Bhutan’s Parliament votes to decriminalize homosexuality

Bhutan’s Parliament adopted the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill of 2019 on Thursday, decriminalizing homosexual conduct between two consenting adults. The legislation was tabled before both the houses, those being the National Assembly and the National Council, in a joint sitting of the bicameral legislature this year.

Section 213 of the Penal Code of Bhutan criminalized “unnatural sex,” which it defined as when any person “engages in sodomy or any other sexual conduct that is against the order of nature.” The crime was deemed to be a petty misdemeanor, the punishment for which could extend up to a year as per Section 214 of the Penal Code. Although there was no explicit mention of “homosexuality,” the provision of unnatural sex was widely taken to refer to homosexual conduct between two adults.

The National Assembly had repealed both the provisions earlier last year; however, the National Council voted for retention so as to prevent other forms of unnatural sexual conduct, such as bestiality. Amidst growing confusion surrounding the definition of “unnatural sex,” the bill was tabled for a joint sitting this year. After recommendations from the Joint Committee, “homosexuality” has now been explicitly excluded from the definition of “unnatural sex” through an exception clause, while the provision of “unnatural sex” still remains in the Penal Code (making acts which are considered against the nature punishable).

This was one of the 24 disputed clauses which were pending joint consideration of both the houses. The bill has been passed with an absolute majority, with sixty three of sixty nine present and voting Parliamentarians voting in favor of the amendment to the Penal Code. The law is now short of a veto by the Bhutanese King.Did you know that about 30 percent of charitable giving happens in December?
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UK: Trans kids must understand risks of hormone therapy to receive life-saving puberty blockers, judge rules in landmark case

Read: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/12/01/puberty-blockers-keira-bell-high-court-transgender-teenagers-gids/

New Book: Marie Digoix (ed.), Same-sex families and legal recognition in Europe (European Studies of Population Series, volume 24), Cham (CH): Springer 2020

Marie Digoix (ed.), Same-sex families and legal recognition in Europe (European Studies of Population Series, volume 24), Cham (CH): Springer 2020.

Save the date: Summer School on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in International Law, The Hague and Amsterdam (provisional dates: 27 July – 5 August 2022)

The fifth edition of the Summer School on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in International Law will take place in 2022 in The Hague and Amsterdam (provisional dates: 27 July – 5 August 2022).

Details: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/education/study-programmes/summer-schools/sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-in-international-law-human-rights-and-beyond

Bhutan votes to decriminalise homosexuality in ‘momentous day’ for the tiny Buddhist kingdom

Read: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/12/10/bhutan-homosexuality-decriminalises-parliament-penal-code-section-213-214/

Swiss Parliament takes historic step for same-sex marriage

Swiss parliament has ironed out the last differences on a bill initiated seven years ago, paving the way for same-sex couples to marry. This content was published on December 9, 2020 – 18:06 December 9, 2020 – 18:06

See: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/parliament-takes-historic-step-for-same-sex-marriage/46214310

Left-wing parties called the agreement a “historic step” toward equal rights for homosexual and heterosexual couples.

The last sticking point concerned whether lesbian couples should have access to sperm donations, which some right-wing parties opposed. The House eventually agreed with the Senate that this should be allowed if it complies with Swiss law, guaranteeing the child knows their origins.

The Senate had also discussed at length the question of whether the constitution needed to be amended. Right-wing parties had called for a change to the constitution if “marriage for all” was to be allowed but were ultimately overruled. 

Representatives of the majority argued that the concept of marriage has changed over time, but it has always been sufficient to make these changes in law rather than the constitution.

Switzerland is one of the few European countries where same-sex couples has not been allowed. Up to now, same-sex couples have only been able to have a “registered partnership” but this does not entail the same rights and duties as marriage especially when it comes to naturalization and joint adoption of children.

Registered partners will now be able to transfer their civil status into a legal marriage.

However, the new law makes some distinctions between same-sex and heterosexual couples. For example, surrogacy for male couples is restricted as part of the “marriage for all” law. Survivor’s pension was also excluded from the bill.

The Federal Democratic Union, a Christian, ultra-conservative party, has already announced its plans to launch a referendum against the “marriage for all” project.

“Marriage for all” was launched in 2013 through a parliamentary initiative of the centrist Green Liberals. Several versions of the text have since been debated in parliament. On December 1, the Senate voted in favour of the bill, and the House agreed on the final changes on Wednesday. The bill will now go to a final vote.

USA: Labor Department implements rule allowing employers to discriminate to protect ‘religious liberty’

The US Department of Labor implemented a new rule Monday that allows federal contractors to discriminate against employees under the guise of religious freedom. This ruling could affect more than four million employees.

The rule expands the definition of religious organizations to include for-profit organizations as well as traditional religious charities and churches. It also allows employers to subjectively define what types of discrimination fit within the religious tenets they ascribe to.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) provides an example of how this rule expands a company’s ability to discriminate against employees for a wide scope of behaviors:

This definition expands the permitted discrimination beyond, for example, a Jewish social services organization being allowed to require that its program director be Jewish, to the organization being permitted to fire any employee, including one not of the faith, who does not follow all the tenets of the organization’s faith.

