08 Feb 2018- NPWJ News Digest on LGBTI rights

Articles

Bermuda becomes first country in world to repeal same-sex marriage
By The Guardian, 08 Feb 2018

Bermuda has become the first country to legalise and then repeal same-sex marriage, in what critics have called an unprecedented rollback of civil rights by the British island territory. Bermuda’s governor has signed into law a bill reversing the right of gay couples to marry, despite a supreme court ruling last year authorising same-sex marriage. Walton Brown, the minister of home affairs, said the legislation signed by Governor John Rankin would balance opposition to same-sex marriage on the socially conservative island while complying with European court rulings that ensure recognition and protection for same-sex couples in the territory.

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U.N. rights chief slams Indonesia proposal to outlaw gay, extramarital sex
By Reuters, 07 Feb 2018

JAKARTA (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights chief on Wednesday criticized proposals in Indonesia’s parliament to criminalize gay sex and extramarital sex, saying such laws could hurt the country’s beleaguered LGBT community and other minorities.

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Exclusive: Vue cinema to screen documentary advocating gay ‘cure’ therapy
By Pink News , 06 Feb 2018

A Vue cinema is to host a screening of a film advocating gay ‘cure’ therapy, PinkNews can reveal. The Core Issues Trust, an evangelical Christian group which advocates for efforts to change sexual orientation, announced the screening of documentary ‘Voices of the Silenced: Experts, Evidences and Ideologies’. The film’s creators claim it features 15 people who have “come out of homosexual practises” thanks to therapy or religion – and challenges the “myth… that people are born gay”

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Latin America Could Lead the Way for LGBT Rights in 2018
By Human Rights Watch , 06 Feb 2018

In a moment when some countries have stepped back on LGBT rights, a January 9th decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has opened a window of opportunity for Latin America to lead the way. In a landmark advisory opinion, the court affirmed that the American Convention on Human Rights requires countries to allow same-sex couples to access civil marriage, and all of the rights and benefits that derive from it. It also asserted that governments should allow people, through a fast, easy and cost-free process, to change their name and gender marker on official documents, in accordance with their self-perceived gender identity.
 

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