SLOVENIA

The Constitutional Court has issued a ruling that laws barring same-sex couples and single women from accessing assisted reproduction are unconstitutional discrimination. 

The court has left the laws in place while giving parliament one year to bring the laws governing assisted reproduction into compliance with the constitution. 

The Slovenian LGBTQ advocacy group LEGEBITRA celebrated the ruling in a post on its web site.

“The decision of the Constitutional Court is a victory for all those who wanted to start a family in Slovenia and were unfairly deprived of this opportunity in the past. Rainbow (and single-parent) families are part of our society, and their children are part of the community in the country in which they live and grow up. It is only fitting that their story begins here,” the post says.

The Treatment of Infertility and in Vitro Fertilization Procedures Act has had its restrictions on single women and same-sex couples from fertility treatment targeted by progressive legislators since it was introduced in 2000. 

Amendments that would have allowed single women to access in vitro fertilization were passed in 2001 but were immediately put to a citizen-initiated referendum, which voted them down. 

Since then, the former Yugoslav republic has undergone a number of progressive changes, including joining the European Union in 2004 and gradually expanding LGBTQ rights.

In 2020, a group of legislators from the Left party asked the Constitutional Court to review the law, and the following year, their request was joined by the state’s Advocate for the Principal of Equality. 

The court spent more than four years deliberating the appeal, during which time it also struck down laws banning same-sex marriage in 2022. Parliament later amended the law so that same-sex couples enjoy all rights of marriage, including adoption, but left the ban on assisted reproduction in place.

The Slovenia Times reports that the ruling was welcomed by the governing coalition, which includes the Left party. The government has pledged to move quickly to implement the ruling.

“This corrects one of the gravest injustices done to women by right-wing politics and the Catholic Church in Slovenia, who denied women the right to become mothers,” the Left said.

The case was brought by a group of left-leaning MPs four years ago — but perhaps the delay is related to the fact that in that time, the court also struck down the ban on same-sex marriage in 2022. 

RUSSIA

Russian authorities raided three nightclubs in Moscow over the weekend as part of the state’s deepening crackdown on LGBTQ people and expression, Radio Free Europe reports.

The raids took place late Saturday night and early Sunday morning at the Mono, Arma, and Simach nightclubs in the capital. All three clubs have been known to host themed events for LGBTQ clientele. 

According to Russian state-owned media outlet TASS and several Telegram channels, patrons, and employees of the clubs were forced to lie on the floor with their hands behind their heads before they were carted away in police wagons. Patrons and workers had their phones, laptops, and cameras seized and documents inspected

It’s not yet known what prompted the raids, although Russian authorities frequently claim to be inspecting for illegal substances and drug users.

Russian authorities have carried out several raids on LGBTQ establishments since the passage of a law banning positive portrayals or information about queer people in 2022. Last year, the Russian Supreme Court ruled that the “international LGBT movement” is an “extremist organization” and granted a request from the Ministry of Justice to ban it from the country. 

Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ rights has inspired copycat legislation among its neighbors, notably in Georgia, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan.

CANADA

A small town in Northern Ontario has been fined C$10,700 (approximately $10,000) for its refusal to issue a Pride Month declaration or raise the rainbow flag.

The town of Emo population 1,300, which sits on the border with Minnesota about 200 miles northwest of Duluth, had been requested to issue the Pride declaration by Borderlands Pride in 2020 and raise the flag for one week, but the town council refused in a 3-2 vote, prompting a years-long legal battle. 

Last week, that came to an end as the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal found the town and its mayor guilty of discrimination and ordered the town to pay Borderlands Pride C$10,000 in compensation, and the mayor to pay an additional C$5,000 ($3,559.92).

“We didn’t pursue this because of the money. We pursued this because we were treated in a discriminatory fashion by a municipal government, and municipalities have obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code not to discriminate in the provision of a service,” Doug Judson, a lawyer and board member of Borderlands Pride, told CBC News.

The tribunal also ordered the mayor to take a Human Rights 101 training course offered by the Ontario Human Rights Commission within 30 days. 

Mayor Harold McQuaker has not commented publicly on the ruling.

CHINA

Calls for Hong Kong government’s to officially recognize same-sex unions have intensified after the city’s Court of Final Appeal issued rulings last week that affirmed lower court rulings that found same-sex couples have equal rights to inheritance and social housing as heterosexual couples.

The ruling was in line with a similar ruling issued last year by the city’s top court, in which the city was ordered to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples by September 2025. 

The new ruling with facilitate same-sex couples’ access to public housing, a vital need in one of the world’s most housing-crunched cities. The ruling also affirms that same-sex spouses can inherit public housing from a deceased spouse. 

In both cases, the ruling only applies to spouses who have legally married overseas, because Hong Kong does not yet have a way for same-sex couples to legally register their relationships.

The nearest places where same-sex Hong Kong citizens can marry are Australia and the U.S. territory of Guam, with Thailand becoming available in the new year. Although same-sex marriage is legal in nearby Taiwan, residency requirements may block access there.

Although legislators have been slow to act on demands for civil unions or same-sex marriage, Hong Kongese same-sex couples have gradually gained access to more rights through court actions. 

The Court of Final Appeal has previously ordered the government to have foreign marriages recognized for immigration purposes, to allow same-sex couples to file their taxes jointly, and to stepchild adoption.