7 openly gay lears have served as heads of state. Latvian print Edgars Rkēvičs is the latt

Contents:

• LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
• THE FIRST COUNTRI TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE COUNTRI
• GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• WHAT WAS THE FIRST UNTRY TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE?
• IRELAND BE FIRST UNTRY TO LEGALISE GAY MARRIAGE BY POPULAR VOTE
• GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE

”Xavier Bettel Prime Mister of Luxembourg (2013-prent)Luxembourg Prime Mister Xavier Bettel at a news nference Belgra, Serbia, on July Vojovic / APBettel was first elected prime mister of Luxembourg 2013, and 2018 he beme the first openly gay prime mister the world to be re-elected for a send marriage beme legal Luxembourg 2015, and the same year Bettel beme the first servg European Unn lear to marry a same-sex partner, the BBC recently cricized a Hungarian law that bans school tnal materials and TV shows for people unr 18 that are emed to promote LGBTQ ntent, Rters reported. Andorra 2023EuropeParliament the small mountao untry between France and Spa voted to legalize same-sex marriage.Argenta 2010Lat Ameri-CaribbeanFirst untry Lat Ameri to allow gay and lbian upl to marry.Atralia 2017Asia-PacificVoters supported legalizg same-sex marriage by a 61.6% to 38.4% marg a non-bdg natnwi referendum.Atria 2019EuropeA urt lg 2017 eventually led to the change.Belgium 2003EuropeSend untry the world to legalize same-sex marriage, after s neighbor, the Netherlands.Brazil 2013Lat Ameri-CaribbeanAbout half of Brazil’s 27 jurisdictns had allowed same-sex marriage until a urt lg ma legal natnwi.Canada 2005North AmeriSame-sex marriage was legal a majory of Canada’s provc before Parliament passed natnal legislatn. Chile 2022Lat Ameri-CaribbeanSixth South Amerin untry to legalize same-sex marriage.Colombia 2016Lat Ameri-CaribbeanColombia’s Constutnal Court legalized same-sex marriage by a 6-3 vote.Costa Ri 2020Lat Ameri-CaribbeanFirst Central Amerin untry to legalize same-sex marriage.Cuba 2022Lat Ameri-CaribbeanChange allowg same-sex marriage was part of a broar referendum on fay law that passed by a 66.9% to 33.1% vote.Denmark 2012EuropeSame-sex marriage beme legal through a separate procs Greenland, an tonomo terrory of Denmark, 2016.Ecuador 2019Lat Ameri-CaribbeanCourt lg ma Ecuador the fifth South Amerin untry to allow gays and lbians to wed.Fland 2017EuropeThe law, passed by Parliament 2014, started out as a “cizens’ iative” – a public petn wh nearly 167,000 signatur.

It me to effect 2017.France 2013EuropeThen-French Print François Hollan signed the law after an unsuccsful urt challenge.Germany 2017EuropeLegislatn passed after then-Chancellor Angela Merkel said members of her lg Christian Democratic Unn should vote their nscience even though the party formally opposed same-sex marriage.Iceland 2010EuropeAfter the law took effect, the untry’s prime mister at the time, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, wed her longtime partner, Jónína Leósdóttir, beg one of the first people to marry unr the statute.Ireland 2015EuropeFirst untry to legalize same-sex marriage through a popular referendum, wh more than six--ten Irish voters (62%) favor.Luxembourg 2015EuropeThe bill was champned by the untry’s prime mister, Xavier Bettel, who is openly gay.Malta 2017EuropeParliament almost unanimoly voted to legalize same-sex marriage.Mexi 2022Lat Ameri-CaribbeanSame-sex marriage eventually beme legal natnally after the Supreme Court clared state bans unnstutnal 2015. Portugal 2010EuropeMeasure passed by Parliament was approved by Portugal’s Constutnal Court.Slovenia 2022EuropeFirst untry formerly munist Eastern Europe to legalize same-sex marriage.South Ai 2006Sub-Saharan AiOnly Ain untry where same-sex marriage is legal; several untri on the ntent have passed laws that ban homosexualy recent years.Spa 2005EuropeBeme the third untry globally to legalize same-sex marriage after a vote s closely divid Parliament.Swen 2009EuropeGay and lbian upl Swen prevly had been allowed to register for civil unns sce 1995.Swzerland 2022EuropeNearly two-thirds of Swiss voters (64.1%) st ballots favor of legalizg same-sex marriage a 2021 referendum.Taiwan 2019Asia-PacificA urt lg prompted a change the law that ma Taiwan the first jurisdictn Asia to perm gays and lbians to wed.Uned Kgdom 2014EuropeLegal same-sex marriage took effect Northern Ireland 2020, six years after the change England and Wal.

