Der schweizerische Bundesrat gibt Gutachten zur Ungleichbehandlung lesbischer Paare bei der Kostenübernahme für künstliche Befruchtungen in Auftrag TEXTE déposé: Le mariage pour toutes et tous a été accepté par 64 % des votantes et les votants le 26 septembre 2021. Cette modification législative, entrée en vigueur en juillet de cette année, permet également aux couples […]

Swiss Federal Council commissions expert opinion on unequal treatment of lesbian couples in the coverage of costs for artificial insemination — LGBTI Recht in der Schweiz – Droit LGBTI en Suisse – by Professor Andreas R Ziegler

Singapore decriminalizes gay sex but defines marriage as heterosexual institution

The Singaporean Parliament Tuesday voted to repeal a ban on gay sex in the country. The law was remained from the colonial era and did not enjoy support from the Singaporean public.

In August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s announced that his government intended to repeal the law. While the law was not enforced in Singapore, many people believe it still discriminated against and demeaned gay people. Minister for Law K Shanmugam argued:

The time has come for us to remove Section 377A. It humiliates and hurts gay people. Most gay people do not cause harm to others. They just want to live peacefully and quietly, and be accepted as part of society the same as any other Singaporean. They could be our family, friends or colleagues, and they deserve dignity, respect and acceptance.

While gay sex was decriminalized, members of Parliament simultaneously decided to amend Singapore’s constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman. Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli stated that defining marriage in the constitution will lead to “greater protection” for marriage and family in Singapore. Masagos explained:

On our part, the Government is doing all it can to promote social norms and values aligned to the current definition of marriage. But it is not something the Government can accomplish on its own. The transmission of social values to the next generation is something Singaporeans practice within their own families and with their loved ones.

Other ministers and members of parliament agreed with Masagos, stating that defining marriage as a heterosexual institution is in the best interest of the Singaporean population.

Some members of parliament expressed opposition to the constitutional amendment. MP Hazel Poa argued that the issue of marriage is important to many Singaporeans and should therefore be turned over to the public to define.

The post Singapore decriminalizes gay sex but defines marriage as heterosexual institution appeared first on JURIST – News.

US Senate passes bill to federally recognize same-sex and interracial marriage amid Supreme Court fears

The US Senate Tuesday passed a bill to federally protect same-sex marriage in a bipartisan vote of 61-36 . The bill’s supporters included 49 Democrat senators and 12 Republicans. The Respect for Marriage Act “provides statutory authority for same-sex and interracial marriages” and repeals and replaces the federal definition of marriage with “provisions that recognize any marriage that is valid under state law.”

Additionally, the bill replaces previous provisions that did not require states to recognise same-sex marriage with “provisions that prohibit the denial of full faith and credit or any right or claim relating to out-of-state marriages on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, or national origin.”

The legislation arose after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in June. Roe provided precedent for the constitutional concept of substantive due process and aided the court in recognising the unconstitutional nature of bans on same-sex and interracial marriages. Critics fear that Obergefell v. Hodges, which ruled that bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, and Loving v. Virginia, which found bans on interracial marriage unconstitutional, are now in danger.

If approved by the House of Representatives and signed by President Biden, the bill would allow the Department of Justice to bring a civil action and establishes a private right of action for violations. The House of Representatives is expected to approve the bill, as it passed a similar bill in July.

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Russian parliament passes law banning “LGBTQ propaganda”

The Russian State Duma Thursday approved a bill prohibiting “LGBTQ propaganda.” The bill passed the Russian Federal Assembly’s lower house in a unanimous roll-call of 397 votes to zero. The legislation will now pass to the upper house, before going to the Kremlin for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s signature.

The new legislation seeks to drastically expand similar legislation adopted in Russia in 2013. Called the “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors” law, the 2013 legislation prohibited the dissemination of LGBTQ information to minors. However, the new bill extends this prohibition to all age categories.

The law effectively prohibits the positive promotion of LGBTQ issues and public displays of non-heterosexual relationships. For violating the law, individuals can face fines of up to 400,000 rubles. Public officials can face fines of up to 800,000 rubles. Corporate entities can face fines of up to 5 million rubles and have their activities suspended by the state.

