Foreign / Overseas LGBT News - Gay News Outside Singapore (Compiled)

[Guest Guest]

Teen charged with sexual assault on team bus trip

 

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/teen-charged-sexual-assault-team-bus-trip-163315466.html

 

WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) — A 14-year-old high school freshman in Washington state has been charged with second-degree rape after prosecutors say he sexually assaulted three students on a football team bus trip.

But the parents and attorney of the boy said it was horseplay among boys.

The boy penetrated three other boys with his finger against their will Sept. 6 on a bus bringing the Wenatchee High School freshman football team back from a game in Spokane, authorities said.

The boy has been in custody since then and is being held on a $50,000 bail.

But the boy's parents and their attorney, Brandon Redal, said the incident stemmed from "horseplay" and that the evidence doesn't support rape charges, The Wenatchee World reported (http://bit.ly/1mepEPQ ).

One of the victims initially told police officers that students were playing around and "he didn't feel anything bad happened," according to a police report filed with the court.

However, that student and two others later disclosed the assault to a detective, saying other players witnessed it.

Juvenile prosecutor Allen Blackmon said the boy could face a year or more in state detention on each count because he had a previous run-in with the law after he punched a classmate.

[iamziz]

Shrien Dewani 'surfed gay websites day after wife's body found'

 

An ongoing trial in Cape Town now. Prosecutors are expected to argue it was because he was a closet homosexual who wanted out of his marriage.

 

"Shrien Dewani, the British businessman accused of having his wife Anni murdered in a fake carjacking during their honeymoon in Cape Town, surfed gay and fetish websites the day after his wife's body was found, court documents suggest.

 

Mr Dewani, 34, also looked at the homosexual dating website Gaydar as he and his new wife waited for a connecting flight to Cape Town from Johannesburg after spending the first part of their honeymoon at a luxury safari lodge.

 

The revelations came in a dossier of admissions made by Mr Dewani as part of his trial for the murder and kidnapping of Mrs Dewani, 28. The state alleges he co-opted his taxi driver to hire two criminals to carjack them and kill his new wife for R15,000 (£1,300).

 

Prosecutors are expected to argue it was because he was a closet homosexual who wanted out of his marriage.

 

On Wednesday, Mr Dewani came face-to-face with one of the two men who attacked the newly-weds for the first time since the fatal shooting the night of November 13, 2010.

 

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/11150057/Shrien-Dewani-surfed-gay-websites-day-after-wifes-body-found.html

[burps]

Homophobia in microcosm: How a savage gang attack tore one man's whole life apart

Stewart O’Callaghan, left with a punctured lung after six teens assaulted him, describes the emotional fall-out – how it destroyed his relationship, his career, and his hard-fought confidence as a gay man.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/homophobia-in-microcosm-how-a-savage-gang-attack-tore-one-mans-whole-life-apart-9780443.html

[fab]

Ho my dog, donno should cry or laugh!!!

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/11/12/Fouryearold-caught-performing-oral-sex-on-threeyearold/

MALACCA: A housewife from Bukit Rambai here is upset after she caught a four-year-old boy performing oral sex on her three-year-old son.

The 32-year-old mother said she now has to watch over her son each time he goes to bed or enters the bathroom as the boy had started pleasuring himself following the incident.

“I have to hit his hand and reprimand him whenever he tried to pleasure himself and it’s very depressing to see him exposed to such an act at a tender age.

“The only thing we could do now is send him for more religious classes and guide him on what is right and wrong,” she said when contacted yesterday.

The housewife caught red-handed her neighbour’s son performing oral sex on her son outside her home at 5.30pm on Nov 7.

She said the little boy had pulled down her son’s pants before performing the sexual act.

“I had to keep vigil over my son after a few neighbours told me that the boy had done the same thing with their sons too.

“At first, I was sceptical about the neighbours’ claims but then I witnessed it with my own eyes,” she said.

The housewife said her son has been complaining of pain in his private part since last month but first she didn’t suspect anything amiss.

“Only when I saw the whole disgusting act did I realise that this has been going on for some time and the neighbours were right.

“I don’t totally blame my neighbour’s son, he is still young and is probably emulating the same act after watching smutty materials,” she said.

However, the housewife was vexed when she decided to relate what she witnessed to the boy’s parents.

“Both parents were defensive of their child and accused me of fabricating the whole story.

“I told them their son needs help and should be rehabilitated but they challenged me to lodge a police report instead,’’ the woman said, adding that she then lodged a police report at Tanjung Minyak police station the next day.

She said a doctor from a private clinic also confirmed that her son has some injury in his private part when she brought him for a medical check-up.

“My son is still finding it difficult to pass urine and still needs medical attention,” she said.

A police source told The Star that investigations are still ongoing and police officers have spoken to the parents of both the boys as the case involves children.

Edited November 12, 2014 by fab

[cutejack]

So bad raiden.u cannot say like this.must be some idiot taught or show him.cant blame that small boy.they r innocent...i believe u r gay but not selling backside rite? So am i.

[xLeviathan]

You can already begin to imagine how promiscuous he is going to become in the future.

I disagree where she said “The only thing we could do now is send him for more religious classes and guide him on what is right and wrong,”

After all,religion does not define the good and bad.It has,however,created both good and bad.I wonder if she said it because she believes underage sex is wrong,homosexuality is wrong or both.