THE FIRST COUNTRI TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE

ImageLorie Smh said her Christian fah requir her to turn away ctomers seekg servic to celebrate same-sex Woolf for The New York TimThe Supreme Court sid on Friday wh a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right to refe to sign weddg webs for same-sex upl spe a state law that forbids discrimatn agast gay people. Kavangh and Amy Coney Barrett, shifted the urt to the urts have generally sid wh gay and lbian upl who were refed service by bakeri, florists and others, lg that potential ctomers are entled to equal treatment, at least parts of the untry wh laws forbiddg discrimatn based on sexual owners of bs challengg those laws have argued that the ernment should not force them to choose between the requirements of their fahs and their livelihoods.

ETFriday’s lg was another reassurg cisn for relig celebratory moment outsi the Supreme Court on Friday, after the urt livered the latt a strg of judgments favor of relig Zuhaib/Associated PrsConservativ who have moral and theologil objectns to gay marriage saw the Supreme Court’s cisn on Friday as reassurance that they would be able to assert their beliefs a public square that they see as creasgly hostile to a 6-to-3 vote, spl along iologil l, the jtic agreed wh a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right to refe to provi servic for same-sex marriag, spe a state law that forbids discrimatn agast gay people. ETHere’s how urt battl over servg same-sex upl have played out the Cote for The New York TimIn the latt se volvg same-sex marriage rights, relig eedom and discrimatn, the Supreme Court on Friday led favor of a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right not to provi servic for same-sex marriag spe a state law that bans discrimatn agast gay ’s a brief look at some of the most proment s before Friday’s:A Colorado baker ws urtIn June 2018, the Supreme Court led favor of a Colorado baker who refed to bake a weddg ke for a gay uple.

The urt’s cisn mak easier for bs Bra to cle ctomer requts that are at odds wh their dispute began 2014, when Gareth Lee, a gay rights activist Northern Ireland, sought to buy a ke for a party om Ashers Bakg Company Belfast that showed two “Same Street” characters, Bert and Ernie; a logo for his group, QueerSpace; and the slogan supportg gay marriage. ”Invatn signers sue the cy of PhoenixThe Arizona Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments January after two Christian vatn signers said they would refe to create weddg vatns for same-sex upl if Da and Breanna Koski, evangelil Christians and the owners of Bsh & Nib Stud, sued the cy of Phoenix 2016, sayg they feared legal retributn if they did not fulfill requts om gay or lbian upl. After the 2020 electn, Colorado bee a center of electn nspiraci, a e embraced by some of s state is “a nice enpsulatn on what lims have been placed on the Christian right and what power and fluence they n still yield, ” William Schultz, a historian at the Universy of Chigo Divy School who is workg on a book about Christian culture Colorado Sprgs, said last 1992, voters the state passed what was nsired at the time to be an unual ballot iative prohibg Colorado om regnizg gay, lbian and bisexual people as a protected class.

GAY MARRIAGE COUNTRI

”The se, though amed as a clash between ee speech and gay rights, was the latt a seri of cisns favor of relig people and groups, notably nservative Christians, who celebrated the lg on Friday as a victory for relig dissent, Jtice Sonia Sotomayor lled the lg “profoundly wrong, ” argug that the Colorado anti-discrimatn law “targets nduct, not speech, for regulatn, and the act of discrimatn has never nstuted protected exprsn unr the First Amendment. 'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife. Scholars and the general public beme creasgly terted the issue durg the late 20th century, a perd when attus toward homosexualy and laws regulatg homosexual behavur were liberalized, particularly wtern Europe and the Uned issue of same-sex marriage equently sparked emotnal and polil clash between supporters and opponents. In other s, the cultural homogeney supported by the domant relign did not rult the applitn of doctre to the civic realm but may nohels have fostered a smoother seri of discsns among the cizenry: Belgium and Spa had legalized same-sex marriage, for stance, spe official opposn om their predomant relig stutn, the Roman Catholic Church.

Most of the world religns have at some pots their histori opposed same-sex marriage for one or more of the followg stated reasons: homosexual acts vlate natural law or dive tentns and are therefore immoral; passag sacred texts nmn homosexual acts; and relig tradn regniz only the marriage of one man and one woman as valid. Same-Sex Marriage Legalizatn by CountryThe Dutch triggered a polil and social shift that has spread across large swaths of the globe.People take part the gay pri nga, May 13, 2023, Havana.(YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Imag)Sce the Netherlands beme the first untry to legalize same-sex marriage 2001, more than 30 untri around the world have followed su.On June 20, 2023, Estonia moved to bee the first ex-Soviet bloc untry to legalize the practice, wh s new law takg effect next year.Today, marriage equaly is largely limed to untri North and South Ameri, Europe and Oceania. ”Health mister Leo Varadkar, who this year me out as the untry’s first openly gay mister, said the mpaign had been “almost like a social revolutn” social transformatn of the untry was on display the grounds of Dubl Castle, former seat of Brish le Ireland and the se of the natnal unt for a referendum that was unthkable jt two s ago – was only 1993 that homosexualy was crimalised.

