Malaysia: Back to square one for transgenders as Federal Court overturns landmark ruling on Shariah law

The Federal Court has overturned the Court of Appeal’s landmark decision declaring an anti-crossdressing Shariah law unconstitutional and void. The five-man bench set aside the judgments made by the High Court and Court of Appeal and the High Court, citing improper procedures used to commence the lawsuit that they said rendered the lower courts’ rulings invalid.

The Court explained that the applicants should have started their legal challenge directly at the Federal Court as the matter involved the Federal Constitution.

The apex court’s decision today will set a precedent on other cases where state Islamic authorities are arguing that fundamental constitutional rights guaranteed to all Malaysians cannot be applied to determine the validity of Islamic laws. Read More via The Malay Mail 

Senegal: Seven men jailed for six months, guilty of homosexuality

Seven men have been jailed for six months in Senegal, after they were found guilty of homosexual acts. Homosexual acts are banned in the West African country. It is punishable by up to five years in prison and fines of up to $2,500 (£1,500).

Defence lawyer, Abdoul Daff, said the mother's failure to appear in court should have caused the case to collapse. "There was neither material evidence nor testimony in order to corroborate the claims," he added.

Gay rights activist Djamil Bangoura from the group Prudence said he was disappointed by the verdict: "It is such a pity to see these Senegalese men condemned in front of everyone just because they are gay."  Read More via the BBC 

South Africa: Lesbian minister tells Con Court dismissal was unconstitutional

The potentially ground-breaking case in which a lesbian minister has taken legal action against the Methodist Church of South Africa (MCSA) for firing her was heard by the Constitutional Court.

Ecclesia de Lange was dismissed by the church in January 2010 after she announced to her Western Cape congregation that she would be marrying her same-sex partner at the time. Representing de Lange, Advocate Anna-Marie de Vos told the court that the church “acted unconstitutionally, unlawfully and unfairly” in firing the minister: “The right of freedom of religion does not automatically give the church the right to discriminate unfairly,” she said.

Wim Trengove, the church’s legal counsel, said that its ministers must subscribe to the fundamental tenets of the church, including that “marriage is an institution between one man and one woman.”  Read More via Mamba 

Italy: Court appeal hopes to ban a child having two legal mothers

An appeal has been filed in Turin attempting to overturn a 2014 result which allowed two women to be parents of one child. The ‘double motherhood’ was described as: ‘A violation of the fundamental principles of our legal system’ in the appeal.

The two women, one Italian and the other Spanish, were married and then divorced in Barcelona. While in Spain, they were legally recognized as a family, and both mothers may share in the concerns of the child. However in Italy they had to be reapply to be recognized as a family: a kind of recognition the Italian courts weren’t prepared to give. The Italian mother applied for and was successful at making both her and her ex-spouse mothers of the child, who was born in 2011 and conceived through artificial insemination.

Attorney General Marcello Maddalena, who signed the appeal, said the child violates the ‘fundamental’ idea that offspring should come from people of different sexes. ‘The ban on assisted procreation techniques for people of the same sex is [in the interest of] the public order,’ he wrote in the appeal. 

Read More via Gay Star News
 

US: Kentucky clerk Kim Davis may have invalidated marriage license forms, deputy clerk says

Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, returned to her post after spending five nights in jail. A Pentecostal Christian, Davis says “God’s authority” instructs her not to issue licenses for gay marriage, even though the law compels her to. Presidential contenders, including Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee, both fundamentalists, have praised her stance.

Brian Mason, deputy for Davis is worried he's been issuing invalid marriage licenses, according to papers filed in federal court. Davis  has replaced the original marriage license forms with forms that don't carry her name, the name of the county or any reference to a clerk or deputy clerk, said Mason's lawyer, Richard Hughes. Hughes said: "Mr. Mason's concern is he does not want to be the party that is issuing invalid marriage licenses"

"It also appears to this counsel those change were made in some attempt to circumvent the court's orders and may have raised to the level of interference against court's orders," Hughes said.

Lawyers for the couples who received altered licenses have now filed a motion asking for unaltered marriage licenses. Read More via Salon

India: Supreme Court effectively shelves Gujarati film, says homosexuality akin to social evil for some

Observing that a section of society may perceive homosexuality as akin to “social evils”, the Supreme Court has effectively pushed into cold storage the release of a Gujarati film that depicts the “sufferings of a homosexual” prince from the state.

