SAN FRANCISCO – A bill that would modernize California’s laws that criminalize and stigmatize people living with HIV today cleared its first major legislative hurdle. The Senate Public Safety Committee approved Senate Bill (SB) 239 by a vote of 5-2. The bill is authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Asm. Todd Gloria (D-San…
SACRAMENTO – California Gov. Jerry Brown Friday signed into law six gun safety bills that ban possession of high capacity assault rifle magazines, regulate the sale and possession of ammunition, expand background checks, limit loans of firearms and ban the resale of a gun to someone legally barred from purchasing it. The new laws were…
Earlier this week, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed HB 3930, an enhanced hate crime protections law that explicitly includes crimes against transgender people. The existing hate crimes law, signed in 1990 by Gov. James Thompson, included sexual orientation as a protected category, which had been interpreted to include gender identity. The new law, authored by…
The Obama administration has taken action against the Gambian government following recent human rights abuses in the country, which include the vicious targeting of LGBT people and a new law that could send some LGBT Gambians to prison for life. In a statement released by the White House, the United States has suspended The Gambia’s…
GENEVA — UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Thursday criticized a recent amendment to the Criminal Code of The Gambia that creates a broad and vague offence of “aggravated homosexuality” punishable by life imprisonment. He also expressed alarm at reports of a wave of arbitrary arrests and detention of individuals…
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown, Saturday signed into law a bill [AB 2501 ], prohibiting the so-called “gay panic” defense that has been used to reduce homicide charges to manslaughter, reports Jurist.org. The defense has been used by defendants who claimed that they were “panicked” into committing a crime due to a homosexual individual making…
INDIA — The Indian federal government has asked the Supreme Court to modify its landmark ruling that accepted transgender people as a socially and economically backward caste, reports GayAsiaNews.com. The government also told the Supreme Court that gays, lesbians and bisexuals cannot all be clubbed as transgenders and that such a supposition had created confusion….
According to multiple news reports, The Gambia’s National Assembly has passed legislation that includes nearly identical language to Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed into law in February. The Gambian legislation includes life sentences for those who are convicted of “aggravated homosexuality” or are considered “repeat offenders,” among other charges. The legislation…
INDIA — After India’s top court overturned a successful appeal decriminalizing sex between consenting adults of the same gender late last year, members of the LGBT community were demoralized. The decision, widely regarded as surprising given India’s role as the world’s largest democracy, left many in the community scratching their heads and asking: What’s next?…
INDIA — The Indian gay community is seeking to tell its story of marginalization, repression, stigma and discrimination to help inform the public and help lawmakers decide on repealing a law that criminalizes same-sex relations for being “unnatural.” Members of the community have formed “The Gaysi Family” platform in an attempt to gather stories of…
