Suisse: Le Conseil fédéral publie un rapport sur le concubinage et la possibilité d’un PACS

Berne, 30.03.2022 – Moins strict que le mariage, mais plus contraignant que le concubinage : un nouveau régime juridique sur le modèle du PACS (pacte civil de solidarité) français permettrait de clarifier dans certains domaines les droits et les devoirs entre les partenaires […]

Switzerland: The Federal Council publishes a report on cohabitation and the possibility of a civil union for everyone — LGBTI Recht in der Schweiz – Droit LGBTI en Suisse – by Professor Andreas R Ziegler

USA: Oklahoma governor signs bill banning transgender girls from public school sports

Oklahoma Republican governor Kevin Stitt Wednesday signed into law a bill that bans transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender at public schools and colleges in the state.

SB2, also known as the Save Women’s Sports Act, requires sports teams at public schools to be designated based on biological sex, either male, men, or boys, or female, women, or girls. It also provides a third category of coed or mixed teams. The act states that teams designated for females, women, or girls “shall not be open to students of the male sex.” Violations of the act would open up schools to lawsuits from students.

At the signing, the governor called the act “common sense,” asserting that “When it comes to sports and athletics, girls should compete against girls. Boys should compete against boys.” He stressed the biological differences between men and women and contended that it is not fair for a female athlete to compete against “a biological male.”

Tamya Cox-Touré, executive director of the ACLU of Oklahoma, said after the signing that the governor “has sent a clear message to Oklahoma’s vulnerable transgender youth that they are not welcome or accepted in our State.” She called the act an attack on the transgender community, and stated that it “violates the United States Constitution and federal civil rights law, puts Oklahoma at risk of losing federal funding, and harms transgender youth.”

The act took effect immediately after signing.

The post Oklahoma governor signs bill banning transgender girls from public school sports appeared first on JURIST – News.

ECtHR: Y v POLAND 2022 – annotation of gender reassignment in full birth certificate – no violation (Judgment 17.2.2022)

In today’s Chamber judgment1 in the case of Y v. Poland (application no. 74131/14) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:
– no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights, and
– no violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination).

The case concerned applications by Y, a transgender man, to have reference to his gender assigned at birth removed from his birth certificate, or to have a new birth certificate issued. The Court found in particular that the applicant had been unable to demonstrate that he had suffered any disadvantage as a result of the decisions of the domestic authorities. They had balanced the interests at stake, acting within their discretion, when refusing to alter the full birth certificate.

https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre#%22itemid%22:%5B%22002-13567%22%5D

ECtHR: Refusal to recognise a legal relationship between a child and the biological mother’s ex-partner: no violation of Article 8 ECHR

Posted: 29 Mar 2022 04:25 AM PDT (c) Paul Johnson, http://echrso.blogspot.com/

The Fifth Section of the European Court of Human Rights has issued its judgment in C.E. and Others v France holding unanimously that there has been no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the ECHR. 

The judgment concerns two cases. 

The first case relates to the rejection by the French domestic courts of an application for full adoption of a child, made by the biological mother’s former partner. 

The second case concerns the French domestic courts’ refusal to issue a document attesting to a matter of common knowledge (“acte de notoriété”) recognising a legal parent-child relationship, on the basis of de facto enjoyment of status (“possession d’état”), between a child and the biological mother’s former partner.

The judgment is only available in French, but a Press Release of the Court summarises the judgment. 

Comment: The French legislation has been changed for the future (under a 2021 law in France, the biological mother’s partner can now establish a legal (parental) relationship with the child shortly after a birth through donor insemination.

USA: Florida governor signs bill restricting education on LGBTQ issues

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Monday signed into law the controversial Parental Rights in Education Bill, commonly referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

The bill, approved by the Senate earlier this month, restricts “[c]lassroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity” for students in kindergarten through third grade that is deemed inappropriate by “state standards.”

The bill also bans:

procedures or student support forms that prohibit school district personnel from notifying a parent about his or her student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being, or a change in related services or monitoring, or that encourage or have the effect of encouraging a student to withhold from a parent such information.

Upon signing, DeSantis said, “Parents’ rights have been increasingly under assault around the nation, but in Florida we stand up for the rights of parents and the fundamental role they play in the education of their children.”

However, the bill has faced harsh criticism from numerous organizations. Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings said, “Governor DeSantis will stop at nothing to serve his political ambitions even if it means hurting LGBTQ+ young people, some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.” Joni Madison, Interim President of the Human Rights Campaign, said, “Today, Governor DeSantis once again placed Florida squarely on the wrong side of history, and placed his own young constituents directly in harm’s way – and he has done this for no other reason than to serve his own political ambitions.”

