Previous Posts: Introduction | Chapter 1: Lee/Kirby Part 1 | Chapter 2: Lee/Kirby Part 2 | Chapter 3: The Roy Thomas Era (1966-1968)

When we left off last week, new writer Gary Friedrich had just taken over X-Men and was finishing off the big X-Men/Avengers crossover that Roy Thomas started. Friedrich only writes three issues and some backup stories before he leaves, but he does give us Iceman’s origin story. He’s replaced by Arnold Drake, whose short run introduces a new love interest for Bobby. Finally Roy Thomas comes back and scripts the fondly remembered run drawn by Neal Adams before the series is sent to oblivion.

 

X-Men #44-46 – backup stories (May-July 1968)
Writer: Gary Friedrich
Penciler: George Tuska

The “Origins of the X-Men” backups get to Iceman.

Teenage Bobby is on a date with a girl named Judy when he’s attacked by a group of guys who – a Code-approved book can’t say this in the 1960s, but the implication is very clear – want to rape Judy. Bobby stops the attackers with his ice powers, which he and his parents are already aware of. Naturally, Judy is terrified of Bobby and after word spreads a mob shows up and drags Bobby to jail. In part two, Cyclops attempts to break Bobby out of jail, but he’s not interested in leaving. Cyclops won’t take no for an answer so they fight until the lynch mob catches up with them. It’s the first time Bobby covers himself in his frosty/snowy form. Finally, in part three, the lynch mob literally sets up nooses and drags off the sheriff when he attempts to stop them. They eventually escape and Xavier wipes the whole town’s memories of Bobby being a mutant, including his parents. Iceman takes Xavier’s offer to go away to his school, and can you blame him for leaping at the first chance to get away from this town?

A few interesting points in this story. First, Bobby is already dating a girl, which puts the lie to assertion that Bobby’s disinterest in girls in X-Men #1 is due to his being too young. Second, we haven’t yet settled on the characterization of Iceman’s father as a bigot. His parents certainly would prefer that people not know about his powers for his own safety, but William Drake also stands up to the mob that comes to attack his son. It’s a reading of their relationship that’s closer in line with Mr. Drake’s portrayal in the landmark Uncanny X-Men #340.

While this story is fairly straightforward and simple for Bobby, later retellings and flashbacks will go deeper into his how this story affects him, including his conflicted feelings toward his parents, Judy, and Xavier and Cyclops. We’ll cover them next week.

The X-Men Epic Collection Vol 2 stops at X-Men #45, part 2/3 of this story. SMH.

 

X-Men #46 – main story (July 1968)
Writer: Gary Friedrich
Penciler: Don Heck and Werner Roth

The X-Men fight Juggernaut and disband on orders of the FBI.

Foggy Nelson shows up to read Xavier’s will – he’s left his fortune to the X-Men with Scott as trustee. I guess he didn’t consider bringing Moira in at this stage? Meanwhile FBI Agent Fred Duncan orders the X-Men to disband and spread across the country. This story doesn’t really go anywhere.

Meanwhile, the Juggernaut suddenly returns from his cosmic exile and wants revenge on his step-brother but doesn’t know what to do when he finds out he’s dead. The battle stops when Juggernaut disappears back into his exile.

 

X-Men #47 (August 1968)
Writer: Gary Friedrich and Arnold Drake
Penciler: Don Heck, George Tuska, Werner Roth

Beast and Iceman go on a date with Zelda and Vera and fight the Warlock.

There can’t really have been demand to see more of the Warlock, could there?

In the opening splash, Hank laments the barrier that’s come between him and Bobby since the X-Men split up. It’s not clear where they’re living right now since they left the mansion last issue, and when we next see them they’re living in San Francisco.

This is their last double date with Zelda and Vera, who are starting to get downright suspicious of all the times Bobby and Hank sneak off together. They’re not even bothering to come up with excuses anymore! We never actually see a breakup with Zelda or Vera. ­X-Men: The Hidden Years #2 eventually confirms that Bobby just ghosted Zelda, while Vera went on to date Mimic, as revealed in Incredible Hulk #161.

The backup strip is an explanation of how Iceman’s powers work.

 

X-Men #48 (September 1968)
Writer: Arnold Drake
Penciler: Don Heck, George Tuska, Werner Roth

Cyclops and Marvel girl fight Computo and Fantastic Four villain Quasimodo. Iceman doesn’t appear in the issue.

Scott and Jean are acting like a couple for the first time. Jean’s now working as a model and Scott is a radio new reporter. Of minor interest, Computo warns that Jean has “infinite mental powers” – I believe this is the first hint that Jean actually possesses significant power on her own.

The most important part of this issue for our purposes is the backup strip, an explanation of Beast’s powers and personality. We are pointedly shown that among Beast’s favorite books is a volume of Proust.

There must have been some editorial chaos on the title at this point. Last issue promised Angel’s origin story, but that actually gets bumped by several months, even though it’s chronologically next. And this issue says the next issue will feature Beast and Iceman vs “Metoxo the Lava Man” – a story that never saw print but was eventually alluded to in Marvel Holiday Special 1994 (I’ll cover that eventually). Another Angel solo story from the aborted “team split-up” era also eventually ran as a back-up feature in Ka-Zar #2-3 and Marvel Tales #30 (the first two parts are on Marvel Unlimited, but the final part is not). None of the other X-Men appear in that story, where Angel fights his uncle, a villain called the Dazzler, who wears a lovely studded pink and orange getup.

 

 

 

X-Men #49-52 (October 1968-January 1969)
Writer: Arnold Drake
Penciler: Don Heck, Jim Steranko, Werner Roth

The X-Men reform to fight Mesmero, who is using his hypnotic powers to draw latent mutants to San Francisco to build an army for Magneto. And Polaris debuts.

A lot to unpack in this story. Suddenly Bobby and Hank are living together in San Francisco, where they’re working as… parachute testers? It’s not clear why they’re jumping out of a plane, but Hank says it’s their new cover job. There’s got to be a reason the boys chose to move together to the gay capital of America.

Bobby comes across Lorna Dane wandering San Francisco in a daze and stops her from walking into traffic. He acts very smitten and protective of her throughout the story, which seems to make Hank irritable and jealous throughout. Halfway through, the X-Men think Bobby’s lost his objectivity because he’s too in love with Lorna, and I can only imagine Jean is quietly smirking to herself throughout this scene.

Hank and Bobby seem to make up toward the end. He literally gushes about having a “gay gavotte” (dance) with him once the adventure is over. While it looks like Lorna is being set up as his new love interest, she doesn’t appear again for months after this story.

Lorna’s green hair and Mesmero’s green skin make them the first mutants who don’t “pass” as humans to appear in the book (Beast, Angel and Toad are all borderline on this regard).

The villains try to get Lorna on their side by telling her she’s Magneto’s daughter, an assertion she accepts at face despite the fact that she didn’t even know she was adopted at this point in her history. Iceman eventually finds documentation that establishes this is false and the “real” story of who her parents are. This remains the line for decades, until a Chuck Austen story has her perform a DNA test and discover she’s actually Magneto’s daughter. A later Peter David story in X-Factor Vol 3 attempts to patch this all over, but it’s best just kind of hand-waved.

The Magneto in this story is actually a robot, and credit to Paul O’Brien for pulling out the explanation for a dangling plot thread: “Eventually, in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #7, the whole thing was written off as a scheme of Starr Saxon, the Machinesmith – a villain who hadn’t even been created at this point and who has nothing whatsoever to do with the X-Men.  He seems to have been selected for no reason other than the fact that he was a robot-themed villain.”

Meanwhile, in the backup strips, we get the origin of Beast. Iceman, Cyclops and Angel all  try to recruit him, but they don’t really do anything important.

 

Avengers #60 (January 1969)
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciler: John Buscema

The X-Men appear in the background of Yellowjacket and Wasp’s wedding. This story is retold in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes 2 #6-7 (Joe Casey/William Rosado), and not much is added, although Iceman and Human Torch say something about how they feel strange standing next to each other, and Hank says it has something to do with their body chemistries. Why would Beast be making up reasons to keep Bobby away from the Torch? This has never come up before or since.

 

 

 

X-Men #53 (February 1969)
Writer: Arnold Drake
Penciler: Barry Windsor Smith and Werner Roth

The X-Men fight another Fantastic Four villain, Blastaar.

In the backup strip, Beast’s origin concludes when the X-Men rescue him from the Conquistador and Xavier wipes the entire town’s memories of him having powers. The whole story is reprinted with a couple extra pages added as a framing sequence in Amazing Adventures #17. Lightly updated and expanded versions of the story are retold in Uncanny Origins #6 and X-Men Origins: Beast, but neither adds anything important. Flashbacks to this story appear in X-Men: Legacy #216 and the Beast story in Marvel Comics Presents #85 – I don’t have the latter on hand and it’s not in Marvel Unlimited, but I don’t remember anything relevant to this blog in it.

 

Sub-Mariner #14 (June 1969)
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Mary Severin

The X-Men cameo reacting to the ransom demands of Mad Thinker and Egghead.

 

 

 

 

 

X-Men #54-56 (March-May 1969)
Writer: Arnold Drake and Roy Thomas
Penciler: Don Heck, Werner Roth and Neal Adams

Havok debuts, and the X-Men fight the Living Pharaoh.

Pharaoh is the sort of silver age villain who gets all his henchmen to dress up like ancient Egyptians and hide in sarcophagi until he gives orders. He’s also the sort of villain who kidnaps Cyclops’ younger brother Alex, knocks him unconscious, undresses him, and straps him half-naked to a table.

Pharaoh believes that all the ancient pharaohs were mutants and thus as a mutant he is a pharaoh. He believes killing Alex will increase his power, because Alex draws his power from the same source. This is eventually explained in the “Twelve” story: Mr. Sinister spliced Alex’s DNA into the Living Pharaoh, at the direction of Apocalypse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, in the back up strips, we get the goofy origin of Angel, in which he fights Cyclops and Iceman when they try to recruit him, but nothing of much importance happens. But can we talk about what’s going on with Angel’s bulge in the above shot? Iceman is thrilled to have a Angel join the team — remember, Warren was his original crush — and caps off this story with his sassy little arms akimbo pose. This origin story is retold in Uncanny Origins #3, and a flashback to this story appears in X-Men: Legacy #216.

 

X-Men #57-59 (June-August 1969)
Writer: Roy Thomas and Linda Fite
Penciler: Neal Adams and Werner Roth

The X-Men fight the new Mark II Sentinels, who’ve captured basically every mutant on earth. Havok gets his costume and codename.

I feel like it’s clear silver age Bobby and Hank were a gay couple by this point. They go to kill time in Scott’s Manhattan apartment and instantly Bobby’s just chilling in his undies with Hank. Then the Sentinels attack.

The X-Men all treat Lorna as Bobby’s girlfriend, and Bobby seems genuinely upset when she’s in danger. Iceman is also still being a bit over-the-top about pretending to be into the Scarlet Witch.

This is altogether one of the best stories of the Silver Age, with good soapy team dynamics and a compelling threat that actually deals with the themes of bigotry that are supposed to be at the heart of the series. Plus, Neal Adams’ art is fantastic.

Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Toad next appear in Avengers #76, where they are captured by Akron, the former two rejoin the cast, and Toad remains on Akron’s world.

The Sentinel story actually got a couple of follow ups. First, Roy Thomas’ Avengers #102-104 (Aug-Oct 1972) follows up on it directly. We see Judge Chalmers decide to release the super-villains and Mastermind, Blob, and Unus decide to reform the Brotherhood, which will go on to appear in a few stories. It’s also established that Larry Trask becomes Chalmers’, uh, “permanent house guest” from here on. What we end up seeing of this is just Larry hanging around Chalmers’ pool and being shirtless. One of the Sentinels that goes to attack the sun returns to Earth with a plan to wipe out all life and start again by selectively breeding human clones to eliminate mutants. It’s also revealed that Bolivar Trask had set up a second Sentinel plant in the Australian Outback. The Sentinel’s plan falls apart when Trask realizes that the Sentinel actually became a mutant from the solar radiation and gets the other Sentinels to turn on him (needless to say, this is a stretch of even Marvel’s definition of mutants). Larry completes his Trask cycle when the defeated Sentinel collapses onto him, crushing him to death. And Quicksilver disappears during the battle – it turns out he was injured and found by Crystal, who took him to Attilan to recover, where they fell in love. The get married in Fantastic Four #150 (September 1974), bolting him onto the Inhumans, which remains their status quo through several infidelities, team affiliation changes, evil periods, and deaths until 2007’s Silent War miniseries.

Next, X-Men: The Hidden Years #8 has several of the damaged Sentinels from issue #59 assemble into a new unit that tracks a new mutant to Beast’s hometown.