[Guest Guest]

The world is full of fabricated stories and news these days, next, someone will claim they saw an alien having sex with another alien and they are both male !

[iamziz]

The world is full of fabricated stories and news these days, next, someone will claim they saw an alien having sex with another alien and they are both male !

 

And the male alien got fuck is pregnant of a triplet, not a baby or twin

[Guest wozzit]

A lot in that report seems more than odd! Freud did suggest that it's not uncommon for very young kids to be in some way sexually aware. A very young boy may begin to realise that stroking the penis can induce pleasure. It's also not uncommon for very young kids to expose themselves to friends and occasionally touch each other. But I can't find any reference anywhere to very young boys getting any pleasure at all from sucking another boy. Yet this 4 yr old allegedly did this with several boys. I find that even more extraordinary.

Then there is the issue of the pain experienced by the 3 yr old. I guess the older boy could hv hd a sore in his mouth, but the newspaper seems to imply it could be some form of STD. But for the mother not to notice it for a whole month and wait all that time before taking him to a doctor also seems strange!

[Guest Guest]

The world is full of fucking uneducated and highly educated gay and straight weirdos !

[leo yok loo]

One thing i wanted to say is: religion and sex behaviour/orientation is two different thing. I found that it is so stupid for parents to turn to religious help when they found out that their child is gay. To be gay is not a crime.

[Guest wozzit]

I really don't think what those kids were up to (if the story is true - n I hv serious doubts) amounts to anything at all related to being gay. If anything actually happened, they were just playing around. As for turning to religion, that's a total cop out. It's the duty of parents to bring up their kids n to show them right from wrong. The whole thing seems to be a typical tabloid piece of fiction based perhaps on 10% fact!

[Guest some guy]

Guys, you must remember that children are not adults. You can't place yourself in his shoes anymore that you could place yourself in a starfishes shoes. A child's mind is not yet fully formed especially at 4. He's not going to be a "slut" or something.

 

Unfortunately there's a high possibility that the boy sucker (the one who was doing the sucking) was molested in the past.

 

While it's true that some children know that they are gay from a young age, that often doesn't involve "sex" but more of a knowledge that they like other boys more than girls. Children below 6 or 7 (I'm not going to say puberty because that's not correct) are not yet sexual beings.

 

However they do learn and mimic from adults. If an adult molested the boy, then he could be just mimicking the motions that he has learned.

[iamziz]

One suspect nabbed over sexual assault in gym

 

According to a relative, he saw the victim run out of the changing room red-eyed and in a state of shock at a gym in Menara Summit, Subang Jaya.

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8, 2015:

 

One of two suspects who sexually assaulted a teenager in a gym were nabbed by police yesterday.

The victim’s relative, who declined to be named, told The Rakyat Post today that the second suspect had yet to be caught.

 

 

The arrests follow a police report lodged by the victim over the incident on Jan 6.

Recalling the assault, the victim’s relative said that he was with the victim at Fitness First in Menara Summit, USJ, Subang Jaya, near here, on Jan 6 for their usual workouts.

Once he finished, he saw the victim run out of the changing room red-eyed and in a state of shock.

“He told me two guys assaulted him in the sauna, with one performing oral sex on him.

“As soon as he told me about it, I got angry.

 

“I went looking for the men and caught one of them.

“I didn’t let him go as I asked him about the incident, but he said he wasn’t even in the sauna.

“I then let him go and he walked off,” he told The Rakyat Post in a phone interview.

When he asked the victim whether he was absolutely sure that the man was one of the two aggressors, the victim confirmed so.

He then gathered three other gym buddies and went searching for this man again.

When they found the suspect at the Watson’s store in the mall and questioned him again, the suspect changed his story and admitted to have being in the sauna.

 

However, he claimed that it was empty, the relative said.

“He then left and I went back to the gym to wait for another relative to pick us up.

“When she arrived, she related the incident to the gym’s management and scolded them.”

While the management was shocked, the personnel there said they would do what they could, he said.

Fitness First released a statement earlier today on the incident, saying it was taking the matter seriously and was working closely with authorities in the investigation.

It also assured the parties and families involved that it would act in accordance with the law and club rules once investigations were completed and an official conclusion had been reached.

“Fitness First Malaysia urges the public to obtain substantiated information on the matter from authorised sources.”

 

 

Source: http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2015/01/08/one-suspect-nabbed-sexual-assault-gym/#ixzz3OIp4wbGK

[Kenneth91]

I was quite surprised to hear that Singapore just reaffirmed its ban on homosexual behaviors while Vietnam is taking the lead in gay right in Southeast Asia by abolishing a ban on same-sex marriage.  People are saying: "If Vietnam legalizes gay-marriage, that's a goodbye to Singapore's conservative Asian values's defense". Many gay couples are now planning wedding ceremony with their partners.These few days I keep seeing my gay friend sharing on Facebook pictures of a Vietnamese gay couple who are getting married today. I'm actually pretty jealous, can't wait for my day to come

 

Edited January 25, 2015 by Kenneth91

[Kenneth91]

 

[Kenneth91]

 

 

Edited January 24, 2015 by Kenneth91

[areef]

beautiful :smokin:

[friendlychatguy]

Such loving shots from the couple, very happy for them, they look so happy!

 

You are lucky if you can find someone you love. You are double lucky to find someone you love that loves you too. You are triple lucky to find someone you love that loves you too and hold on together till death do you part...

