Landmark Ruling on LGBT Rights From IACHR

Word comes from Rex Wockner of a landmark ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (El Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos) or IACHR that declares that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected categories under the American Convention on Human Rights.

The New York Times has a useful, short summary of the details of the case involved:

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that must pay damages to a judge who was denied custody of her three daughters by the Supreme Court in 2004 because of her sexual orientation. The ruling by the human rights court, a judicial entity of the Organization of American States, requires Chile’s government to pay the judge, Karen Atala, left, $50,000, in addition to $12,000 in court costs. The February ruling, which was made public on Wednesday in Chile, is the latest development in a multiyear legal battle waged by Judge Atala, a lesbian who had lost custody of her daughters to her ex-husband, also a judge. Judge Atala’s lawyer called the decision “historic” for Chile’s legal system. Justice Minister Teodoro Ribera said Wednesday that Chilean authorities had acted to protect the “superior interests of the children involved,” but he also said Chile would respect the ruling. 

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission was also involved with the case, and submitted a legal brief on behalf of Atala. Their website has an excellent summary of the significance of the ruling.

The Court’s landmark ruling found that Chile not only violated Atala’s right to equality and non-discrimination but affirms for the first time in its history that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected categories and such discrimination violates international law. It represents a historic victory for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Chile and around the world.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), MADRE and the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law co-authored a brief (English, Español) for the Court, arguing that sexual orientation and gender identity should be found to be a protected class under the American Convention on Human Rights as held under international law. Attorneys from Morrison and Foerster focused on the custody issue at hand, arguing that sexual orientation and gender identity not be a factor in custody determinations. The brief was joined by 13 other organizations. This week’s ruling upholds both arguments.

“Though Karen Atala and her daughters can never regain the time they have lost together because of the destructive impact of homophobia, today the Inter-American Court has vindicated the legitimacy of their family,” said Jessica Stern, Director of Programs at IGLHRC. “The Court has set a transformative precedent to which every signatory to the Inter-American Convention – 24 countries throughout the Americas – is bound. Based on both American regional standards and international jurisprudence, the Court has ruled that LGBT people must live free from discrimination, whether as parents or in any other aspect of their lives.”

Lisa Davis, Human Rights Advocacy Director at MADRE and Clinical Professor for Law for the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at CUNY Law School said today, “The Court’s ruling is a milestone victory for human rights advocates the world over. It sets a precedent in international law that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a human rights violation—one that we hope will help defend the rights of LGBT persons wherever these rights are under attack.”

This is great news!

India Gov't Accepts Sodomy Legalization Ruling

The long strange story of India's sodomy law appears to be coming to a close with the demise of the colonial-era prohibition on gay male sexual acts appearing to be nigh. Today the Government of India clarified that it supports the previous decision by the Delhi High Court to decriminalize sodomy, despite a declaration before the Supreme Court last week that the Government felt that gay sex is "highly immoral" which was quickly officially denied.

The Associated Press has the story:

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian government Tuesday clarified to the Supreme Court that it accepts a recent ruling legalizing gay sex in the country.

A lawyer told the Supreme Court that the government would not challenge a 2009 order by the Delhi High Court striking down a colonial-era law that made gay sex a crime.

The order was appealed by conservative groups and the Supreme Court is now hearing opinions from those groups as well as gay rights activists.

The latest statement comes days after another government lawyer told the court that gay sex was "highly immoral" and should be banned. The government quickly denied that lawyer's statement, prompting confusion about its stance on the law.

On Tuesday, a Supreme Court justice asked the government's lawyers to file an affidavit to reconcile the two divergent positions heard in court. Neither lawyer explained Thursday's confusion.

The 2009 high court order had said that treating consensual gay sex between adults as a crime was a violation of fundamental rights protected by India's constitution.

If this decision gets confirmed it will be the single most significant advance in LGBT rights that will positively impact the most number of homosexuals in the world. India has a population which is estimated at 1.2 billion people.

Map of Status of Gay Rights in Africa

Joe.My.God links to this interesting map about the state of the law towards homosexuality throughout Africa, provided by ILGA.

Interestingly, friend of MadProfessah.com, Rod McCollum is currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for an international AIDS conference and is posting some amazing first person reports of his trip on his blog, Rod 2.0. Check it out!