Chairman of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin stated during the plenary session of the first reading:

We have traditions, a conscience, an understanding that we need to think about children, families, the country, and preserve what our parents have passed on to us. We must do everything to protect our children and those who want to live a normal life. Everything else is sin, sodomy, darkness, and our country is fighting this.

After the bill was passed, the Equal Rights Coalition–an intergovernmental organization comprised of 42 member states dedicated to protecting the rights of LGBTQ people–expressed concern that “these extensions of the so-called anti-propaganda law mean that any act or public mention of same-sex couples is functionally criminalized.” Last month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed deep concerns about how the law “infringes even further on international human rights norms and standards.”

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken criticized the law as “another serious blow to freedom of expression and the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons in Russia.” In response, Volodin called the law Russia’s “answer to Blinken.”

The post Russian parliament passes law banning “LGBTQ propaganda” appeared first on JURIST – News.

New publication: Aloy Ojilere (2022), Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: The Limits of Human Rights in Africa, Journal of Homosexuality,DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2022.2132577

The right to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) are integral to and manifest
in LGBTIQ rights including homosexuality and same-sex marriage. International law
promotes these rights and prohibits discrimination on these grounds. Many western …

More: Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: The Limits of Human Rights in Africa

EVENT INVITATION: LAGGING BEHIND. UNDERSTANDING THE SLOW PROGRESS OF IMPLEMENTING TRANS, NON-BINARY, AND GENDER NON-CONFORMING WORKERS’ RIGHTS AT THE UN IN GENEVA – 17 November, 12:30 In person, Graduate Institute – Room S5

Gender-diverse workers within International Geneva (UN bodies/agencies, CERN, other IOs, think tanks) continue to face specific types of employment discrimination based on their gender identity and expression. In her research conducted in early 2022, Dr Mira Fey finds that the vast majority of international organisations do not provide adequate employment rights for gender-diverse workers. From an overall lack of awareness among co-workers, supervisors, and senior management over binary human resources (HR) forms and IT systems to almost no gender-neutral toilets, gender-diverse workers report a range of negative day-to-day experiences. Aditya Bharadwaj, Co-Director of the Gender Centre will be moderating the debate together with the Queer International Studies Assembly (QISA). REGISTER This event is organised jointly by the Gender Centre and the Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

Call for papers | Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law 10th Annual Conference 2023

The tenth annual conference of the U.C. Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law (BCCE) will be held at Utrecht University (the Netherlands) on 28-30 June 2023. 

The conference will provide a space for critical reflection on (comparative) equality law, and for trying out exciting new ideas about how to move equality law forward. The conference organizers particularly welcome submissions that seek to illuminate intersections between equality law and other fields of law (e.g. employment law, criminal law, fundamental rights law, competition law etc) as well as other disciplines (e.g. sociology, political theory, political economy, history, gender and queer studies, economics, etc) and/or intersectional inequalities (e.g. racism, sexism, class inequality, ableism, etc). They particularly encourage submissions that explore equality law in context, as well as combining different legal, empirical, symbolical and other disciplinary methods. 

The call for papers is now available. The deadline for the submissions of abstracts is 15 November 2022.

Should you have any queries, please contact BCCEUtrecht@uu.nl

CALL FOR PAPERS

Interesting new publication: Brian Tobin, The Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Relationships – Emerging Families in Ireland and Beyond

More; https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legal-recognition-of-samesex-relationships-9781509952533/

Junior consultancy opportunity at ILGA World

https://ilga.org/junior-consultancy-legal-research-2022

Violences à l’égard des « femmes » – à qui s’applique ce terme dans la Convention d’Istabul ? (Avis de droit sur mandat du Bureau fédéral de l’égalité entre femmes et hommes (BFEG) en Suisse) La Convention du Conseil de l’Europe sur la prévention et la lutte contre la violence à l’égard des femmes et la violence domestique […]

Violence against “women” – to whom does this term apply in the Istanbul Convention? (Legal opinion commissioned by the Federal Office for Gender Equality (FOGE) in Switzerland) — LGBTI Recht in der Schweiz – Droit LGBTI en Suisse – by Professor Andreas R Ziegler