11 Oct 2018 - NPWJ News Digest on LGBTI rights

Articles

UK supreme court backs bakery that refused to make gay marriage cake
The Guardian, 11 Oct 2018

A Belfast bakery run by evangelical Christians was not obliged to make a cake emblazoned with the message “support gay marriage”, the supreme court has ruled, overturning a £500 damages award imposed on it. The unanimous decision by the UK’s highest court was greeted as a victory for free speech but condemned by gay rights groups and the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland as a backward step in combating discrimination.

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Liberal Dave Sharma rejects giving religious schools right to expel gay students
The Guardian, 10 Oct 2018

The Liberal candidate for Wentworth, Dave Sharma, has rejected “any new measures” to extend religious schools’ power to expel gay students and sack gay teachers. Sharma made the comments at a doorstop in Wentworth on Wednesday, as the Coalition struggled to contain fallout from the leak of one section of the Ruddock religious freedom review which backed schools’ right to turn away gay students.

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Romania aims to legalize same-sex civil union after failed vote
Reuters, 09 Oct 2018

Romania’s ruling party aims to introduce legislation to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples, the state news agency quoted a cabinet minister as saying, after a referendum to curb such rights failed to draw enough voters to be valid. Sunday’s referendum to change Romania’s constitution to prevent same sex couples from securing the right to marry was seen as a key popularity test for the ruling Social Democrats (PSD), whose attempts to weaken anti-corruption legislation have been condemned by the European Commission.

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Ugandan Activists, Gov't Clash Over Opening of LGBT Community Center
Telesur, 09 Oct 2018

Ugandan human rights activists and groups are facing pushback from the country's government over plans to open a community center for members of the LGBT community. Simon Lokodo, minister for ethics and integrity, has branded the groups' plans "a criminal act" and pledged to block fundraising and other plans. “They will have to take it somewhere else. They can’t open a center of LGBT activity here. Homosexuality is not allowed and completely unacceptable in Uganda,” he said. “We don’t and can’t allow it. LGBT activities are already banned and criminalized in this country. So popularising it is only committing a crime.”

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20 Years Later: Matthew Shepard Remembered, LGBT Community Strengthens
CBS4, 09 Oct 2018

Twenty years ago this week, a gay University of Wyoming student was offered a ride from a bar and was then beaten to death near Laramie. The murder of Matthew Shepard spread outrage across the nation. A fence became a lasting image of a life lost due to hatred.
 

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