News
French Senate approves same-sex marriage, adoption bill
Measure returns to the National Assembly next week for a final vote
More than 100,000 people marched through the streets of Paris on Jan. 29 in support of the bill. (Photo by Guillaume Bonnet/All Out)
The French Senate on Friday approved a bill that would extend marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples.
The simple vote came three days after lawmakers in the chamber approved an article within the measure that would specifically open marriage to gays and lesbians by a 179-157 vote margin. The senators on Wednesday approved the measure’s adoption provision.
Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, who testified in support of the proposal backed by President François Hollande in both the Senate and the National Assembly, applauded the senators who voted for the bill.
“I know at some point one can get burned out by the desire to intervene during the hearing,” she said as the newspaper L’Express reported, referring to the debate on the measure that began on April 2. “I know that you resisted this temptation. It is for carrying out this responsibility for which I want to salute you.”
Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, who is gay, also welcomed the measure’s passage.
“It is with great satisfaction that I salute the Senate’s adoption of the ‘marriage for all’ bill,” he said in a statement.
The measure’s supporters and opponents staged several marches through the streets of Paris in recent months that each drew hundreds of thousands of people to the French capital.
Charles Roncier, a gay blogger who is an assistant editor-in-chief for the website VIH.org, told the Washington Blade from Paris earlier on Friday that LGBT rights advocates have become increasingly concerned about what they describe as homophobic rhetoric against the bill that includes claims it would allow people to marry objects and animals. They have used the Facebook images of Wilfred de Bruijn, a librarian whom the Associated Press said was beaten unconscious by a group of men as he and his boyfriend were walking to their home in the French capital on April 7, to highlight their claims that anti-gay attacks have increased as the lawmakers debated the same-sex marriage adoption proposal.
“It’s really weird because they were always insisting on the fact that they were not being homophobic,” Roncier said of the bill’s opponents.. “They did not want to be labeled as homophobes, but still at the same time the discourse and their words were homophobic.”
Neighboring Belgium and Spain are among the European countries in which same-sex couples can legally marry.
British lawmakers continue to debate a proposal that would extend marriage to gays and lesbians in England and Wales. Scottish legislators are also expected to consider a similar measure in the coming weeks.
A final vote on the measure in the French National Assembly, which approved it in February by a 329-229 vote margin, is expected to take place in the coming days.
Roncier said same-sex couples are “excited” about the prospect they could potentially be able to get married in France as early as next month.
“We used to be the minority who used to fight for our rights and for the first time I witnessed my minority being defended by the government and the majority of French people and against another minority who were against us,” he told the Blade. “It was very new and very touching.”
United Nations
UN Human Rights Council extends LGBTQ rights expert’s mandate
29 countries voted for resolution
The U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday extended the mandate of the United Nations’ independent LGBTQ rights expert for another three years.
The resolution passed with 29 countries (Albania, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Kenya, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, South Korea, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, and Vietnam) voting for it and 15 countries (Algeria, Bangladesh, Burundi, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malawi, Maldives, Morocco, Qatar, and Sudan) voted against it.
Benin, Ghana, and Kyrgyzstan abstained.
The U.S. in February withdrew from the Human Rights Council. The Trump-Pence administration in 2018 pulled the U.S. from it. The U.S. in 2021 regained a seat on the Human Rights Council.
Graeme Reid has been the UN’s independent LGBTQ rights expert since 2023. The South African activist, among other things, previously ran Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program.
Maryland
Maryland’s oldest rural gay bar — and one of the last — is a log cabin in the woods
The Lodge is a Boonsboro watering hole resembling a log cabin
By SAPNA BANSIL | In the woods of a conservative Western Maryland town of fewer than 4,000 people is an unlikely landmark of state LGBTQ history.
The Lodge, a Boonsboro watering hole that resembles a log cabin, is Maryland’s oldest rural gay bar — one of a few remaining in the country, according to historians.
For about four decades, the Washington County venue has offered safety, escape and community to queer people far from large, liberal cities. Starting Friday night, The Lodge will close out Pride month with one of its biggest parties of the year: a weekend of dancing, drinking and drag in celebration of Frederick Pride, held about 20 miles away in the area’s largest city.
The rest of this article the Baltimore Banner published on June 27 can be read on its website.
South Africa National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza on June 17 swore in lesbian feminist Palomino Jama as a new MP.
Jama joins other LGBTQ legislators — including Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson; Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Dion George; and Deputy Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities Minister, Steve Letsike.
Jama said she will work hard and excel as MP.
“What a great moment to be alive. Thank you youth of 1976, thank you Simon Nkoli, Phumi Mthetwa, Paddy Nhlaphos, Vanessa Ludwig, and others for what you did for the LGBTI people in the 80s and 90s. Lastly, for the fierce fist of the Jamas to always hit where it matters for the people of this country,” said Letsike.
Embrace Diversity Movement, a local LGBTQ organization, said Jama’s inauguration came at an appropriate time, during Pride month.
“Her swearing-in took place during a month of profound significance in June, which marks both international Pride Month and Youth Month in South Africa,” said the group. “Palomino is a seasoned queer activist and dedicated community builder with a distinguished record of leadership and service.”
“The EDM proudly supports Palomino in her deployment to parliament, her presence meaningfully advances youth and queer representation in public office,” added the Embrace Diversity Movement. “We are confident that she will serve the people of South Africa with integrity, courage, and distinction.”
South Africa is the only African country that constitutionally upholds LGBTQ rights. There are, however, still myriad challenges the LGBTQ community faces on a daily basis that range from physical attacks to online abuse.
Letsike in May faced a barrage of online attacks after she released a scathing statement against popular podcaster Macgyver “MacG” Mukwevho, who during a podcast episode in April insinuated that the reason behind popular socialite Minnie Dlamini’s “unsuccessful” relationships were probably due to the bad odor from her genitals.
Letsike, who viewed MacG’s comments as offensive, called for the podcaster to be summoned before parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities and criticized the local television station that aired the podcast.
X users and other social media subscribers bombarded Letsike with anti-lesbian comments. She, however, was unphased.
Letsike continues to face anti-lesbian comments, even though MacG apologized and the television station on which his podcast had aired cancelled its contract with him.
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