A Map of Penis Size (In Europe)

There have been numerous maps published online showing geographical distributions of penis size. Previously there was one that compared average penis size in various countries all around the world and another one which compared the average penis size of the Top 20 cities in the United States.

Today comes word of a map depicting penis size throughout Europe. Looks like might be fun to vacation in Hungary or France!

Clinton Gives Historic Speech On LGBT Human Rights

The Obama Administration issued a Presidential Memorandum today announcing various initiatives to advance the human rights of LGBT citizens throughout the world.The Memorandum directs federal agencies to take specific actions to promote international LGBT human rights.

Here's the text of the Memorandum:

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: International Initiatives to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons

The struggle to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons is a global challenge, and one that is central to the United States commitment to promoting human rights.  I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world    whether it is passing laws that criminalize LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women, and children for their perceived sexual orientation.  That is why I declared before heads of state gathered at the United Nations, "no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere."  Under my Administration, agencies engaged abroad have already begun taking action to promote the fundamental human rights of LGBT persons everywhere.  Our deep commitment to advancing the human rights of all people is strengthened when we as the United States bring our tools to bear to vigorously advance this goal.

By this memorandum I am directing all agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons.  Specifically, I direct the following actions, consistent with applicable law:

Section 1.  Combating Criminalization of LGBT Status or Conduct Abroad.  Agencies engaged abroad are directed to strengthen existing efforts to effectively combat the criminalization by foreign governments of LGBT status or conduct and to expand efforts to combat discrimination, homophobia, and intolerance on the basis of LGBT status or conduct.

Sec. 2.  Protecting Vulnerable LGBT Refugees and Asylum Seekers.  Those LGBT persons who seek refuge from violence and persecution face daunting challenges.  In order to improve protection for LGBT refugees and asylum seekers at all stages of displacement, the Departments of State and Homeland Security shall enhance their ongoing efforts to ensure that LGBT refugees and asylum seekers have equal access to protection and assistance, particularly in countries of first asylum.  In addition, the Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland Security shall ensure appropriate training is in place so that relevant Federal Government personnel and key partners can effectively address the protection of LGBT refugees and asylum seekers, including by providing to them adequate assistance and ensuring that the

Federal Government has the ability to identify and expedite resettlement of highly vulnerable persons with urgent protection needs.

Sec. 3.  Foreign Assistance to Protect Human Rights and Advance Nondiscrimination.  Agencies involved with foreign aid, assistance, and development shall enhance their ongoing efforts to ensure regular Federal Government engagement with governments, citizens, civil society, and the private sector in order to build respect for the human rights of LGBT persons.

Sec. 4.  Swift and Meaningful U.S. Responses to Human Rights Abuses of LGBT Persons Abroad.  The Department of State shall lead a standing group, with appropriate interagency representation, to help ensure the Federal Government's swift and meaningful response to serious incidents that threaten the human rights of LGBT persons abroad.

Sec. 5.  Engaging International Organizations in the Fight Against LGBT Discrimination.  Multilateral fora and international organizations are key vehicles to promote respect for the human rights of LGBT persons and to bring global attention to LGBT issues.  Building on the State Department's leadership in this area, agencies engaged abroad should strengthen the work they have begun and initiate additional efforts in these multilateral fora and organizations to:  counter discrimination on the basis of LGBT status; broaden the number of countries willing to support and defend LGBT issues in the multilateral arena; strengthen the role of civil society advocates on behalf of LGBT issues within and through multilateral fora; and strengthen the policies and programming of multilateral institutions on LGBT issues.

Sec. 6.  Reporting on Progress.  All agencies engaged abroad shall prepare a report within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, and annually thereafter, on their progress toward advancing these initiatives.  All such agencies shall submit their reports to the Department of State, which will compile a report on the Federal Government's progress in advancing these initiatives for transmittal to the President.

Sec. 7.  Definitions.  (a)  For the purposes of this memorandum, agencies engaged abroad include the Departments of State, the Treasury, Defense, Justice, Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Export Import Bank, the United States Trade Representative, and such other agencies as the President may designate.

(b)  For the purposes of this memorandum, agencies involved with foreign aid, assistance, and development include the Departments of State, the Treasury, Defense, Justice, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security, the USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Export Import Bank, the United States Trade Representative, and such other agencies as the President may designate.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

The Secretary of State is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

On the same day the Memorandum was announced, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave an amazing speech about international LGBT human rights in Geneva, Switzerland and the State Department released a list of accomplishments they have done to advance the human rights of LGBT persons globally.