[mate69]

Such a gorgeous place and a loving couple!

[Guest BOBO]

Such loving shots from the couple, very happy for them, they look so happy!

 

You are lucky if you can find someone you love. You are double lucky to find someone you love that loves you too. You are triple lucky to find someone you love that loves you too and hold on together till death do you part...

 

Why leave to luck? Put in effort to seek your happiness. 

 

Those of you who have found happiness, dun let it go.

[Enelym1978]

Don't confuse lifting the ban for organising same sex marriages and recognising them....

 

What was forbidden before in Vietnam was to hold any kind of same sex union celebration or two person of the same sex living together.... they lifted the ban for the organisation of these marriages but it doesn't mean the government recognises any kind of same sex union.

 

It is however a good step towards more LGBT rights but, from what I know of Vietnam (I was born there and go back there regularly), I doubt VN will be the first country in Asia to recognise same sex unions....

 

Even Taiwan rejected it recently I think?

[Guest Vn]

A degree of social progress in a country we are about to visit.

 

 

Vietnam allows same-sex wedding

 

2015 came in with a delightful resolution for Vietnam as the 2014 law on Marriage and Family officially took effect on 1 January. This law has lifted the regulations that reserved marriage for heterosexual couples.

 

Vietnam allows all kinds of couples to freely celebrate their unions and love (...)

 

centrelgbtparis.org

 

 

[Guest Vn news]

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/01/08/vietnam-abolishes-ban-on-same-sex-marriage/

 

 

The Vietnamese government repealed a ban on same-sex marriage on New Year’s Day, 2015

 

While the government does not officially recognise or provide legal protections for same-sex marriages, weddings can now take place without the threat of fines.

It is seen by many as a move designed to promote Vietnam’s image as a tolerant and accepting country, and boost tourism especially from LGBT travelers. It is the first country in South East Asia to make such a move.

 

Singapore’s courts upheld its anti-gay laws in October, parts of Indonesia punish homosexuality with 100 lashes, and Brunei passed a law calling for gays to be stoned to death.

Jamie Gillen, a researcher at the National University of Singapore told the Bangkok Post: “This makes Vietnam a leader in Asia. Singapore just reaffirmed its ban on homosexual behaviours. Vietnam is trying to pitch itself as a tolerant and safe country.”

 

Luong The Huy, a legal advisor for Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment, a minority rights organisation in Hanoi said: “They say the society in Vietnam needs some time to accept gay and lesbians in general. The revision in the law signals to the country that “same-sex marriage is not harmful to society.”

 

He also spoke about the positive influence of the new US Ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius, who arrived in December with his husband and is the first gay US ambassador to an Asian county. Mr Huy said: “He promotes a very good image of a very successful person who is gay. We could get more support from civil society in Vietnam because the American ambassador is gay.”

[Guest Nepal]

Nepal become the first south Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage, following landmark recommendations from a national committee.

 

 

The government-appointed same-sex marriage committee, headed by the former secretary of the ministry of health and population, Laxmi Raj Pathak, published its report on 9 February after more than four years of research and deliberation.

 

The report recommends that Nepal follows “positive international trends” and laws towards homosexuality, ensuring there is an equal marriage legal provision for same sex couples with equal family protection to the couple and children.

 

It also recommends making changes to existing Criminal and Civil Code Bills to remove remaining discriminatory provisions.

 

The report has been lauded by LGBT activists both inside Nepal and internationally.

 

In 2007 the Supreme Court ordered the government to end discrimination against same-sex relationships and to put in place measures to guarantee gay people had the same rights as straight citizens.

 

Although gay sex is still a crime there is an expectation that same-sex marriage laws would also legalise gay sex and extend many other rights to homosexual citizens, said human rights lawyer and committee member Hari Phuyal when speaking to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

 

For same-sex marriage to become enshrined in Nepalese law, the government has two choices.

 

It could either amend the existing civil code to include protection for gay couples, or the Ministry of Justice could be asked to draft a gay marriage bill, which would then need to be sent through parliament.

Officials from the ruling centre-left coalition and other political parties have not yet commented on whether they will be back the report’s recommendations

 

[Guest Thailand Too]

Thailand could be the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize gay marriage

 

A draft law is being prepared for parliament that seeks to offer lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning  couples (LGBTIQ)the same rights as heterosexual couples.

 

Section 1448 of Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code deems same-sex marriage unlawful, something Nathee Theeraronjanapong, 55, and Atthapon Janthawee, 38, discovered last year in Chiang Mai when they decided to make their twenty year relationship legal and were handed a letter of denial by the head of registrations. The couple then filed a complaint with the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission, the Administrative Court and the National Human Rights Commission insisting that Thailand’s constitution guarantees them equal protection under the law.

Presenting the draft law on same-sex unions to Thailand’s parliament is Wiratana Kalayasiri, Democrat parliamentarian from the southern Thai city of Songkhla, who is also the chairman of the Legal Justice Human Rights committee.

 

He explained that the opposition to the law in its early stages has been strongly opposed because most legislators in Thailand are aged over forty seven. He went on to say that people wondered why he was presenting the draft law and he got a very negative response, but as time as gone on, people have started to understand the human rights of Thai people.

