International News
On March 23 the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice released the final draft of Ukraine's National Human Rights Strategy. This draft law, which will guide Ukrainian human rights policy until 2020, offers no protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity.
Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, walks to the podium to deliver his policy speech at the lower house of parliament in Tokyo, on Feb. 12. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has fought to alter Japan's constitution on matters of security, is less eager to oppose its principles when it comes to same-sex marriage.
[JURIST] The Constitutional Court of Colombia [official website, in Spanish] on Wednesday upheld a restriction that same-sex couples cannot adopt children that have no biological relation to either parent.
TOKYO — A district in Tokyo plans to give same-sex couples the same legal rights as married opposite-sex spouses, becoming the first local government in Japan to do so at a time when gay marriage is a hot-button issue in many countries.
On Thursday, the Shibuya Ward in central Tokyo unveiled a draft of the new statute, which it said would be put to a vote in the ward's assembly next month. If the measure passes, as expected, same-sex couples could apply for "proof of partnership" certificates starting April 1, said Shigeru Saito, a general affairs official.
The American LGBT community has increasingly begun to contribute to the success of LGBT rights worldwide. However, the contributions go both ways. Countries in some other parts of the world have adopted gay equality laws much earlier than the United States, and some of that progress has contributed to the success of the LGBT movement in the United States. Here are 11 ways that advances in LGBT rights elsewhere have helped the American gay movement.
1. Canada helped bring marriage to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The US Department of State will soon select an openly gay diplomat to oversee international human rights advocacy for LGBT people.
Candidates for the specialized envoy position will be vetted by Secretary of State John Kerry before someone is chosen by the end of February, the Boston Globe reports.
Report suggests that the UK economy could save £678m a year if businesses
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - U.S. lawmakers in both houses of Congress introduced on Thursday a bill to protect and promote the rights of the international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
The International Human Rights Defense Act, spearheaded by Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Alan Lowenthal of California, both Democrats, would appoint a special envoy within the U.S. Department of State to coordinate efforts to prevent discrimination and advance the rights of LGBT people worldwide.