Florida Agenda

ACCRA, GHANA – The leader of the Roman Catholic dioceses in the West African nation of Ghana called gay marriage “an abomination” that members of the faith should oppose. The Most Reverend Peter Akwasi Sarpong, Archbishop Emeritus of Kumasi, condemned secular attempts to change the definition of the sacrament of marriage, defined as between a [...]

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – The leader of Australia’s most densely-populated state is under fire for his plans to form an advisory panel to focus on LGBT issues. Ted Baillieu, Premier of Victoria, has promised to appoint members of the southwestern Australian region’s LGBT community to advise senior government ministers on matters including HIV/AIDS treatment and [...]

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA – A prominent member of Russia’s gay rights movement was convicted on Friday of promoting homosexuality under a new municipal statute that has been denounced as homophobic by international rights organizations, including Amnesty International. Nikolay Alexeyev, the founder of Moscow Gay PRIDE, was fined the equivalent of $167 (USD)—the lowest amount permissible—n [...]

CARDIFF, WALES, UNITED KINGDOM – The government of Wales is investigating whether a Roman Catholic lobbying group encouraged a campaign against marriage equality in the country’s secondary schools. Welsh Minister for Children and Education Leighton Andrews is looking into allegations that the Catholic Education Service (CES) sent an email last month to all Catholic secondary [...]

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM – A coalition of faith groups in Scotland has roundly condemned the religious ban on marriage equality as “discriminatory,” claiming that it “reinforces homophobia.” Faith in Marriage—which includes members of the United Reformed Church, the Quakers, the Unitarians, Liberal Judaism, the Humanists, the Iona Community, Buddhists, the Open Episcopal Church, the [...]

LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM – In an unusual call for political unity between faiths that are often at-odds with one another, the pope’s personal representative to the United Kingdom is urging British Roman Catholics to form a “united front” with British Muslims and conservative Jews to oppose marriage equality. During an address to Roman Catholic [...]

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – A prominent British barrister says that rulings in favor of marriage equality by the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Appeal mean that British churches will soon be compelled to perform same-sex marriages, despite promises to the contrary by Prime Minister David Cameron. Cameron’s government issued a consultation [...]

KINGSTON, JAMAICA – Gay rights groups are calling the inclusion of Jamaica’s prime minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, in TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2012” positive reinforcement for what the publication called “her brave stance” in support of LGBT civil rights. The article entry for Simpson-Miller, which was penned by U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke [...]

PARIS, FRANCE – On April 22, French voters cast their ballots to decide who among 10 candidates will be the next President of France. When Sunday’s results were tallied, two candidates—Socialist François Hollande, the challenger, and the incumbent president, conservative Nicolas Sarkozy—had garnered enough votes to advance to a second round. Although Hollande beat Sarkozy [...]

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA – Last week, Colombia’s highest court granted the right to same-sex couples to inherit their partner’s pension fund and compensation packages. The ruling by the Constitutional Court said that gay couples meet the legal definition of a “family,” which gives them the same protections and access to their partner’s legacy as for heterosexual [...]