There’s also a backup feature of Marvel Girl demonstrating her powers, which is fine, but I’m glad to be done with the backups.

 

X-Men #60-61 (September-October 1969)
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciler: Neal Adams

The X-Men fight Sauron, who appears to commit suicide.

The X-Men take the injured Havok to Dr. Lykos, even though he is absolutely the creepiest doctor ever, because he was an associate of Prof. X. We learn that Lykos is something of an energy vampire, which somehow makes his patients feel better, but when he siphons the energy of mutants, he turns into Sauron.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lykos is the second villain in six months that strips Alex naked and straps him unconscious to a table.

In a rare bit of self-determination for a Silver Age female character, Lorna tells Jean that “Bobby’s fun….but I’m nobody’s ‘girl’!” When Bobby starts acting jealous of her and Alex’s obvious interest in each other, she basically says that to his face. Looks like no one was interested in this relationship, but the love triangle subplot will limp on until the title is cancelled and into the continuity filler series and hiatus era.

A flashback to this story appears in X-Men #115.

 

 

X-Men #62-63 (November-December 1969)
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciler: Neal Adams

The X-Men search for Sauron’s body in the Savage Land and end up stumbling into Magneto’s plan to turn the Savage Land’s people into a mutant army. Magneto apparently dies again, and the X-Men take it at face value even though they’ve seen him die before (he’ll next pop up in X-Men: The Hidden Years). Magneto also gives Angel a new costume, which he’ll learn in Avengers #110 was actually booby trapped.

This is a pretty fun story, even though the soapy elements are put on the backburner with Alex and Lorna stuck back at the Mansion and not appearing.

One point in this story that impacts Bobby: the mutate Lorelei has the power to entrance men and it’s heavily implied that this is based on sexual attraction. Bobby is ensorcelled by her along with the other male X-Men. Of course, it could just be that her power affects men regardless of orientation.

 

X-Men #64 (January 1970)
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciler: Don Heck

The X-Men stop Sunfire from blowing up the US Capitol and he learns a lesson about vengeance and bigotry.

It’s a fine story, though nothing of much concern happens for our purposes. Sunfire goes on to basically redo this exact story but on a South Pacific island in Sub-Mariner #52-54, but his “I’m angry about WWII” schtick gets a little more mileage fighting a guy who literally fought for the Allies. He then makes a brief appearance in the “Avengers/Defenders  War” story in Avengers #117 and Defenders #10, fights the Mandarin in Iron Man #68-70, meets Banshee in a short in Giant-Size X-Men #4 and joins the team briefly in Giant-Size X-Men #1.

 

 

X-Men #65 (February 1970)
Writer: Dennis O’Neill
Penciler: Neal Adams

It turns out Prof X is alive and preparing to fighting the invading Z’Nox aliens.

Well, it wouldn’t be the Silver Age X-Men if it didn’t end on dredging up old continuity and fighting unrelated villains. Still, Adams manages to sell the “Care Bears” ending with the way he dramatizes Xavier recruiting the compassion of the human race to fight the invaders – and if you squint, it just kind of resonates the themes of the series. This would have been a much stronger final issue than the one that ended up running after it.

Incidentally, the “love beam” is the first example of mutants using their powers together to achieve a unique effect, a theme that is cropping up a lot in the Hickman run. We later learn that the love beam is also what attracts Lilandra to Xavier when the series reboots in a few years.

The Bobby-Lorna-Alex subplot ticks over as well, with Bobby continuing to act like a jealous jerk and Lorna showing no interest in him. At least he seems to recognize it.

Unfortunately, Jean has a thought bubble where she worries that “Iceman’s got it bad for” Lorna. So maybe Jean doesn’t yet know that Bobby’s gay (the strength of her telepathic powers was really uneven in the Silver Age). Or maybe she’s making a private joke to herself.

The X-Men have got a point to be cranky when Alex chastises them for not arriving back at the X-Mansion earlier. The story has been continuous since Alex’s college graduation in #54. No wonder they’re exhausted. Though you’d think they could have called at some point! No wonder Lorna lost interest!

There’s a flashback to this story in X-Men: Legacy #213.

 

X-Men #66 (March 1970)
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciler: Sal Buscema

The X-Men fight the Hulk in Las Vegas in hopes that Bruce Banner can cure Xavier’s telepathic exhaustion, and the series comes to an end, for now.

Except that Iceman doesn’t go because he’s such a jealous jerk he thinks he has to stay behind to keep Alex and Lorna separated. Seriously, Bobby, she’s just not that into you. This subplot doesn’t even get tied up as the book is cancelled, so it meanders through The Hidden Years and hiatus appearances until Alex and Lorna are confirmed together in X-Men #97 after Iceman leaves the team. Still, Iceman’s apparent obsession with a woman who isn’t interested or available can also be read as a convenient cover: as long as everyone can see he’s hung up on Lorna, there are no questions why he’s not dating women. As we’ll see, this becomes a recurring character trope for Iceman for much of his published history.

Some stories in the hiatus era say that the destruction of the Vegas strip in this issue’s fight gets blamed on the X-Men, which ramps up anti-mutant hysteria and causes the X-Men to adopt a lower profile for the next few years.

And that’s the end of the original run of X-Men! But we’re not out of this era yet. In our next instalment, we’ll take a look at Bobby’s appearances in flashbacks and continuity plug-ins to this era.

Where to find these issues: Unless otherwise noted, they’re all on Marvel Unlimited. X-Men #44-45 are in X-Men Epic Collection Vol 2: Lonely are the Hunted, and X-Men #46-66 are in X-Men Epic Collection Vol 3: The Sentinels Live.

Previous Posts: Introduction | Chapter 1: Lee/Kirby Era Part 1 | Chapter 2: Lee/Kirby Era Part 2 | Chapter 3: The Roy Thomas Era (1966-1968) | Chapter 4: The End of the Silver Age (1968-1970) | Chapter 5: Origins and Flashbacks Part 1 | Chapter 6: Silver Age Flashbacks Part 2 | Chapter 7: X-Men: First Class Vol 1 | Chapter 8: X-Men: First Class Vol 2 Part 1 | Chapter 9: X-Men: First Class Vol 2 Part 2 | Chapter 10: The Hidden Years | Chapter 11: X-Men on Hiatus (1970-75) | Chapter 12: The Champions Part 1 (1975-76) | Chapter 13: The Champions Part 2 (1977-78) | Chapter 14: The College Years (1978-83) | Chapter 15: The New Defenders Part 1 (1983-84) | Chapter 16: The New Defenders Part 2 (1984-85) | Chapter 17: The End of the New Defenders (1985-86) | Chapter 18: X-Factor Part 1 (1986) | Chapter 19: X-Factor – Mutant Massacre (1987) | Chapter 20: X-Factor – Fall of the Mutants (1987) | Chapter 21: X-Factor: Inferno Prologue

Having established the basic concept, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (along with a handful of guest writers and artists) spend the next year expanding on the X-Men’s backgrounds and considering the consequences of mutants in the wider world.

 

X-Men #11 (May 1965)
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Jack Kirby

The X-Men fight the alien Stranger and the Brotherhood are disbanded.

Not a lot of clues in this one, but deep readers might get a kick out of this panel below, where Bobby erects a giant cylinder for Beast and Cyclops to jump on and ride.

A bizarre concept to bolt onto the X-Men, the only real connection the Stranger has to the mutant concept is that he’s powerful and Magneto wants to use him. In the end, the Stranger decides to take Magneto and Toad to keep in a sort of zoo in his home planet and he turns Mastermind into stone. X-Men: First Class eventually reveals that that X-Men kept the stone Mastermind in the mansion and used it as a hat rack (no explanation was ever given for how he was returned to human form, so presumably the transformation just wore off after a while). Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are finally free of the Brotherhood and join the Avengers in Avengers #16.

I’m only including the above panels because Beast’s hypnotic jumping is hilariously stupid. Not only because it’s hypnotic jumping, but because he’s doing it so the cops don’t see Xavier, who has hypnotic powers.

 

X-Men #12-13 (July, September 1965)
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencilers: Jack Kirby and Alex Toth

The X-Men fight the Juggernaut and we learn the origin of Professor X.

Not a lot to see here, but Iceman does really love wrestling with the other boys.

At the end of the story, all the boys are in the infirmary, and Jean is their put-upon nurse. Iceman is hitting on her again, but Jean just ignores it. Maybe she’s started to piece together that it’s an act. That would be entirely consistent with Bendis’ story.

Stray thought: Juggernaut is older than Xavier, but he’s never written or drawn as such. Also, the fact that Xavier left his brother alive at the bottom of a cave for years is a plot element that went unremarked upon for decades until Chuck Austen of all people brought it up in Juggernaut’s rehabilitation arc in Uncanny X-Men.

 

Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965)
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Jack Kirby

The X-Men attend the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, along with the rest of the Marvel Universe, and are there when all the villains in the MU attack. The X-Men end up fighting Mole Man and his Moloids, Black Knight, Mandarin, Electro, Beetle, Unicorn, and others. Iceman doesn’t do anything particularly notable in this issue.

Marvels #2 (1994) places this story happens between the pages of X-Men #14. This story is also slightly expanded on in Marvel Heroes and Legends #1 (1996), but I haven’t read it and it’s not on Marvel Unlimited.

 

 

X-Men #14-16 (November 1965 – January 1966)
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencilers: Jack Kirby and Jay Gavin (Werner Roth)

In the first story to take anti-mutant bigotry head-on, the X-Men battle the mutant-hunting Sentinels. It’s the best story of the era by far.

Xavier gives the X-Men a vacation, and they all head off into the city. But first, Bobby lovingly helps Warren get dressed in a scene that also helpfully spells out the subtext of the mutant phenomenon.

Bobby and Angel are both terrified about their parents finding out that they’re mutants, but Bobby also worries that by not coming out they’ll never really know him. The action in this scene is so intimate that I honestly struggle to imagine how this scene could possibly be read as anything other than two gay boys talking about their struggles with their sexuality. Bobby’s line, “If you ask me, nobody would care even if they found out about us!” reads oddly if he’s only talking about being mutants, given that the first time he used his powers in public, an actual lynch mob tried to execute him (as we’ll see when we get to his origin story).

Also, we’ll later find out that Bobby’s parents did know about his powers, but Xavier made them forget — we never did get a scene where he ‘came out’ as a superhero to them. The next time we see them in the 1984 Iceman miniseries they already know. Angel’s story about military school is just ignored when we get to his actual origin.

Later, he can’t help but comment on Warren’s looks as he takes Jean on a date. And, uh, what exactly is Hank implying about Angel’s feet?

 

 

Xavier spells out the themes in a televised debate with anthropologist Bolivar Trask, pointing out that parents may not know that their own children are mutants, which Angel and Iceman were just making clear.

Bobby and Hank end up back at their favorite café, now given the name Coffee A-Go-Go. Poor Zelda notes that she hasn’t seen Bobby in months but does confirm they’ve been on a date already. Note Bobby’s response when she asks where he’s been: “Beating the girls away with clubs, as usual!” Yessir, no girls for Iceman. She seems interested in a second date, but tells Bobby off when he has to leave for X-Men stuff. Bobby’s certainly in no rush to schedule it.

Minor continuity point: Bobby says he and Hank both come from the city – we’ll later learn that Hank is from Dundee, Illinois and Bobby is from a town on Long Island.

Later, when scaling a cliff to get into the Sentinels’ base, Iceman remarks that he’d make a “dandy” fireman.

While trying to escape from the Sentinels’ heavy gravity prison, Iceman gushes that Cyclops calls him a man for the first time. It is indeed a nice bit of praise from one of the straight boys who have thus far routinely dismissed him as a juvenile. (Somewhat undercut by the fact that Cyclops first called him a “boy”… who edits this?)

Why on earth is Beast carrying Iceman with his butt?

This story is slightly expanded on in Marvels #2 (1994).

 

 

 

 

 

X-Men #17-18 (February-March 1966)
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencilers: Jack Kirby and Jay Gavin (Werner Roth)

As Iceman recuperates from his injuries last issue, the X-Men attempt to rescue Angel’s parents from Magneto, but they in turn need to be rescued by Iceman.

In the opening splash, Iceman seems fine, having his pulse taken by an army doctor, who can somehow measure it through his ice form. The doctor says his pulse is “impossible” – perhaps it’s racing because he’s surrounded by all these young soldiers. Anyway, soon Iceman is faint and is taken under the care of a Dr. John Thomas. Stan Lee can’t have just picked that name randomly.

Dr. Thomas tries an experimental sulfa drug administered by a laser-induced hypodermic needle to wake Iceman from his coma. When he comes to, he sneaks out to save the X-Men.

Magneto’s plan was to use Warren’s parents’ DNA to create an army of artificial mutants. As we’ll see, a great number of Magneto’s plans through the silver age involve creating artificial mutants that will serve him as slaves, rather than, for example, leading the existing mutants of the world. But then, silver age Magneto is a lunatic who beats and degrades his followers, so he’s probably having trouble recruiting.

