Since China abandoned its one-child policy in 2016 in the face of quickly declining birth rates, the courts are now inclined to protect the rights of children born outside the traditional heterosexual paradigm. Children born to unmarried couples and single and LGBTQ+ parents are experiencing a level of acceptance unknown in China in the past.
The landmark ruling states that benefits from South Korea’s National Health Insurance Service can be claimed by people in same-sex partnerships and that treating same-sex couples differently than heterosexual ones is “an act of discrimination that… violates human dignity and the right to pursue happiness.” South Korea does not recognize same-sex marriage under the law, so the ruling is major progress in extending the protections and rights to same-sex couples.
Hong Kong’s Court of Appeals ruled in favor of two same-sex couples in separate cases involving their rights to own and rent public housing. While same-sex marriage is not legal in the city, the rulings follow other decisions that have firmly established same-sex couples’ rights to equal treatment under the law.
In 2016, Antigua and Barbuda, the archipelago nation that owns Redonda, launched an eradication campaign that cleared the island of rats. After that, they simply waited.
Brazil’s Supreme Court has ruled with a vote of 9-1 that homophobic hate speech is on par with racial hate speech and punishable with a prison sentence of two to five years.
The ruling adds pressure on the Japanese parliament to legalize same-sex marriages. Japan remains the only country in the G7 that has not legalized marriage equality.
Barbados becomes the third Caribbean nation this year to repeal such laws used to criminalize gay men.
The bill requires that the federal and state governments to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages performed by other states.
In a 23 to 12 vote (with two abstentions), Tamaulipas became the 32nd state to legalize same-sex marriage, after the state of Guerrero did so just the day before.
In a 50 to 16 vote, the largest state in Mexico has legalized same-sex marriage, becoming the 29th of 32 Mexican states to do so.
