LITHUANIA

A group of same-sex couples is taking the Lithuanian government to the European Court of Human Rights, seeking access to civil unions, marriage and parental rights. 

The couples involved in the suit are seeking registration of civil partnerships and recognition of same-sex marriages contracted in foreign countries. In a separate case, a same-sex couple is seeking equal parenting rights for their child. The petitioners will also be asking the Lithuanian Constitutional Court to clarify the definition of marriage in the constitution.

Lithuania does not recognize any form of same-sex relationship. A bill to legalize civil unions was proposed by the governing coalition and is one vote from passing through Parliament, but has been put on hold amid fears that it doesn’t have enough support to pass.

“The year-long litigation marathon clearly shows the reasons why trust in courts is so low in Lithuania. International law does not work in Lithuania,” Martynas Norbutas, one of the petitioners, said at a press conference.

The European Court of Human Rights is a supranational court for all members of the Council of Europe, which tries cases involving the European Convention on Human Rights. While the court has found that the convention does not require states to allow same-sex marriage, it has in the past found that same-sex couples must be grants some alternative status that is equivalent to marriage. However, it is up to individual states to implement the court’s rulings, as it has no enforcement mechanism.

Of the Council of Europe’s 46 members, 21 allow same-sex marriage, 10 allow same-sex civil unions and 15 currently have no recognition of same-sex unions.

In February, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said she was disappointed that members of her coalition had gone back on their word by failing to support the civil union law.

“I know very well that I cannot convince some of my colleagues despite the fact that the absolute majority of our factions vote for that law,” Šimonytė said on the local news program Laisvės TV.

It isn’t the first time Lithuania’s unruly coalition has failed to pass an LGBTQ rights law. Last year, the government tried to repeal an old “LGBT propaganda” law that the European Court ruled violated the convention’s right to freedom of expression, but the bill was voted down in parliament. A separate bill that would have seen Lithuania join the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on Domestic Violence was also voted down after anti-LGBTQ activists began a campaign linking the convention to “gender ideology.”

Parties on both sides of the issue are attempting to shore up support ahead of parliamentary elections expected in October.

In neighboring Poland, the newly elected government says it is still planning to introduce same-sex civil unions, although it will miss its self-imposed deadline of doing so within its first 100 days. Equalities Minister Katarzyna Kotula told OKO.press that the government is still working with its coalition partners to come to agreement on what civil unions will entail, with the government preferring that same-sex couples get all the rights that come with marriage, including adoption and parenting rights.

GEORGIA

The government of the former Soviet republic of Georgia has announced plans to introduce a series of laws and constitutional amendments to limit so-called “LGBT propaganda,” ban gender change and ban adoption by LGBTQ people.

Georgia’s Parliament amended the constitution in 2017 to ban same-sex marriage. This proposal would add a new special constitutional law for the protection of family values and minors.

Under the new constitutional law, the state would be forbidden from recognizing any relationship other than heterosexual relationships, restrict adoption to married heterosexual couples and heterosexual individuals, ban any medical treatment to change a person’s gender and require that the government only recognize gender based on a person’s genetic information and ban any expression or organization promoting same-sex relationships or gender change.

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the executive secretary of the governing Georgian Dream party, says the goal of the constitutional amendments is to “protect society from pseudo-liberal ideology and its inevitable harmful consequences.”

Mdinaradze says the reforms will allow the government to block attempts by courts or international bodies to force the government to recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions. 

While the Georgian government has been pursuing an alignment with the West and membership in the European Union, its government has recently taken many regressive steps on human rights and rule of law.

Last year, it introduced a “foreign agents” law that would have cracked down on media and non-governmental organizations that are critical of the government. The government backed down after massive protests.

But the conservative Georgian society appears unlikely to mobilize in massive numbers to oppose this bill, even if it does attack basic human rights.

However, as the proposed reforms would conflict with the European Union’s standards for free expression and human rights, the proposal may force Georgians to decide between repressing LGBTQ rights and its goal of EU membership.

“As an EU candidate country, Georgia is expected to align its laws with EU legislation,” the EU delegation in Georgia told German newspaper DW. “The candidate country must have achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing respect for human rights and respect for and protection of minorities.”

The Georgian Dream party seems to have introduced the bill to shore up support ahead of elections scheduled for October.

SERBIA

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić has stepped down after seven years in power, in a reshuffle of President Alexander Vučić’s government. Brnabić will take on the role of speaker of Parliament, while Vučić has named his ally Miloš Vučević as her successor.

Brnabić became the first woman and the first lesbian to hold the office of prime minister of Serbia, or to be a leader of any Eastern European country, in 2017. She is also the longest-serving person to have held the office.

She is still the most prominent LGBTQ person in the conservative, Eastern Orthodox country. 

During her time in office, her status as a lesbian drew very little notice or criticism from Serbian society. She was the first leader of a Balkan country to attend a Pride march when she attended Belgrade Pride in 2017. She was frequently seen with her partner Milica Đurđić, who gave birth to their son in 2019.

However, despite her prominent title, it has been said that Brnabić wielded little actual power in the Serbian government, which is dominated by Vučić.

Brnabić has said that she didn’t want to be seen as the “gay prime minister” and that she prioritized policy goals other than LGBTQ rights in office. In turn, Serbia made little progress on expanding LGBTQ rights during her term.

The government introduced a civil unions bill in 2020 but shelved it months later amid backlash from legislators and a veto threat by Vučić. Beyond that, Brnabić’s government introduced a ban on discrimination against intersex people and removed regulations that barred LGBTQ people from accessing IVF or donating sperm. 

During her time in office, Freedom House downgraded its classification of Serbia from “Free” to “Partly Free” due to Vučić’s increasingly authoritarian use of power and crackdowns on local media.

