A law that extends marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples in Finland took effect last Wednesday, 1st March 2017. Members of Finland’s Parliament approved a same-sex marriage bill — which also extended adoption rights to gay and lesbian couples — in 2014. The Associated Press reported more than 100,000 people signed a petition that
News / LGBT Guide LT / From EU
Today, Tuesday 7 March 2017 from 14:00 – 16:00, the Intergroup on LGBTI Rights of European Parliament will host a roundtable on the rights of LGBTI Asylum seekers in the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). At this round table, they will discuss how to guarantee that the proposals to reform the European asylum
Country’s first lesbian wedding took place last weekend, but gay couples are not allowed to adopt. Slovenia permitted same-sex marriage for the first time, with a law coming into effect that gives gay couples largely the same rights as heterosexuals, but bars them from jointly adopting children, Reuters reported. At least one same-sex couple got married in Slovenia
There is a growing trend in Europe and beyond towards granting same-sex couples legal recognition for their relationships, which confers certain specific protections. The first country to provide “registered partnerships” was Denmark in 1989, while The Netherlands was first to adopt same-sex marriage in 2001. Today, 47 countries in the world, 27 of which are
Finland’s Parliament has voted down efforts to scupper plans for same-sex marriage to become legal just days before it is set to become law. In November 2014, the Finnish Parliament passed a citizens’ initiative on gender-neutral marriage by a tight vote of 105-92, after a number of previous defeats. The country’s President Sauli Niinistö signed marriage
Everything is now in place for the men at the center of last year’s discrimination suit to proceed with an adoption. Last June saw a major victory for the Czech gay and lesbian community when a discriminatory provision in the Registered Partnership Act was annulled in the country’s Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. The
In a key vote on gender equality in mental health, the European Parliament has urged for stronger action on trans and intersex people’s mental health. The Parliament deplores that transgender people are still considered mentally ill, and highlights that this diagnoses “is a source of significant distress for transgender persons”. It adds that “every child
Thousands of gay and bisexual men were posthumously pardoned for historic gay sex crimes last month on January 31, 2017. The Policing and Crime Bill, known as ‘Turing’s Law’, gives pardons to anyone who has died with a crime on their record but only if it would not be considered a crime today. ‘This is
Last week, on Thursday February 2, 2017, the European Parliament adopted a report (533 +, 41 -) demanding the automatic recognition of domestic adoption orders across EU Member States. The report stipulates that the recognition should happen without discrimination, including on the basis of the parents’ sexual orientation. The report highlights that the lack of
The Church of Norway has approved a new liturgy inclusive of same-sex weddings taking place in churches there. The measure was approved by 89 of the members of the general synod at the Evangelical-Lutheran church in Trondheim on Monday. Delegate Gard Sandaker-Nilsen said of the vote: “This is the day when a prayer and a
Belgian fashion model Hanne Gaby Odiele has revealed she is intersex and that she has gone public in an attempt to reduce the stigma around the condition and encourage other people to embrace their status. The 29-year-old was born with internal testes and without a uterus or ovaries due to a condition called androgen insensitivity
An appeals court in Estonia has overturned the ruling of a first-tier court and ordered the Harju County Government to enter a marriage concluded between two men in Sweden into the national population register, gay rights nonprofit MTÜ SEKY said on Tuesday, 24 January 2017. In 2015, the county government refused to enter into Estonia’s