 

There will be five hearings on the bill at several universities in the country as well as in parliament. It was discovered in a survey of 300 people only 10.3% were against gay marriage and 78% were in favor. What Kalayasin found particularly surprising that in Songkhla, a city of 75,000 people, 87% of Muslims attending a public meeting were in favor of gay marriage, however nearly 60% o respondents to a government survey last year were not in favor of gay marriage.

 

Still, leading activists in Thailand’s LGBTIQ movement such as Anjana Suvarnananda, who co-founded Anjaree Group in 1987, the first organization to raise the issue of LGBTIQ rights here, believes that the bill could facilitate the process of moving public attitudes from opposition to acceptance.

 

Anjana believes that the LGBTIQ struggle with acceptance from parents who often put a great deal of pressure on them to conform to a more traditional idea of family life rather than opening their minds to the more modern idea that a family structure is based on the union of two loving  and consenting adults.

 

Under the existing Civil and Commercial Code, same-sex families are not afforded the same legal protections as heterosexual couples such as medical coverage or recognition as being the sole caretaker of their spouse. This means that in the case of an accident or a severe trauma partners are considered nothing more than just a friend, which for the LGBTIQ offers little in the way of security.

 

In 1956, provisions making sodomy a punishable offense were repealed and consensual sex between same-sex couples became lawful, making Thailand one of Asia’s most progressive countries regarding gay rights. Sodomy is criminalized in six member countries of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, namely, Brunei, Burma, Malaysia and Singapore  as well as Marawi City in the Philippines and the South Sumatra province of Indonesia.

 

Although Thailand’s gender non-conformity receives a high level of social acceptance there has been very little progress in terms of recognizing the rights of transgender people, of which there are currently approximately 180,000 across the country, including pop singers, movie stars and celebrities. Thai law does not allow transgender people to change their gender or their names on their ID cards or passports and this often causes confusion at border crossings and immigration checkpoints

[Guest Lim Guan Eng]

When will gay marriage legalize in Singapore?

[fab]

Generally, buddhist countries r more tolerant of lgbt.

[Guest wozzit]

Thailand could be the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize gay marriage

 

When u make quotes like this, it will help readers to know the source. Because this information is dead wrong!

 

Seems this article was published in The Samui Times today. Yet Thai journalists r notorious for not checking facts, esp those working for tiny provincial papers. It states Khun Nathee tried to get married in Chiang Mai last year. Oh really? How come theres an article in the Thailand Lawyer Blog with roughly the same headline n much of the first part of The Samui Times article. It also talks about Khun Nathee trying to get married "last year". But that blog was published on 12 June 2013. So was "last year" 2012 or was it 2014??

 

The debate began in Thailand  last year when Nathee Theerarojanapong and his boyfriend of more than 20 years tried to marry, but were not given permission.

 

http://www.thailawforum.com/blog/contraversial-thailand-same-sex-marriage-law-causes-debate

 

It is true there is a sort of Civil Partnership bill before parliament. But as has been widely reported, this is not acceptable to LGBT activists!

 

So forget any idea of gay marriage in Thailand! 

[Guest Guest]

When will gay marriage legalize in Singapore?

 

Never, because we are conservative and our society is wholesome.

[Guest sg females and alpha males]

When will gay marriage legalize in Singapore?

Until the day when the "self-righteous and self-centred sg females" and " 'blinded' and pro-females straight alpha sg males" become enlightened on what is real love, before gay marriage can be legalized in Singapore.

[Guest Guest]

No lah people here can never grasp the concept of myob... kiasu kiasi mentality again!

[Guest Guest]

Those so-called self-righteous men and women cannot even move to the back of crowded buses after being yelled at, more likely they are just busy bodies trying to control the sex lives of people. those are type a control freaks! They are not being self-righteous, they are being anal, OCD. They need to be medicated. The christian ones are suffering from saviour complex. If they back stab each other in church too they also have split personality. LOL

[timtale]

When will gay marriage legalize in Singapore?

 

I doubt that it will happen anytime soon. Even now the govt already have problem with the child birth, even more when gay marriage is legalized. At least now, The discreet & bi will still married and produced babies.

[Enelym1978]

Again, there's a difference between "allows" and "recognizes"... It's a bit misleading.

By "allowing" it, that country is depenalising any same sex unions (even though it's not legally recognised as such). The newly wed couple will still be considered as two single persons.

But if we want to look on the brighter side of things, then yes it's good to see that, at least, it's not against the law anymore to celebrate a same sex marriage in a private setting. I think that's what it was all about in vietnam when a lesbian couple celebrated their union and got fined for it?

Don't forget that in vietnam, it's still officially forbidden for two unmarried persons to spend the night together.... for straight people that is. Trust me I've "experienced" it when the hotel I stayed in reminded me of the "rule" (Sheraton HCMC). Not always applied though as I walked into other hotels without being asked anything (meaning with someone I met that evening for example). I was not a old at the Sofitel, Moevenpick, Intercontinental or Pullman for example.... Go figure...

[iamziz]

Gay Guy Arrested for Raping Straight Guy at a Vegas Pool Party

 

During the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao boxing match weekend, there seems to have been a whole other kind of match going on in the bathroom at the MGM Grand hotel. 22-year old Gustavo Banegas plead guilty for sexually assaulting a drunken straight male who was passed out, according to The Smoking Gun.

 

The victim, a Utah man vacationing with his wife, was attending the “Wet Republic” pool party, a popular MGM-hosted shindig. According to police reports, Banegas was celebrating his birthday with family and friends.

