Russia took over the chairmanship of the UN Security Council (UNSC) June 1, and Ugandan Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa took over the Presidency of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) June 11. One of these nations is currently at the top of world headlines for aggression in Ukraine, and both have recently made headlines for passing strict anti-gay legislation–in contravention of and threatening the guarantees of the UN Charter of Rights and Freedoms, according to top UN representatives. When Russia passed anti-gay laws before the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the UN took several measures to condemn the laws. “The United Nations
Gay Rights
UN Security Council and UN General Assembly Now Led by Two Countries Condemned Strongly by UN for Passing Strict Anti-Gay Laws, Threatening Human Rights, With Elections of Kutesa and Churkin
Uganda to Lead United Nations General Assembly
Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa is set to become President of the UN’s General Assembly on June 11. The election of Kutesa has caused some criticism because the Ugandan government–for which Kutesa forms foreign policy–has been under the 28-year rule of President Yoweri Museveni, and has been accused and found guilty by international courts of international and humanitarian crimes. Kutesa himself has been accused by the UN, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International of crimes. Kutesa was indicted for corruption several times, and was censured by the Ugandan Parliament in 1999 for corruption–in the form of diverting millions of
Georgia Passes Gay Rights Law for EU Benefits
In a vote of 115 to 1, the parliament of Georgia outlawed discrimination against homosexuals. The most debated point had been the inclusion of the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” Orthodox Christian groups had opposed what “believers view” as “non-traditional sexual relations” and “a mortal sin,” according to the head of the Georgian church, Patriarch Ilia II. “In its current form, this legislation provides propaganda and legality to this sin,” the Patriarch warned. The consideration weighing on the parliament leading to this decision was meeting the conditions for an Association Agreement with the EU, which includes relaxed visa procedures
Arizona Senate Bill 1062 “Discrimination Bill” – What Is It?
Arizona Senator Steve Yarbrough sponsored the bill that has now passed the Arizona state Senate as SB1062 in response to several trials in which people who had denied particular services requested for gay weddings had been sued under Arizona’s human rights laws, essentially forcing people in any business (other than private clubs and churches) to serve gay weddings even if their religious beliefs are contrary. One such case was Elane Photography v. Willock (2013) (case and trial summary), in which a Christian photographer was sued for discrimination because she declined to photograph a gay wedding due to her religious convictions. The
Elane Photography Petitions Supreme Court to Hear Constitutional Case
After Elane Photography, LLC, was ruled against unanimously by the New Mexico Supreme Court in August, 2013, Elane petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the issue of whether a religious person who works as a photographer must be forced to photograph a gay marriage, in accordance with the New Mexico Human Rights Act (NMHRA), if that person is asked by a homosexual to so do (case and trial summary). The question asked of the Supreme Court in the petition, written by the Alliance Defending Freedom (headed by Jordan Lorence) is this: “Whether applying a state public-accommodations statute to
New Mexico Forces Christian Photographers to Serve Gay Weddings – Elane Photography v. Willock (2013)
In the 2013 trial, Elane Photography, LLC, v. Vanessa Willock, Willock sued Elane Photography for refusing to photograph Willock’s “commitment ceremony” i.e. wedding. The New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously found that Elane–despite religious convictions against gay marriage and despite her willingness to serve gays in services Elane already provided–violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act (NMHRA) that provides for protected groups to be specially shielded from discrimination. The court found that Elane had discriminated based on sexual orientation and was not protected by Constitutional guarantees of free speech or the free exercise of religion. Elane was forced to pay damages
Gay Marriage Guaranteed by Equal Rights Protections in Constitution – Baehr v. Lewin (1993) and Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003)
Two cases mark the recent change in the legal status of homosexual marriage: Baehr v. Lewin (1993) and Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003). In Baehr, the finding of a constitutional right based on the guarantees of equal protection was not enough to change laws prohibiting gay marriage, but in Goodridge, where the same equal-rights guarantee was found, the state interest claims did not convince the majority of justices that homosexual marriage should remain prohibited. The constitutionally protected right of homosexuals to engage in sex was secured in a case which concluded months before Goodridge–Lawrence v. Texas (2003). The
Gay Marriage Validity Found by Supreme Court in 2013 – U.S. v. Windsor
unconsitutional for Fifth Amendment Due Process reasons–United States v. Windsor. The case involved the legacy left to New York woman by her spouse, to whom she was married in 2007 in Toronto. Because New York did not recognize the marriage, Windsor did not qualify for the state’s unlimited spousal deduction and was required to pay $363,000 in federal estate taxes on her wife’s estate. The trial, in its district court stage, was benefited by a 2011 release by Attorney General Eric Holder on behalf of the Obama administration explaining that the government would only continue to enforce DOMA Section 3
