Why U.S. Supreme Court cisn on gay marriage is important for Belize - Belize News and Opn on

Contents:

• GAY NIGHTLIFE BELIZE
• GAY MARRIAGE
• BELIZE GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST URT BATTLE TO END HOMOPHOBIC LONIAL-ERA LAWS
• BELIZE SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS ANTI-GAY LAW
• GAY RIGHTS AND HOMOPHOBIA - BELIZE FOM
• WHY U.S. SUPREME COURT CISN ON GAY MARRIAGE IS IMPORTANT FOR BELIZE
• GAY MARRIAGE COUNTRI
• THE LONELY FIGHT AGAST BELIZE’S ANTIGAY LAWS

GAY NIGHTLIFE BELIZE

In 2010 Caleb Oroz, a Belizean gay man and a proment human rights fenr, filed a challenge to Sectn 53 the Supreme Court of Belize.

53 of the Crimal Co is a law which discrimat on the basis of sex, which clus sexual orientatn and is discrimatory agast the rponnt Oroz, a homosexual.

The Court of Appeal further rejected the other ground of appeal, namely that Chief Jtice Benjam had “failed to reason and ratnalize” his cisn that Sectn 53 vlated eedom of exprsn, and further termed that even if there had been a lack of reasong, the Court of Appeal would have reasoned on the evince provid that “homosexual sexual terurse and heterosexual sexual terurse are forms of exprsn. Stat, gay marriage advot also have gaed ground some parts of Lat Ameri.

GAY MARRIAGE

Most recently, the Mexin Supreme Court issued a lg makg much easier for gay and lbian upl to wed. The Mexin high urt cisn gave same-sex upl the right to seek a urt junctn agast state laws banng gay marriage, but did not technilly legalize same-sex unns natnwi. (Gay marriage is currently legal jt a few Mexin stat and jurisdictns.

BELIZE GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST URT BATTLE TO END HOMOPHOBIC LONIAL-ERA LAWS

Among the world’s major regns, only Europe has more untri permtg legal gay marriag. Among untri where gay marriage is legal, Uguay is the only place where a majory of the public (62%) supports allowg gay and lbian upl to marry legally. About half of Argentians and Mexins favor gay marriage, while support for allowg same-sex upl to legally wed stands at 45% Brazil, acrdg to a Pew Rearch Center survey of Lat Ameri nducted 2013 and 2014.

In a majory of untri across the regn, one-third of adults or fewer favor legal gay marriage, while more than 60% oppose .

In much of Central Ameri, opposn also is particularly strong: Roughly three-quarters or more of Hondurans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Niraguans are agast gay marriage. Asi om those natns that already have legalized gay marriage, Chile is the untry most supportive of the ia, yet public opn on the issue remas divid there. Fully 46% of Chileans favor allowg gay and lbian upl to wed, pared wh 42% opposed.

BELIZE SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS ANTI-GAY LAW

Earlier this year, Chile enacted a law regnizg civil unns (although not full marriage rights) for same-sex upl; Colombia and Ecuador also regnize some form of legal partnerships for gay and lbian upl. While the vast majory of Mexins are Catholic (81%), the relig divi on the issue is apparent – 50% of Mexin Catholics favor legal gay marriage, pared wh 35% of Prottants and 65% of the religly unaffiliated.

GAY RIGHTS AND HOMOPHOBIA - BELIZE FOM

As is the se many untri, younger Mexins are far more likely to favor same-sex marriage than olr age groups; 63% of Mexins ag 18 to 34 voice support for gay marriage, pared wh 40% of those 35 and olr. Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups.

WHY U.S. SUPREME COURT CISN ON GAY MARRIAGE IS IMPORTANT FOR BELIZE

Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years. In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners.

GAY MARRIAGE COUNTRI

C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch. Congrs 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Print Bill Clton signed to didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual upl uld be granted feral marriage benefs. That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S.

Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v. The state fally troduced the untry to gay marriage (m the feral benefs) when began issug same-sex marriage licens on May 17, that year, the U. 2004 was notable for upl many other stat as well, though for the oppose reason: Ten typilly nservative stat, along wh Oregon, enacted state-level bans on gay marriage.

Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire. Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007.

THE LONELY FIGHT AGAST BELIZE’S ANTIGAY LAWS

Perry legalized same-sex marriage early 2010s ntued the state-level battl over gay marriage that fed the precedg , wh at least one notable event. For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal.

Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000. Next Tuday, the gay rights mpaigner will face a very different kd of challenge, when he up agast the attorney general of Belize and the lears of the untry's urtroom battle over the Caribbean state's lonial-era "anti-buggery" laws is a signifint tone a global mpaign to crimalise four days, Oroz, supported by the former UK attorney general Lord Goldsmh and Godey Smh, Belize's former attorney general, will dispute the legaly of a 19th-century law drafted Bra. Like so many laws around the world crimalisg homosexualy, Sectn 53 is a legacy of imperial le om London.

The tst is supportg legal actns around the world to remove laws that crimalise gay relatnships. Cas have also begun Jamai and northern Cyps, both formerly Brish, 39, print of the Uned Belize Advocy Movement, is openly gay.

Extreme homophob I n tolerate but people I have known for years, who I did not thk would take such a posn, that's hurtful. Another threat suggted adjourng the se until Oroz died of a "e due to sexual preference" Febary 2012, Oroz was tnted wh anti-gay sults and h the face wh a bottle.

"Sectn 53, he said, has been ed, though not equently, to prosecute those volved nsentg gay relatnships.

Its prence ensur that beg gay remas taboo and that there is a climate of hatred. Our opponents say we are tryg to troduce gay marriage but this law has nothg to do wh gay marriage.