Today is World AIDS Day 2011

Today is December 1st, World AIDS Day, the day that has been designated worldwide by the United Nations and other bodies to commemorate the impact of the AIDS/HIV epidemic upon the world.

Karen Ocamb at LGBPOV links to a very interesting online memorial at AIDSWATCH.org.

On this day I remember poet/spoken word artist Essex Hemphill and Randy Shilts (author of The Mayor of Castro Street and And the Band Played On) who died of complications related to AIDS and send good vibes to Black AIDS Institute executive director Phill Wilson, South Africa Supreme Court Justice Edwin Cameron, dancer/choreographer Bill T. Jones and blogger David Dust.

Nigeria Senate Passes Insanely Anti-Gay Bill

Very bad news out of Nigeria. For the last 18 months or so the LGBT blogosphere has been tracking an anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda which included the death penalty for some homosexual acts. Happily that legislation died when the legislative session ended earlier this year, although there are some reports that Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill is being revived.

Now comes news that an arguably even more repressively homophobic bill has passed one legislative body i Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria.

The Washington Post reports:

Nigeria’s Senate voted Tuesday to criminalize gay marriage, gay advocacy groups and same-sex public displays of affection, the latest legislation targeting a minority already facing discrimination in Africa’s most populous nation. 

The bill, now much more wide-ranging than its initial draft, must be passed by Nigeria’s House of Representatives and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan before becoming law. However, public opinion and lawmakers’ calls Tuesday for even harsher penalties show the widespread support for the measure in the deeply religious nation. 

“Such elements in society should be killed,” said Sen. Baba-Ahmed Yusuf Datti of the opposition party Congress for Progressive Change, drawing some murmurs of support from the gallery. 

Gay sex has been banned in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people, since colonial rule by the British. Gays and lesbians face open discrimination and abuse in a country divided by Christians and Muslims who almost uniformly oppose homosexuality. In the areas in Nigeria’s north where Islamic Shariah law has been enforced for about a decade, gays and lesbians can face death by stoning.

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0.

REPORT: Many Same-Sex Couples Impacted By Immigration Laws

The Williams Institute at UCLA Law School has released a report entitled "Same-Sex Couples and Immigration in the United States" by Craig Konnoth and Gary Gates.

An excerpt from the Executive Summary of the report highlights the fascinating details about the diversity of same-sex couples impacted by unfair immigration laws (and the Defense of Marriage Act) in the United States.

As of 2010,  nearly  79,200 same-sex couples living in the United States include at least one partner who iscurrently not a U.S citizen or was naturalized as a citizen.  Of the nearly 650,000 same-sex couples in the US:
 4.4% or 28,574 are binational couples (one partner is a U.S. citizen and one is not)
 1.8% or 11,442 are dual non-citizen couples
 6.1% or 39,176 are dual citizen couples with at least one naturalized partner 

Under U.S. immigration policy, a citizen may obtain permanent residence for their non-citizen different-sex spouse, and expedited citizenship for a resident, different-sex spouse. Permanent residents may also petition for permanent resident status for their different-sex spouses.   However, these options are not extended to same-sex couples, even if they are married or are in civil unions or registered domestic partnerships.  Currently none of the estimated 40,000 binational and dual non-citizen same-sex couples in US are eligible to use  the immigration mechanisms available to different-sex spouses.


[...]


  Additional findings from the analyses include:

 California ranks first in the total number of binational same-sex couples.  A quarter of them (7,115) live in the state.  California is followed by New York (3,695), Florida (2,545), Texas (1,607), and Illinois (1,596).
 Mexico is the country of birth for a quarter of non-citizens in binational same-sex couples.  Canada, the second highest country of origin, is home to 8% of the non-citizen partners, followed by the United Kingdom at 6%.
 More than two-thirds of binational same-sex couples (69%) are male.
 A third of binational couples (33%) are inter-racial/ethnic.
 Forty-five percent of non-citizens in binational same-sex couples are Latino or Latina, while 14% are Asian/Pacific Islander.  Just over a third (36%) are White.  Among citizens in same-sex binational couples, a third (33%) are Latino or Latina while 54% are White and 7% are Asian/Pacific Islander.  AfricanAmericans comprise just 3% of both groups.
 A quarter of male binational couples and 39% of female binational couples are raising an estimated 17,000 children.  Rates of childrearing are even higher among non-citizen same-sex couples. More than half (52%) of male non-citizen couples and nearly two-thirds (64%) of non-citizen female couples are raising more than 7,700 children.
 Citizens in binational same-sex couples have higher median income levels than their non-citizen partners.  However, the non-citizen partners in binational couples have median incomes that are substantially higher than non-citizens with non-citizen partners.
 Almost two-thirds of binational same-sex couples own their home.  They are more than twice as likely to be home owners as dual non-citizen same-sex couples (30%).
 The vast majority of same-sex partners in binational couples speak English “well” or “very well”.   Among citizens in binational couples, 93% report a very good command of English compared to 81% of their non-citizen partners.
 More than 40% of citizens and non-citizens in same-sex binational couples have a college degree.
 Non-citizens in binational same-sex couples evidence low rates of unemployment at just 2%.  Nearly 8% of citizens in binational same-sex couples say they are unemployed.  

Immigration Equality is the premier national LGBT organization advocating for and assisting same-sex couples impacted by federal immigration policies. (MadProfessah has served on the board of the organization since November 2008).

Interestingly, the estimate of 28,574 is more precise but also smaller than the previous estimate of 36,000 binational couples in the United States but the 40,016 couples who are negatively impacted by current immigration law is slightly higher. MadProfessah is a naturalized citizen from the island-nation of Grenada, and Sentient Meat is a "natural born citizen" so we would be classified in the 6.1% of all U.S. same-sex couples who are both citizens where one partner is naturalized.

Denmark Set To Legalize Marriage Equality In 2012

Great news from Northern Europe! The Government of Denmark has announced that it intends to legalize marriage equality in the next year or so.

The government is planning to propose legislation at the beginning of the year, the Copenhagen Postreports. Manu Sareen, the coalition government's church minister, said he hopes to see same-sex marriages legalized in the Church of Denmark by Spring 2012.

Currently, gay couples are allowed to join together through "registered partnerships," a civil union, theCopenhagen Post points out. Denmark was the first country to legalize civil unions in 1989, but the couples still cannot marry in the Church of Denmark.

"I look forward to the moment the first homosexual couple steps out of the church. I'll be standing out there throwing rice," Sareen told Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper.

Danish political parties are reportedly "extremely gay friendly," and many officials took part in the discussion to allow same-sex weddings in the church, an August article in the Copenhagen Postexplains. 
Scotland and England are both considering same-sex legislation for next year, but like other countries, officials there have faced opposition, namely from the Catholic Church, ATV Today reports.

A May 2011 article in the Copenhagen Post indicates that about 75 percent of Danes support same-sex marriages through the church. Religious leaders acknowledge the public's support for gay marriage and have expressed that a compromise -- such as a "specific marriage ritual for homosexual couples" -- might be the way to go.

This is very cool but unsurprising news. Then again, the more countries that legalize marriage equality make the progressive change more and more inevitable.

Eye Candy: Filipe for MundoMais

There used to be a great Brazilan website called "The Boy" where I first found pictures of 2-time Eye Candy model  Rodrigo Guillherme, for example. Sadly, that site has gone away but the website MundoMais is around and it also has pictures of stunningly beautiful (is that redundant?) Brazilian guys, wearing very little clothing.

The first guy there to catch my eye on MundoMais was Filipe. The nice thing about MundoMais is that they have literally dozens of shots of their models, in various states of undress (for free) and more shots of them unclothed (behind a pay wall).

So, I chose these three pictures to show you what Filipe looks like. His description (transalted from Portuguese by Google) says "He has23 years of age, is the sign of Cancer , loves sports and has lived in Salvador."

And now he is this week's Eye Candy model. If you like what you see, stop by MundoMais and check out Filipe and the other models.

Longtime Lesbian Activist Paula Ettelbrick Has Died

Paula Ettelbrick held leadership positions at several important LGBT non-profits

I am saddened to report the news that longtime lesbian activist, Paula Ettlebrick, died of cancer-related causes at the age of 56 on October 7th. Ettelbrick was especially well-known in LGBT leadership circles. I knew her best as the Legal Director for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in the 1990s and later as the third Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesban Human Rights Commission (she was named a few years after I had left their Board of Directors in 2002).Most recently, Paula had been named the Executive Director of the Stonewall Community Foundation in New York City, resigning that position in August 2011.