According to a poll by the Public Opinion Research Lab at the University of North Florida, 49 percent of Floridians oppose the legislation, and only 40 percent support it.

The post Florida governor signs bill restricting education on LGBTQ issues appeared first on JURIST – News.

On 1 March 2022, Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the government must introduce a third gender marker option for non-binary people on official identity documents

Read: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/08/colombias-constitutional-court-advances-gender-diversity

New Article: Angelo Schillaci, Back at It. Italy’s Struggle for a Law against Homophobia and Transphobia: Freedom of Expression versus Equal Dignity?

published in the latest issue of the Italian Review of International and Comparative Law (Vol. 1, no. 2, 2021).

USA: Federal judge rules Kentucky clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses violated constitutional rights

Judge David Bunning of the District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky ruled Friday that former Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis violated the constitutional rights of same-sex couples when she denied them marriage licenses during the summer of 2015.

Davis became infamous in 2015 for refusing to issue same-sex couples marriage licenses despite the Supreme Court ruling of Obergefell v. Hodges. This ruling established the Constitutional right of same-sex couples to be married. Davis stated that she was refusing to issue licenses “under God’s authority.”

In 2015, the US Supreme Court denied Davis’s bid to continue refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples pending an appeal. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion to hold her in contempt, and a US district court judge held Davis in contempt of court for her continued refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

In the wake of her refusal, two of the impacted couples began the litigation which was resolved Friday. The two couples sued Davis for a constitutional violation and motioned for summary judgement. In defense, Davis stated that the Obergefell ruling raised serious issues of First Amendment rights to religious expression. She also argued that, under the First Amendment, she was immune to litigation.

Judge Bunning disagreed with Davis’s argument, writing:

It is . . . readily apparent that Davis made a conscious decision to violate Plaintiffs’ right . . . The explicit holding in Obergefell was that states could not exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage. The logical next step is clear. Davis, an elected county official who was tasked by her constituents to manage marriage licensing in Rowan County, could not exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage.

A jury will now decide what damages to award to the affected couples.

The Liberty Counsel, which represented Davis in this litigation, has stated a plan for appeal. In a press release, Liberty Counsel President Mat Staver stated that: “Davis is entitled to protection to an accommodation based on her sincere religious belief. This case raises serious First Amendment free exercise of religion claims and has a high potential of reaching the Supreme Court.”

The post Federal judge rules Kentucky clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses violated constitutional rights appeared first on JURIST – News.

US Supreme Court justices say court should decide whether religious organizations can discriminate against diverse faiths

US Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas wrote a six-page concurring opinion for the Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari Monday in Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission v. Woods, stating that the court should decide whether religious organizations may practice hiring discrimination against LGBTQIA+ Americans and people of diverse faiths.

According to his brief, Matthew Woods is a legal aid attorney in Seattle. He is a practicing Christian and identifies as bisexual. Woods applied to his “dream job” with Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission (SUGM), but the organization rejected his application due to his sexual orientation.

Woods filed a lawsuit alleging that SUGM violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) and that a blanket exemption for non-profit religious organizations was unconstitutional. The Washington Supreme Court reasoned that an exception from WLAD for ministerial employees who perform “vital religious duties” balanced all constitutional interests involved. The court then remanded the case to a lower court for further proceedings. SUGM appealed to the Supreme Court.

Alito and Thomas acknowledged that “threshold issues would make it difficult” for the court to take up case. However, they believe “[t]he Washington Supreme Court’s decision to narrowly construe [the WLAD] religious exemption to avoid conflict with the Washington Constitution may, however, have created a conflict with the Federal Constitution.” Further, the justices noted that the lower court did not address whether requiring SUGM to hire someone who does not share its exact beliefs would infringe the First Amendment.

Alito and Thomas accused Woods of applying to SUGM “not to embrace and further its religious views but to protest and fundamentally change them.” They stated fears that hiring equality would erase religious organizations from existence, saying:

If States could compel religious organizations to hire employees who fundamentally disagree with them, many religious non-profits would be extinguished from participation in public life—perhaps by those who disagree with their theological views most vigorously. Driving such organizations from the public square would not just infringe on their rights to freely exercise religion but would greatly impoverish our Nation’s civic and religious life.

The post US Supreme Court justices say court should decide whether religious organizations can discriminate against diverse faiths appeared first on JURIST – News.