The Polish appeals court has ruled that so-called "LGBT-free zones" must be scrapped, the verdict has been welcomed by activists as a victory for human rights and democracy.
"LGBT-free zones" seek to ban what local authorities see as the promotion of homosexuality and other minority sexual identities, especially in schools.
Many local councils in Poland passed resolutions in 2019 declaring themselves free of "LGBT ideology", part of a conflict in the mostly Catholic country between liberals and religious conservatives, who see the struggle for gay rights as a threat to traditional values.
This has set Poland on a collision course with the European Commission, which said the zones may violate EU law regarding non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
After a legal challenge from Poland's Human Rights Ombudsman, lower courts ruled that nine such resolutions must be scrapped. The public prosecutor's office, the ultra-conservative think-tank Ordo Iuris and the municipalities involved then appealed against these verdicts. In the first four cases, the appeals were dismissed on Tuesday.
"Today's decision... is a great victory for democracy, human rights and respect for people,"
Poland's Campaign Against Homophobia wrote in a social media post.
Cabinet Minister Michal Wojcik, a member of the conservative United Poland party, criticised the ruling.
"If councillors decide that they want to support our traditions and identity, it is their sovereign right. Nobody should limit this," he told Reuters in a text message.
The ruling comes as the issue of "LGBT-free zones" looks set to put EU funding for Polish municipalities involved at risk again read more
Last Friday the Campaign against Homophobia said the EU Commission had introduced a clause in its Partnership Agreement with Poland that would prevent municipalities with "LGBT-free zones" from receiving funds from the bloc's 2021-2027 budget.
An EU source confirmed that municipalities that adopt policies judged by the bloc to be discriminatory would not receive funding for infrastructure, the environment and some other areas.
San Francisco: US Circuit of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that California's state ban on conversion or reparative therapy that aims at turning gay minors straight does not violate the free speech rights of licensed counselors and patients seeking treatment. This is a precedent for California in the USA and prohibits health practitioners from offering psychotherapy aimed at changing gay youth’s sexual orientation.
Excludes US Religious Groups
Unlicensed pastors and lay counselors affiliated with church programs that seek to change gay youth to straight sexual identity are exempt from this law. The therapy’s effect on gay persons has been questioned or rejected by all the mental health professional associations. Reports of suicide, low self-esteem, depression have been experienced by those who have undergone reparative therapy. There are no long-term studies of the efficacy of the therapy.
Alan Chambers, Director of Exodus International, one of the more well-known ex-gay Christian organizations, issued an apology in June as did Robert Spitzer, M.D. of Columbia University who retracted his “Ex-Gay Study of 2001 last April. Spitzer, one of the original psychiatrists who led the movement to have homosexuality as a disorder removed from the Psychiatric Diagnostic Manual in 1973, deemed his study faulty.
Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris stated that the ban was necessary to protect children from a coercive practice that can put them at increased risk of suicide. Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey recently signed into law a similar ban on reparative therapy for minors in his state.
Injunction Against SB1172
The new ban was scheduled to go into effect January 1 but was put on hold by the 9th Circuit. US District Court Judge William Shubb blocked the law banning the harmful therapy. The cases that the appeals court had to decide on were brought by professionals who practice sexual orientation change therapy, two families who said their teenage sons benefitted from the therapy, and a national association of Christian mental health counselors argue that the ban infringes on their free speech, freedom of association and religious rights, and in the case of the counselors, jeopardizes their livelihoods.
However, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Judge Susan Graber, a 1998 appointee of Bill Clinton’s, and Judge Morgan Christen, a 2012 appointee of President Barack Obama, heard the case and unanimously held that California has the power to prohibit licensed mental health providers from administering therapies deemed harmful, and the fact that speech may be used to carry out these therapies does not turn such bans into prohibitions of speech.
American law says therapists and counselors who treat minors with methods designed to eliminate or reduce their same-sex attractions would be engaging in unprofessional conduct and subject to discipline by state licensing boards.
US Federal Court Upholds Ca. Ban on Conversion Therapy For Minors Source: GayAgenda
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According to a fun and silly US Survey, grilled cheese lovers have more sex and are apparently also better people! If you love your grilled cheese sanga you may well be having more sex than people who don't. It seems your grilled cheese can reveal a lot about you as well.
From today, I no longer want to be called your mother, if you don’t want to change you can leave my house and come back when you are a transformed person, when you are a man.” Chris (not his real name) a queer transgender person from Rwanda recalls the words of their angry mother.
Malta continues to pave the way forward for European LGBTIQ+ rights, with Labour Prime Minister Robert Abela announcing free gender-affirming surgery for trans citizens.
Abela, who announced the news at Malta’s Pride March in Valletta, expressed an ongoing desire to drive progress forward, stating
My presence yesterday, as well as that of ministers and MPs, symbolises the messages that while we have done a lot, more is yet to come
The government has also recently fulfilled an election promise by lifting restrictions on gay and bisexual men donating blood. In 2019, the Mediterranean island nation also ranked number one in Rainbow Europe’s best European holiday destination for LGBTIQ+ travellers.
According to activists, the ongoing war in Ukraine with Russia has united the nation and inspired Ukrainians to look past prejudices against the LGBTIQ+ community, with polls showing that public opposition to same-sex civil unions has dropped from 69% in 2016 to 41.9% in 2022.
In the United States, Texas federal judge Reed O’Connor has set a dangerous precedent after ruling that the inclusion of HIV treatments under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, commonly called “Obamacare”) is a violation of religious freedoms. Companies Braidwood Management and Kelley Orthodontics brought the case to the US District Court, arguing that the inclusion of PrEP under ACA forces religious companies to finance and endorse homosexual behaviour.
Apparently the Mayor of London is considering closing the Westminster bridge in the early afternoon on sunny days. This is because a strange phenomenon happens when sunlight passes through the balustrade of the bridge, forming a small army of..... well...... see for yourself!