16 Oct 2014 - NPWJ News Digest on on LGBTI rights

Articles

Kyrgyzstan’s Parliament Passes Draft Anti-LGBT “Propaganda” Law
By Human Rights Campaign, 15 Oct 2014

 The Human Rights Campaign condemns the initial vote by the Kyrgyzstan National Assembly to pass new harsh anti-LGBT legislation during its first reading.  According to Radio Free Europe, 79 members of the Kyrgyz parliament voted in favor of the legislation, while seven voted against it.  Two more parliamentary votes are required before the legislation is submitted to Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev who has to sign it before it goes into effect. HRC stands in solidarity with the Kyrgyz activists and allies fighting against this new offensive discrimination.This legislation, which was proposed in March, emulates Russia’s anti-LGBT “propaganda” law.  However, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), this law mandates even harsher punishments, including jail time, for expressing sentiments that could “create a positive attitude to unconventional sexual orientation.”

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Gay And Lesbian Couples (Almost) Equal to Straight Ones in Estonia
By Advocate, 10 Oct 2014

 The former Soviet satellite country of Estonia has embraced a path toward greater equality for same-sex couples, as its president Thursday signed into law a bill granting such couples nearly all of the rights opposite-sex married couples enjoy, reports the Associated Press."Estonia (has) made a leap toward a society that is freer, more equal and values human rights for all," Estonia's Human Rights Center director, Kari Kasper, told the AP.After passing its final parliamentary reading with a vote of 40-38 (with 23 abstentions), President Toomas Hendrick signed the bill into law Thursday, concluding his vocal support for the measure. The new law establishes civil unions for Estonian couples regardless of gender, securing many of the rights afforded to married spouses, including the right for a partner to adopt their partner's biological child, while stopping short of extending full adoption rights for same-sex couples. The law will take effect in January, when couples in civil unions will be afforded financial, social, and health benefits, according to the AP.

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Bishops push Vatican to embrace homosexuals
By Al Jazeera, 03 Oct 2014

 n a dramatic shift in tone, a Vatican document said that homosexuals had "gifts and qualities to offer" and asked if Catholicism could accept gays and recognise positive aspects of same-sex couples. Roman Catholic gay rights groups around the world hailed Monday's paper as a breakthrough, but Church conservatives called it a betrayal of traditional family values. The document, prepared after a week of discussions at an assembly of 200 bishops on the family, said the Church should challenge itself to find "a fraternal space" for homosexuals without compromising Catholic doctrine on family and matrimony.While the text did not signal any change in the Church's condemnation of homosexual acts or gay marriage, it used less judgemental and more compassionate language than that seen in Vatican statements prior to the 2013 election of Pope Francis.

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For Italy's Gay Rights Advocates, It's 1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back
By npr, 03 Oct 2014

 Ancient Rome may have been open to all sorts of sexual mores, but modern Italy is less so. The country lags far behind its European Union partners in guaranteeing equal rights for homosexuals. Gay couples have no legal recognition or adoption rights in Italy, and a bill presented last year outlawing discrimination on the grounds of homophobia has been bogged down in parliament by right-wing opposition. The legislation now faces opposition from a new conservative Catholic movement. They call themselves the Standing Sentinels, and they claim that the bill violates freedom of speech. The group first appeared in public last spring, including at a vigil in Rome where a man on a loudspeaker welcomed a crowd of a few hundred people. He instructed them to stand about 2 yards from each other as they read books of their choosing in absolute silence.It's their way of protesting against a bill that would make homophobia a crime punishable by law.

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