 

The assault happened in the bathroom adjacent to the entrance into the pool party. The venue has many pools, bars, bungalows and cabanas, making transgressions like this easily unnoticed. When a hotel security guard walked into the bathroom, he found Banegas attempting to have anal sex with an unresponsive “white male adult.”

 

After being questioned, Benegas said that he found the passed-out victim sitting on the toilet with his shorts pulled down to his ankles. After lifting the man off the toilet and onto the floor, he said he “saw the unconscious male’s penis and was immediately turned on so he began to masturbate while standing next to the sink.”

 

Banegas then admitted that he was “so turned on sexually he stepped toward the unconscious male and knelt down next to him” and performed oral sex for approximately ten seconds. While he knew the actions were wrong, he told police officers that he was turned on and attracted to the victim and “couldn’t help himself.”

 

The detective asked him later what would have happened had the security officer not entered the bathroom (which Benegas thought was locked), to which he responded, “I would have sucked on the victim’s penis for a couple minutes more.”

 

According to statements from the victim, he was sitting on the toilet when Benegas entered the bathroom and started making advances. As soon as he started stroking his penis, the victim says, he pushed his hand away then later passed out and was unable to recall the other incidents.

 

Benegas, a Florida resident, pled guilty to attempted sexual assault and coercion charges. He remains free on $100,000 bond.

 

Source: http://www.gayguys.com/2015/05/gay-guy-arrested-raping-straight-guy-vegas-pool-party/

[iamziz]

Found this. While this is an old story (2012), it shows that everyone needs help - including those who seem so positive all the time. Some people are just very good in masking their pain. 

 

Author of Self-Help Book for Gay Men Stuns Friends With Suicide

http://www.advocate.com/news/daily-news/2012/04/02/author-self-help-book-gay-men-commits-suicide

[Bern]

Voters in the Republic of Ireland will go to the polls on Friday to decide whether to enshrine marriage equality in the constitution.

 

 

 

Ireland will be the first country to use a national referendum to extend marriage rights to gay couples.

 

The signs are that voters will take the opportunity to move towards a more open and pluralistic society.

 

Many question the wisdom of putting the rights of a minority up to a vote of a majority.

 

Furthermore, there is some dispute about whether a referendum is legally necessary; after all, other countries have simply changed the law.

 

But Ireland has quite an extensive written constitution and it can be amended only by process of national referendum.

 

The constitution does not define marriage as being between a man and a woman, but there is uncertainty over whether any legislation extending marriage rights could be open to legal challenge in the Supreme Court.

 

It is likely that a cautious government opted for direct engagement with the electorate by referendum rather than running the gauntlet of producing legislation on marriage equality, which could have been struck down by the courts and then would have needed to be put to a referendum in any case.

 

In 2010, the government enacted civil partnership legislation, which provided legal recognition of the partnerships of gay couples.

 

But there are some important differences between civil partnership and marriage, the critical one being that marriage is protected in the constitution while civil partnership is not. It could be removed through the same legislative process by which it was introduced.

 

'Our generation'

 

This referendum has been in the pipeline since the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government took office in 2011, when the Deputy Prime Minister, or Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore called it: "The civil rights issue of our generation."

 

A constitutional convention established by the government considered the specifics of the proposal on extending marriage rights.

 

The convention voted in favour of the proposal and the date for the referendum was agreed earlier this year.

 

The No vote uses traditional family models in its campaigning

 

All political parties in parliament have endorsed the marriage equality proposal, with just five of the 226 members of parliament publicly announcing they will vote against.

 

Opinion polls are also predicting a vote in favour - a year ago, they pointed to a Yes vote of close to 80%.

 

Since then, the margin has tightened but three weekend opinion polls indicated that the proposal should still pass with a reasonable margin of support - probably in the region of 60%.

 

The referendum campaign has been slightly more respectful than some of the deeply divisive and nasty social policy referendums on divorce and abortion in the 1980s and 1990s, but many of the same campaigners are still on the field, particularly on the No side.

 

A Yes vote campaign poster in Dublin

 

The Yes campaign is led by an active, crowdfunded and very effective referendum umbrella group, Yes Equality, and is joined by all of the political parties.

 

Church's declining influence

 

The No campaign has been spearheaded by a number of Catholic lay civil society groups, with the institutional Catholic Church playing a relatively low-key role in the background.

 

The Catholic Church, once a dominant player on the political scene, has seen its role and influence diminished greatly by decades of child abuse scandals. In a poll last weekend, we found that some 35% still rely on the Church as a source of influence in their vote. This figure may seem high by international standards, but it marks a significant diminution of the influence of the Catholic Church.

 

The No side relies heavily on traditional models of the family and in common with referendums that touched on family issues in the past, it speaks to the grave societal dangers of moving away from family values and a society built on the core, heterosexual married family unit with children.

 

In contrast, the Yes campaign has concentrated on equality as the central plank of its argument and has used personal testimony from high-profile gay citizens and children of gay parents to great effect in the many radio and TV debates.

 

Irish society has become more secular over the past few decades and indeed constitutional changes have often lagged overall attitudes on social and moral issues.

 

Contentious debates on divorce in the 1980s and 1990s faded very quickly when divorce was passed by referendum in 1995. Indeed, successive surveys have demonstrated that divorce is now a largely uncontroversial issue.