Jack Kirby leaves the book entirely in Jay Gavin’s hands with issue #18.

 

X-Men #19 (April 1966)
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Jay Gavin (Werner Roth)

The X-Men fight the Mimic, a guy who has acquired the power to copy the powers of any mutant around him.

Let’s get this out of the way first: Per his 2012 status quo, Mimic was at least lightly implied to be in a gay relationship with Weapon Omega. It’s unlikely we’ll ever get closure on that story since Mimic’s next appearance was the Extermination miniseries in which he died (although not for the first time!), and Weapon Omega hasn’t been seen again. There’s at least a little supporting evidence in the silver age, given Mimic’s daddy issues and aggressive overcompensation. So, this issue may be notable as the first time Iceman meets another gay man (albeit a closeted one, and since Iceman’s return from the 21^st century).

Xavier tells the X-Men to go on a vacation, which prompts Hank and Bobby to head into the city, where Bobby’s girlfriend Zelda has set up a double date with her friend Vera, who’ll be Beast’s girlfriend for the rest of this run.

From this point forward, Hank and Bobby are established as a bit of a dynamic duo, constantly going off to the city together, and going on double dates with Zelda and Vera. And yet, as we’ll see, neither ever consummates their relationship with their supposed girlfriends. Well, Batman and Robin had code-approved girlfriends in the silver age, too.

Bobby is really laying on his straight horndog schtick thick as they wait for Zelda to arrive. “Zelda’s not here yet! We might as well case the other chicks!” Barf. But note that he doesn’t actually do it.

It turns out Vera’s been harassed by Calvin Rankin, who won’t take no for an answer and is upset to see her on a date with Beast. He gets into a fight with Beast and Iceman and discovers they’re mutants. Vera does eventually get into a relationship with Calvin during the hiatus years.

Later we get a passing thought bubble of Iceman admiring Cyclops’ manliness. “When I hear that tone in Cyke’s Voice, I wouldn’t wanna be his enemy if I was as strong as a hundred Mimics!” I mean, if Xavier didn’t know Bobby was gay before….

The X-Men resolve the fight by getting Mimic to use a device his father built that he believes will amplify his powers, but actually removes them. All the deception and the lengths the characters go to remove Calvin’s powers have icky implications if you consider what powers are a metaphor for in this series.

Mimic flashes back to this story and his other Silver Age appearances in Marvel Comics Presents #59.

Minor continuity point: In this issue, Mimic keeps being colored with a bright pink face. I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be an element of his powers, or supposed to indicate that he’s angry, but it doesn’t come back.

And that’s the end of the first creative era of X-Men. So, not that his intention matters, but did Stan Lee intend for Iceman to be gay? Well, the BBC asked him about it shortly after Iceman came out, and Stan Lee was very surprised — he wasn’t reading the comics anymore because his eyesight had deteriorated. He says in the interview, “I didn’t really have any gay characters, or if they were gay, I didn’t play up the fact.” Honestly, it seems from these first two chapters that both points are debatable. He certainly didn’t object to it.

Next week, we’ll take a look at the first Roy Thomas run.

Where to find these issues: Everything in this post is available on Marvel Unlimited. The X-Men issues are collected in X-Men Epic Collection Vol 1 – Children of the Atom.

The dominant story of 2020 has obviously been the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has drastically upended global economies and societies, but LGBT rights have made some progress around the world in this hell year, too. In fact, in some cases we’ve actually seen progress caused by the pandemic. But in many countries we’ve simply seen stasis, as legislatures and courts shut down for large parts of the year to contain the spread of the virus, and governments redirected their efforts to emergency relief.

These are the main highlights of 2020:

Same-Sex Marriage law came into effect: Costa Rica, Northern Ireland (UK), Sark (UK)
Same-Sex Marriage law passed: Switzerland (pending possible referendum), Mexican states of Puebla (codification), Tlaxcala
Same-Sex Marriage law introduced by government: Andorra
Civil Union law passed: Montenegro, Cayman Islands (UK)
Civil Union law proposed by government: Kosovo, Thailand
Significant anti-discrimination/hate crime laws passed/extended: Barbados, Marshall Islands, North Macedonia, Switzerland, United States; Italy (awaits Senate passage)
Sodomy Decriminalized: Angola (signed; comes into effect in 2021), Bhutan (awaits royal assent), Gabon

I usually present a table here of the populations of all the equal marriage countries, but since the newly legalizing countries add less than 1% to the total, suffice it to say that the 29 countries where same-sex marriage is currently legal are home to around 1.27 billion people.

But there were also significant developments around the world, which I’ll cover in this article, broken down by continent.

THE AMERICAS

Canada: Much of the legislative agenda in Canada simply ground to a halt during the pandemic as Parliament and provincial legislatures were shut down or only holding emergency debates through much of the year. Nevertheless, the government’s main priority for LGBT people – a ban on “conversion therapy” – made a little progress this year.

“Conversion therapy” on minors was already banned by regulations or laws in Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. They were joined this year by Yukon and Quebec, the latter of which passed a more extensive ban that applied to adults as well. The federal government has proposed its own ban, which would impose criminal penalties on various activities around “conversion therapy,” banning advertising or profiting from it, or forcing a minor or vulnerable person to go through it. The distinction is that in Canada, only the provinces may regulate business and health activities, while only the federal government may amend criminal law. The federal bill has broad support in Parliament, but has run up against how few days Parliament has sat (and it will likely face some opposition in the unelected Senate, which is sitting even less than the House and is substantially holding up all legislation). There is also a significant chance of an election in 2021.

There was no progress on the federal government’s other major promise to LGBT Canadians dating back to 2015 – ending the ban on blood and tissue donation from men who have sex with men.

United States: The headline this year is obviously Donald Trump’s loss of the presidential election to Joe Biden, who takes office Jan 20. While it’s likely that Biden will face difficulty enacting his agenda in a divided Congress – even if Democrats win two seats in the Georgia runoff Jan 5 – Biden has already announced sweeping actions he will take to promote LGBT rights through executive actions, including repealing the ban on trans military service, promoting LGBT rights abroad, and recognizing LGBT families for immigration and refugee resettlement. He has also prioritized passing the Equality Act for LGBT non-discrimination within 100 days, though again, that faces an uphill climb in the Senate.

Also important, the US Supreme Court found in a 6-3 ruling that current federal anti-discrimination law bans discrimination against LGBT people under the ground of “sex.” The ruling applied immediately only to federal employment discrimination claims, but it’s easy to see how the ruling extends to other statutes that ban sex discrimination in housing and accommodations, including possibly at the state level, but we’ll have to see how states and other courts will apply it. The court also refused to take up cases seeking a right for states to discriminate against LGBT parents on birth certificates, but did hear a case seeking a broad religious right to discriminate against LGBT couples in adoption cases, on which a ruling is expected in 2021.

At the state level, we saw Nevada become the first state to repeal its constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Voters in Alabama also decided to begin the process of amending their constitution to remove outdated or unconstitutional language – we’ll see if that includes the marriage ban. The Maryland legislature repealed the state’s law against sodomy, but oddly preserved the law banning oral sex. 14 other states still have these defunct sodomy laws still on the books.

Virginia and Utah banned conversion therapy, though Utah’s ban is by regulation, bringing the total to 20 states plus DC that ban it. 15 municipalities across the country also passed conversion therapy bans, bringing the total to 83. A federal court struck down two local conversion therapy bans as unconstitutional, but appeals have already been filed. Virginia also passed a suite of pro-LGBT laws, including a comprehensive discrimination ban and a hate crime law, and adding a gender X option to drivers’ licenses.

The Turtle Mountain Band in North Dakota is the latest Native American tribal nation to legalize same-sex marriage.

Mexico: LGBT activists faced a lot of frustration this year, but they did get equal marriage passed in Puebla and Tlaxcala states (the former codifying an earlier court ruling); bringing the total states where same-sex marriage is legal to 19 + Mexico City (including five states where the laws have not yet been brought up to date with judicial or administrative decisions). Activists were frustrated by votes in Baja California, where the legislature took multiple votes and fell 1 vote short of the 2/3 needed to pass a constitutional amendment to legalize, and in Guerrero and Sonora, where bills died or were not brought to vote. The Sinaloa state congress did not take up an equal marriage bill despite a court ruling in 2019. The state of Mexico passed a conversion therapy ban but refused to vote on an equal marriage bill. The federal congress is also still sitting on final amendments to a bill it passed in 2018 to federally recognize same-sex marriage for purposes of accessing social security. Various Supreme Court appeals have been filed against Veracruz and Yucatan states seeking access to same-sex marriage.

Belize: The government’s announced plan to introduce an anti-discrimination law sparked protests across the country led by bad faith actors. The government withdrew the bill. The bill was in part a codification and extension of the 2016 ruling that struck down Belize’s sodomy law and found that the constitutional ban on sex discrimination included a ban on sexual orientation discrimination. The government’s final appeal of that decision was lost on Dec 30, 2019.

Costa Rica: The 2018 ruling for same-sex marriage came into effect in May 2020.

Panama, Honduras, El Salvador: All three states have pending cases seeking same-sex marriage at their constitutional courts. An effort by the government of Panama to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage was stalled after massive protests by people who recognized it as a smokescreen for a power grab.

Cuba: Planned debate over a new Family Code, which was to include same-sex marriage, was deferred initially due to the pandemic, but revised schedules have it off Congress’ agenda in 2021 as well.

Haiti: In June, the President introduced a new Penal Code by decree, which takes effect in two years, unless Parliament overrules him. Reports that the new Penal Code, which was heavily inspired by French and Belgian penal codes, included an anti-discrimination provision sparked protests from bad-faith actors who suggested it legalized same-sex marriage. I haven’t been able to track down an actual copy of the new Penal Code to analyze the language myself, but reports say this isn’t true. The new code also includes a hate crime law and repeals a vagrancy law that had been used to harass trans people. So far, the government has not backed down.

Barbados: Barbados is one state where COVID may have actually hastened progress on LGBT rights. When the government introduced an immigration scheme to encourage foreign workers to come to Barbados to self-isolate and telecommute, it was instantly criticized for regulations that initially barred same-sex couples from applying together. The PM hastily had the criteria edited to allow same-sex couples to be recognized for the program’s purposes and then doubled down by swiftly passing a law that bans sexual orientation discrimination (but not gender identity discrimination, to the consternation of the island’s most prominent LGBT activist, a trans woman). In September, the government tripled down, announcing plans to pass civil union legislation and possibly hold a referendum on same-sex marriage. Reports suggest a repeal of the sodomy law will be included with the civil union legislation and/or other sweeping criminal justice reforms. A court case seeking repeal of the sodomy law is also pending.

Cayman Islands/Bermuda: When the Cayman Islands legislature voted down the government’s domestic partnership bill, which its Court of Appeal had ordered it to pass, the Governor stepped in and passed a civil partnership bill by reserve powers in September 2020. An appeal of the court’s decision upholding the marriage ban has been filed to the Privy Council in February. The Bermuda government’s appeal of its Court of Appeal’s equal marriage decision will be heard at the Privy Council in February – it is possible that the Privy Council’s decision may impact or at least influence equal marriage battles in the other UK territories: Turks and Caicos, Anguilla, Virgin Islands, and Montserrat.

Curacao: An equal marriage bill submitted in 2019 remains before the Estates of Curacao.

Jamaica: The Interamerican Commission on Human Rights found that Jamaica’s buggery and gross indecency laws violated human rights and called on the government to repeal them.

A coordinated set of court cases seeking decriminalization of sodomy was launched last year and remains pending in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis.

Venezuela: Chaos still rules the political landscape in Venezuela. After legislative elections boycotted by the opposition, President Maduro called on the newly elected, government-friendly Assembly to pass a same-sex marriage law next year.

Bolivia: The civil registry finally agreed to register a same-sex couple as being in a “free union” – an arrangement distinct from but equal to marriage in effect. It’s unclear at this point if this decision set a precedent for other couples, but activists have vowed to use the ruling to press for further legislative change.  

Chile: In January, the Senate took the first steps to advance a long-stalled same-sex marriage bill, but it has made no other progress. Nor has a separate bill to allow LGBT couples in civil unions to adopt children. In June, the Constitutional Court vote 5-4 to reject a petition seeking a right to same-sex marriage.

Peru: The Constitutional Court rejected 4-3 a case seeking recognition of a foreign same-sex marriage.