Gay City News has some remembrances of Paula from fellow luminaries in the LGBT movement:

In a message distributed via email from Brazil on Friday morning, Cary Alan Johnson, who succeeded Ettelbrick at the helm of IGLHRC, wrote, “First and foremost I can say that I found her to be so genuinely, deeply, unfalteringly committed to our liberation as LGBT people. She also had a deep respect for all progressive movements and causes. Paula was one of the most sophisticated strategists I've ever met.”

In her work at IGLHRC, Ettelbrick strove with particular focus to educate American activists about the need to follow the lead of LGBTQ communities on the ground in countries where the group was seeking to provide support.

Rea Carey, executive director of the Task Force, wrote, “I will truly miss Paula — her sass, her smarts, and her smile. She was supportive of me and of other women in leadership positions. In fact, upon becoming the executive director of the Task Force, I received a note card from her along with a contribution to the Task Force in honor of women’s leadership.”

Sue Hyde, who directs the Task Force’s annual Creating Change conference, wrote that Ettelbrick’s “story is incomplete without calling forward her inspiring and visionary work as a community organizer par excellence.” It was Ettelbrick, Hyde said, who pioneered efforts to increase the representation of LGBT Americans in the US Census, at a time “when to do so was regarded as quixotic.”

Calling her “a great hero,” Ross Levi, ESPA’s executive director, noted that as the group’s general counsel, Ettelbrick took the lead in negotiating provisions of the city’s 1997 domestic partnership law with Mayor Rudy Giuliani. At the time that law was enacted, it was the most comprehensive package of such benefits in the US.

Kate Kendall, who heads up NCLR, said, “Paula was possessed of singular intelligence, integrity, ferocity, and wit. She was also unfailingly generous and open-hearted. She will be missed as a tireless advocate of the most disenfranchised.”

Kevin Cathcart, Lambda Legal’s executive director, recalled, “When Paula Ettelbrick came to Lambda Legal 25 years ago to fight for the rights of gay men and lesbians, it took not only vision and a passion for justice –– it also took courage to stand up in court and in the public eye during that earlier time in our history. Paula was fearless.”

In her work at Lambda, NCLR, the Pride Agenda, and the Task Force, Ettelbrick aggressively maintained that the fight to expand rights and protections for gay and lesbian couples and families must benefit as broad a definition of family as possible. In 1993, in a collection edited by William Rubenstein titled “Lesbian, Gay Men and the Law,” Ettelbrick wrote an essay “Since When Is Marriage a Path to Liberation?” that spelled out a feminist critique of how the institution had historically constrained the freedom and rights of women. The community, she argued, should be pressing for social and legal changes to support alternative family structures truer to the reality of queer lives.

I have used Paula's essay as a text in my Race, Gender and Justice class for years and had last seen her at the Williams Institute's Global Arc of Justice conference at UCLA in 2009. I also know her ex, Suzanne Goldberg, well, (who is another luminary in the LGBT rights movement). She is survived by her partner Marianne Haggerty and her son and daughter Adam and Julia.

Paula will be sorely missed. Many people are commemorating her by commenting on her Facebook page:

Celebrity Friday: First African Miss Universe Fights HIV

Leila Luliana da Costa Vieira Lopes,
Miss Angola, was crowned Miss Universe

Leila Lopes, Miss Angola, became the first winner of the Miss Universe beauty pageant from Africa this week. I believe she is the first "dark-skinned" woman to win the most famous beauty pageant in the world.

Nigeria's Vanguard newspaper reports:

This is the first time a beauty queen from Angola has been crowned as Miss Universe. She is first black African to win the 60 year-old pageantry. Nigeria’s Agbani Darego won the 51st Miss World pageant in Sun City, South Africa, on 17 November, 2001.


[...]

The brand new Miss Universe, Leila Lopes said she wants to help her native Angola escape a history of war and impoverishment and work towards combating HIV.

Being crowned at the ceremony in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the 25-year-old said that “as Miss Angola, I’ve already done a lot to help my people.”

“I’ve worked with various social causes. I work with poor kids, I work in the fight against HIV. I work to protect the elderly and I have to do everything that my country needs,” she said. “I think now as Miss Universe I will be able to do much more.”

