The Lesbian News Stack 2010 - June 16th

By maxime68 on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - 19:15

Pride events are happening all over the place and so do elections. Suddenly June (or May) has become the chosen month for national elections. For its gayness?

Europe

Germany has once again been criticized for its refusal to adopt and support the non-discrimination directive. (Check out further below why pressure is also intensifying from within the country.)

Around the Corner

That South Africa is not a safe ground for gay people is not really new, neither that corrective rape happened to more than one lesbian, more than one dying as a consequence of the attack. What seems kind of new though (at least to me), is the fact that a huge business like the BBC takes this on and publishes a story about the problems of lesbians, or more precisely lesbian soccer players in South Africa while the soccer Worldcup 2010 in South Africa just started.

Austria

The opening ceremony for the first Austrian gay and lesbian archive (QWIEN Archiv) is scheduled for June, 22nd, 18.30 at Theatermuseum, Eroica-Saal, Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Wien.

Belarus

Almost 2/3 of Belarusians would like to see homosexuality be banned again, just like it was until 1994. LGBT rights and activists have a difficult stand in Belarus, Pride events being constantly banished and the last one being disrupted brutally by the police last month.

Belgium

Similar to its neighboring country the Netherlands, the Belgian government stepped down due to irreconcilable differences and called for new elections. The results of the elections are just as torn as the country, as the New Flemish Alliance and Socialist Party (PS) became the winners of these elections with collecting the most and second most votes. The weirdness of this result is that the New Flemish Alliance stands for a separation of Belgium and PS stands for a united Belgium. While there is the possibility that these two parties will end up forming a coalition, they don’t hold enough seats for a majority and have to include other parties. Nevertheless, it might happen that Belgium will end up with a gay prime-minister with PS’ leader Elio di Rupo.

Croatia

Historic moment in Zagreb when the President met with LGBT representatives, which was the first meeting of this kind in Croatia.

France

Two cases of lesbophobic attacks came to end with quite satisfying results, with the offenders of both cases being punished more severely than requested. On the other hand the legal aspects of the disrupted kiss-in in Paris have been postponed until November. SOS homophobie has taken civil action and will be represented by France’s well known lawyer for LGBT rights Caroline Mécary.

Germany

Bremen: the city state intends to change its constitution to open marriage to same-sex couples. The draft has already been prepared and is scheduled to be discussed in the Senate on Thursday, June 17th (tomorrow). Which, by the way, would be a perfect fit for this day, as June 17th is the former 'German Unification Day'. Bremen is run by a red-green coalition, SPD (Socialistic Democrats) and the Greens.

Berlin: Berlin has the same intentions as Bremen, though they are going for the bigger picture. The Senate approved a Bundesratsinitiative (initiative to be brought in front of the upper house) this Tuesday. This might or might not be related to the Tuesday ruling of a Berlin court which decided that a gay marriage performed in a foreign country (Canada in this specific case) will be recognized in Germany as a registered partnership. This is only a small step and if the government wasn’t fighting the implementation of the new non-discriminative directive tooth and nail, Germany already would have created the legal grounds for the recognition of foreign same-sex union (gay marriage, civil union, registered partnership, etc.).