MERI Blog
Updates, news, action alerts and events from Marriage Equality Rhode Island.
Iraqi Gays: “They are massacring us.“
(via Bay Windows)
The Human Rights Watch released a 67-page report August 17 detailing the violence and abuse suffered by gay Iraqis at the hands of death squads targeting “effeminate men.“
“The most trivial details of appearance—the length of a man’s hair, the fit of his clothes—could determine whether he lived or died,“ the report read.
Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia of Sadr City in Baghdad has been propagating fear of the “third sex” and the “feminization” of Iraqi men, encouraging militia action against those deemed “effeminate.“ Witnesses reported that Iraqi security forces have also participated in the massacre.
Albania to legalize same-sex marriage
(via Bay Windows)
Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha on July 29 endorsed a bill introduced in Parliament to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and also said Albania will legalize same-sex marriage.
He called the bill “an important law against discrimination,“ which he said is “unacceptable.“
Albania has no presence on the main e-mail list for European GLBT activists, and this column had not heard of any gay activism in Albania. Most gay Albanians are believed to be closeted, and anti-gay discrimination is said to be widespread.
However, on July 30, an organization calling itself, in English, the Gay-Straight Alliance Against LGBT Discrimination in Albania, issued a press release hailing the prime minister’s announcement.
Gay Aussies Seek Marriage Equality
(via The Edge)
In countries from Canada to South Africa, gay and lesbian families enjoy full family equality: they are allowed to marry.
Indeed, even a handful of states in the U.S. allow marriage equality, though the federal government refuses to extend any recognition to same-sex families.
Now, gay and lesbian Aussies want to make it legal for their own families.
Australian newspaper The Age reported in a July 19 article that a gay and lesbian family parity group, Equal Love, was preparing to launch a push for marriage equality down under.
The group is planning a “day of action” on August 1 for widespread outreach, including a mass (though not legally binding) wedding.
Mother of gay son berates Irish minister over civil partnerships
(via Pink News)
When Declan Doody wrote to Irish justice minister Dermot Ahern about the inequality of civil partnerships, he was dismayed to receive no response. However, when he posted a copy of the letter on his Facebook account, his mother Helen was spurred into action to write her own.
Recalling his fear of bullies at school and her temporary shock when he came out, she wrote: “Your Civil Partnership Bill is not good enough for my family, and hundreds, thousands of other families in this country.“ Writing on queerid.com, Declan revealed he burst into tears when he read the letter she sent, which asked Ahern to “revise this bill so everyone can be equal”. The letter is fast becoming a hit on the internet.
Below is the letter in full.
Dear Mr Ahern,
My name is Helen Doody, you have already received and failed to reply to a letter that my own son Declan sent to you a week or so ago. So like any good and decent parent I am now trying to get you to listen to and protect my child – it is the very least that any mother would do for her own children.
I read Declan’s email and everything he said to you in the e-mail was true. He had a very tough time growing up in Abbeyfeale, I can still picture him crying in the mornings before he went to school because he was afraid of the people who were going to be waiting for him – bullies who would beat the living daylight out of him, people who crushed the very spirit within him. I tried numerous times to help him, I spoke to teachers, to the parents but the problem got a quick-fix but a weeks later it just continued on.
UPDATE: Mother’s letter inspires gay marriage protest outside Irish parliament (Pink News)
Bi-national D.C. couple weighs options after residency jeopardized
(via The Edge)
One way to look at bi-national couples, couples of differing nationalities, is as a booming business. Enter “mail order brides” into nearly any search engine and it will return a bounty of hits from companies offering to facilitate introductions and dialogue—for a fee. Some even offer helpful immigration advice, such as the Rose Brides site: “[I]f done correctly and with the right patience and necessary evidence, paperwork, and steps, filing for and having your Russian bride enter the United States is relatively simple.“
Under different circumstances, such a Web site might even amuse Joe and Steve. But with the clock ticking, and the federal government poised to extinguish their nine-year relationship—which it legally refuses to acknowledge to any degree, despite their D.C. domestic partnership and Connecticut marriage—nobody’s laughing. Instead, Joe and Steve are scrambling as the hourglass empties and Joe faces expulsion to his native Indonesia, and back into the closet of this majority-Muslim nation.
Same-Sex Couples Seek Immigration Benefit
(via NY Times)
WASHINGTON (AP)—Judy Rickard took an early retirement and a reduced pension so she could be assured of more time with her partner, a British citizen whose stays in the U.S. are limited to six months.