The government shuffle comes after December elections that were widely disputed as being rigged to favor the government. Last year, Serbia was rocked by months of nationwide protests against the government in the wake of rising gun violence, which a new opposition bloc had hoped would lead to gains in Parliament. Instead, the government won a majority.

JAPAN

The legal battle to achieve same-sex marriage in Japan reached a new milestone, as the couples involved in a court case in Sapporo announced plans to appeal their loss to the Supreme Court, and in a separate case, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples must get access to a crime victims benefit on an equal basis with married couples.

Same-sex couples have been waging a multi-front fight for same-sex marriage through the courts in Japan, given the national government’s long-standing opposition to addressing LGBTQ rights.

In March, the Sapporo High Court delivered the first appellate-level ruling on same-sex marriage, finding that the government’s refusal to allow same-sex marriage created a “state of unconstitutionality” because it discriminated against same-sex couples, but it otherwise ordered no compensation or remedy for the affected couples.

The couples have now announced they plan to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

One of the plaintiffs, Eri Nakaya, said at a press conference that the legal fight was essential for queer Japanese couples.

“If we back out now, legal recognition will not be achieved in the foreseeable future. I hope the Supreme Court will also declare (the same-sex marriage ban) unconstitutional,” he said.

Before the Supreme Court weighs in, more appellate court decisions are likely. District courts in Nagoya, Fukuoka and two courts in Tokyo have ruled similarly to the Sapporo court, while a district court in Osaka has upheld the ban on same-sex marriage. 

But the Supreme Court may have tipped its hand in a ruling last week, which found that same-sex couples must be granted access to a benefit provided to victims of crime on the same basis as married heterosexual couples. The court came to that conclusion by reasoning that the purpose of the benefit — to help people recover after a crime — does not change depending on the gender of the victim or their partner.

While the ruling is limited to this one specific benefit, it appears likely that the same reasoning that led the court to this conclusion ought to be applicable to the constellation of benefits that are associated with marriage. Commentators have said that the same logic should apply to pensions, health insurance and family leave. 

In the background of these decisions, local governments have increasingly come to recognize same-sex couples and families through legally non-binding “partnership certificates,” which are available or soon to be available in 29 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, as well as more than 400 municipalities.

Companies are also increasingly offering benefits to employees’ same-sex partners, including most recently Disney, which announced that it would provide benefits to same-sex partners of employees at Tokyo Disneyland last week. 

NEW ZEALAND

In what Auckland police are treating as a hate crime, video captured three people painting over the New Zealand city’s Pride crosswalk with white paint, the latest in a brewing war over the LGBTQ Pride symbols being waged by Christian extremists in the South Pacific country.

A video of the vandals was posted to the TikTok account @aucklandcitynight00. 

Auckland police say that the rainbow crosswalk on Karangahape Road in the heart of the city’s gay nightlife district was vandalized around 4 a.m. local time on March 27. Video shows three people in hooded sweatshirts and balaclavas stopping traffic to pour white paint on the road and cover the crosswalk with long paint rollers. 

The vandals left the scene in a van that had its registration plates removed but police say they were able to trace the distinctively painted van’s owner and executed a search warrant on a property linked to the owner. No arrests have yet been made.

Much of the white paint had washed away due to rain and traffic, but the crosswalk still showed damage late in the day.

It was the second Pride crosswalk to be vandalized last week after a crosswalk in Gisborne, about 300 miles southwest of Auckland, was vandalized Monday morning. 

The rainbow crosswalk on Gisborne’s main street had been painted over by anti-LGBTQ protesters who were upset that the local library was hosting a drag queen story hour. The next day, protesters and counter-protesters turned up at the library’s storytelling event. Then on Wednesday night, three people once again tried to paint over Gisborne’s restored rainbow crosswalk and were arrested by police who were lying in wait.

Three people have been accused of vandalism — two men aged 46 and 36, and a woman aged 45. A fourth suspect fled the scene, and police are still searching for him. 

The Gisborne protesters were affiliated with the extremist Divinity Church, a Christian cult led by Brian Tamaki with around 1,700 members, according to the latest New Zealand Census. Tamaki preaches a far-right political ideology alongside anti-LGBTQ messages.

The threats have already led to drag queen story hours to be cancelled in the cities of Rotorua and Hastings, about 150 and 300 miles south of Auckland respectively. Librarians in both cities said the cancellations were made due to security concerns after the Divinity Church spread threats and misinformation about the events on social media. 

He has said he intends for his church to continue protesting against town councils and libraries that host LGBTQ events and plans to continue vandalizing rainbow crosswalks, although he has denied any involvement in the Auckland crosswalk vandalism.

Tamaki has previously blamed the 2011 Christchurch earthquake on homosexuality.

AUSTRALIA

Making good on a campaign promise, New South Wales’ Parliament passed a law banning conversion therapy, making it the fourth Australian state or territory to ban the discredited practice that seeks to change people’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

The ban takes effect in one year and imposes a maximum penalty of up to five years imprisonment for any person that delivers conversion therapy that causes significant harm. The law also includes a civil complaints scheme.

New South Wales joins Queensland, Victory and the Australian Capital Territory in banning the practice. The governments of Tasmania and Western Australia have also proposed to ban conversion therapy.

“Conversion therapy proceeds on the basis that people in the LGBTQ+ community are broken, they need fixing,” says New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daley. “But we like them just the way they are.”

Worldwide, conversion therapy has been banned in 13 countries: Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Malta, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal and Norway. A bill to ban the practice nationwide in Mexico is awaiting a final vote in the nation’s Senate after it passed through the Chamber of Deputies last week