GENEVA - For gay rights campaigner Jean-Pierre Sigrist, the new law being voted on in a referendum in Switzerland on Sunday might have stopped him getting beaten up 4 decades ago.
"And maybe I would not have been laughed at when I went to the police," said the 71-year-old, who believes the law will be "an added safeguard against homophobia."
The new law would widen existing legislation against discrimination or incitement to hatred on ethnic or religious grounds to include sexual orientation.
The change was passed by the Swiss parliament in 2018.
But the populist right wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) and the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU), a small party based on Christian values, are opposed.
Critics of the law, who have forced a public referendum on the issue, believe it will end up censoring free speech.
Eric Bertinat, a UDC local lawmaker in Geneva, told AFP that he believed the law was "part of an LGBT plan to slowly move towards same-sex marriage and medically assisted reproduction" for gay couples.
UDF chief Marc Frueh has called it a "censorship law."
But Sigrist, founder of Switzerland's association of gay teachers, said it would counter growing intolerance.
The retired teacher said he supports freedom of expression, "but not the freedom to say anything at all."
All of Switzerland's major parties except the UDC, the biggest political force in parliament, support the law.
NO TO 'SPECIAL TREATMENT'
Under the new law, homophobic comments made in a family setting or among friends would not be criminalized.
But publicly denigrating or discriminating against someone for being gay or inciting hatred against that person in text, speech, images or gestures, would be banned.
The government has said it will still be possible to have opinionated debates on issues such as same-sex marriage, and the new law does not ban jokes -- however off-color.
"Incitement to hatred needs to reach a certain level of intensity in order to be considered criminal in Switzerland," Alexandre Curchod, a media lawyer, told AFP.
But he admitted that there could be exceptions "if it can be shown that, under the cover of artistic production or joking, someone is in fact engaging in incitement."
Gay rights campaigners are divided over the legislation.
A group called "No to Special Rights!" is opposed, arguing that the gay community does not need special protection.
"I fight for the acceptance and normalization of my sexuality. But for me that also means not asking for special treatment," said Michael Frauchiger, co-head of the group.
Opinion polls show that the Swiss as a whole are broadly in favor of the law, but that the margin between supporters and opponents has narrowed in recent months.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
TAIPEI - Taiwan will enact a separate law for same-sex unions after conservative groups won a recent referendum battle, the premier said, as LGBT activists Friday urged the government to abide by a landmark ruling to offer equal marriage rights.
Gay rights campaigners want the existing marriage law to be amended and have said separate regulations would make them second-class citizens.
But conservative groups argue that gay marriages should not come under the current Civil Code, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Taiwan's top court last year voted to legalize gay marriage, the first place in Asia to do so. It ruled that the change should be implemented in two years but did not specify how it wanted gay marriage to be brought in.
Premier William Lai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) announced the plan for a separate law during a meeting with lawmakers Thursday to review the party's local election defeat last weekend.
Some observers have said the gay marriage issue played into the results and hit a nerve in conservative southern Taiwan, the DPP's traditional stronghold, where it lost control of Kaohsiung City for the first time in 20 years.
Tsai had championed gay marriage before she was elected but has since said there needs to be more consensus in society.
Rival referendums on same-sex unions that went alongside the local elections Saturday saw "pro-family" groups defeat pro-gay campaigners in what Amnesty International called a "bitter blow and a step backwards for human rights in Taiwan".
A referendum on whether marriage should only be recognized as between a man and a woman in Taiwan's Civil Code won more than seven million votes, as did another calling for same-sex unions to be regulated under a separate law.
Gay rights activists had proposed that the Civil Code should give same-sex couples equal marriage rights, but only garnered three million votes.
"We have to respect public opinion and abide by the referendum outcome. We have to revise a law other than the Civil Code, which is (to enact) a separate law," cabinet spokesperson Kolas Yotaka told reporters, quoting the premier.
She said the government would abide by the Constitutional Court ruling when drafting the new law.
"As for the characteristic of the separate law and what it will be called... we will propose a bill that reflects and meets public consensus," she said.
LGBT activists in Taiwan now fear their newly won rights under the court ruling are under threat.
"We hope the social turmoil can come to an end soon and cause no more division and harm to any more families," rights group Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan said in a statement.
According to the group, three gay people committed suicide after the referendum result while over a dozen have attempted suicide or self-harmed.
It urged the cabinet to abide by the top court ruling as well as consulting gay rights group when drafting the bill.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
DUBLIN, Ireland - Some Filipinos here were disappointed over the turnout of the referendum that effectively made abortion legal in this European nation.
Health care assistant Cherry Rivera said the landslide win in favor of abortion was heartbreaking.
“What is there to celebrate? Killing unborn babies? Nothing to celebrate about. It’s a sad day to think people are out there celebrating this victory with no thought of the thousands of children who will never take their first breath. I voted No, Children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord,” said Rivera.
Millions of Irish residents, including Irish-Filipinos, went out to vote on May 25 to either retain or repeal the eight amendment of the constitution that states: “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”
"Before the poll, I knew that 'yes' was very popular but I was still hoping for a dramatic turn of events. I somehow, understand where the other party is coming from but the end doesn’t justify the means. I am deeply saddened by the result," said nurse Josephine Caragan O’Roarke.
The eighth amendment – article 40.3.3 of the Irish constitution – which prohibited abortion, will be replaced with a clause stating: "Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy."
The Irish government is planning to bring legislation before the Dáil (Parliament), providing for abortion on request up to the 12th week of pregnancy, with a 3-day “cooling off” period before medication is administered.
Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he wanted the new law to be enacted by the end of the year. There will be provisions for medical practitioners to object, although doctors will be obliged to transfer care of the pregnant woman to another doctor.
Despite the results of the referendum, a lot of Filipino Irish, most of whom are working as nurses and health care assistants, vow to not participate in abortion procedures should it finally be enforced in Irish Hospitals.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
