Same-Sex Marriage Update

[Cyclopea]

Malawi Gay Couple Found Guilty of “Indecency” for Gay Marriage Ceremony
May 18th, 2010 at 9:00 am by Ryan Prado ·

After nearly six months of being behind bars, Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were found guilty of unnatural acts and gross indecency today, despite international condemnation over Malawi’s (and some 37 sub-Saharan African countries in general) laws against homosexuality. The couple, as reported yesterday, could face up to 14 years in prison.

From ABC News:
“This is an outrageous verdict. There was no evidence to justify it. Steven and Tiwonge freely confirmed their love for each other, but the prosecution has entered no credible evidence that they had committed any sexual acts,” Peter Tatchell, spokesperson for the London-based gay human rights group OutRage!, told ABC News.

BBC News adds:
Judge Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa convicted both men of engaging in gay sex, which he said was “against the order of nature”. They are to be sentenced on 20 May.

In calling for a lighter sentence, the couple’s lawyer argued that the pair’s actions had not victimised anyone.
“Unlike in a rape case, there was no complainant or victim in this case,” he said. “Here are two consenting adults doing their thing in private. Nobody will be threatened or offended if they are released into society.”
But the chief prosecutor welcomed the judge’s decision.

“In Malawi, we don’t allow men to marry men or women to marry women,” said Dickens Mwambazi. “I think 90% of the crowd here agree with the ruling.”
http://blogout.justout.com/?p=17769

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...-couple-jailed

[Jess]

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[Soon]

Originally Posted by Cyclopea

Malawi Gay Couple Found Guilty of “Indecency” for Gay Marriage Ceremony
May 18th, 2010 at 9:00 am by Ryan Prado ·

After nearly six months of being behind bars, Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were found guilty of unnatural acts and gross indecency today, despite international condemnation over Malawi’s (and some 37 sub-Saharan African countries in general) laws against homosexuality. The couple, as reported yesterday, could face up to 14 years in prison.

From ABC News:
“This is an outrageous verdict. There was no evidence to justify it. Steven and Tiwonge freely confirmed their love for each other, but the prosecution has entered no credible evidence that they had committed any sexual acts,” Peter Tatchell, spokesperson for the London-based gay human rights group OutRage!, told ABC News.

BBC News adds:
Judge Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa convicted both men of engaging in gay sex, which he said was “against the order of nature”. They are to be sentenced on 20 May.

In calling for a lighter sentence, the couple’s lawyer argued that the pair’s actions had not victimised anyone.
“Unlike in a rape case, there was no complainant or victim in this case,” he said. “Here are two consenting adults doing their thing in private. Nobody will be threatened or offended if they are released into society.”
But the chief prosecutor welcomed the judge’s decision.

“In Malawi, we don’t allow men to marry men or women to marry women,” said Dickens Mwambazi. “I think 90% of the crowd here agree with the ruling.”
http://blogout.justout.com/?p=17769

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...-couple-jailed

Embassy of The Republic of Malawi, Washington DC

[Soon]

Iceland passes gay marriage law in unanimous vote

The Althingi parliament voted 49 to zero to change the wording of marriage legislation to include matrimony between "man and man, woman and woman," in addition to unions between men and women.

Iceland, a socially tolerant island nation of about 320,000 people, became the first country to elect an openly gay head of state in 2009 when Social Democrat Johanna Sigurdardottir became prime minister after being nominated by her party.

"The attitude in Iceland is fairly pragmatic," said Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a political scientist at the University of Iceland. "It (gay marriage) has not been a big issue in national politics -- it's not been controversial."

The prime minister's sexual orientation garnered far more interest among foreign media than in Iceland, where the attitude toward homosexuality has grown increasingly relaxed in the past two or three decades, Kristinsson added.

Iceland's protestant church has yet to decide whether to allow same-sex marriages in church, although the law says "ministers will always be free to perform (gay) marriage ceremonies, but never obliged to."

The largely protestant countries of northern Europe, including Sweden, Norway and Denmark, have all endorsed some form of civil union between same-sex couples, but the issue creates more controversy in Mediterranean Catholic nations.

In the United States, gay marriage remains a frought political issue, with laws varying widely from state to state. Vermont was the first state to allow same-sex civil unions in 1999, followed by Massachusetts and Connecticut and others.

(Reporting Birna Bjornsdottir and Nicholas Vinocur; editing by Noah Barkin)

[Soon]

A Basic Civil Right

[waxnrope]

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

A Basic Civil Right

can't open the link!

[Soon]

Originally Posted by waxnrope

can't open the link!

Sorry! Here it is again:


A Basic Civil Right

[waxnrope]

Thanks! well written op ed ... and some good news, too