The Dutch Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that would allow transgender people to legally change their gender on their birth certificates and other official documents without undergoing sterilization and gender-reassignment surgery, according to The Washington Blade. Transgender Network Netherlands Chair Carolien van de Lagemaat and COC Nederland Chair Tanja Ineke described the vote as "a victory for transgender people in the Netherlands." The law is slated to take effect July 1.
Ugandan lawmakers have passed an anti-gay bill that calls for life imprisonment for "aggravated homosexuality," according to LGBTQ Nation. ( "Aggravated homosexuality" is defined as a same-sex act where one of the partners is infected with HIV, is a minor or disabled, as well as repeated sexual offenses among consenting adults. ) When the bill was first introduced in 2009, it was widely criticized for including the death penalty, but that was removed from the revised version that parliament passed. President Yoweri Museveni must sign the measure for it to become law.
The U.S. Navy will provide military benefits to gay couples stationed in Japan after previously denying dependent status to same-sex spouses there, according to The Washington Post. The change came after U.S. and Japanese officials agreed to an interpretation of the status of forces agreement between the two nations, concluding that the term "spouses" applied to all individuals who are legally married to Department of Defense personnel.
An official from Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's Corp. said at a Chicago Sports Commission luncheon last week that the company would not make a statement about anti-gay laws implemented in Russia last summer, Crains Chicago Business reported Dec. 17. The company has a high-profile sponsorship of the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. "If we as a sponsor, or any sponsor, were to pull [out of their deal] or boycott, we'd be hurting the U.S. Olympic team," said John Lewicki, McDonald's director of global alliances. "Our mission really is to make sure that we do not penalize the U.S. athletes. The [U.S. Olympic Committee] is not going to boycott, so we're not going to subjugate that by not supporting athletes."
Transgender model Jenna Talackova has scored a gig in ELLE Canada Magazine, according to the New York Daily News. Talackova initially became known publicly for being booted from, and then reinstated to, Donald Trump's Miss Universe pageant after organizers learned she was born male. She was among the final 12, but didn't win.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, the head of the British anti-gay lobby group Christian Concern, has angered gay-rights advocates by urging Jamaica to keep same-sex intercourse illegal and reportedly suggesting that diver Tom Daley is in a relationship with a man because his father died, according to the UK Independent. Martin Warner—the bishop of Chichester, where Williams was elected to the General Synod in 2011—condemned the comments, saying her statements had "no sanction in the Church of England."
In India, Facebook sparked controversy when it suspended the account of Kanwar Anit Singh Saini for 12 hours after he posted a picture of him kissing another man, according to Z News. Saini, 32, posted the picture in protest of Section 377, which criminalizes gay sex in India. Saini was among thousands of activists who had gathered in more than 30 cities across the world Dec. 15 to observe the Global Day of Rage.
Pussy Riot members Nadya Tolokonnikova, 24, and Maria Alekhina, 25, will be freed from prison three months before their scheduled release, according to a USA Today item. The two women and fellow band member Yekaterina Samutsevich were arrested for performing "Punk Prayer: Mother of God Drive Putin Away" from Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral on Feb. 21, 2012. While Samutsevich successfully appealed her sentence, the other two punk rockers remained, despite global pleas for their release.
Justine Sacco, a now-former PR executive who sparked a firestorm of controversy on Twitter, apologized for her "needless and careless tweet" about AIDS in Africa, CNN reported. Sacco—who said she's a native of South Africa—originally tweeted, "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!" Her company, IAC, fired her; a spokesman said, "The offensive comment does not reflect the views and values of IAC. We take this issue very seriously, and we have parted ways with the employee in question."
British mogul Richard Branson has issued a statement saying that people should be able to love who they want—and that Uganda should be boycotted in light of an anti-gay law its government recently passed. In part, Branson said, "I have been courted by various people and government officials to do business in Uganda. I was seriously considering it. However, the dreadful witch hunt against the gay community and lifetime sentences means it would be against my conscience to support this country."
Under the little-known Royal Prerogative of Mercy, Queen Elizabeth II has formally pardoned famed British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing nearly six decades after his death, according to LGBTQ Nation. Turing—whom many considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, and who was most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes during World War II—was chemically castrated after being convicted in 1952 of "gross indecency" with another man. At age 41, Turing died of cyanide poisoning on June 7, 1954, in what was ruled a suicide.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced he will not be attending February's Winter Olympics, according to the UK Independent. However, he insisted the move was not a statement about Russia's stance on gay rights. French President Francois Hollande and German President Joachim Gauck have also stated they will not attend the Games.
Cuban legislators approved a proposal that would amend the country's labor law to ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, The Washington Blade reported. "Experienced a countless number of emotions today in Parliament," said Cuban blogger Francisco Rodriguez, who blogs under the pen name Paquito El De Cuba. Rodriguez tweeted there was also what he described as an "intense debate" about amending the island's labor law to also ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression.
A lesbian couple became the second same-sex marriage to take place in the state of Oaxaca, Gay Star News reported. Karina and Gabriela married in a private ceremony on Dec. 22. The first same-sex couple to marry in Oaxaca was a lesbian couple who tied the knot in a private ceremony on March 22. Mexico's Supreme Court ruled Oaxaca's marriage-equality ban unconstitutional in December 2012.
BBC sports presenter Clare Balding said she would have used YouTube to announce her same-sex relationship 10 years ago if the social-networking site had been around, according to the UK Telegraph. Balding, who entered a civil partnership with broadcaster Alice Arnold in 2006, praised Tom Daley—the diver who recently announced he was gay in a YouTube video—as a "star" for choosing to come out when and how he did.
