World
French marriage bill receives final approval
“Mariage pour tous” bill passed by 331-225 vote margin
(Photo by Guillaume Bonnet/All Out)
The French National Assembly on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill that would extend marriage and adoption rights to gay and lesbian couples.
The 331-225 vote took place less than two weeks after the country’s Senate approved the measure. The bill passed in the National Assembly in February by a 329-229 vote margin.
“In voting for this law, we want to offer it to the tens of thousands of children who want, after they leave school, the power to give their hand to their two dads or to their two moms,” Bernard Roman, a Socialist member of the National Assembly, said before lawmakers approved the bill as Le Monde reported.
Hervé Mariton, who is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP,) spoke against the proposal.
“In a few weeks, perhaps, friends, Diane and Françoise, will marry,” he said, according to Le Monde as he criticized his fellow legislators for not allowing a referendum on the issue. “Marriage, before being rights, are obligations.”
The measure’s supporters have become increasingly concerned in recent weeks with rhetoric against the bill they contend has sparked a spate of anti-gay violence across France. These include a librarian whom a group of men beat unconscious as he and his boyfriend walked to their Paris home on April 7 and a gay cabaret singer who was attacked early Saturday morning as he and his partner left a Nice nightclub.
National Assembly President Claude Bartolone on Monday received a letter that contained gunpowder. French police reportedly placed water canons outside the building to deter those who may have wanted to try and disrupt the vote.
Le Manif Pour Tous, which opposes the same-sex marriage and adoption bill, plans to protest the measure’s passage outside the National Assembly later today.
“The deputies in the majority stress ‘equality,'” it said in a Tweet just before the vote. “What equality is there for the new legal orphans create by this law?”
The bill’s opponents can prompt a constitutional review of the measure if their effort receives the support of 60 members of the Senate or the National Assembly. President François Hollande, who publicly backed the extension of marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples during his 2012 presidential campaign, has already said lawmakers and not the constitution should decide issue.
“This is a historic moment that the world should celebrate,” All Out Executive Director Andre Banks said in a statement after the vote. “Once the constitutional court reviews the bill, and President Hollande signs the bill, loving and committed gay and lesbian couples will finally be able to marry in France.”
ILGA-Europe Executive Director Evelyne Paradis also welcomed the French gay marriage vote.
“We congratulate the French parliamentarians and the French nation for this historic step,” she said. “The country whose motto is liberté, égalité, fraternité has finally fully applied it to all citizens when it comes to marriage.”
France’s first same-sex marriage are expected to take place in Montpellier in mid-June.
Dominican Republic
Dominican court strikes down police, military sodomy ban
Nov. 18 ruling ‘a decisive step’ against discrimination
The Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court on Nov. 18 ruled the country’s National Police and Armed Forces cannot criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations among its members.
Human Rights Watch in a press release notes the landmark decision struck down Article 210 of the National Police’s Code of Justice and Article 260 of the Armed Forces’ Code of Justice.
Police officers and servicemembers who engaged in same sex “sodomy” faced up to two years or one year in prison respectively. Human Rights Watch in its press release said the provisions violated “constitutional guarantees to nondiscrimination, privacy, free development of personality, and the right to work” in the Dominican Republic.
“For decades, these provisions forced LGBT officers to live in fear of punishment simply for who they are,” said Cristian González Cabrera, a senior Human Rights Watch researcher. “This ruling is a resounding affirmation that a more inclusive future is both possible and required under Dominican law.”
Consensual same-sex sexual relations have been legal in the Dominican Republic since 1822, more than two decades before it declared independence from neighboring Haiti.
The Armed Forces Code of Justice had been in place since 1953. The National Police Code of Justice took effect in 1966.
Anderson Javiel Dirocie de León and Patricia M. Santana Nina challenged the policies in court.
“This decision marks a decisive step toward ensuring that these institutions, as well as any public or private body, adapt their rules and practices to guarantee that no person is discriminated against or sanctioned for their sexual orientation,” said Santana in the press release.
Dominican law does not ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, education, housing, and other areas. The country’s constitution defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
James “Wally” Brewster, who was the U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic from 2013-2017, is openly gay. Religious leaders frequently criticized him and his husband, Bob Satawake.
Brewster in a text message to the Washington Blade said the Constitutional Court ruling is “important.”
Brazil
Black transgender singer from Brazil wins three Latin Grammy Awards
Liniker performed at Las Vegas ceremony
A Black transgender singer and songwriter from Brazil on Nov. 13 won three Latin Grammy Awards.
Liniker, who is from Araraquara, a city in São Paulo State, won for Best Portuguese Language Song for her song “Veludo Marrom,” Best Portuguese-Language Urban Performance for her song “Caju” from her sophomore album of the same title, and Best Portuguese Language Contemporary Pop Album for “Caju.”
She accepted the awards during the Latin Grammy Awards ceremony that took place in Las Vegas. Liniker also performed.
“I’ve been writing since I was 16. And writing, and poetry, have been my greatest form of existence. It’s where I find myself; where I celebrate so many things I experience,” said Liniker as she accepted her first Latin Grammy on Nov. 13. “And being a composer … Being a trans composer in Brazil — a country that kills us — is extremely difficult.”
Liniker in 2022 became the first openly trans woman to win a Latin Grammy.
Eswatini
PEPFAR delivers first doses of groundbreaking HIV prevention drug to two African countries
Lenacapavir now available in Eswatini and Zambia.
The State Department on Tuesday announced PEPFAR has delivered the first doses of a groundbreaking HIV prevention drug to two African countries.
The lenacapavir doses arrived in Eswatini and Zambia.
The State Department in September unveiled an initiative with Gilead Sciences to bring lenacapavir “to market in high-burden HIV countries.”
Lenacapavir users inject the drug twice a year.
The State Department in its September announcement noted everyone who participated in Gilead’s clinical trials remained HIV negative. It also said lenacapavir “has the potential to be particularly helpful for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, as it safely protects them during and after pregnancy to prevent mother-to-child transmission.”
“In our new America First Global Health Strategy, the Department of State is establishing a first-of-its-kind innovation fund to support American-led research, market-shaping, and other dynamic advancements in global health,” said PEPFAR on Tuesday in a press release.
“The arrivals of the first doses of lenacapavir in Eswatini and Zambia mark an important milestone in HIV prevention and reflect our commitment to supporting communities with the greatest need,” added Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day. “For the first time, a new HIV medicine is reaching communities in sub-Saharan Africa in the same year as its U.S. approval.”
The September announcement came against the backdrop of widespread criticism over the Trump-Vance administration’s reported plans to not fully fund PEPFAR and to cut domestic HIV/AIDS funding. The Washington Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to curtail services or even close because of U.S. funding cuts.
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