17 E.U. countries sound alarm over Hungarian LGBTQ laws

Hungary’s parliament passed legislation in March that creates a legal basis to ban Pride marches and lets police use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend.

They called on Hungary to revise the measures and asked the European Commission to make full use of its powers if Budapest does not do so. The Commission can take legal action against member states if it believes they are violating EU law.

The statement was backed by Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

More: https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/17-eu-countries-sound-alarm-hungarian-lgbtq-laws-rcna209197

Interesting Article: The European Court of Human Rights and same-sex marriage: incompatible bedfellows?

L Hodson – Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 2025

This paper critically explores the European Court of Human Rights’ case-law in the
area of same-sex relationship recognition and marriage rights, paying attention to
jurisprudence under Article 8 (the right to private and family life), Article 12 (the right …

Open Access here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09649069.2025.2499387

Interesting Article for the US: LGBTQ Wedding Party: Conscientous Objections to the Enforcement of Anti-Discrimination Law

I Tourkochoriti – Tulsa Law Review, 2025

This article engages with cases that have recently emerged before courts related to
conscientious exemptions in the enforcement of antidiscrimination laws regarding
access to goods and services. The article proposes a rationale in favor of enforcing …

Open access here: https://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D3355%26context%3Dtlr&hl=en&sa=X&d=889265414575782326&ei=q10yaIbtEtHSieoP4tatoQU&scisig=AAZF9b-AZMDYHGSgKfu4T31NWmaH&oi=scholaralrt&html=&pos=2&folt=rel&fols=

Court in Italy rules two mothers can register as parents on child’s birth certificate

In recent years, some city registrars in Italy had begun to record only the name of the biological mother on birth certificates and not the name of her partner.

Italy’s Constitutional Court has ruled that two women can register as parents of a child on a birth certificate, saying recognition of parental rights can’t be restricted to the biological mother alone in families with same-sex parents.

The court ruled that it was unconstitutional for city registrars to deprive children born to same sex-parents of recognition by both the biological mother and the woman who consented to the medically assisted pregnancy of her partner and assumed parental responsibilities.

More: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/05/22/court-in-italy-rules-two-mothers-can-register-as-parents-on-childs-birth-certificate

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Italy constitutional court affirms parental rights of same-sex mothers

Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that both members of a same-sex female couple can be recognised as legal parents of a child born in Italy through medically assisted reproduction conducted abroad. The court held in its Sentenza n. 68/2025 that Article 8 of Law No. 40/2004 is unconstitutional insofar as it does not allow the intentional (non-biological) mother to be listed on the birth certificate of the child born under such circumstances.

The ruling came in response to a constitutional challenge raised by the Civil Tribunal of Lucca, which was asked to rule on the validity of a birth certificate listing two mothers—G.G. as the biological mother and I.P. as the intentional mother. The child was conceived through assisted reproductive techniques outside Italy, in compliance with the laws of that country. The local prosecutor challenged the registration on the basis that it contravened Italian legislation and administrative guidance, specifically referencing a 2023 circular issued by the Ministry of the Interior.

The court found that excluding the intentional mother from recognition violated several constitutional provisions. Specifically, it held that this exclusion breached Article 2, which protects personal identity, by failing to guarantee the child a stable legal status from birth; contravened Article 3, which ensures equality, by creating unjustified discrimination against children of same-sex couples; and violated Article 30 by impairing the child’s right to receive care and responsibility from both parents.

In reaching this decision, the court emphasised the importance of shared parental responsibility arising from mutual consent to the assisted reproduction process. The judgment stated that once a couple decides together to undertake such a process, “neither party—particularly the intentional mother—may unilaterally withdraw from that responsibility.

The decision addressed the limitations of using “adoption in particular cases” as an alternative legal mechanism. The court noted that adoption is procedurally burdensome, time-consuming, and subject to discretionary judicial approval. It also pointed out that adoption does not guarantee continuity of legal status from birth and leaves the child’s relationship with one parent vulnerable to future changes in intention or legal action.

The court also observed that current practices vary significantly across Italy. Some civil registrars include both mothers on the birth certificate, while others do not. In the case before the court, the same couple’s first child had been registered with both mothers listed, but the registration of their second child had been challenged, creating a disparity in legal status between the siblings.

The judgment does not address the legality of access to assisted reproduction in Italy by same-sex couples, nor does it involve cases of surrogacy, which remain distinct under Italian law. The ruling is limited to cases where medically assisted reproduction is carried out abroad and both women have given prior consent to the process.

The post Italy constitutional court affirms parental rights of same-sex mothers appeared first on JURIST – News.

Apple fined amid latest Russia anti-LGBTQA+ crackdown

The Tagansky District Court of Moscow fined Apple 10.5 million rubles (approximately $130,000) on Monday in three administrative charges of LGBTQA+ “propaganda” and one charge of refusing to remove prohibited material.

Under Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation, LGBTQA+ “propaganda” is defined as a promotion of “non-traditional sexual relations among minors,” the “distorted idea of social equivalence of traditional and non-traditional sexual relations,”  and the creation of interest in “non-traditional” sexual relationships.

This is not the first administrative action that Russia has taken against Apple. In 2024, the District Court in Moscow fined Apple 3.6 million rubles (approximately $44,000) for refusing to delete two podcasts with “information aimed at destabilizing the political situation in the Russian Federation.” It is, however, the first action in connection with the LGBTQA+ community.

Fining Apple is the latest instance of a recent wave of legal actions taken against the LGBTQA+ community in Russia. Earlier this month, a citizen was fined for posting a picture of Pepe the Frog in a rainbow wig and a picture of Clara Zetkin with Rosa Luxemburg and a rainbow flag in 2020, before the LGBTQA+ movement was determined to be an “extremist organization” in Russia. In 2024, a young woman was incarcerated for five days for wearing earrings of a rainbow frog with a mushroom hat. A sociology expert who was called on by the court affirmed that LGBTQA+ symbols, including frog earrings, destroy family values and negatively affect young people, but they also assured that rainbows themselves are not prohibited in Russia.

One of the largest recent shutdowns of LGBTQA+ “propaganda” is the current case of the publishing giant Eksmo in Russia. In 2023, Eksmo purchased publishing company Popcorn Books, which produced a number of widely popular LGBTQA+ young adult novels in 2021, before the change in laws deemed the LGBTQA+ movement “extremist” in 2023. Currently, 11 people from several publishing companies have been arrested, and Eksmo is sending out lists of 48 titles to bookstores asking them to return or destroy the books.

The post Apple fined amid latest Russia anti-LGBTQA+ crackdown appeared first on JURIST – News.

UK: People could be asked to prove biological sex under new EHRC code

Sports clubs and hospitals could ask for a person’s birth certificate if there is “genuine concern” about their biological sex under an updated Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) code of practice.

The regulator published updates to the code on Tuesday in light of a Supreme Court ruling that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law.

Other changes include guidance that trans people can be excluded from sport “when necessary for reasons of safety or fair competition”.

EHRC chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner said the changes, which will be subject to a six-week public consultation, were intended to satisfy a “demand for authoritative guidance” after the ruling.

More: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wgg1kj97zo

Azerbaijan: Freedom for those targeted in LGBTI crackdown

Azerbaijan’s police are entrapping gay and queer men via dating apps, raids, and data checks, leading to unlawful detention and extortion. These actions violate Azerbaijan’s own laws and international legal obligations, including the 2024 ruling of the ECtHR in A v. Azerbaijan. Authorities must respect the law and act now to stop these abuses.

Source: Minority Azerbaijan – Urgent: A new police trick against LGBTQ+ community