights group Movimiento Chileno de Minorias Sexuales called for a national march for marriage equality that was designed to get the President’s attention.

Majority public support for legal recognition of same-sex partners in Chili has been strong since 2004. However, same-sex marriage still polls considerably lower than civil unions.

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NV Gov. Signs Transgender Protections Law

While Republicans in the South and Midwest are passing bills that strip rights away from LGBT people, Nevada’s GOP governor signed legislation on Tuesday that will protect transgender people in the workplace.

Gov. Brian Sandoval signed the transgender bill into law at a ceremony in Carson City. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that LGBT leaders were hopeful that Sandoval would be receptive to the legislation, as he previously served as a federal judge.

AB 211, which goes into effect on October 1, says businesses with more than 15 employees cannot discriminate against people based on their gender identity or expression and people cannot be refused work or fired simply because they are transgender.

Thank you Gov. Sandoval!

It’s estimated Nevada is home to 25,000 transgender people.

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New poll shows christians support LGBT equality

The poll, done by HRC and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, shows that Christians of all ages support LGBT equality.

In fact, 68 percent of Christians favor protecting LGBT people from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations compared.

74 percent of Christians (compared to 76 percent overall) favor a law to prohibit bullying and harassment against minority groups in schools, including LGBT students or the children of LGBT parents.

70 percent of Christians believe that when religious leaders condemn LGBT people it does more harm than good.

A majority of Christians – 52 percent – also oppose the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, according to a previous HRC poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll.

Finally, an astounding 86 percent of Christians believe their faith leads them to the conclusion that the law should treat all people equally, including LGBT people.

More graphics at this link.

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Delaware: Civil Unions bill signed into law!

Following the passage of civil union legislation by the Delaware General Assembly in April, Gov. Jack Markell (D) made good on a promise by signing the bill into law Wednesday night.

The law takes effect on January 1, 2012 and will make Delaware the nation’s eighth state to allow civil unions or domestic partnerships for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples.

Once the law takes effect, Delaware’s gay and lesbian couples will be able to obtain civil unions, thus gaining legal recognition by the state. With a civil union, loving and committed gay and lesbian couples will have access to many of the same legal protections currently available only to married couples.
(via GLAADblog.org)

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Brazil approves Civil Unions

Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday night that civil unions between same-sex couples must be allowed in this nation with more Roman Catholics than any other.

In a 10-0 vote, with one abstention, the justices said gay couples deserve the same legal rights as heterosexual pairs when it comes to alimony, retirement benefits of a partner who dies, and inheritances, among other issues.

The ruling, however, stopped short of legalizing gay marriage. In Latin America, that is legal only in neighboring Argentina and in Mexico City.

Brazil’s ruling sets a judicial precedent that must be honored by all public institutions, including notary publics where civil unions must be registered.

The request for the Supreme Court to recognize civil unions came two years ago from the Brazilian attorney general’s office, largely because legislation that would give same-sex couples the rights enjoyed by married heterosexual couples has been stalled in Congress for more than a decade.

Brazil’s constitution defines a “family entity” as “a stable union between a man and a woman.” But the attorney general’s office argued the clause is only a definition and not a limitation, and thus the charter does not say a stable union can “only” be between a man and a woman.

The attorney general also argued that the constitution does not specifically forbid a civil union between people of the same sex — and that failing to recognize same-sex unions violates the charter’s defenses of human dignity and equality.
(more at timesunion.com)