Egyptian men arrested declared ‘not gay’ after exam, will appear in court in November

A group of Egyptian men arrested on the accusation that they are gay were subjected to invasive medical exams intended to show whether they engaged in homosexual activity. Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat ordered the men detained and “physically examined” after an online video emerged showing the men attending what appeared to be a same-sex marriage ceremony on a Nile riverboat. They are set to appear in court on November 1st.

Egypt's LGBT community began a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #stopjailinggays. Read More

India government asks Supreme Court to clarify pro-trans ruling

The government says transgender rights should not be extended to gay people and asked the Supreme Court to clarify the definition of transgender so that it would not include gay people.

In April the Supreme Court recognized transgender people as a third sex and a socially and educationally backward class, entitled to education and employment quotas as well as the rights to marriage, adoption, divorce, succession and inheritance. The same court recriminalized homosexuality in December last year. Read More

Xiao Zhen on Trying to End ‘Gay Conversion Therapy’ in China

A man going by the pseudonym Xiao Zhen is the first person in China to file a lawsuit against a clinic offering “gay conversion therapy,” to change sexual orientation that medical experts criticize as ineffective and harmful. With the help of the Beijing LGBT Center, Xiao Zhen has sued the Xinyupiaoxiang Counseling Center, as well as Baidu, China’s Internet search engine, for posting the ads that led him there. Read More

First gay couple in Italy allowed to adopt child

A woman whose partner gave birth has been allowed to adopt the child in the first case of stepchild adoption involving a same-sex couple. It's been described by a rights group as an historic step for Italy.

The five-year-old is the daughter of one of the two partners, who were married abroad. It is the first case of a “step-child” adoption involving a gay couple in Italy. Read more

Swiss gays recognized as parents of child

In a historic decision for Switzerland, a court in the canton of Saint Gallen has recognized a gay couple as the legal parents of a child born in the United States to a surrogate mother. Surrogacy is illegal in Switzerland but according to the administrative court ruling the wellfare of the child took precedence in this case. Read More

Mexico's Coahuila state legalizes same-sex marriage

For the first time, a Mexican state legislature has voted to legalize same-sex marriage. The new law alters more than 40 parts of the state's Civil Code. Read More

Gay marriage and the courts: Too far, too fast?

THE cascade of rulings invalidating state-level same-sex marriage prohibitions now includes decisions from three federal appellate courts. Last Thursday the seventh circuit court of appeals thwarted gay marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana, joining the fourth and tenth circuit courts that have issued recent rulings nullifying one man-one woman marriage laws in Virginia, Utah and Oklahoma. The ninth circuit heard arguments in three gay marriage cases on September 8th and the fifth and sixth circuits are also taking up the question. The Supreme Court is widely expected to review decisions from one or more of these jurisdictions in the coming year.

As speculation turns to how the US Supreme Court justices will handle the tidal wave of state judicial support for same-sex marriage, it might be natural to assume that we’re gearing up for another 4-4 right-left split, with Justice Anthony Kennedy in the middle. Read More 

US: Gay Marriage Bans In Idaho, Nevada And Hawaii Head To Court

"Until all 50 states get on board, it's a legal battle from state to state," said Tara Newberry, one of the plaintiffs in the Nevada case, who wants to marry her longtime partner. "The map is changing. But until the Supreme Court of the United States makes the determination, it's state-by-state."  Read More

Buggery Law No Longer on Trial in Jamaica

A man has withdrawn his Supreme Court case against Jamaica's antigay law out of fear for his safety. Javed Jaghai said he's received death threats since bringing his case before the Supreme Court, which would have considered the constitutionality of Jamaica's law against gay sex. Read More 

Follow-up: Russian anti-gay extremist sentenced to five years in penal colony

Maxim Sergeyevich Martsinkevich, leader of Russian anti-gay vigilante group “Occupy Pedophilia,” who is alleged to have lured LGBT youth to abusive encounters through fake social media profiles, was sentenced to five years in a Russian penal colony. Read More

Cameroon lesbians freed after 9 months awaiting trial

After nearly a year in jail, 2 Cameroon lesbians have been convicted of same-sex activity. Cameroonian law provides for prison sentences of up to 5 years for same-sex sexual activity. Though it's supposed to apply only when a couple is “caught in the act,” the law is often interpreted as justifying imprisonment for suspected homosexuality.

Liliane and Nicole each received a two-year prison sentence, which was converted into a three-year suspended sentence and were released back to the community. Read More