EUROPE

United Kingdom: The equal marriage bill passed last year by Parliament for Northern Ireland came into effect, and Parliament expanded it this year to allow existing civil partnerships to be converted in marriage. Final approval and effect for Sark’s equal marriage bill also come into effect, so now all territories associated with the UK in Europe allow same-sex marriage. There remain five British Overseas Territories that do not allow same-sex marriage, all in the Americas: Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, Anguilla and Montserrat. The Bermuda government’s appeal of its Court of Appeal decision upholding the right to same-sex marriage will be heard by the Privy Council in February 2021.

Switzerland: Switzerland’s long, torturous path to equal marriage appears to be approaching its end. In December, the federal Parliament finally passed its same-sex marriage bill that was first introduced in 2013. The far-right party immediately launched a campaign to have the bill subject to a referendum, and they have until March to collect 50,000 signatures to force the issue. Nevertheless, public opinion polls suggest that any referendum to overturn the law will be doomed to fail. Switzerland also passed a suite of other pro-LGBT laws this year. The marriage law includes automatic co-parentage and the right for lesbian couples to access IVF. A comprehensive anti-discrimination and hate crime bill was also passed and survived a referendum in February. And trans people were given the right to change their legal gender based on self-determination.

Liechtenstein: The microstate between Switzerland and Austria began talking about same-sex marriage after the Swiss parliament passed equal marriage this year. Governing parties appear reluctant to debate it but seem to believe it’s an inevitability. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for Feb 2021, after which it’s more likely we’ll see real debate. Previously, the Prince has expressed opposition to allowing same-sex marriage and couple adoption. Late last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the ban on LGBT couple step-child adoption was discriminatory, although this opinion was advisory only. 

Andorra: The tiny Pyrenees nation announced in March that it would erase the distinction between civil partnerships and marriage, essentially becoming an equal marriage nation. The bill was tabled in December and will take effect six months after it is passed.

Montenegro: The former Yugoslav state and current EU candidate passed a limited life partnership bill in July, which comes into effect in 2021. It excludes adoption rights.

Kosovo: The breakaway state introduced a new Civil Code in July and announced plans to introduce a civil partnership law. Local LGBT groups expressed disappointment that the proposal would not create equal same-sex marriages.  No bill has actually been brought forward as far as I can tell. US President Trump spent a little energy trying to get Serbia and Kosovo to make peace with each other and break the deadlock on international recognition of Kosovo, but it didn’t go anywhere.

Monaco: The cohabitation (civil union) bill passed last year came into effect. As well, a bill that increased penalties for sexual orientation bias crimes came into effect.

Italy: The lower house of the Italian Parliament passed the country’s first comprehensive anti-discrimination and hate crime law covering sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, and disability. It’s pending in the Italian Senate.

Norway: Parliament amended the hate speech and hate crime law to explicitly protect bisexuals and transgender people.

North Macedonia: After courts struck down last year’s LGBT anti-discrimination and hate speech law on procedural grounds, a new anti-discrimination and hate crime law was passed in October.

Czechia: A same-sex marriage bill that at one time seemed to have momentum didn’t make any progress this year and is not expected to advance until after elections in October 2021.

Germany: A nationwide ban on conversion therapy was passed in May. The government issued an apology for discrimination in the military in September, and a compensation scheme approved by the government is pending in parliament. A bill to recognize automatic co-parenthood remains stalled in the legislature.

Hungary: The ongoing retrenchment of rights in Hungary deepened this year, with the government passing a constitutional amendment banning single people and LGBT couples from adopting. A constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was already in effect. The government also amended its definition of sex to be limited to “sex at birth,” effectively banning recognition of gender change. On the other hand, Hungary did drop its ban on blood donations from MSM this year.

Poland: A retrenchment of LGBT rights was also evident in Poland – though a Liberal, pro-LGBT rights candidate nearly claimed the presidency in 2020. The government has proposed a constitutional amendment and law similar to Hungary’s which would ban LGBT people from adopting children. Some EU members have proposed penalties for Hungary and Poland for violating human rights and rule of law, but no strong actions have been taken as yet.

Russia: A new constitution giving Putin the right to run for President for two more terms was passed in part due to support for new provisions that would constitutionally ban same-sex marriage. Parliament later deferred a proposed bill that would have banned gender change.

Estonia:  While regulations bringing the 2016 civil union law into effect remain in limbo, the new governing coalition agreed with a far-right party to hold a referendum in 2021 to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage. The proposed referendum remains controversial in Estonia, with even the government seemingly unsure if a yes vote would repeal the civil partnership law or force it to finally bring regulations into effect.

Lithuania: A newly elected, openly gay MP has stated that he expects a civil partnership bill to be passed in 2021.

Belarus: The country saw widespread protests after an election widely regarded as fraudulent officially returned President Lukashenko, who has governed since 1994, to power. While the opposition has not been explicitly pro-LGBT, it is expected to be better on human rights and democracy, should it ever be able to take power. A Liberal and pro-EU candidate also won the presidency of Moldova.

France: A bill to allow lesbian couples access to IVF remains before the Senate, with hearings expected in February.

Bosnia: A proposal for civil union legislation in the FBiH remained under study since 2018.

Cyprus/North Cyprus: The Cyprus dispute got even further from a resolution this year after a hardliner was elected president of TRNC. Possible reunification may bring Cyprus’ civil partnership law into effect in the North, as well as the generally stronger human rights protections of an EU member state.

AFRICA

Gabon: After Parliament passed a law criminalizing sodomy for the first time last year, the government did an about face and repealed the law in July, amid strong international criticism (from France particularly).

Sudan: In July, the transitional administration governing the country after the overthrow of the previous authoritarian Islamist regime removed the death penalty and corporal punishment for sodomy, although it remains criminalized. This was part of a broader justice reform that also removed a number of other vice offences. Neighboring Chad eliminated the death penalty for all crimes, however, sodomy remains a crime there, having been criminalized in 2017.

Angola: The 2019 Penal Code, which fully decriminalized sodomy, was finally officially published in Nov 2020, and will come into effect in Feb 2021.

South Africa: Parliament amended the equal marriage law to remove the right of civil servants to refuse to solemnize a same-sex marriage.

Mauritius: A case seeking decriminalization of sodomy is slowly winding its way through the courts. Leave was granted to appeal to the Supreme Court in June.

Namibia: A trio of cases seeking recognition of same-sex marriages have been very slowly winding through the courts since 2017-19. No progress was recorded this year. A sodomy law remains on the books in Namibia too.

Western Sahara: In December, US President Trump announced that the US would recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara. While Morocco’s claim is still disputed by other major powers (and the Western Saharans themselves), if this does eventually become accepted, it would reduce the number of criminalizing states by one.

ASIA

Bhutan: The tiny Himilayan nation’s Parliament finally came to agreement on a new Criminal Code that clarifies that the ban on “unnatural sex” does not include gay consensual sex between adults. It awaits the king’s signature.

Japan: Efforts to get the national government to legalize same-sex marriage before the cancelled 2020 Olympics fell flat, but dozens of local governments passed laws to issue partnership certificates to same-sex couples, bringing the total to 3 prefectures (including Osaka and Gunma, which passed laws this year), and 66 municipalities, with a further 27 municipalities whose laws take effect over the coming year. Additionally, several of these jurisdictions have struck agreements for mutual recognition of their certificates.

Several cases seeking the right to same sex marriage advanced over 2020. A ruling from the Sapporo District Court is expected on 17 March 2020.

Thailand: A civil union bill supported by the Cabinet and an equal marriage bill supported by the opposition are both being debated in parliament. Meanwhile, ongoing pro-democracy protests in the country have also taken on explicit pro-LGBT equality messaging.

China/Hong Kong: A court case seeking a right to same sex marriage was still pending in Hong Kong, but given the increasing crackdown on the city’s separate jurisdiction from Beijing, I wouldn’t hold my breath expecting a good result. Still, smaller victories have piled up in the territory, including a March ruling that the city cannot discriminate against LGBT couples in the provision of public housing.

South Korea: Amid continued failure to pass a nationwide anti-discrimination law, a trans woman was discharged from the military.

Philippines: Two bills seeking to legalize civil unions and ban anti-LGBT discrimination were stalled in congress, particularly as Senate leadership has remained adamantly opposed.

Israel: Political deadlock between the left and right factions in the Knesset ended in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving the right wing with a significant advantage for now, and likely spiking attempts at marriage reform. MKs gave initial approval to a bill to ban conversion therapy. The Supreme Court ruled that LGBT couples must have access to surrogacy. And the city of Tel Aviv announced plans to recognize same-sex marriages, although this won’t have national legal effect, but does allow couples to access municipal services.

India: A number of cases seeking recognition of same-sex marriage under the countries various denominational and nondenominational marriage laws are winding their way through the courts.

Singapore: The High Court dismissed three cases seeking to decriminalize sodomy in March, but the Court of Appeal will hear the case again in early January.

Nepal: The Human Rights Commission called on the government to fully legalize same-sex marriage, repeating calls it has made since around 2008. In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that foreign same-sex marriages must be recognized for immigration purposes.

Kazakhstan: The government announced plans to fully abolish the death penalty.

Malaysia: A test case was filed seeking decriminalization of sodomy.

OCEANIA:

Cook Islands: Parliament continued to defer consideration of the new Crimes Bill, which originally decriminalized homosexuality, but in committee was revised to actually stiffen penalties for homosexuality. The committee has been given numerous extensions to conduct consultations, the latest of which will take it to around May 2021.

Australia: A bill to grant access to surrogacy for LGBT couples in Western Australia has stalled and likely will not pass before local elections. South Australia became the final state to ban the “gay panic” defense in law.  Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory became the first to ban conversion therapy, while a bill in pending in Victoria.

Marshall Islands: I didn’t catch this last year, but the government passed a Gender Equality Act in 2019 which came into force this year. The bill provides explicit protections for women and girls in all areas, including protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity (though as written, it seems to only apply to women!). Its definition of marriage is also gender-neutral.

New Caledonia: Voters decided to remain a part of France in the second of three planned referenda. The next will be held in 2022.

Bougainville: Negotiations continued for the secession of this province from Papua New Guinea. Presumably, it would maintain the PNG criminal code that penalizes sodomy.

My latest short film EXT. TORONTO. NIGHT. has been making the rounds at film festivals across the world, and you can watch it now online at the Reel Out Charlotte Film Festival until Nov 1.

It’s been a weird year for film festivals, as most have been cancelled, postponed or replaced with online festivals due to the ongoing pandemic restrictions. But I’m so proud that this tiny little film has found audiences through festivals all over the world. So far, it’s already screened live at the Giornate di Cinema Queer festival in Rome, Italy and the Perth Queer Film Festival in Australia, and enjoyed an online run at the ImageOut Film Festival in Rochester, New York. We’ve got a few more screenings coming up too!

My hit solo show FIRST DAY BACK is, well, back, in podcast form as part of this year’s Halifax Fringe Festival, and you can listen to it wherever you are in the world!

Although COVID has shut down most live theatre around the world, that’s not stopping the Halifax Fringe Festival from celebrating its 30th anniversary, and I’m so proud to be a part of this year’s festival, streaming online through Bandcamp! FIRST DAY BACK will be available through the Halifax Fringe web site starting September 4.

FIRST DAY BACK follows a group of students who meet in the aftermath of a classmate’s suicide to figure out who’s responsible and find a way to heal. The Toronto production was nominated for two Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Performance.

“Richly thoughtful…Salerno presents each character with emotional truth.”
—Now Magazine

Download the FIRST DAY BACK audio show, starting Sept 4, here.

Ken Whyte is doubling down on his inane attack on the concept of libraries, demanding someone, anyone, to please debate him on his argument that libraries are killing the publishing industry and starving authors. Well, ok, fine, I guess I’m a someone.

The broad strokes of Whyte’s argument are easy to summarize. The publishing industry in Canada is shrinking, and with it, authors’ incomes. Libraries, by allowing, and – merciful heavens – encouraging people to read books (and other media) without paying publishers for it, are exacerbating the problem.

It does seem like a logical conclusion, but it’s full of problematic assumptions.

Before I really dig into this, I have to address the fact that Whyte’s two recent diatribes on libraries are pitched as if they are merely defending the rights of low-earning authors to fair treatment for their works, but are overly preoccupied with the way libraries allow people access to the most popular books and media for free. It doesn’t go both ways. You can’t bemoan that the Toronto Public Library’s 90 copies of Fifty Shades of Grey are taking food out of the mouths of the poet who’s sold 500 copies of her chapbook or the non-fiction author who wrote a detailed history of 19th-century shoemaking in Southwestern Ontario that’s been borrowed once. But then, arguing that E.L. James suffers because of Big Library would be ridiculous.

Ok, let’s deal with the state of the publishing industry and the state of the author. Now, I’m not the head of a fancy publishing house like Whyte. But I have self-published a book, I have another book on the way, and I’m featured in a forthcoming anthology from a Canadian publisher. I’ve also been working as a freelance writer for nearly 15 years and I’m a heavy purchaser and borrower of books. So I have a tiny window of perspective on the problem.

