21 July 2010
The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) voted on July, 19th in favor of a resolution that grants a consultative status to the non-governmental organization IGLHRC (International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission). This resolution was approved by a vote of 23 in favor, 13 against, 13 abstentions and 5 absences. “A victory against the homophobic silence of civil society”, according to this NGO. (more...)
7 July 2010
Ebrahim Hamidi is the name of a young man sentenced to death in Tabriz, in northwestern Iran. He is accused, without any evidence or witnesses against him, of homosexuality and sodomy.
The Iranian Queer Organization (IRQO), an Iranian association for LGBT rights based in Toronto, Canada, announced the news on July 4th, in a press release, after having obtained the testimony of Mohammad Mostafai, the defendant’s lawyer, a specialist in human rights issues and in cases of minors sentenced to death. (more...)
2 July 2010
While the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has recently ruled that Austria had no obligation to allow homosexuals to get married, the parliament of the Austrian capital, Vienna, has asked the federal government to go further than the Court and to open civil marriage to gay and lesbian couples.
To set an example (which remains symbolic, since federal laws prevail), the Viennese parliament has decided to grant equal rights to married couples and to couples in a registered partnership (the Austrian form of civil union), and to consider registered partners as members of the same family.