 

 

Gay marriage timeline: Years that same-sex marriage approved

• Netherlands (2001)
• Belgium (2003)
• Canada (2005)
• Spain (2005)
• South Africa (2006)
• Norway (2009)
• Sweden (2009)
• Argentina (2010)
• Iceland (2010)
• Portugal (2010)
• Denmark (2012)
• Brazil (2013)
• England & Wales (2013)
• France (2013)
• New Zealand (2013)
• Uruguay (2013)
• Luxembourg (2014)
• Scotland (2014 )

 

Countries where same-sex marriage legal in some jurisdictions

• United States (2003)
• Mexico (2009)

 

There has been movement in attitudes to abortion although it is still contentious. However, voters have twice rejected referendum proposals (1992 and 2002) aimed at making abortion provision stricter.

 

Eventually, a brave government will have to run the gauntlet of the vocal but increasingly minority conservative right and offer a referendum proposal on abortion, which would liberalise it, rather than restrict it.

Ireland has long been seen as a conservative Catholic country - after all homosexuality was decriminalised only in 1993 after a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.

 

However, the country has experienced rapid social and political change since the 1970s and all the indications are that it will take a further step away from its conservative past on Friday.

 

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Taken from: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32809355

Dr Jane Suiter is director of the Institute for Future Media and Journalism at Dublin City University and Dr Theresa Reidy is a lecturer in the department of government at University College Cork.

[Guest Poop]

singapore just need that one legislator voice out.

I wonder how as a developed nation we're so far behind in human right issue

[groyn88]

This news clip was broadcast over Channel News Asia on Friday, 22 May 2015.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/irish-vote-on-gay/1865614.html
Irish voters back gay marriage in 'social revolution'
The people of Ireland backed same-sex marriage by a landslide in a referendum that marked a dramatic social shift in a traditionally Catholic country that only decriminalised homosexuality two decades ago.
DUBLIN: The people of Ireland backed same-sex marriage by a landslide in a referendum that marked a dramatic social shift in a traditionally Catholic country that only decriminalised homosexuality two decades ago.
After one of the largest turnouts in a referendum there, 62 percent of voters said 'Yes', making Ireland the first country to adopt same-sex marriage via a popular vote.
'Yes' supporters crowded into the courtyard of Dublin Castle to watch in blistering sunshine as results trickled in from around the country were shown on a large screen. They cheered with joy as the final tally was announced and then burst into a rendition of the national anthem.
"We woke up today to a new Ireland. The real Irish Republic that I have dreamed of my whole life," said Jean Webster, a 54-year-old administrator who came out as a lesbian eight years ago after separating from her husband.
Government ministers waved a rainbow flag from the stage in front of the crowd and one lesbian senator proposed to her partner live on national television.
"The answer is yes to their future, yes to their love, yes to equal marriage. That 'Yes' is heard loudly across the world as a sound of pioneering leadership from our people," Prime Minister Enda Kenny told a news conference. "Ireland, thank you."
The Catholic Church, which teaches that homosexual activity is a sin, saw its dominance of Irish politics collapse after a series of child sex abuse scandals in the early 1990s and limited its 'No' campaigning to sermons to its remaining flock.
The archbishop of Dublin said the result presented a challenge.
"It is a social revolution. It's very clear that if this referendum is an affirmation of the views of young people, then the Church has a huge task ahead of it," Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told national broadcaster RTE.
"The Church needs to do a reality check."
TABOO
Ireland follows several Western European countries including Britain, France and Spain in allowing gay marriage, which is also legal in South Africa, Brazil, Canada and some U.S. states, while homosexuality remains taboo and often illegal in many parts of Africa and Asia.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden tweeted: "We welcome Ireland's support for equality. #LoveWins"
After Irish expatriates flocked home to vote, 60 percent of registered voters cast their ballot, the highest in two decades.
"This is a big placard from the people of Ireland to the rest of the world saying this is the way forward," said David Norris, who began a campaign for gay rights in the late 1970s.
The proposal was backed by all political parties, championed by big employers and endorsed by celebrities, all hoping it would mark a transformation in a country that was long regarded as one of the most socially conservative in Western Europe.
Only a third of the country backed the decriminalisation of gay sex for men over 17 in 1993, according to a poll at the time. When voters narrowly legalised divorce in 1995, only five of the 30 constituencies outside Dublin backed the proposal.
This time, all bar one of the 43 voting areas approved the marriage measure.
"It changes everything, the worries and fears I had as a young gay kid in Ireland, they're all gone," said Ger O'Keefe, 27, a 'Yes' campaigner from Waterford.
"This will tell kids now that you don't need to be afraid."
(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

 

 

 

[groyn88]