Meghdhanyshya — The colour of life is based on the true story of the “gay prince of Rajpipla”, Manvendra Singh Gohil, and has been cleared by the Censor Board, but will now not be seen for at least 3 years.

“I think the movie is killed,” filmmaker Devmani said. “It cannot wait for another three or four years when there is no certainty that the court will eventually rule in my favour. It is ironical that movies showing extra-marital relationships and containing scenes of rape and violence are given the exemption but a movie depicting sufferings of a homosexual person does not pass the state’s muster,” he added. Read More via Indian Express

Mexico: Ban on same-gender couples adoption unconstitutional

 A Mexican law prohibiting civil unions that bans both heterosexual or homosexual couples from adopting minors was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) on the basis that the union is recognized as a family model by the Constitution.

The decision comes after a series of reforms were approved in order to ban same-gender couples from adopting in the southern Mexican state of Campeche. Nine out of ten lawmakers were against these reforms and declared the law unconstitutional for discriminating against same-gender couples. Read More

Colombia: Constitutional court held test for global marriage equality

Colombia’s top court held a day-long hearing on whether it should interpret its constitution as giving marriage rights to same-sex couples — framing the debate in a wider discussion about whether international standards now dictate that marriage equality is a fundamental right.

Colombia’s Constitutional Court weighs foreign precedent and international human rights law in its decisions. To discuss the question of marriage equality, the Court’s judges invited a broad range of international opinions, including representatives of the UN human rights office, the U.S.-based conservative legal group the Alliance Defending Freedom, and Albie Sachs, the former chief justice of South Africa’s Constitutional Court who authored a 2005 marriage equality ruling.

The case concerns several questions of Colombian law but the list of participants signals that the justices see themselves as also adjudicating a question that extends beyond the country’s borders: Now that marriage equality is becoming the norm in almost all of the world’s democracies, should it be considered a fundamental right in countries that strive to meet a gold standard for human rights? And if the court concludes that this is the key question in this case, those arguing to uphold the existing marriage law appear to face an uphill battle.  Read More

Japan: LGBT group files human rights complaint in bid for same-sex marriages

Hundreds of members of the LGBT community filed an unprecedented request with the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) in a bid to legalize same-sex marriages, saying Japan’s failure to recognize the practice constitutes a violation of human rights.

Coming on the heels of what lawyers behind the move called a gradual softening of traditional prejudice toward gays in Japan, the bid by 455 individuals is the first attempt to legalize same-sex marriages by appealing over human rights. The JFBA, the nation’s biggest bar association, will investigate the allegation and, if necessary, issue a warning to the central government to review its approach toward the matter.

“If issued, the warning will be quite comprehensive, formulated based on the bar association’s meticulous research and analysis,” lawyer Toshimasa Yamashita told a news conference in Tokyo. “It will likely be used as a reference in Diet sessions or trials whenever the topic of same-sex marriages arises.” Read More

Italy: Supreme Court rules against sterilisation requirement

The Italian Supreme Court has ruled that medical intervention and sterilisation is not necessary for having one’s gender legally recognized.

A 45-year old trans woman who had been living for 20 years as a woman had been denied the recognition by the court of Piacenza. Basis for the denial was a strict interpretation of Law 164 from 1982 (later modified) that requires more or less invasive reassignment surgery (up to state of the art reconstruction) or at least permanente sterilisation. The Supreme Court clarified now that mandatory genital surgery cannot be justified by a public interest in establishing certain genders. It recognized that the intervention in primary sex characteristics of a person can only be considered as ‘necessary’ if the trans person considers it. Read More 

European Court: Countries must recognise same-sex partnerships

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that Italy has failed to protect the private and family life of cohabitating same-sex couples by not allowing for any legal recognition of same-sex relationships. The ruling does not demand that Italy recognize same-sex marriages. Still, the potential effect of this decision is huge.

The Court argues that not having a law that recognizes same-sex relationships is a human rights violation. The ECtHR has jurisdiction over more than 800 million people in 47 countries, 23 of which do not have any form of registered partnership for same-sex couples. Potentially, this ruling affects all these countries. But the effects are not direct and may not materialize any time soon. Below is a quick explainer. Read More