The overall turnout of 61% was higher than the poll to ratify the 1998 Good Friday agreement, when 56% of the electorate me out to pro-reform vote was also energised by an 11th-hour movement lled #hometovote, which ed social media to enurage young Irish expatriat to get back to Ireland time to first nstuency that clared favour of a Y vote was the ral Sligo/North Lerim, which backed gay marriage by 54% to 46%. ”But while the thoands the Castle leapt for joy, wept and waved rabow flags triumph when the overall natnal vote was announced, there was a remr om the gay muny Northern Ireland that the stggle for equaly is far om over even on the Boyd, of the gay rights group the Rabow Project Belfast, remd the world that there was still a ban on gay marriage north of the borr. ” 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.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST UNTRY TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE?

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.

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. 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. 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. "Rabbis belongg to the biggt and most liberal branch of Judaism the Uned Stat have voted to regnise the partnerships of gay and lbian Central Conference of Amerin Rabbis, which is part of the Jewish Reform movement, has agreed to sanctn relig ceremoni for same-sex Print of the Conference, Rabbi Charl Kroloff, said that gay and lbian people served the regnn and rpect due to people created the image of God. Proposn 8 was the most expensive proposn on any ballot the natn this year, wh more than $74 ln spent by both measure's most fervent proponents believed that nothg ls than the future of tradnal fai was at stake, while opponents believed that they were fightg for the fundamental right of gay people to be treated equally unr the years ago, Californians voted 61% to fe marriage as beg only between a man and a California Supreme Court overturned that measure, Proposn 22, s May 15 cisn legalizg same-sex marriage on the grounds that the state Constutn required equal treatment of gay and lbian upl.

IRELAND BE FIRST UNTRY TO LEGALISE GAY MARRIAGE BY POPULAR VOTE

Cuomo signed the measure after passed a Republin-ntrolled Senate on Friday night [June 24, 2011], raisg qutns as to whether the move reflects new momentum the gay rights said the law will grant same-sex upl equal rights to marry 'as well as hundreds of rights, benefs and protectns that are currently limed to married upl of the oppose sex.

"Voters Mae and Maryland approved same-sex marriage on a day of electn rults that jubilant gay rights advot lled a historic turng pot, the first time that marriage for gay men and lbians has been approved at the ballot Mnota, another first, voters rejected a proposal to amend the State Constutn to fe marriage as between a man and a woman, a measure that has been enshred the nstutns of 30 stat. "The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal over same-sex marriage on jurisdictnal grounds, lg Wednday private parti do not have 'standg' to fend California's voter-approved ballot measure barrg gay and lbian upl om state-sanctned lg clears the way for same-sex marriag California to 5-4 cisn avoids, for now, a sweepg ncln on whether same-sex marriage is a nstutnal 'equal protectn' right that would apply to all issue was whether the Constutn's guarantee of equal protectn unr the law prevents stat om fg marriage to exclu same-sex upl, and whether a state n revoke same-sex marriage through referendum, as California did, once already has been a majory of the Supreme Court opted not to le on those issu.

"All legally married same-sex upl will be regnized for feral tax purpos no matter what state they live , the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department announced Thursday a change that will affect numero upl stat that have not permted gay change policy follows the Supreme Court's cisn June overturng a key provisn of the Defense of Marriage Act that barred the feral ernment om regnizg same-sex marriag for purpos such as surance benefs, immigratn and tax new approach 'provis accs to benefs, rponsibili and protectns unr feral tax law that all Amerins serve, ' Treasury Secretary Jab J. "A tough ban on same-sex relatnships that threatens vlators wh 14-year prison terms has been quietly signed to law by the print of Nigeria, Ai’s most populo natn, a step that rights advot have long feared not only as a reprsn aimed at gays but as an afont to basic eedoms of speech and ban, known as the Same Sex Marriage Prohibn Act, was passed by Parliament May but was not signed by the print, Goodluck Jonathan, until Jan.

GAY MARRIAGE

Supreme Court on Monday cled to ci once and for all whether stat n ban gay marriage, a surprise move that will allow gay men and women to marry five stat where same-sex weddgs were prevly rejectg appeals s volvg Virgia, Oklahoma, Utah, Wisns and Indiana, the urt left tact lower-urt lgs that had stck down the bans those stat.

GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

But the high urt's actn means there will be no imment natnal lg on the issue, wh ligatn stat where gay marriage is still banned likely to stat unr the jurisdictn of appeals urts that have stck down the bans will also be affected by the Supreme Court's cisn, meang the number of stat wh gay marriage is likely to quickly jump om 19 to 30. "A feral appeals urt panel upheld bans on same-sex marriage four stat Thursday, a break wh other feral urts that mak almost certa the Supreme Court mt take up the issue of whether gay upl have a nstutnal right to cisn overturned lower-urt lgs Michigan, Oh, Tennsee and Kentucky and mak the 6th Circu the first appeals urt to uphold state bans sce the Supreme Court stck down part of the feral Defense of Marriage Act 2013.