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/lifestyle/irish-voters-back-gay-mar/1867104.html
Irish voters back gay marriage in 'social revolution'
The people of Ireland backed same-sex marriage by a landslide in a referendum that marked a dramatic social shift in a traditionally Catholic country that only decriminalized homosexuality two decades ago.
Same-sex marriage supporters kiss at Dublin Castle in Dublin, Ireland May 23, 2015. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton
DUBLIN: The people of Ireland backed same-sex marriage by a landslide in a referendum that marked a dramatic social shift in a traditionally Catholic country that only decriminalized homosexuality two decades ago.
After one of the largest turnouts in a referendum there, 62 percent of voters said 'Yes', making Ireland the first country to adopt same-sex marriage via a popular vote.
'Yes' supporters crowded into the courtyard of Dublin Castle to watch in blistering sunshine as results trickled in from around the country were shown on a large screen. They cheered with joy as the final tally was announced and then burst into a rendition of the national anthem.
"We woke up today to a new Ireland. The real Irish Republic that I have dreamed of my whole life," said Jean Webster, a 54-year-old administrator who came out as a lesbian eight years ago after separating from her husband.
Government ministers waved a rainbow flag from the stage in front of the crowd and one lesbian senator proposed to her partner live on national television.
"The answer is yes to their future, yes to their love, yes to equal marriage. That 'Yes' is heard loudly across the world as a sound of pioneering leadership from our people," Prime Minister Enda Kenny told a news conference. "Ireland, thank you."
The Catholic Church, which teaches that homosexual activity is a sin, saw its dominance of Irish politics collapse after a series of child sex abuse scandals in the early 1990s and limited its 'No' campaigning to sermons to its remaining flock.
The archbishop of Dublin said the result presented a challenge.
"It is a social revolution. It's very clear that if this referendum is an affirmation of the views of young people, then the Church has a huge task ahead of it," Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told national broadcaster RTE.
"The Church needs to do a reality check."
TABOO
Ireland follows several Western European countries including Britain, France and Spain in allowing gay marriage, which is also legal in South Africa, Brazil, Canada and some U.S. states, while homosexuality remains taboo and often illegal in many parts of Africa and Asia.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden tweeted: "We welcome Ireland's support for equality. #LoveWins"
After Irish expatriates flocked home to vote, 60 percent of registered voters cast their ballot, the highest in two decades.
"This is a big placard from the people of Ireland to the rest of the world saying this is the way forward," said David Norris, who began a campaign for gay rights in the late 1970s.
The proposal was backed by all political parties, championed by big employers and endorsed by celebrities, all hoping it would mark a transformation in a country that was long regarded as one of the most socially conservative in Western Europe.
Only a third of the country backed the decriminalization of gay sex for men over 17 in 1993, according to a poll at the time. When voters narrowly legalized divorce in 1995, only five of the 30 constituencies outside Dublin backed the proposal.
This time, all bar one of the 43 voting areas approved the marriage measure.
"It changes everything, the worries and fears I had as a young gay kid in Ireland, they're all gone," said Ger O'Keefe, 27, a 'Yes' campaigner from Waterford.
"This will tell kids now that you don't need to be afraid."
(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
- Reuters

 

 

 

[groyn88]

This news clip was broadcast over Channel News Asia on Saturday, 23 May 2015.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/w...
Ireland hails 'a new Republic' as same-sex marriage approved
Supporters flocked to central Dublin to celebrate a "historic watershed" as a large majority in the traditionally Catholic country voted to allow same-sex marriage.
Rory O'Neill, known by the Drag persona Panti, celebrates with yes supporters at Dublin Castle, Ireland. Ireland has voted resoundingly to legalize gay marriage in the world's first national vote on the issue. (AP/Peter Morrison)
DUBLIN: Gay couples flocked to central Dublin to celebrate a "historic watershed" on Saturday (May 23) as a large majority in the traditionally Catholic country voted to allow same-sex marriage, the culmination of a four-decade struggle for gay rights.
Waving rainbow flags, embracing and crying, two thousand people gathered to watch the official results in the courtyard of Dublin Castle after voters, young and old, accounted for one of the highest turnouts in a referendum for decades.
"The amount of people who came out to vote is just such an emotional thing for us," said Fred Schelbaum, 48, standing with his civil partner Feargal Scott, 43, who he said he intended to marry. "Up to now a lot of gay people felt they were tolerated in Ireland. Now we know that it's much more than that."
The crowds cheered as gay rights icons appeared on the square, including David Norris, whose campaign led to the 1993 decriminalisation of gay sex and, and Rory O'Neill, whose Panti Bliss drag queen character became the face of the campaign.
"The future for young LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) people in this country is incredible," O'Neill said. "I'm just glad to be here on the day this Ireland came into being."
Jean Webster, a 54-year-old administrator who came out as a lesbian eight years ago after separating from her husband, said that after the birth of her children, this was the happiest day of her life. "A lot of my family have voted no in this campaign so at a personal level it has been very traumatic," she said. "I needed to wake up this morning to have thousands of people affirm my rights when certain people in my family weren't."
The emergence of a new generation of young voters was a "historic watershed" in Irish politics that had the potential to finally break the link between church and state, she said. "We woke up today to a new Ireland. The real Irish Republic that I have dreamed of my whole life," she said.
Several high-profile Irish figures who have come out as gay since the start of the campaign hailed the new atmosphere it had ushered in the country.
"Ten years ago Ireland was still a very dark place," said former minister Pat Carey, who waited until his late 60s to open up about being gay. "There was a lot of raw wounds that needed to be healed. I think the young people of Ireland have grabbed this country by the neck and it's unrecognisable to what it was 10 years ago."