Through that window it seems unlikely that the relatively recent collapse of the publishing industry and authors’ incomes has much to do with public libraries, which have been around for centuries. Here are some more obvious culprits:

• competition from other media, including self-publishers and social media (how many people do you see scrolling Twitter rather than reading a book on the bus these days?)
• the rise of Amazon, which decimated bookstores and squeezed publishers’ margins
• the decimation of the newspaper and magazine industry, which used to provide both great publicity for publishers and ancillary income streams for authors.

I suspect, but can’t be certain, that Mr. Whyte may have some useful perspective on that last point.

Whyte’s rebuttal to these charges is that, well, hey, at least Amazon pays publishers something, whereas libraries pay out “peanuts” to publishers and authors. To which I have to ask: how deep is Whyte’s Stockholm syndrome?

Blaming the free books at libraries for all the ills that descended on the publishing industry when Amazon arrived is the publishing equivalent to locking up the pauper who steals a loaf of bread while bailing out the bankers that collapsed the financial system.

Why stop at books? Libraries still lend out CDs for some reason in 2020. Are they to blame for the collapse of music sales in North America too?

Whyte refuses to see any benefit to the publishing industry from the free nature of the public library system (he does at least concede there is a social benefit to them). To statistics showing that library users buy more books than non-library users, he simply complains that they’re still getting books for free.

(I’ll cop to an early bias here: As a playwright, I’m not counting on sales of my physical play scripts for income. If someone reads my play in a library, great! If they decide to produce it, even better! That’s a much better income stream than the couple of bucks I’d get from a publisher for the book sale. But this doesn’t obliterate the broader point that libraries do foster paying readers. Seriously, any librarians reading this who wanna stock my books, please get in touch!)

He proposes some kind of subscription system for libraries, where heavy users are charged a fee, or people have to pay to borrow the most popular books and DVDs. It’s one of those superficially reasonable arguments that conservatives wheel out every so often only to be laughed out of the room by people who remember that a big company called Blockbuster once existed.

However, I’ll confess that I think there’s merit in Whyte’s idea of a subscription service for heavy readers. But why on earth should the public libraries be running it? Wouldn’t that be an even more egregious attack on the rights of publishers, to have the state not only directly competing with them, but drawing profit from their works?

Wouldn’t it make more sense for publishers to more aggressively target readers with their own subscription services?

Whyte notes that 80 percent of books “read” in Canada are library loans, leaving only 20 percent for the sales market. Let’s leave aside questions about how many of that 80 percent represent actual lost sales, as opposed to:

• books borrowed by the same person multiple times
• books that would have been informally shared between friends and relatives if bought
• books that were picked up on a whim because, hey, free, and then never read
• books that have long gone out of print
• books that were borrowed before later being bought because the borrow whet the reader’s appetite for more

If we really believe that 4/5 books in Canada are borrowed rather than bought, maybe that points to a price problem in Canadian publishing. I mean, look, I’m not a fancy economist. I’m just a voracious reader whose eyes bug out when he sees that hot new hardcover retailing for $39.95 CDN, or the 70-page play or poetry book that retails for $25.

Allow me to divert slightly to a segment of publishing that seems to be figuring this out: comic books. Over the last decade, much of the comic book industry has begun the transition to digital subscription services. Readers can access comics from most publishers through the Comixology app, though some larger publishers like Marvel and DC have created subscription services that open their entire catalogues for a monthly or annual fee. And of course, many of their books are in libraries or on library e-readers, too. Physical books have become (even more) targeted toward the high-end collector market, and publishers and comics shops are dedicating more space to related merchandise like posters, t-shirts, and toys.

And, ok, fair, maybe 2019 Giller Prize winner Reproduction isn’t gonna do killer in the action figure market, but Margaret Atwood is making bank on Handmaid’s Tale merch, and Etsy is jammed with custom Offred figures, signifying a gap in the market. Maybe book publishers just need to finally adapt to the new digital marketplace, to make their products more accessible, and better compete with *waving hands generally in the direction of everything else that draws attention in 2020*. That may mean a lower price point, or offering subscription services that more resemble the way consumers now readily consume music, video, games, and comics, which could ultimately bring in more paying customers.

The publishing industry is obviously wildly diverse and full of authors with wildly diverse motives. But generally, the thing authors crave above anything else is readers. And not just for vanity. Every reader helps an author generate income even if they don’t buy the first book they read. They might buy the next one, or spread the word to someone who does, or hunt down your next article in a magazine, or create demand for licensed products.

Bottom line: If you’re a publisher, don’t blame libraries for their success at courting readers. Ask yourself what you’ve done to drive them there.

Every year it seems that we’re confronted with more and more headlines about the horrible state of gay rights in some corner of the world – even here at home in North America. But as we head into 2020, it’s worth looking back at the tremendous progress queer people made this decade in asserting and achieving our rights clear across the globe.

For the last several years, I’ve posted this annual update on the state of same-sex marriage laws around the world as an extension of my work keeping track of global developments daily on my twitter feed @lgbtmarriage. This year, I’m adding a little tweak to point out the development of laws around LGBT rights over the past decade.

Here were the main headlines this year:

Same-sex marriage

Came into effect: Austria (2017 court ruling)
Passed and came into effect: Taiwan; Ecuador (Supreme Court Ruling); Mexican states Baja California Sur, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi, Nuevo Leon, and Aguascalientes, with codification of court ruling in Oaxaca
Passed into law, coming into effect in 2020: Northern Ireland, Sark, (a 2018 court ruling from Costa Rica comes into effect in 2020 as well)
Court ruling not yet in effect: Mexican state Sinaloa

Civil Unions

Came into effect: San Marino
Passed into law, coming into effect in 2020: Monaco
Supreme Court ruling not yet in effect: Cayman Islands

Criminalization of Homosexuality

Decriminalization: Angola (legislative), Botswana (court ruling), Canada (archaic – legislative)
Criminalization: Gabon, Brunei (came into effect)

Anti-Discrimination

Constitutional ban on sexual orientation discrimination: San Marino

But let’s compare the change over the past decade. At the end of 2009, the only countries with same-sex marriage were the following: Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, and four US states

Over the following decade, we added 21 countries: Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, (most of) Mexico, Denmark (and all territories), the Caribbean Netherlands, Brazil, France (and all territories), Uruguay, New Zealand, UK (plus the Crown Dependencies and most territories), Luxembourg, US, Ireland, Colombia, Finland, Malta, Germany, Australia, Austria, Taiwan, and Ecuador. In addition, international court rulings have supported expanding same-sex couple rights across the Americas and the European Union, while civil society groups have emerged promoting legalization of same-sex marriage across Asia. This decade brought the movement for marriage equality to every part of the world.

The decriminalization movement also saw strong momentum this decade. Since 2010, thirteen countries have erased laws banning same-sex relations: Fiji, Lesotho, São Tomé and Príncipe, North Cyprus, Palau, Mozambique, Seychelles, Belize, Nauru, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Angola, and Botswana. In addition, Bhutan and the Cook Islands have advanced decriminalization bills that are expected to pass in 2020. We also a slight retrenchment, as Chad and Gabon criminalized same-sex relations for the first time, South Sudan was created with criminal penalties from the start and a few states like Brunei, Nigeria, and Uganda introduced stiffer penalties for them. Still, the total number of criminalizing states shrank by about one-seventh compared to 2009. And with India decriminalizing, the total number of people living in criminalizing states shrank by more than half.

It is entirely possible that within the near future, there will be more equal marriage countries (currently 29) than criminalizing states (currently 70).

What does the next decade look like for same-sex marriage and LGBT rights?

Well, the project to achieve equal marriage appears largely complete in Western Europe and the Anglophone settler countries. The next decade will likely see same-sex marriage become more mainstream in these countries, including through cleaning up family codes to provide true equality to families and legalizing full LGBT couple adoption in the few places that don’t allow it. We’ll likely also see equal marriage extended to the few territories here that don’t have it: Switzerland, Italy, the European microstates of Andorra, Liechtenstein and Monaco (though the latter two will likely await a change in their royal houses), plus the UK’s territories in the Caribbean, and American Samoa.

I imagine we’ll see equal marriage campaigns make progress in Eastern European states, especially those that are members or aspiring members of the European Union. Already, strong equal marriage movements exist in Czechia and Slovenia, many of these states recognize some form of civil union, and discussion around LGBT couple rights has become commonplace. It’s entirely possible that by the end of the decade, the EU itself could determine that marriage is a fundamental right that must be protected.

In the Americas, where more than 80% of the population already lives in an equal marriage jurisdiction, we’ve only begun to see the fallout of the 2018 Interamerican Court of Human Rights decision on same-sex marriage and trans rights, with decisions in Costa Rica and Ecuador enforcing it. We’ll likely see the decision take root in much of the rest of Latin America (and some Caribbean states that accept the jurisdiction of the court) through the 2020s. Cuba and Chile already have strong equal marriage movements that could bear fruit in the next couple of years.

In the Anglo Caribbean, we’ll probably see many, if not all, of these states decriminalize homosexuality through the pending court cases that have already been filed. While these states are tiny, they are 1/7^th of the world’s criminalizing countries. Meanwhile, I suspect Dutch Caribbean countries Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten could be the most likely of the small islands to legalize next, although reports from there are hard to come by.

The real place to watch in the 2020s will be Asia. Will the Taiwanese equal marriage decision be a one-off? I don’t think so, given the vocal LGBT rights movements that have sprung up across the region in its wake. I would wager Japan and Thailand are the most likely places to legalize same-sex marriage (civil partnerships are up for a vote in the latter in 2020). Movements have also gained momentum in India, China, Bhutan, Nepal, South Korea, Philippines, and Cambodia. These are nowhere near mainstream yet, but then again, it wasn’t a mainstream opinion ten years before Obergfell in the USA. I would also wager that criminal laws against homosexuality will disappear for good in places like Sri Lanka, Singapore, Myanmar and Bhutan (already scheduled for a vote in the latter). The UN’s successful repeal campaign in the Pacific region will also continue to bear fruit, I think. The seven Oceania states that criminalize homosexuality are 1/10^th of the criminalizing states.

Africa remains a real longshot to see same-sex marriage take root. There are cases in Namibia and Mauritius and we’ll see how they shake out. I suspect we’ll see some states repealing criminalizing laws and other states entrenching them more deeply, but it’s impossible to predict right now. Court cases in Kenya and Mauritius for decriminalization are ongoing, and there had previously been active campaigns seeking decriminalization in Malawi, Morocco, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe. But for the most part, the future in Africa is unclear.

For now, the total population living in same-sex marriage looks approximately like this:

United States (including Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands; excluding American Samoa)	327,847,797
Brazil	209,567,920
Mexico	128,632,004
Germany	80,716,000
United Kingdom (including Isle of Man, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Bermuda, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Pitcairn Islands, Akrotiri & Dhekelia, St. Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, UK Antarctic territory)	67,924,003
France (including all territories)	66,842,000
South Africa	54,978,907
Colombia	48,654,392
Spain	46,064,604
Argentina	43,847,277
Canada	36,286,378
Taiwan	23,550,077
Australia	23,702,300
Netherlands (including Caribbean Netherlands, excluding Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten)	17,000,059
Ecuador	16,385,450
Belgium	11,371,928
Portugal	10,304,434
Sweden	9,851,852
Austria	8,504,850
Denmark (including Greenland and Faroe Islands)	5,764,423
Finland	5,523,904
Norway	5,271,958
Ireland	4,713,993
New Zealand (excluding territories)	4,565,185
Uruguay	3,444,071
Luxembourg	576,243
Malta	446,547
Iceland	331,778
TOTAL	1,262,670,332

 

The Americas

Up to 2009: Canada, four US states
2010-2018: USA, (most of) Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, French territories, Caribbean Netherlands, Bermuda, Greenland;
Civil unions in Chile and Aruba
Updates in 2019: Ecuador, Mexican states Baja California Sur, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi, Nuevo Leon, Aguascalientes, and the Supreme Court of Cayman Islands finds for civil unions (not yet in effect)

Looking ahead to 2020: A court ruling for equal marriage in Costa Rica comes into effect no later than May 26; Court rulings are pending in Chile, Honduras, Panama and Peru; the Judicial Committee of the UK Privy Council may hear appeals in the Bermuda and Cayman Islands marriage cases that may spell the fate of marriage bans in five remaining UK territories that do not have same-sex marriage; a bill may yet advance through Chile’s legislature.
Court cases seeking decriminalization of same-sex relations have been filed in Jamaica, Barbados, St Dominica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Through the 2010s, the vast majority of people living in the Americas saw their countries legalize same-sex marriage, as the biggest countries in the hemisphere all swung in favor. In addition, a 2018 ruling by the Interamerican Court of Human Rights, a super-national court whose decisions are binding on several other states in the Americas came down in favor of equal marriage and trans rights. States have been slow to accept the ruling (the IACHR has no enforcement mechanism of its own), but we’ve already seen courts in Costa Rica and Ecuador enact the decision locally.