The rule contradicts the language of the order it claims to clarify, which prohibits religious organizations from discriminating against employees for belonging to protected categories such as sex or race. The ACLU says, “As long as discrimination can be cast as ‘adherence to religious tenets,’ an employer could claim a license to discriminate under the Proposed Rule.”

Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia approved this regulation within the last month-and-a-half of his tenure in the department. Critics predict that President-elect Joe Biden administration will roll back the rule but say it could take years to get through administrative red tape.

Did you know that about 30 percent of charitable giving happens in December?

It’s an important month for nonprofits like JURIST that rely on donor support. Your gift of $50, $100, $200 or $500 will help JURIST to keep its legal news and commentary free and accessible to a worldwide public.

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LGBTQI+ Workplace Inclusion Conference: SAVE THE DATE AND CALL FOR PAPERS

Dear colleagues,

Please save the date for the LGBTQI+ Workplace Inclusion Conference, to be held on 20-21 May 2021 and organized by Leiden University in collaboration with the Workplace Pride Foundation.

The aim of the conference is to showcase the state of the art of research on LGBTQI+ workplace inclusion, to contribute to building a diverse platform of researchers, and to facilitate the dialogue between scientists, advocates, policymakers, employers, and employees

The conference features keynote speeches by Dr. Lee Badgett (UMass Amherst) and Yvonne Muthoni (Kenya Open for Business), several multi-disciplinary academic sessions, as well as focused panel sessions that bring together researchers, employers, employees, practitioners and policymakers around topics relevant to LGBTQI+ workplace inclusion, broadly defined. These topics may pertain to both formal and informal workplaces, and include, but are not limited to, the challenges and opportunities that LGBTQI+ people experience in the areas of training, recruitment, selection, promotion and retention, the policies and regulations affecting these areas, as well as promising interventions and solutions. 

The conference provides:

– A forum for scholars and other researchers studying these topics to present new findings, discuss future directions, and consolidate and extend their networks,

– An opportunity for employers, employees and civil society organizations to learn about the latest scholarly insights on the topic

– An opportunity for all present to learn about the ways in which science can inform practice and vice versa.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the conference will primarily be conducted online. As such, we hope to be able to include speakers and attendees from a diversity of locations and backgrounds.

Please consider submitting a talk (see below) and check out our conference website for how to join the mailing list and for periodic updates regarding the program, registration and event details.

For further inquiries, please contact us at lgbtqi.inclusion@gmail.com.

Looking forward to your submissions and attendance!

Jojanneke van der Toorn, Professor of LGBT Workplace Inclusion, Leiden University

Gaitho Waruguru, LLM, Leiden University

Call for papers

We invite your submissions for a research talk. Please submit your abstract HERE, summarizing your findings, detailing their relevance to the study of LGBTQI+ workplace inclusion, and indicating their practical implications (if there are any). Abstracts should be in the English language and may be a maximum of 200 words in length.

Abstracts will be assessed in terms of their relevance to the study of LGBTQI+ workplace inclusion and their scholarly quality. We will also take the diversity of presenters and disciplines into account. Submissions are encouraged from a wide variety of disciplines including but not limited to law, economics, psychology, and sociology, so long as they relate directly to the Conference’s theme.

If selected, your will be invited to present your research in a video recording, which will be made available to the conference participants and will likely be accompanied by a live Q&A session.

Deadline for submissions: January 11th, 2021, 11:59pm (GMT+1).

Decisions will be communicated by: February 15^th, 2012

—
Prof. Dr. Jojanneke van der Toorn

Professor of LGBT Workplace Inclusion

Social, Economic & Organizational Psychology

Leiden University

www.jvandertoorn.com

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Announcing the Sears Clinical Law Teaching Fellowship on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Law and Policy

UCLA Law’s Williams Institute and Experiential Education Program seek applications for the Sears Clinical Law Teaching Fellowship for 2021-2024. Applicants who intend to pursue a career as a clinical professor and/or public interest lawyer engaged in legislative lawyering and policy work are invited to apply if their practice or research interests are focused on the intersections of sexual and reproductive health, LGBTQ rights, and racial and economic justice. We invite applications from those practicing or working in law, policy, and other disciplinary traditions. We are particularly interested in candidates who have an interest in researching religious liberty arguments to limit both reproductive and LGBTQ rights.  The fellowship offers opportunities for experiential teaching and research designed to prepare the fellow to seek a permanent or tenure-track experiential faculty position at a law school, or an advanced position as a public interest lawyer focused on public policy or legislative lawyering. The fellow will co-teach or teach in experiential courses at UCLA Law and be fully engaged with policy and scholarly research projects. The law school will provide teaching mentorship, as well as research support and faculty guidance on research and writing projects.    The law teaching fellowship programs of The Williams Institute and the Experiential Education Program at UCLA Law are some of the oldest in the nation. Together, they have supported over twenty law teaching fellows to secure tenure track appointments at law schools nationwide. Past fellows have secured faculty positions at top law schools including UCLA, UC Davis, UC Irvine, Wisconsin, and Yale. Apply Today

A former student of mine wrote and excellent comparative study: John Curran, Registered partnerships after same-sex marriage – A comparative study of Western European legal systems, in: Jusletter 7. Dezember 2020

https://jusletter.weblaw.ch/juslissues/2020/1048/registered-partnersh_d66694e6d8.html

Let me know if you cannot access it !