Same Sex Marriage Report Due
The Senate Inquiry into same-sex marriage is set to come to a close when the Senate releases their report on the issue later this month. Two days following the release of the report, Equal Love will be launching a National Year of Action for Same-Sex Marriage with simultaneous rallies organised for most capital cities across the country on November 28.
Tasmanian Lesbians Equal Parents
The Tasmanian Upper House has amended new laws giving equal parenting rights to the same-sex partners of women who have children through fertility treatment. The new law passed without opposition late last month but was amended in less than 24 hours to back-date the legislation so it covers all children born to two mothers through fertility treatment since same-sex couples were legally recognised in Tasmanian law six years ago.
Royal Gay Visit
Crown Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of the Indian state of Rajpipla has paid his first visit to Australia to speak at a community forum in Sydney. Dubbed ‘India’s Gay Prince’, Prince Manvendra hoped his visit would draw attention to the legal and cultural situation for homosexuals and highlight the significant HIV/AIDS phenomenon in his home land.
Nude Mardi Gras
Renowned contemporary artist Spencer Tunick will be staging one of his signature large-scale art installations on March 1, 2010 as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Tunick’s visually spectacular nude landscapes ‘challenge the preconceived notions of nudity and the culturally charged, often negative, connotations that are associated with it.’ Registrations for Tunick’s project, The Base, can be made at www.mardigras.org.au/tunick/
Maine Rejects Gay Marriage
Mirroring developments in California, citizens in the state of Maine have voted against allowing same-sex marriage. Despite the state’s legislature already passing laws to allow same-sex marriage, when the issue was put to a referendum last month 53 percent of the population voted against it. 31 US states have now rejected same-sex marriage by referendum.
More Hate Crime Reports in UK
According to Scotland Yard, the numbers of homophobic hate crimes in London have risen by 18 percent since this time last year. The figures were released just a week after the death of a 62-year-old gay man in a savage and blatant attack in Trafalgar Square. Police have said the rise can be seen as a positive sign indicating an increase in the reporting of homophobic hate crimes. ‘We know there’s been massive under-reporting of that offence for many many years,’ said head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Stephenson. ‘Do I think hate crimes are still going unreported? Absolutely, absolutely.’
Scientology Takes A Rap
It has been a tough month for the Church of Scientology with a French court convicting the organisation of fraud and Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis cutting ties with the organisation over its support of Proposition 8, saying he could no longer be part of ‘an organisation where gay-bashing was tolerated’. The Church of Scientology has been accused in the past of trying to convert same-sex attracted people to heterosexuality. In his book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, the religion’s founder L Ron Hubbard describes homosexuality as an illness and says homosexuals are ‘extremely dangerous to society’.
Accidental Gay Tourists Sue
An Italian couple are suing the Grimaldi shipping line after they were accidentally booked on the company’s first gay cruise. The couple’s suspicions were raised when they arrived at the ship amid a media storm capturing the historic cruise, but assumed a famous person was aboard. ‘It is not a question of discrimination but one of lost satisfaction because no-one had told them their holiday was at the same time as the gay cruise,’ the couple’s lawyer told UK paper the Daily Mail.
Trans Jesus Offends
Glasgow theatre production Jesus, Queen of Heaven is causing a stir for portraying Jesus as a trans woman. Approximately 300 people held a candlelight vigil outside the Tron Theatre while both the Christian Institute and Roman Catholic Church have complained the play is a waste of taxpayers’ money. Jesus, Queen of Heaven is part of the Glasgay! arts festival, which is funded by the Scottish Arts Council, Event Scotland, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and Glasgow city council.
Flash protest Against Hate
Rights groups in Italy have used ‘flash-mob’ tactics to protest a lack of laws protecting GLBT people from hate crimes. After a recent spate of homophobic attacks in Rome, a bill on hate crime protection was introduced but not passed by the Italian parliament, leading to a demonstration involving crowds stopping en masse and lying down in Piazza del Popolo.
Lutheran Gay Weddings
After same-sex marriage became legal in Sweden earlier this year, the country’s Lutheran Church has now agreed to hold religious ceremonies for same-sex couples. Small changes will be made to the wording of the ceremony such as replacing ‘man and wife’ with ‘lawfully wedded spouses’, however the ceremony will remain faithful to the traditions of the church.
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