Here are this year’s main developments:

Ecuador: The Constitutional Court began hearings into same-sex marriage in March 2019, in part spurred on by the 2018 IACHR ruling. A decision was announced quickly in June 2019 and took effect on publication July 8. Reactions from politicians, including the president, have been largely supportive. Previously, Ecuador had only civil unions for same-sex couples, but that was considered rather radical when they were enacted in 2008. It is not currently clear if same-sex married couples may adopt, though recent court decisions suggest the courts may lean toward at least co-parent recognition.

(In all of the maps in this section, Light Green signifies the country is under the jurisdiction of the Interamerican Court of Human Rights and must eventually abide by its decision on equal marriage; Yellow signifies that the country has a criminal prohibition against homosexuality (though not enforced); and Red signifies the constitution is interpreted to ban same-sex marriage.)

Costa Rica: Politicians have failed to legislate for equal marriage in advance of last year’s Supreme Court ruling taking effect, but that’s not to say there haven’t been developments and drama. In February, new guidelines were published allowing same-sex couples access to a housing allowance, anticipating the new laws. Meanwhile, conservative lawmakers tried to pass a ban on same-sex marriage in defiance of the ruling, allowing LGBT civil unions only. The attempt failed. The Supreme Court ruling takes effect May 26, 2020.

Mexico: The progressive wave that swept through Mexican states in 2018 elections had a little more luck this year, but also some stumbles. Equal marriage bills passed in Baja California Sur, Hidalgo, and San Luis Potosi. Courts issued acts of unconstitutionality (strikedowns of laws that are only allowed in rare circumstances in Mexican law) in Aguascalientes and Nuevo Leon. [EDIT: Oaxaca also passed a bill codifying a 2018 court decision for equal marriage into law, and some municipalities in Baja California reduced the extra administrative work required for same-sex marriage]. Votes to legalize same-sex marriage failed in Yucatan (multiple times!), Zacatecas and Sinaloa, but in the latter, a very recent court ruling seems to have ordered the legislature to reconsider – which leaders are saying they will do in early 2020. Meanwhile, the national MORENA party has proposed a constitutional amendment that would compel all states to legalize same-sex marriage within three months if passed. We’ll keep an eye on this in the new year, however bear in mind that LGBT couples do have access to marriage through a rather elaborate and expensive legal process even in states where it is not officially legal. In total, 18 out of 31 states and Mexico City provide legal same-sex marriages in law. We may also expect further states to pass marriage equality bills on their own in the new year, particularly Baja California, Puebla, Mexico State, and Veracruz where discussions were ongoing all year.

Chile: A same-sex marriage bill that has been stalled in the legislature since 2016 saw renewed interest in 2019, as the President of the Senate insisted it would be brought forward for debate. There appears to be a majority in support of the bill in both houses, though the President has stated his clear opposition and threatened a veto. The Chilean LGBT group Movilh, has brought a complaint to the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights, which had brokered a friendly settlement between Movilh and the previous government that was predicated on legalization. Progress on the bill has stalled, perhaps in part due to civil unrest in the country.
Meanwhile, a case seeking same-sex marriage is winding its way through the courts: After the Court of Appeals refused to hear the case in January, the Supreme Court intervened and ordered it to hear the case in February. We’ll keep watching all the developments here.
Fun fact: Chile is the only country with a territorial claim to Antarctica without same-sex marriage, so it’s the last holdout on that continent (besides Argentina, UK, France, Norway, Australia and New Zealand). Easter Island in Polynesia would also be affected by any equal marriage law in Chile.

Cuba: After much debate, the new Cuban constitution neither enacted nor banned same-sex marriage in the country. The government has suggested that same-sex marriage will be included in revisions to the country’s Family Code, expected to be put to referendum in early 2021, following consultations in 2020.

United States: The Bay Mills Indian Community, the Colorado River Indian Tribes, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe updated their local laws to allow for same-sex marriage (most of the more than 500 Indigenous nations of the US operate under their own marriage law, although many recognize any legal marriage performed in the US).
A federal court decided for the first time that American Samoans are US citizens by birth, not “US Nationals.” The reason this is important is that this unique distinction is the reason why the 2015 Supreme Court decision for equal marriage has not been applied to American Samoa. We shall see how the courts and governments interpret the decision. If it stands, it would seem to be an open and shut case for a local to bring a challenge in court for equal marriage. It is the last remaining US territory without equal marriage.

Canada: After years of delay, Canada finally updated its Criminal Code to remove archaic laws that had been used to target queer people. These included a differential age of consent for anal sex (already struck down in several provinces), and other offences related to vagrancy and bawdy houses. An “indecent acts” offence remains on the books after Parliament had been assured that the offence is so limited as to not specifically target queer people, but rather public and abusive sexual behavior. Decriminalization of homosexuality began in 1969, when buggery was removed from the criminal code.

El Salvador: The Constitutional Court agreed to hear a same-sex marriage case in August.

Panama, Honduras: Same-sex marriage cases are pending in these countries’ constitutional courts, for several years.

Venezuela: No progress amid the ongoing political chaos on the country.

Peru, Paraguay: Upcoming elections have included discussions about same-sex marriage, which hints that the public is opening up to the idea. I would be surprised if any real change comes in the new year though. A court case in Peru is seeking recognition of marriages performed abroad.

[EDIT: Curaçao: Two MPs submitted a same-sex marriage bill to the Estates of Curaçao, but the bill has not been brought up for a vote or debate as far as I can see.]

UK Territories: Bermuda’s legal ban on same-sex marriage was struck down by the courts last year, though the decision is being appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The Cayman Islands High Court ruled in favor of equal marriage in February, but the Court of Appeal overturned the decision in November. The Appeal Court ruling called on the government to instead pass a civil partnership law equivalent to marriage, but did not impose a deadline. The petitioning couple was considering an appeal to the Privy Council as well. Whatever the Privy Council decides will likely impact the remaining UK territories without equal marriage, all in the Americas: Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, Anguilla, and Montserrat. The case will likely be heard in the new year, and the court will have a few options: impose equal marriage, impose civil partnerships (perhaps with a deadline, or a threat to impose equal marriage), or do nothing at all. If I had to guess, I’d say civil partnerships are the most likely result. A possible monkey wrench is that the UK government itself could step in and impose either equal marriage or civil partnerships, as Parliament had hinted it was willing to do earlier this year when it issued a report calling on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to do just that (and when it imposed those laws on Northern Ireland). However, the makeup of Parliament has changed significantly since then.

Anglo Caribbean: Following successful court cases striking down sodomy laws in Belize (2016) and Trinidad and Tobago (2018), LGBT activists across the Caribbean organized a campaign to file court cases challenging sodomy laws in the other former British colonies in the region. The campaign has been supported by Canadian activists including the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and law students at the University of Toronto, as well as local groups and Lawyers Without Borders. These nine states are the only Western Hemisphere countries that still criminalize same-sex relations (though a vague statue against cross-dressing stands in Haiti).

A court case in Jamaica has been pending and subject to delays in local courts since 2015. The IACHR announced a review of the laws in 2018. This year, a local activist has also petitioned the IACHR to rule in favor of same-sex marriage on the island. The Interamerican Commission heard the sodomy law challenge in November and is expected to rule in the new year. A separate case seeking equal marriage was also filed in local Jamaican courts this year.

A case filed at the IACHR by three LGBT people from Barbados in 2018 saw the beginnings of action. The Commission called on the state to file a response in July 2019. There is no word yet on how the government responded, though the government has insisted it will defend the law. (Hey Rihanna, any chance you could help out your gay fans by calling on your country’s government to do better?)

A gay man who wishes to remain anonymous filed a case against Dominica’s sodomy and gross indecency laws in June 2019, which is pending.

After a well publicized murder of a man perceived to be gay in February, and the suicide of a gay teen in March, Saint Lucia’s Justice Minister and many local religious leaders called for a review of the buggery law. The country had its first pride parade in August. Saint Lucia is one of the countries targeted for a sodomy law challenge, though no case has yet been filed.

Two gay men who are living elsewhere as refugees filed a challenge to the sodomy law in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in July 2019. The Prime Minister has suggested that if the law fails here, similar laws will tumble across the Eastern Caribbean, as they all have the same general foundation.

Guyana’s local LGBT group SASOD said in May that it hoped the government would repeal the sodomy laws, following successful discussions with the Legal Affairs Ministry. Guyana’s ban on cross-dressing was struck down by the Caribbean Court of Justice in 2018.

Cases have not yet been filed (or publicized) in Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada.

In a late breaking development, on Dec 30, 2019, the Belize Court of Appeal upheld the 2016 decision that both struck down the criminal provisions against homosexuality and that found that “sexual orientation” is included under “sex” in the list of categories upon which people may not be discriminated against under the Belize constitution. The government has not yet indicated if it will pursue a further appeal (it had only appealed the discrimination portion of the case previously) to the Caribbean Court of Justice, Belize’s final court of appeal. While the Caribbean nations’ justice systems aren’t directly linked, this decision likely throws more weight behind the other pending cases.

Europe

Up to 2009: Netherlands, Belgium, Spain Sweden, Norway
2010-2018: Portugal, France, Iceland, UK (minus Northern Ireland, but including Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Akrotiri and Dhekelia), Ireland, Germany, Malta, Luxembourg, Denmark (and Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland
Civil unions in Andorra, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein
Updates in 2019: Austria (came into effect Jan 1), Northern Ireland (comes into effect in 2020); Sark (UK Crown Dependency; comes into effect in 2020); Civil unions become law in San Marino, Monaco (comes into effect in 2020)

(Europe in 2009 vs 2019: Dark Blue = equal marriage, Light Blue = civil unions, Mauve = very limited recognition of foreign same-sex partnerships; NOTE: these maps imply no judgement on the territorial disputes involving Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, and Georgia; they’re just the maps I pulled from Wikipedia and slightly modified)

Looking ahead to 2020: Switzerland’s years-long debate on same-sex marriage is expected to come to law in 2020, following elections that saw pro-equality forces win a larger majority this year. It’s unclear if a referendum will be held on the issue. A marriage bill has stalled in Czechia, but could still be revived in the new year. San Marino may see the issue come up as well.

Austria: A constitutional court ruling in 2017 came into effect Jan 1, 2019. The right-wing coalition government had initially opposed the ruling, but did pass enabling legislation. A bill was passed specifically to allow people from countries that do not allow same-sex marriage to marry in Austria. However, the law currently requires LGBT couples who’d married abroad prior to 2019 to divorce and remarry to have the marriage recognized in Austria.

UK: The minority parliament managed to pass a bill in October legalizing same-sex marriage (and abortion) in Northern Ireland – the only part of the UK not to allow it. The bill takes effect 13 January 2020, though due to the waiting period, the first marriages are expected to occur around Valentine’s Day.
The tiny Crown Dependency Sark (pop 600, a dependency of the dependency Guernsey) passed a bill for same-sex marriage in December. It has to be approved by the UK Privy Council (expected in February 2020) before it can take effect. It was the last remaining territory in Western Europe (other than the Vatican) to recognize same-sex couples.
Gibraltar amended its Marriage Act to remove the right of registrars to opt out of solemnizing same-sex marriages.
As discussed in the section on the Americas, courts in the Cayman Islands held that same-sex marriage is not required by law, but civil partnerships are. The case, and another case from 2018 in Bermuda, will likely end up before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 2020, which will likely determine the fate of equal marriage in the UK’s other holdout territories: Anguilla, Montserrat, Virgin Islands, and Turks and Caicos. During the minority Parliament, a committee had also called on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to impose an equal marriage law on all territories by an order-in-council (similar to how the UK decriminalized sodomy in those territories in 2000), but it’s not clear how the new government intends to proceed on the issue (if at all).

Monaco: After years of debate, Monaco’s legislature unanimously passed a civil unions bill despite the threat of veto by the country’s Prince. You may have thought Monaco was a constitutional democracy with a figurehead prince like the UK, but in fact, the Prince wields extensive legislative and executive power derived from his divine monarchical rights through the Catholic Church (this is the same reason Liechtenstein won’t have same-sex marriage or adoption any time soon). For years, he had opposed recognizing LGBT couples and had proposed a compromise that recognized them as being essentially equal to siblings or cousins. The compromise legislation allows family members to form registered relationships, but also creates a civil unions specifically for LGBT couples. The civil union contract provides for limited enumerated rights. It is expected to come into force in mid-2020.

