[Gay] Gay News from Around the Gay World That is Gay

[Duque de Bragança]

The Bohemians are thrilled to be counted as Eastern Europe.

So are Greeks. 

[Solmyr]

The Greeks have actually gotten dramatically less accepting since 400 BC

That's because they are now Turks.

[Valmy]

By the way doesn't Serbia have a lesbian PM? Seems weird for a country where the young adults don't think gayness should be accepted.

[The Larch]

By the way doesn't Serbia have a lesbian PM? Seems weird for a country where the young adults don't think gayness should be accepted.

Yup, the first in Eastern Europe. I'm curious about the data from that map and when it's from, as it doesn't give any references. Not that long ago there was quite some hostility against LGTB in Serbia (there was an attack on the Pride day parade in 2010 and it was cancelled for several years), but AFAIK that has mellowed out quite a bit in recent times, culminating with the nomination of Ana Brnabic as PM this year, and they're expected to recognize same sex unions in a couple of years or so.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/aug/29/chile-president-michelle-bachelet-introduces-gay-marriage-bill

'Essential rights': Chile's President Bachelet introduces gay marriage bill

Signed a week after the country's landmark easing of its abortion ban, the bill is expected to allow same-sex couples to adopt children

The Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, has introduced a bill to legalise gay marriage, a move that follows a string of liberal reforms in one of Latin America's most conservative nations.

In 2015, Chile's congress approved same-sex civil unions after years of legislative wrangling. In March, Bachelet, a centre-left politician, pledged to send a full marriage bill to legislators before the end of the year. On Monday, she fulfilled her promise.

"We can't let old prejudices be stronger than love," Bachelet said in Chile's La Moneda presidential palace.

"We do this with the certainty that it is not ethical or fair to put artificial limits on love, or to deny essential rights just because of the sex of those who make up a couple."

The bill is expected to allow same-sex couples to adopt children.

The move comes a week after Chile's constitutional court approved a landmark bill that will allow abortion in some circumstances.

Before that, Chile was one of only a handful of countries in the world that outlawed terminating a pregnancy in any situation, including when a woman's life was in danger.

Bachelet's push for marriage equality also comes as countries across the region are expanding gay rights. Same-sex marriage has been legalised in recent years in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Mexico, despite the powerful influence of the Catholic church, which opposes such unions.

It was not immediately clear if Bachelet will be able to push the gay marriage bill through congress before she leaves office in March 2018.

Though her Nueva Mayoría coalition has a congressional majority, it is severely fractured ahead of elections in November and several members of the coalition hold socially conservative views.

Former Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has said he opposes the bill. "There should not be discrimination, but at the same time the essence of an institution such as marriage should be respected, which has always been about conserving the human race," he told the BBC.

Gay rights activists have welcomed the move.

"It's the beginning of the end of discrimination based on sexual orientation to access marriage," Luis Larraín, president of the Iguales Foundation, told the Associated Press.

"This day will be remembered as much as the day when women were granted the right to vote, slaves were freed or children born out of wedlock were granted the same rights."

[Syt]

I'm guessing the missing 2% in Armenia are the members of System of a Down.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/04/one-in-50-uk-lesbian-gay-bisexual

One in 50 people in UK now say they are lesbian, gay or bisexual

Number of people identifying as LGB has risen to over 1 million, statistics show

The percentage of people identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual increased significantly last year to 2% of the UK population.

The proportion was up from 1.7% in 2015, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures published on Wednesday, and it means there were just over 1 million people identifying as LGB in 2016.

Emily Knipe from the ONS described it as "a statistically significant increase".

She added: "London had the largest proportion of the population who identified as LGB (2.7%), which could be associated with a relatively young and diverse population."

There was a corresponding fall in the number of people identifying as heterosexual or straight, from 93.7% in 2015 to 93.4% last year. The biggest percentage increase was in those who said they were bisexual, which rose from 0.6% to 0.8%, while those identifying as gay or lesbian rose from 1.1% of the population to 1.2%.

The number who said they did not know or refused to answer remained the same at 4.1%, while 0.5% identified as "other", up from 0.4% in 2015.

The east of England had the lowest proportion who said they were LGB – 1.2%. The ONS suggested this could be associated with an older age structure of the population in the region. People aged 16 to 24 were most likely to identify as LGB in 2016 (4.1%).

The median age of the population of London was 34.8 years, while it was 41.5 years in the east of England.

The larger number of young people who identify as LGB was also cited by the ONS as one of the reasons why 70.7% of the LGB population said they were single and had never married or been in a civil partnership. Another factor was the relatively recent availability to same-sex couples of legal unions.

A higher proportion of males (2.3%) than females (1.6%) continue to identify as LGB, up from 2.0% and 1.5% the previous year respectively.

People of mixed race or "multiple ethnic groups" continued to be most like to identify themselves as LGB (4.3%). Of these, 2.4% said they were bisexual compared with 1.9% who said they were gay or lesbian.

