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NEWS ITEMS AFFECTING GAYS AND LESBIANS
FOR 2004 - APRIL to JUNE
Sponsored link.
In the following, "SSM" refers to "same-sex marriage."
News of 2004-APR:
 | 2004-APR-15: Zanzibar; homosexual
behavior: Their
parliament recently passed a law outlawing homosexual behavior. If, as
expected, the president signs the bill into law, couples in same-sex
relationships will face penalties of up to 25 years in prison. Zanzibar
is located in East Africa whose citizens are mainly Muslim. 15 |
| 2004-APR-20: California; Same-sex marriage: Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), who is gay, introduced Bill AB
1967 to the California Assembly's Judiciary Committee. It is titled "The
Gender-Neutral Marriage Act." It would require the state to issue
marriage licenses and register the marriages of all qualifying couples,
both those of the same-sex and opposite sex. Same-sex couples, and their
children, would then be able to marry, have their marriages registered by
the state, and
receive the full state benefits previously restricted to opposite-sex married
couples. Although the vote was expected to be close, the bill was passed by
the Committee by a vote of 8 to 3 on 2004-APR-20.
More details. |
| 2004-APR-28: Canada: Hate speech: At 3:30 PM ET, the Canadian
Senate passed Bill C-250. This will add sexual orientation to the list
of categories covered by an existing hate speech law. It will prohibit
most expression of hatred against heterosexuals, homosexuals and
bisexuals on the basis of their sexual orientation. Religious hate
speech directed at persons on the basis of their specific sexual
orientation is allowed by the bill. The bill will become law when signed
by the Governor General, a formality. More
details. |
| 2004-MAY-11: UK: Opposition to dean's consecration: Jeffrey
John is a priest in the Church of England, has a homosexual orientation,
and is involved in a celibate relationship with another priest.
Although he is not sexually active, he was forced to refuse an
appointment in 2003 as Bishop of Reading. Now, opposition is mounting
against his appointment as Dean of St. Albans. Philip Giddings, a lay
preacher at Greyfriars Church in Reading and convenor of a lobby
group Anglican Mainstrem, has initiated a campaign to warn the
Queen, Prime Minister and the Archbishop of Canterbury that John's
appointment could split the church. 2 |
| 2004-JUN-17: Probable election of
far-right party in Canada could reverse decades of equality gains:
The new Conservative Party of Canada is expected to win the JUN-28
federal election in Canada. They promise to use the not-withstanding
clause to overrule the courts' decisions which legalized same-sex
marriage in Canada. There are indicators that they will attempt to
remove sexual orientation from the hate propaganda law in Canada's
criminal code. |
This list continues below.
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References:
- "Law Outlawing Homosexuality Passed in Zanzibar," Feminist
Daily News Wire, 2004-APR-22, at:
http://www.feminist.org/
- "Gay canon: leader in plea to Queen. LAY PREACHER: Giddings is
now against John’s new appointment," Reading Evening Post,
2004-MAY-11, at:
http://www.getreading.co.uk
Notice:
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. sec 107: The news items
contained in the above hyperlinks are provided without profit by the
Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance, PO Box 27026, Kingston ON
Canada K7M 8W5, and are intended to be available to anyone
interested in the topics included, for educational purposes only. Any
editor, author, Webmaster, writer, publisher, news service, etc. that
objects to being part of this listing may request that future works be
excluded. We will also attempt to delete previous entries from the
same source.
Copyright © 2004 by the Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2004-APR-24
Latest update: 2004-JUN-17
Compiler: B.A. Robinson
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