San Marino: San Marino’s civil union law passed last year and came into effect in February 2019.  In March, the country passed a constitutional amendment banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. A 2017 proposal passed by Parliament allowing foreign LGBT couples to marry in San Marino has not yet been enacted, but we’ll keep an eye out to see if it comes up in 2020. (You’d think that constitutional amendment passed this year might also set a precedent for full same-sex marriage rights).

Czechia: A same-sex marriage bill was debated in Parliament in May but appears to have stalled.

Estonia: The Supreme Court ruled that foreign LGBT partners of Estonian citizens may apply for residency rights in June 2019.

Serbia: A lesbian couple filed a legal challenge seeking a civil partnership in July. Prime Minister Ana Brnabić’s female partner gave birth to a son in February.

Romania: Seven couples have brought a case to the ECHR seeking to compel the government to create civil partnerships in compliance with the ECHR’s 2015 decision Oliari v Italy. [EDIT: A civil partnership bill failed in the legislature in 2019]

[EDIT:

Lithuania: In January, the Constitutional Court affirmed the right of foreign same-sex spouses to reside in Lithuania, in compliance with the 2018 European Court of Justice ruling.

Poland: In February, an administrative court found that while a same-sex couple married in Portugal could not register their marriage in Poland under current law, the constitution does not prevent the government from amending the law to allow it. Most scholars had previously considered Poland’s 1997 constitution to have an iron-clad same-sex marriage ban. As both partners were Polish, the ECJ ruling on recognizing foreign spouses did not apply.

Montenegro: A civil partnership bill failed in the legislature.

France: A bill to allow medically assisted reproduction for lesbian couples passed the lower house of Parliament, and awaits a vote in the Senate.]

Other developments: The right-wing government that opposes same-sex marriage was reelected in Andorra, effectively keeping the issue down until 2023. The right-wing coalition collapsed in Italy, bringing the centre-left Democrats back to power in Italy, but equal marriage does not appear to be a top-of-mind issue there. A pro-LGBT-marriage president was elected in Slovakia, and while she doesn’t have direct power over the issue, it hints that the issue is opening up there. A right-wing government was elected in Greece, which will likely put the issue off for another four years there. Polls show majority support for same-sex marriage in Andorra, Czechia, Italy, Slovenia, and Switzerland.

New countries: It seems the momentum has left the Catalonia separatist movement in Spain, but that country remains embroiled in a political crisis at time of writing. Scotland’s separatists have renewed calls for independence in the aftermath of the December election and the upcoming Brexit. Both countries would be born with legal same-sex marriage if they ever become independent. Efforts to reunify Cyprus have continued to run up against a brick wall, so North Cyprus will remain effectively independent for the time being, and thus outside the scope of Cyprus’ civil partnership law, or EU law.

European Union: EU expansion has remained stalled as members dealt with Brexit. But the final deal resolving the name dispute between Greece and North Macedonia has held through a change of government, meaning it may soon begin accession negotiations. EU membership comes with a number of LGBT rights advancements, including recognition of couples for residency purposes. Meanwhile, countries in the EU have gradually been adopting or codifying the 2018 ECJ ruling regarding foreign same-sex spouses’ residency rights.

Africa

Up to 2009: South Africa, Spanish territories
2010-2018: Portuguese, French and UK territories
Updates in 2019: Court case proceeding in Namibia

More important in Africa is the campaign to decriminalize same-sex relations.

Decriminalized 2010-2018: Lesotho, São Tomé and Príncipe, Mozambique, Seychelles
Criminalized 2010-2018: Chad, South Sudan (new country)
Decriminalized 2019: Angola, Botswana
Criminalized 2019: Gabon

Angola: Following years of debate, Angola passed a new penal code that decriminalized gay sex in January. It is the last of the Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) countries to do so.

Botswana: The High Court of Botswana struck down the sodomy law in June, however the government has announced an appeal. The High Court also found that the prohibition on discrimination based on “sex” in the constitution also forbade discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Kenya: The High Court of Kenya upheld the sodomy laws in May, though activists have said they plan to appeal.

Mauritius: A constitutional challenge to the colonial sodomy law had its first hearing in November, with a second hearing scheduled for Feb 18, 2020.

Namibia: In the wake of Botswana’s High Court ruling, several prominent politicians called for the sodomy laws to be repealed. In June, three cases seeking access to legal marriage for same-sex couples (both domestic and bi-national) were brought forward. We’ll keep an eye on this going forward.

Gabon: The small Francophone country passed its first law to criminalize same-sex relations. The penalty is up o 6 months in prison and a 5 million CFA franc fine (nearly $8500 USD).

Morocco: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe called on Morocco to decriminalize same-sex relations. Activists called for a repeal.

Tunisia: An openly gay man announced a run for the presidency in the 2019 elections. Crackdowns on LGBT people continued.

Zambia: The country became a flashpoint after a local gay couple was sentenced to 15 years in prison under the sodomy law. The US Ambassador was recalled after he publicly expressed outrage at the sentence, drawing the ire of local politicians.

Asia-Pacific

Up to 2009: Nada
2010-2018: New Zealand, Australia, French territories, UK territories, US territories (Guam and Northern Mariana Islands only); limited recognition in Israel; limited civil partnerships in parts of Taiwan and Japan
Updates in 2019: Taiwan; limited civil partnerships recognized in China and expanded couple recognition in Hong Kong, limited civil partnership registries expand to more municipalities in Japan.

(In the above map, Dark Blue = equal marriage, Blue = civil unions, Light Blue = limited registered partnerships; Pale Blue = limited partnerships in some municipalities; Purple = foreign marriages recognized; Mauve = limited recognition of foreign marriages; Yellow = criminal prohibition on homosexuality unenforced; Tawny = limits to free expression for LGBT people; Orange = enforced criminal penalty; Dark Orange = unenforced death penalty; Red = death penalty for homosexuality)

Looking ahead to 2020: American Samoa may be forced to legalize same-sex marriage in the wake of a federal court’s citizenship ruling; civil partnership law expected to come to a vote in Thailand; Israel will go to the polls for a third time in twelve months this March, in an election that could bring to power a progressive coalition that favors equal marriage.

The decriminalization movement also had a very successful decade

Decriminalized 2010-2018: India, Fiji, Nauru, Palau, Sri Lanka (law nullified, but not repealed)
Criminalized 2010-2018: parts of Indonesia

India was previously home to more than half the world’s population living in criminalizing states. The court decision decriminalizing it has inspired courts in many parts of the world since, including Trinidad and Tobago and Botswana, to decriminalize (although, notably, the Kenya High Court was not convinced), as many of these countries laws against homosexuality come from the same source – British colonial laws – and use the same language. Notably, it’s also inspired activists and legislators across the region to push to end these laws.

And while Fiji, Nauru, and Palau are tiny countries, they represent about a third of the countries in Oceania that criminalized homosexuality in 2009. The momentum is building.

A similar thing is happening with marriage equality. Whereas very recently it was commonplace to read that marriage equality would never come to Asia, legalization in Taiwan appears to have spurred activists across the continent to push for equality. Equal marriage movements are now well-established in South Korea, Japan, China, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, and India – even if more victories seem far off now.

Taiwan: Amid much drama, in May, the Taiwanese government managed to pass an equal marriage bill ahead of a 2017 court-imposed deadline of May 24, 2019. The bill provides almost total equality, although only stepchild adoption is permitted by same-sex couples. It was a compromise bill, after last year’s referendum saw strong majorities opposed to full equality.

China: Reports emerged this year of great numbers of LGBT couples taking advantage of a 2017 guardianship law to essentially create civil partnerships with very limited rights and legal recognition. Meanwhile, a commission reviewing China’s civil code has received hundreds of thousands of demands for same-sex marriage. While the government appears to acknowledge the demand, it’s considered at this point unlikely to accommodate it in the draft code update to be released in 2020. It goes without saying, but if China legalized, it would be the biggest country in the world to do so, more than doubling the current population living in equal marriage states.

Hong Kong: Court cases seeking equal marriage and LGBT civil partnerships were filed in January, but only the civil partnership case was heard, in May. A separate court case found that LGBT couples married abroad are entitled to spousal and tax benefits in June, and the government has complied.

Japan: Starting in 2015, a handful of municipalities offered partnership certificates to LGBT couples. Although these carry no legal weight, they reportedly can help with certain administrative procedures, like hospital visitation or securing housing. In 2019, the number of municipalities offering the certificates skyrocketed from just 9 to 30, with a further 10 to begin offering them in 2020. In addition, Ibaraki prefecture (one of Japan’s 47 sub-national jurisdictions) began offering them.
Additionally lawsuits seeking equal marriage were filed with the courts in February. Japan’s constitution contains an ambiguously worded definition of marriage that some claim bans same-sex marriage. Support for same-sex marriage was expressed by the Japanese Bar Association in a public letter to the government in June. One of the major opposition parties also supports same-sex marriage, but the government is not expected to face a serious challenge in the 2020 elections. Public opinion is generally considered to be in favor of equal marriage.
One potentially notable event: The government halted the deportation of a Taiwanese man who had overstayed his visa, recognizing his 25-year relationship with a male citizen.

Philippines: A case seeking same-sex marriage was thrown out by the Supreme Court in September. Legislation both for civil unions and “SOGIE” non-discrimination also stalled in the face of opposition from the president of the Senate.

South Korea: The government announced it would recognize the same-sex spouses of foreign diplomats in September. In February, the national human rights commission refused to hear a case of a binational queer couple seeking recognition and residency rights.

Thailand: A civil partnership bill has been approved by the Cabinet, but has not yet been voted on by the legislature. It is expected to pass in 2020. Still, some activists are calling for full equal marriage.

Singapore: Another challenge of the criminal sodomy law was filed in September.

India: Court cases were filed seeking same-sex marriage. One was thrown out in June by the Delhi High Court, which ruled that was up to the legislature to decide. Meanwhile, India passed a trans rights bill that was opposed by many trans activists as it required completed sex reassignment surgery in order for a person’s gender to be changed on official documents. Discussion of gay rights and equal marriage became more commonplace in Indian media.

Bhutan: Taking inspiration from India, the tine Himalayan country Bhutan prepared to decriminalize homosexuality. A bill to strike gay sex offences from the criminal code passed the lower house in June, and awaits a hearing in the upper house (which only sits once every six months) in the new year. In a welcome turn, legislators have said that decriminalization is only the beginning, and they would like to proactively protect LGBT rights, with some discussion already happening around anti-discrimination, hate crimes, and couple recognitions. We’ll keep an eye on this.

Cook Islands: A bill to reform the criminal code, including by striking sodomy offences that date to the colonial period, was introduced in 2017 but has stalled amid much debate. After receiving positive global press, legislators on the select committee reviewing the bill reinserted the sodomy offences and actually made them more severe, criminalizing lesbianism for the first time. While the committee was due to present its work to parliament in February 2020, it just secured another six-month extension to do more consultation, delaying a final vote to August. We’ll follow this to see what happens. LGBT activists from New Zealand (the current nation with which it is in association) have been the most forceful critics of the legislation, and have threatened a tourism boycott.

[EDIT: Australia: Western Australia and Tasmania passed bills removing the requirement that married trans people get a divorce before changing their sex designation (a logical consequence of the 2017 same-sex marriage law). Western Australia also legalized surrogacy for same-sex couples, which takes effect in February 2020.]

Israel: The country has been in a political deadlock after two indecisive elections. A third is scheduled for March 2020. While the governing right-wing coalition is hostile to LGBT rights, the left-wing coalition has been more generally open. While marriage equality hasn’t been a key theme of any of the recent election campaigns, the left-wing coalition historically has supported opening up marriage, especially as it courts religious and ethnic minorities that are barred from marriage under the current laws that do not recognize civil or inter-faith marriages.

Nepal: Still no movement on same-sex marriage after the 2008 Supreme Court decision in favor of its legalization.

Armenia: In November, Parliament rejected a bill to further ban same-sex marriage, as it’s already banned under the constitution and Family Code.

My new short film, INCOMING MISSILE! is finally out! It’s a dark comedy about dating, toxic masculinity, and the apocalypse. Watch it below, or visit us on YouTube, and don’t forget to hit “like” and subscribe!

Read more about the film.

Last year, I wrote a spec script for the hit CW show Arrow, based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow. I’ve been a fan of the show and the wider Arrowverse since it premiered and I would love to work on it some day.

I think I captured the voice of the show while still infusing it with my own style of humor. Unfortunately, events in the back half of last season and the beginning of this season have made my script mostly unusable (it hinges on Oliver Queen still being mayor, and includes characters who’ve since been written out of the show). But if you’d like to take a look at how I write action and where I thought the show might go, check it out below.

Arrow Spec Script “Mr. Miracle” (PDF).

Synopsis: A crime spree centered around a fashionable new drug called “anti-life” puts Team Arrow on the trail of a plot that may involve a visiting circus performer who goes by the name ‘Mr. Miracle.’

