The faith leaders also sought for countries to seek justice on behalf of the victims.
The declaration was presented at the launch of the Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives during a virtual conference hosted in the U.K. December 16.
Jayne Ozanne, director of the commission, called the declaration a landmark. We ve never had such a powerful, clear, and supportive statement from so many leaders, she told CNN.
Nearly 400 religious leaders representing 10 religions from 35 countries signed on to the initial declaration that recognized religious institutions history and role harming LGBTQ people.
Some of the prominent initial signatories included Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and his lesbian daughter the Reverend Canon Mpho Tutu van Furth of South Africa; former Irish president Mary McAleese; the Reverend John C. Dorhauer, the general minister and president of the United Church of Christ; the Reverend Michael-Ray Mathews, president of the Allian
Switzerland Passes Marriage Equality, Eases ID Rules for Trans Adults December 18 2020 3:36 PM EST
Lawmakers in Switzerland approved two historic bills Friday, one establishing marriage equality and the other making it easier for transgender and intersex residents to change the name and gender marker on official documents.
Both houses of the Federal Assembly, Switzerland’s parliament, passed the marriage equality bill by large margins 136-48 in the National Council, the lower house, and 24-11 in the Council of States, the upper house, the
Washington Blade reports. Such legislation has been under debate since 2013.
But the Federal Democratic Union, a far-right, Christian-identified political party, announced plans to call a national referendum on same-sex marriage, according to Swiss publication
Marriage equality has finally come to Switzerland, making it the 29th country to extend the freedom to marry to same-sex couples.
Earlier this week, the Swiss National Council approved a same-sex marriage bill, one that also permits lesbian couples to use sperm banks for the first time in the European country’s history. Previously, same-sex couples in Switzerland were limited to domestic partnerships, which only extended a handful of rights.
A marriage equality bill was initially proposed by the Green Party in 2013, and the effort languished for such a long time in Switzerland’s Federal Assembly that nearly a dozen European nations legalized the freedom to marry in the intervening years, including neighboring Germany in 2017 and Austria in 2019. The legislation got a boost on December 1 when the upper house in the Swiss legislature, known as the Council of States, passed the legislation on a 22-15 vote.
A new law that prohibits adoption by non-married couples and a female minister telling women that they shouldn’t expect to earn as much as men. It’s been another dark week for human rights in Hungary.
It would appear that attacks on women’s rights in Hungary are not the sole remit of its male politicians. The country’s family minister, Katalin Novak, a woman, doesn’t appear to think much of women’s empowerment either.
Lydia Gall, a senior researcher for Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans at Human Rights Watch, wrote earlier this week that “I nearly choked on my coffee” when she watched a misogynist propaganda video featuring Hungary’s minister responsible for families, Katalin Novak, lecturing Hungarian women on how to be successful.