A Gallup poll, published in January, found the proportion of US adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) increased from 3.5% in 2012 to 4.1% last year, suggesting more than 10 million adults now identify as LGBT in the United States.

[derspiess]

What's the percentage in Iran?  Is it still 0?

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2017/nov/15/australias-same-sex-marriage-postal-survey-results-live

Australia's same-sex marriage postal survey: 61.6% yes, 38.4% no

Malcolm Turnbull says Australians have voted "overwhelmingly yes" for fairness and commitment.

"We asked the Australian public for their view. This was an unprecedented exercise in democracy. A voluntary survey in which 80% participated and 61.6% have said yes. That is an overwhelming participation rate and an overwhelming yes vote. I know many people -a minority obviously - voted no. But we are a fair nation. There is nothing more Australian than a fair go... equality and mutual respect, and everyone has had their say."

[The Minsky Moment]

What's the percentage in Iran?

About the same as Roy Moore's Alabama.

[grumbler]

What's the percentage in Iran?

About the same as Roy Moore's Alabama.

.... when Roy is in DC.

[Josquius]

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/aug/29/chile-president-michelle-bachelet-introduces-gay-marriage-bill

'Essential rights': Chile's President Bachelet introduces gay marriage bill

ldren born out of wedlock were granted the same rights."

Slowest reply ever.
But legalised abortion and gay marriage all in one week.
I like this.
Both for being positive in itself and because it pisses off just the right people.

[Eddie Teach]

I don't think the French care much about either of those. 

[Syt]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/opinion/charles-rhines-gay-jury-death-row.html

Opinion

A Jury May Have Sentenced a Man to Death Because He's Gay. And the Justices Don't Care.

On Monday, the Supreme Court announced it would not stop South Dakota from killing a man who may have been sentenced to death because he is gay.

Some of the jurors who imposed the death penalty on Charles Rhines, who was convicted of murder, have said they thought the alternative — a life sentence served in a men's prison — was something he would enjoy as a gay man.

During deliberations, the jury had often discussed the fact that Mr. Rhines was gay and there was "a lot of disgust" about it, one juror recalled in an interview, according to the court petition. Another said that jurors knew he was gay and "thought that he shouldn't be able to spend his life with men in prison." A third recounted hearing that if the jury did not sentence Mr. Rhines to death, "if he's gay, we'd be sending him where he wants to go."

The justices rejected Mr. Rhines's plea to hear his bias claim, allowing his death sentence to stand despite disturbing evidence that it may have been the result of anti-L.G.B.T. animus. As usual, the court gave no explanation for its decision not to review the case. But its silence sent a deeply troubling message about the value placed on the lives of L.G.B.T. people.

In court papers opposing Mr. Rhines's request for a fair sentence, South Dakota attempts to brush off this last remark as a "stab at humor" that didn't land well. But a note from the jury to the sentencing judge leaves little doubt that this extraordinary assumption infected the jury's decision-making process: "We know what the death penalty means. But we have no clue as to the reality of life without parole."

In that note, the jurors went on to ask a series of questions aimed at whether Mr. Rhines would be in proximity to other men in prison. Would he "be allowed to mix with the general inmate population?" Would he be permitted "to discuss, describe or brag about his crime to other inmates?" Would he "have a cellmate?"

In other words, some members of the jury thought life in prison without parole would be fun for Mr. Rhines. So they decided to sentence him to death.

Juror deliberations are considered sacrosanct, but last year the Supreme Court carved out an important exception for cases of racial bias in the jury room. In a race discrimination case, there was evidence that the jury decided to convict an accused man of unlawful sexual contact and harassment because "he's Mexican, and Mexican men take whatever they want," in the words of one juror. The Supreme Court rightly found that such racial animus interfered with an accused's person right to a fair and impartial trial.

The same rule should apply when anti-L.G.B.T. prejudice taints juror decision-making. To be sure, the history of racism in America is unique and demands unique safeguards. But that does not make anti-L.G.B.T. discrimination any less objectionable, particularly when it may have made the difference between life and death.

It's difficult to square allowing the state to execute Mr. Rhines because of his sexual orientation with the Supreme Court's observation this month that states should prevent the harms of discrimination against L.G.B.T. people. And while bias in the criminal justice system is not always explicit, it was in Mr. Rhines's case. That makes the court's decision not to step in even more alarming.

Sadly, the court will almost certainly be presented with more requests to review convictions or sentences poisoned by anti-L.G.B.T. bias. It should take the next opportunity to correct this mistake and recognize that prejudice against people who are L.G.B.T. should play no role in America's criminal justice system.

However, that will probably come too late for Mr. Rhines.

Ría Tabacco Mar is a staff lawyer for the A.C.L.U.'s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and H.I.V. Project.

[dps]

As a supporter of the death penalty, my take isn't that it's a bad thing that he was sentenced to death.  The bad thing is that he might not have been sentenced to death if he was straight.