James Mize was born and raised in the US, but Jonathan Gregg was born and raised in the UK. They married in London but have lived in the US for the last few years together.

Two years ago, with the help of an English surrogate, they used an anonymous egg donor and Gregg’s sperm to create Simone.

When the couple applied for citizenship for their daughter, the US State Department disregarded their marriage and evaluated the application as if Simone was ‘born out of wedlock’, due to the US citizen having no biological link to the child.

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-couple-sues-us-state-department-rejecting-citizenship/#gs.s5yrat

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/exclusive-hong-kong-tax-department-recognizes-same-sex-couples/#gs.s5xqao

Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has begun recognizing same-sex couples.

A Hong Kong tax assessor told Gay Star News individuals have been able to list a same-sex spouse when filing tax returns since mid-July.

https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/poland-worker-dismissed-over-anti-gay-comments-files-lawsuit-against-ikea

Ikea is being sued by a former employee who claims he was fired for refusing to take down anti-gay comments from the company’s intranet.

On May 16, International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, the Swedish furniture maker posted an article on its internal website, underscoring support for the LGBT community. The post also encouraged employees to ask customers what pronoun they preferred and engage in conversations with LGBT customers about their partners and families.

That didn’t sit right with at least one employee in Warsaw, identified only as Tomasz K. He told Polish state broadcaster TVP Info, “I’ve been hired to sell furniture but I’m a Catholic and these aren’t my values.”…

Tomasz filed a lawsuit against Ikea last week, alleging religious discrimination and wrongful termination. His case has been taken up by the Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture, an ultra-conservative Polish group opposing LGBT rights and access to abortion. In a statement on the Ordo Iuris website, Tomasz insisted he believed “every man deserves respect.”

“My post was a reaction to indoctrination, which I had been subjected to in the workplace for years,” he added. “The attitude imposed on IKEA employees on the postulates of the LGBT movement is radically different from the teaching of the Catholic Church flowing from the Holy Scriptures or accept a situation in which the employer forces me to change my worldview.”…

https://www.reuters.com/article/poland-lgbt-constitution/poland-rules-in-favour-of-printer-convicted-over-refusing-lgbt-posters-idUSL8N23X4D4

Yelena Grigoryeva received threats before she was stabbed to death, say campaigners.

Acquaintances said Grigoryeva’s name was on a list of LGBT activists published by a recently blocked Russian website that called on people to take vigilante action against them. Russia’s internet watchdog banned the website last week.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/22/lgbt-activist-murdered-in-saint-petersburg

The influential Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) found current marriage law violates equality and contravenes Articles 13 and 14 of Japan’s Constitution.

‘Therefore, the state should allow same-sex marriage and promptly revise the relevant laws and regulations’ a summary of the findings said.

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/equal-marriage-in-japan-just-got-a-major-legal-boost/#gs.rd1emq

Canada’s “LGBT purge” is the name given to policies which lasted from the 1950s until the 1990s, under which Canadian federal employees were discharged, demoted, and discriminated against for being LGBT+.

https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/07/14/why-much-is-at-stake-in-a-tale-of-teachers-in-middle-america?cid1=cust/dailypicks/n/bl/n/20190715n/owned/n/n/dailypicks/n/n/E/277730/n

A new sensitivity over discrimination in the secular world is making it harder for religious institutions to apply a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/france-to-end-12-month-gay-blood-donation-ban/#gs.qg14q9

On Wednesday morning (17 July), Health Minister Agnès Buzyn announced France would reduce the ‘deferral period’ down to four months. This would apply to MSM who had abstained from sex or were in a monogamous sexual relationship.

Judgment of 16 July 2019: Zhdanov and Others v. Russia

http://www.humanrightseurope.org/2019/07/russia-court-ruling-on-lgbtiq-human-rights-dispute/