17 Apr 2014 - NPWJ News Digest on LGBTI rights

Articles

US: Judge halts enforcement of ruling that Ohio must recognise same-sex marriages
By PinkNews, 16 Apr 2014

After two days of deliberation, a federal judge has delayed the enforcement of a ruling which requires the state of Ohio to recognise out-of-state same-sex marriages. Judge Timothy Black’s official ruling came on Monday, meaning the state must recognise out-of-state same-sex marriages. He announced the intention make the ruling last week. He released a four-page opinion today in which he agreed a request from the state of Ohio to put a stay on the ruling meaning it does not immediately effect same-sex couples in the state.

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Homophobic law threatens lives in Jamaican LGBT community
By Thomson Reuters Foundation, 16 Apr 2014

One summer day in 2008, Simone Edwards was at home in Jamaica with her three brothers. When she walked out of the house, two men with guns shot her twice. Simone pretended to be dead, and this saved her life. Simone says it was "for being gay and being a proud gay" that, well before she was shot, there were persistent death threats against not only her, but also her daughter Kayla. In Jamaica, the children of LGBT people are considered "evil seeds". After the shooting, Simone went into hiding with her daughter, before fleeing on her own to Amsterdam and seeking asylum. She was reunited with Kayla only two years later.

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Indian top court recognises transgenders in landmark ruling
By Thomson Reuters Foundation, 15 Apr 2014

NEW DELHI, April 15 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - India's top court on Tuesday recognised the country's long marginalised transgender community as a third gender and, in a landmark judgment lauded by human rights groups, called on the government to ensure their equal treatment. There are hundreds of thousands of transgenders in India, say activists, but because they are not legally recognised, they are ostracised, discriminated against, abused and often forced into prostitution. "Recognition of transgenders as a third gender is not a social or medical issue but a human rights issue," the Supreme Court's two-judge bench said in its ruling.

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First church wedding for gay couple is held in UK
By The Guardian, 14 Apr 2014

Two women have married in what is believed to be the UK's first gay wedding held in a church. Jan Tipper and Barb Burden tied the knot at the Metropolitan community church (MCC) in Bournemouth, Dorset, on Saturday. The law allowed same-sex couples to marry on 29 March, but this was the first ceremony to be conducted in a religious building, the MCC said. The Rev Dwayne Morgan, who officiated at the ceremony, said the church had taken pride in celebrating diversity and called it a historic day. Burden and Tipper, who have attended MCC for 15 years, said they were surprised to discover their wedding was a first.

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