This video was uploaded to The Straits Times' website on 24 May 2015.
http://www.straitstimes.com/news/world/europe/story/ireland-says-%E2%80%98yes%E2%80%99-gay-marriage-world-first-20150524
Ireland says overwhelming ‘yes’ to gay marriage; setback for Catholic Church
PUBLISHED ON MAY 24, 2015 1:11 AM
DUBLIN (AFP) - Ireland on Saturday became the first country in the world to approve gay marriage by popular vote as crowds cheered in Dublin in a spectacular setback for the once all-powerful Catholic Church.
Just over 62 per cent of ballots cast were in favour of gay marriage, with just under 38 per cent against, official figures showed.
Only one of Ireland’s 43 constituencies, Roscommon-South Leitrim in the centre of the republic, voted against the constitutional change.
Hundreds of “Yes” supporters gathered in the grounds of Dublin Castle cheered and waved rainbow flags as the results came through.
A mass of camera phones went up and people put their children on their shoulders as the returning officer appeared on the screen to announce the results in Irish and English.
She was half-way through the figure for the “Yes” vote when huge cheers broke out.
Love heart-shaped balloons floated up into the air as people jumped up and down in excitement and clapped with their hands above their heads.
People hugged and kissed one another afterwards, standing with their arms around each other, while some, visibly moved, looked close to tears.
The mood earlier had been equally joyous as results came in and the "yes" vote was anticipated.
“It’s an amazing day to be Irish!” said Rory O’Neill or “Panti Bliss", Ireland’s foremost drag queen and a leading “Yes” campaigner, as she arrived at the party wearing a figure-hugging dress and high heels.
Outside the main counting centre in Dublin, Grainne O’Grady, 44, and Pauline Tracey, 53, said the plan was to “celebrate, celebrate, celebrate”.
“I’m just so happy I could burst. We were voting on whether we were equal in our own country,” said O’Grady, wearing a “Yes Equality” T-shirt.
Out of a total electorate of 3,221,681, some 1,949,725 people cast their ballots in Friday’s referendum, meaning a turnout of 60.52 per cent.
Legalising gay marriage is a seismic change in Ireland, where the Church remains a powerful force. Homosexuality was illegal until 1993 and divorce until 1996, and abortion is banned except where the mother’s life is in danger.
The Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, Ireland’s top Catholic leader, told RTE that the Church now needed a “reality check”.
“I think the Church needs to do a reality check right across the board... Have we drifted away completely from young people?” he said.
“It’s a social revolution that didn’t begin today,” said Martin, who had called for a “No” vote arguing that gay rights should be respected “without changing the definition of marriage”.
Health Minister Leo Varadkar, who became Ireland’s first openly gay cabinet minister when he came out this year and is tipped as a future leader, also said the “Yes” campaign had been a “social revolution”.
“We’re the first country in the world to vote for marriage equality by popular vote and to enshrine it in our constitution,” he told RTE.
CELEBRITIES BACKED 'YES'
The referendum has pitched traditionalists including the Catholic Church against those in favour of gay marriage, including Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny, a Catholic who told voters there was “nothing to fear” in a televised message on Wednesday night.
All Ireland’s main political parties supported amending the constitutional definition of marriage.
A string of Irish celebrities have also backed the “Yes” campaign including singers Bono and Sinead O’Connor plus actor Colin Farrell.

Edited May 27, 2015 by groyn88

[oralb]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/world/europe/ireland-gay-marriage-referendum.html

 

When Same-Sex Marriages Became Legal

About 20 countries have already legalized same-sex marriages. Here is a list of when each did.

• 2001 The Netherlands 
  2003 Belgium
  2005 Canada and Spain 
  2006 South Africa 
  2009 Norway and Sweden 
  2010 Argentina. Iceland and Portugal 
  2012 Denmark 
  2013: Brazil, England and Wales, France, New Zealand and Uruguay
  2014 Luxembourg and Scotland
  2017 (Law becomes effective.) Finland

[Guest wozzit]

This is surely a huge milestone for the development of equality for the LGBT community worldwide. Not only has it taken place in a country that traditionally has been highly conservative n rooted in the coattails of the doctrine of the Catholic Church, the laws against homosexuality were only changed 23 years ago. It is also the first time anywhere a law permitting gay marriage has been effected by public referendum - n by a huge majority with 1,201,607 votes for n 734,300 against.

 

As was shown in the referendum in Scotland about Independence from the UK last year, huge numbers of young people turned out. Surely the youth vote is one no politician can now neglect in most countries with fair elections. N it is when young people r motivated n passionate about issues that laws can b changed.

Edited May 24, 2015 by wozzit

[Guest 72%dark]

Congratulations Ireland! <3 <3

As was shown in the referendum in Scotland about Independence from the UK last year, huge numbers of young people turned out. Surely the youth vote is one no politician can now neglect in most countries with fair elections. N it is when young people r motivated n passionate about issues that laws can b changed.

By the same token, when politicians are afraid of not being able to capture the younger voting bloc, they start trying to *cough* buy *cough* over the older voters...

[Guest Tony]

Now all eyes are turning to the United States. 

 

If gay marriage is legalized throughout the States, many more countries will soon follow suit. We've reached a point of NO RETURN. 

[Guest 72%dark]

Now all eyes are turning to the United States. 

 

If gay marriage is legalized throughout the States, many more countries will soon follow suit. We've reached a point of NO RETURN.

I would dearly love to think so too, but I think it's more likely for countries that don't already have a socially progressive framework to simply stick to their guns. An example would be the death penalty, which is internationally derided as a relic of more barbaric times. But you know, some countries just like to party like it's 1999. BC.

[BlowWindBlow]

It can only get better!

[Cube3]

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[azimuth]

This is probably one of the best news for the weekend. :-)