Ireland Grants Civil Partnership Rights

Ireland joins a host of nations in the European Union that recognize and grant rights to same-sex couples. While the legislation falls short of full marriage equality, this marks a historic step in the staunchly Catholic nations history towards granting full equality to gay, lesbian, and bisexual Irish citizens.

"This bill provides legal protection for cohabiting couples and is an important step, particularly for same-sex couples, whose relationships have not previously been given legal recognition by the state," Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said in a statement.

The legislation provides a range of previously denied rights including maintenance obligations, protection of a shared home and succession. "Balance is achieved by maintaining material distinctions between civil partnership and marriage, in particular between the rights attaching to both, while at the same time reflecting the equality rights protected by the constitution," Ahern said (Reuters).

More work is needed to fight for full equality for LGBT people in Ireland. Please join the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network to ensure full equality in the country.

Action Needed on UN Declaration Calling for Global Decriminalization of Homosexuality

The declaration to make imprisonment and the death penalty illegal for homosexuality will be put before the UN General Assembly this coming Wednesday, which coincidentally is Human Rights Day and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While every country in the European Union has signed on and Canada is a sponsor.

The United States of America has not signaled support for the declaration.

Homosexuality is still illegal in 85 countries, and a handful of countries will give imprisonment sentences of life and/or the death penalty.

Please head over to the Mike Tidmus blog for a detailed list of actions we can take, we must act quick.

Homosexual Sex Given Green Light in Turkish Court

A Turkish court has tried a man accused of selling gay and group sex videos. While homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey it is still considered taboo and LGBT people face many legal restrictions. The court could have charged him with selling "unnatural sex" videos but instead charged him with a lower level crime of selling the videos in an illegal location.

"In its verdict, the Istanbul court said: Most European countries have given gay relationships the equivalence of marriage, and in Holland gay marriages were made legal a few years back. In a world of modern societies, it is not possible to say intercourse among members of the same sex is unnatural.

The verdict also read: Since the action happens in private places and does not include children it is not criminal. The term unnatural sexual behavior' should be seen from a narrow perspective; otherwise there is the risk of judging every sexual relationship outside of certain limitations unnatural. It is without doubt that the images are eccentric. Although this kind of sexual activity is not common in societies, it is a fact that in every society collective sexual relationships exist." (Turkish Daily News)

This is a significant gay rights development in Turkey, a country that typically shuns homosexuality while struggling to be accepted into the European Union and advance as a modern nation.

It's Time to Outlaw Unfair Discrimination Across the European Union!

Help make fair anti-discrimination laws in the European Union.

"We believe that equality, anti discrimination and human rights are the basis on which the EU was founded in the Rome Treaties. We are astounded that after 60 years millions of EU citizens still have no legal protection from daily discrimination of all kinds.

This website is promoting a Europe-wide petition for a new European Directive to outlaw discrimination. We need the directive to ban discrimination in access to goods and services on grounds of disability, age, sexual orientation and religion or belief - areas not currently covered in many EU member states (we already have Directives outlawing discrimination in Employment, Race and Gender). We aim to show support for an 'own initiative' report by UK MEP Liz Lynne currently going through the European Parliament which calls for a comprehensive new anti-discrimination directive as a top priority."

Click here to Sign the Stop Discrimination Petition

Act to Make Sure Sexual Orientation Covered by New E.U. Laws

According to ILGA-Europe:

"Within the next couple of months, the fate of an EU directive protecting against discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, sexual orientation and religion/belief in all areas of life will be decided by the European Commission and the European Council. At the moment, there are signs that this directive will not include sexual orientation, age and religion/belief. ILGA-Europe is calling on everyone to join its campaign to ensure that a comprehensive new EU anti-discrimination directive which protects against discrimination on all grounds and in all areas of life is proposed and adopted."

Click for document listing European Commissioners to Contact!