Mexico’s Supreme Court upholds gay adoptions
Mexico’s Supreme Court has upheld a Mexico City law allowing adoptions by same-sex couples, drawing jubilant cheers from gay advocacy groups and angry protests from Roman Catholic Church representatives.
The justices voted 9-2 against challenges presented by federal prosecutors and others who had argued the law fails to protect adoptive children against possible ill effects or discrimination, or to guarantee their right to a traditional family.
“Today, institutionalized homophobia has been buried,” said Jaime Lopez Vela, a leader of the group Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transsexual and Transgender Agenda. “We are happy, because now we have the same rights and responsibilities of any other married couple.”
The adoption decision followed earlier Supreme Court rulings that same-sex marriages performed in Mexico City are constitutional and that other Mexican states must respect them.
Mexico’s Supreme Court upholds gay adoptionsCosta Rica court blocks civil union referendum
Costa Rica’s top court has blocked the electoral tribunal from holding a referendum that would have let voters decide if same-sex civil unions should be allowed in the Central American country.
The Constitutional Court’s 5-2 decision says such a referendum would put a minority at a disadvantage in a largely Roman Catholic country. It also says gay civil unions is a legislative issue and not an electoral one.
The court says it considers gays a group that is at a disadvantage and the target for discrimination, requiring government authorities to protect their rights.
Costa Rica court blocks civil union referendumArgentine couples wed under new gay marriage law
After a 27-year courtship, two men on July 30 became the first gay couple to wed under Argentina’s historic same-sex marriage law – the first of its kind for a Latin American nation.
Jose Luis Navarro, 54, and Miguel Angel Calefato, 65, tied the knot in provincial Santiago del Estero in an early morning ceremony where a civil registry official used a pen to cross out “man and woman” on the marriage license and wrote in “contracting parties.”
“Respect has prevailed over prejudice,” Navarro, an architect, told the newspaper El Liberal.
He said he met his new husband, now a retired office worker, while vacationing at a beach resort nearly three decades ago, and “there was chemistry from the first moment.”
Argentine couples wed under new gay marriage law
Israelis sit in a park during the annual gay pride parade in Jerusalem, Thursday, July 29, 2010. Thousands of Israelis have marched in Jerusalem’s longest gay pride parade despite opposition from anti-gay demonstrators. – Photo: AP/Sebastian Scheiner
Jerusalem hosts subdued
gay Pride march
Thousands of Israelis marched calmly July 29 in Jerusalem’s longest gay Pride parade, despite opposition from anti-gay demonstrators.
The subdued march from Jerusalem city center to the parliament building contrasted with flamboyant gay Pride parades elsewhere in the world. Organizers said they were adjusting to the city’s religious character and using it to promote their political agenda.
Jerusalem hosts subdued gay Pride march
Argentina legalizes gay marriage
in historic vote
Argentina became the first Latin American nation to legalize gay marriage earlier this month, granting same-sex couples all the legal rights, responsibilities and protections that marriage brings to heterosexuals.
The law’s passage – a priority for President Cristina Fernandez’s government – has inspired activists to push for similar laws in other countries and a wave of gay weddings are expected in Buenos Aires. Some gay business leaders are predicting an economic ripple effect from an increase in tourism among gays and lesbians who will see Argentina as an even more attractive destination.
Argentina legalizes gay marriage in historic voteOpinion
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