Rickard, 61, would have preferred to keep working at San Jose State University and sponsor her partner, Karin Bogliolo, for residency in the United States, just as heterosexual couples can. But U.S. law does not allow for that.
‘'If you’re going to have a system that’s designed to keep families together, it should focus on keeping families together,‘’ Rickard said.
That could soon change, as more than 100 lawmakers in the House and about 20 in the Senate have signed onto bills that would add the United States to the 19 countries that already recognize same-sex couples for immigration purposes.
Gay rights groups are encouraged that President Barack Obama has signaled that he would like to include couples like Rickard and Bogliolo in the bills.
Same-Sex Couples Jump at Internal Adoption in Finland
(via YLE.fi)
Dozens of couples living in registered same gender relationships are filing adoption applications in anticipation of new legislation that comes into force in September. Female couples have been particularly active in seeking custody. In Helsinki and Tampere, all of the couples turning in adoption paperwork have been women.
Outi Hannula, chair of the Sexual Equality Association SETA, says some municipalities have been better prepared than others to handle incoming adoption papers. Save the Children Finland, a child rights NGO, is urging couples to expect waits of around one year for officials to finalise adoption decisions. District courts make adoption decisions based on recommendations issued by local adoption offices.
Law Improves Legal Rights of Children
In May the Finnish parliament passed a bill allowing internal adoption among partners of registered same gender relationships. The aim of the legislation is to promote the legal rights of children within a registered same sex partnership.
(h/t Mombian)
Gays in military not an issue for many nations
(via MSNBC.com)
NEW YORK - When it comes to dealing with gay personnel in the ranks, the contrasts are stark among some of the world’s proudest, toughest militaries — and these differing approaches are invoked by both sides as Americans renew debate over the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
In the United States, more than 12,000 service members — including dozens of highly trained Arabic linguists — have been dismissed since 1994 because it became known they were gay. Current targets for discharge include a West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran, Army National Guard Lt. Dan Choi, and a veteran of combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, Air Force Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach.
In Britain, on the other hand, gay and lesbian service members marched in crisp uniforms in the annual Pride London parade July 4. Gay Australian soldiers and sailors had their own float in Sydney’s Gay Mardi Gras parade. In Israel, the army magazine earlier this year featured two male soldiers on the cover, hugging one another.
India High Court overturns ban on homosexuality
(via BBC)
A court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has ruled that homosexual intercourse between consenting adults is not a criminal act.
The ruling overturns a 148-year-old colonial law which describes a same-sex relationship as an “unnatural offence”. Homosexual acts were punishable by a 10-year prison sentence. Many people in India regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate. Rights groups have long argued that the law contravened human rights.
Delhi’s High Court ruled that the law outlawing homosexual acts was discriminatory and a “violation of fundamental rights”. The court said that a statute in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which defines homosexual acts as “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and made them illegal, was an “antithesis of the right to equality”.
Ireland grants rights to same-sex partnerships
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland recognized the legal rights of same-sex couples for the first time Friday in a civil partnership bill that gave people in long-term relationships many of the statutory rights of married couples.
But it stopped short of recognizing civil marriage. There are strong rights conferred to marriage under the constitution of the traditionally Catholic country, which was amended to lift a ban on divorce in 1995.
“This bill provides legal protection for cohabiting couples and is an important step, particularly for same-sex couples, whose relationships have not previously been given legal recognition by the state,“ Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said in a statement.
The legislation provides a range of previously denied rights including maintenance obligations, protection of a shared home and succession. “Balance is achieved by maintaining material distinctions between civil partnership and marriage, in particular between the rights attaching to both, while at the same time reflecting the equality rights protected by the constitution,“ Ahern said.
Civil Partnerships Come to Ireland (Box Turtle Bulletin)
Greens say Civil Partnership Bill does not go far enough (IrishTimes.com)
— recently posted —
Join us at your STATE HOUSE for a MARRIAGE EQUALITY RALLY Wednesday, March 3rd, 4p
posted 1 Month, 1 week, 4 days, 20 hours, 57 minutes ago
— take action —
Things you can do to help bring marriage equality to Rhode Island:- Make a donation »
- Join Friends & Neighbors »
- Volunteer »
- Write a Letter to the Editor »
- Host a House Party »
- Talk to Your Reps »
— your neighbors —
Peter Quesnel of Providence supports marriage equality. Meet Peter and other real Rhode Islanders in our Friends & Neighbors gallery.
Friend us on Facebook
Join our Facebook Cause
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