Teenager Wins 400m Gold Medal for Grenada

Kirani James, left, beat World Champion LaShawn Merritt at the tape in the 400m
Photo credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Somehow I missed this amazing story from two weeks ago. An 18-year-old boy named Kirani James from my home island countryof Grenada (which has a population of just over 100,000 people, smaller than most cities in the United States) won the 400m gold at the recent World Track and Field Championships by beating an Olympic champion in the event!

But that was not the only amazing story of this 400 meter race. Another Grenadian runner, Rondell Bartholomew, placed sixth and there were twin brothers from Belgium that finished 3rd and 5th!

The Guardian has a great article on the race:

It takes something special to steal the headlines from an Olympic champion who has just returned from a 21-month ban because he accidentally ingested steroids while taking penis-enlargement pills. And Kirani James did just that. He beat LaShawn Merritt, who returned to the track after his suspension in July, in one of the great 400m races in the history of the world championships. James turns 19 on Saturday and his life is never going to be the same again.

If James's name had not been noted before he ran in Daegu, that is hardly surprising. The world 400m champion has run only four professional races in his career, three of them in the past three days. People who like easy labels are already calling him the new Usain Bolt but that does not quite fit. He is neither as flamboyant nor as fast. The first of those differences is not going to change but the second surely will.

The race had the kind of finish that is going to be rerun in the highlights reels for years to come. Merritt came into the home straight with a lead but James ran him down with 50 metres to go. The two were shoulder to shoulder as they came up to the line but James got himself half a stride in front and won by three hundredths of a second, despite Merritt's despairing dip of the head. His winning time of 44.60sec was a personal best, though it is unlikely to be so for long. The Belgian Kevin Borlée took bronze, completing a colourful cast of medal winners. His identical twin, Jonathan, was fifth.

James comes from Grenada and is their first world championship medallist. When he was 16 he was running the 400m in 45.24, a time that would easily have been good enough to earn a place in the final here. 

Now, that is great writing, and a great story. Congratulations, Kirani! (About those Belgian Borlée twins, expect to see them again on this blog in the near future, as either Eye Candy or Celebrity Friday).

British Government Moving Towards Marriage Equality

Lynn Featherstone is "Equalities Minister" in the British Coalition Government
 of the Tories (Conservatives)and LibDems (Liberal Democrats)

An important announcement was made by Minister Lynn Featherstone on behalf of the Government of Britain about its intention to legalize marriage equality before the next election, which by law can not be any later than May 2015.

Relatively recent polls in the United Kingdom indicate as much as two-thirds of the public supports full marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples.

An excerpt from Minister Featherstone's speech is available: 

“While on my travels as a champion for women’s rights, I am and will be a champion for gay rights too. Britain must not get complacent. We are a world leader for gay rights, but there is still more that we must do.

“In March, this Government will begin a formal consultation on how to implement equal civil marriage for same sex couples, and this would allow us to make any legislative changes necessary by the end of this Parliament.

“Civil partnerships were a welcome first step – but this party rejects prejudice and discrimination in all its forms, and I believe that to deny one group of people the same opportunities offered to another is not only discrimination, but is not fair.”

The current law in Great Britain (since 2005) allows same-sex civil partnerships which have all (or most) of the legal incidents of civil marriage but which are barred from occurring on religious property. Heterosexual couples are also barred from entering into civil partnerships. There is a lawsuit attempting to overturn the religious exemption and the heterosexual ban before the European Court of Human Rights.

WATCH: Amazing Transgender Rights Ad From Argentina

Chilean President Offers Civil Unions Bill

Great news from South America. The President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, has introduced legislation to legalize same-sex civil unions.

AFP reports:

"All forms of marriage deserve respect, dignity and the support of the state," said President Sebastian Pinera, who signed the proposal and sent it to Congress.

"This puts opposite-sex and same-sex couples on the same footing, because in both cases it is possible to develop love, affection and respect."

Pinera, who brought conservatives to power after 20 years of center-left rule in the country, grated on his own election campaign when he announced his intention to legalize civil unions for gay couples. He said two million people in Chile live together without marrying.

But the president has repeatedly stressed his opposition to gay marriage.

"I deeply believe that marriage is by nature between a man and a woman, but that conviction does not prevent me from recognizing that other forms of affective relationships exist," he said.

The law would permit gay couples who join into a civil union to have access to inheritance and other social benefits.

Chile is reportedly 80% Catholic and did not legalize divorce until 2004(!). However, Argentina is next door and legalized marriage equality for same-sex coupes in July 2010.