The fight for queer relationship equality; where we stand in 2018

Overview:

2018 was a bit of an up-and-down year for the equal marriage movement. While no countries fully extended same-sex marriage rights in the past twelve months, several international developments took place that broadened LGBT rights and set the stage for more victories in 2019 and beyond.

This year saw equal marriage extended for the first time to the UK Crown Dependencies of Alderney and Jersey, the UK territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and a civil union law passed in San Marino – altogether, that’s less than 200,000 new people added to our equal marriage populations chart (and Jersey previously had civil unions). You can just refer to last year’s population chart if you’re interested, since so little changed.

 

EUROPE:

Before 2018: Equal Marriage in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Malta; parts of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Akrotiri & Dhekelia bases); partial implementation in Austria; recognition of foreign marriages in Estonia and Armenia. Civil Unions in: Andorra, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Finland, Germany, Malta, Greece, and Cyprus.

Developments in 2018: Equal Marriage in UK territories Jersey and Alderney; EU court ruling for mutual recognition.

Looking ahead: Czech Republic, Austria, UK (Jersey, Sark, Northern Ireland), Switzerland, Monaco, Romania

EUROPEAN UNION: The European Court of Justice ruled that EU member states much recognize each other’s same-sex marriages when it comes to the mobility rights of EU Citizens, their spouses and families. The ruling impacts several states that recognized neither same-sex marriage nor civil unions: Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania. Estonia already recognized foreign same-sex marriages in practice. The ruling also stands to impact same-sex marriages in several applicant/candidate EU countries: Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina (Turkey’s progress has basically been suspended given the country’s slide into authoritarianism).

UK: Once again, Northern Ireland was locked in a governmental deadlock all year as the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), has continued to see fit to leave Northern Ireland without a government rather than allow equal marriage to pass. The UK government has likewise refused to impose direct rule as the current government depends on the DUP for survival in Parliament. Twin private members’ bills in both houses of Parliament to allow equal marriage in the province have both failed to advance. A bill to allow the civil service to continue the functions of government in Northern Ireland included a directive that the government recognize the same-sex marriage ban as a human rights violation was passed by Parliament, but has thus far not been tested. The Court of Appeal also heard a challenge of a ruling upholding the same-sex marriage ban in March, but has yet to issue a ruling.

Meanwhile, an equal marriage law in the crown dependence Alderney that passed last year came into effect, and crown dependency Jersey passed its same-sex marriage law in May 2018. The remaining crown dependency, Sark (pop. 600) did not have equal marriage on its agenda in 2018. An election in that territory is expected in early 2019.

Other UK territories that passed equal marriage laws in 2018 are Bermuda and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. You can read more about those territories in the section on the Americas. As of now, 9/14 UK overseas territories allow same-sex marriage.

AUSTRIA: On Dec. 5, 2017, the Constitutional Court found that marriage is a fundamental right that must be granted to homosexuals. The ruling took effect immediately for the five petitioning couples, so some same-sex marriages have already taken place in Austria. However, the court gave the government until Jan. 1 2019 to craft a law that would have general effect; after that date, the court’s ruling will strike down the same-sex marriage ban even if the government doesn’t act. The far-right, anti-gay government was not in a rush to act in 2018, but as of Jan 1, it’s officially an equal marriage country.

SWITZERLAND: A long-delayed same-sex marriage bill is expected to be presented to Parliament in early 2019. Also, on Jan. 1, 2018, a new law came into effect allowing couples in registered partnerships to adopt their stepchildren (joint adoption/non-relative adoption is still not allowed). Still, don’t expect neighboring Liechtenstein to act; the principality’s Catholic ruler has said in the past he would veto any laws for same-sex marriage or couple adoption.

CZECHIA: A same-sex marriage bill was introduced in late 2018, and it is expected to be voted on in early 2019. Reports indicate that a majority of the population is in favour, as are a majority of legislators. A step-child adoption bill introduced last year did not advance, but is presumably covered under the marriage legislation.

SAN MARINO: The government finally passed its civil union law, modelled after Italy’s but with the difference that it allows step-child adoption, in December 2018. Legislation to allow foreign LGBT couples to marry in San Marino, as called for by the Grand Council in a motion last year, has not been introduced.

ROMANIA: Romania was at the centre of much equal marriage mobilization in 2018. As discussed above, it was at the centre of the ECJ case in June. Then in September, the Constitutional Court of Romania issued a ruling that found LGBT couples have the same rights to privacy and family life as straight couples, urging the government to create some sort of regime for LGBT couples. Nevertheless, the government went ahead with its long delayed referendum to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in October – that vote failed on low turnout. Following the referendum failure, several MPs introduced a civil unions bill, but it has stalled in Parliament.

MONACO: The government presented its civil partnership bill in April, but the text was much watered-down in terms of the rights it gives partners, and explicitly says the partners do not constitute a family. It has not advanced as of this writing.

ESTONIA: The courts sought to bring clarity to the law in Estonia, where a registered partnership bill was passed in 2016, but without any accompanying regulations to bring it into force (which the current government refuses to enact). The Supreme Court ruled in April 2018 that the law is in fact in force, and that couples can be registered. Courts also clarified an earlier ruling that required Estonia to recognize foreign same-sex marriages by finding in September that this did indeed confer residency rights on LGBT spouses (in compliance with the ECJ ruling).

MONTENEGRO: The country’s human rights ministry drafted a weak civil unions bill that roused anger from both progressives and conservatives. Just this week, the cabinet announced it had approved the draft bill, which, they say, accords queer couples most of the same rights as straight married couples. It will likely be brought before the Parliament in 2019.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: The Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina, (one of three political entities that make up the country Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with Republika Srpska and the Brcko District) passed a motion calling for LGBT civil union legislation. If passed, it would appear that it would only apply to the FBH, the Bosnian-Croat half of the country.

POLAND: A minor party introduced a registered partnership bill; it has not advanced.

SLOVAKIA: The President called on legislators to pass a civil union bill introduced by a minor party. The bill was defeated in September. However, the government did announce it was immediately complying with the ECJ ruling regarding immigration rights for LGBT spouses.

LITHUANIA: After a civil partnership bill was defeated last year, the government was on the cusp of passing a much watered-down cohabitation agreement bill, but that also has not advanced in 2018. The president called on the government to recognize LGBT couples in February.

SPAIN/CATALONIA: Spain’s constitutional crisis following a 2017 vote for independence in its Catalonia province continued. While actual secession looks unlikely right now, if it does secede, it would automatically become a new equal marriage country – and the first one to have it since its creation.

CYPRUS: Hopes for a resolution to the 40-year-old division of Cyprus have continued despite increasingly long odds of a resolution. Talks did not recommence in 2018, though some hope there will be a new round in 2019. The division is relevant because if the country reunites, it’s possible the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, upon ceasing to exist, will become subject to Cyprus’ civil partnership law. It would also be subject to EU law, which would make it affected by the expected ECJ ruling on marriage discussed above.

MACEDONIA: The country’s rapprochement with Greece (after a 20-year-long dispute over its name) following the election of a Western-leaning government, holds promise that the country will be invited to begin EU accession talks soon, which could eventually positively impact LGBT rights in the region. It will hold a referendum in 2019 on changing its name to Republic of North Macedonia in accordance with the agreement.

ANDORRA: An election is expected in March/April 2019. Previously, the opposition Social Democrats had campaigned for same-sex marriage. It remains to be seen if they advocate for it again, and if they win. The Socialists and Greens have a narrow lead in the most recent poll.

ARMENIA: A bill to further ban same-sex marriage – despite constitutional and statutory bans already in place – was rejected by the government in November. It seems that last year’s decision to recognize foreign same-sex marriages still stands, though I’ve yet to find evidence of the policy in practice.

MALTA:  A bill allowing LGBT couples access to assisted reproduction was passed.

FINLAND: A bill extended automatic parental recognition to LGBT couples was passed.

GREECE: A bill allowed LGBT couples to foster children was passed.

 

AMERICAS

Before 2018: Equal Marriage in Canada, US (and territories Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands), Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and twelve states and the capital district of Mexico; plus Greenland (Denmark), Caribbean Netherlands, some UK territories (Bermuda, Falkland Islands) and French overseas territories (St Pierre and Miquelon, Martinique, Saint Martin, Saint Barthelemy, Guadeloupe, French Guyana); limited recognition in Netherlands countries (Saint Martin, Curacao, Aruba); Civil Unions in: Chile, Costa Rica, Aruba (Netherlands).

Developments in 2018: Bermuda yo-yos back and forth, the UK adds South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, while the Interamerican Court of Human Rights drops a grenade.

Looking ahead: Chile, Panama, Costa Rica, Cuba, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bermuda (sigh), Cayman Islands, Mexico.

 

INTERAMERICAN COURT RULING: In January, the Interamerican Court delivered an advisory opinion in a case brought by Costa Rica, that found that member states of the court are obligated under the Interamerican Convention on Human Rights, to recognize same-sex marriage and recognize the rights of trans people to change their gender. The decision sets a binding precedent on most member states, although the court does not have the power to directly enforce it – it requires local courts to interpret its rulings. The states that accept the IACHR’s jurisdiction which do not currently recognize same-sex marriage are: Barbados, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Suriname. However, Dominica, Grenada and Jamaica do not directly apply the jurisdiction of the Court.

In the wake of the ruling… well, it’s been a shitshow. Many countries reacted angrily to the Court’s ruling. None has directly applied the ruling.

COSTA RICA: Costa Rica is the state that kicked off the IACHR case, and may ultimately be the first to apply the decision. A Presidential election that was fought largely over this issue saw the pro-equality candidate win, although with a Congress that is not as supportive. That left it up to the Constitutional Court, which found in favour of equality in August, but didn’t publish the decision officially until November, and gave the government 18 months from that date to pass a law allowing it. If the government doesn’t act before then, it will become legal on May 26, 2020. Meanwhile, the new President passed an executive order allowing gender changes in June, and issued an apology to LGBT people for state persecution in July.

UK Territories Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI): Bermuda was the site of much legal drama this year. After the Senate passed the Domestic Partnership Act revoking equal marriage, the UK-appointed Governor took his time approving it but finally did, to the dismay of many LGBT activists. What followed were two court cases on the island that found the government’s decision was a violation of constitutional protections of freedom of conscience – which is actually a novel argument for same-sex marriage. As the Court of Appeal refused the government’s request for a stay following its decision, equal marriage is once again legal in Bermuda. The government announced it is appealing the decision to the UK Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the highest court in the land. Incidentally, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth office has repeatedly said this year that it will not force equal marriage on its territories.

Some commentators have said that a positive decision from the JCPC could have ramifications for other countries and territories under its jurisdiction (including five other UK territories – Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, and Virgin Islands; one Crown Dependency – Sark; twelve independent countries: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tuvalu, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, and Kiribati; and two New Zealand associated states – Cook Islands and Niue). However, I don’t believe that’s how the JCPC works. Its decisions are based on the legal statutes and constitutions of each particular country – the countries do not share a single constitution that the court is interpreting. Still, its decisions could prove influential in shaping the LGBT rights debates in these countries. We shall see.

(It may be worth noting that many independent Caribbean countries have been rejecting attempts to replace the JCPC’s jurisdiction with the Caribbean Court of Justice in recent years, including both Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada in 2018. We’ll see if they don’t regret that decision.)

In the Cayman Islands, a court case seeking same-sex marriage rights was brought by a bi-national Caymanian lesbian couple. It has yet to be heard.

In the uninhabited SGSSI, the UK government attempted to rewrite history, by declaring in 2018 that same-sex marriage has been legal there since 2014. Regular readers of this blog know that’s false, since just last year, the registrar from the Falkland Islands (which has jurisdiction over the territory) told me same-sex marriage was impossible there. Oh well, it’s academic, because it’s legal now.

CHILE: Congress failed to pass a marriage equality bill in its lame-duck session, and although the new congress has a pro-equality majority, new President Pinera has been in no rush to support it. The bill is essentially frozen, which has elicited a dressing down from the IACHR, to which Chile pledged year ago under President Bachelet to pass such a law. We shall see how it progresses.

MEXICO: Elections in July saw a rather dramatic change occur across the country, as a pro-equality leftist president was sworn in, and his MORENA coalition won an absolute majority in both houses of Congress, and in the congresses of a dozen states where same-sex marriage is currently not legal. Early fears that evangelical members of the MORENA coalition would block marriage legislation have not panned out. The federal government has already passed legislation extending federal rights to LGBT couples (pension and social security rights) and has proposed changes to fully incorporate LGBT marriage into federal law (so couples can get married at embassies and automatically enjoy federal recognition). At the state level, it appears that local legislators are pushing ahead with new same-sex marriage legislation all over the country, and I fully expect to see major progress on this end in 2019. Reports have also emerged that Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo Leon states have achieved the magic number of five consecutive amparos requiring same-sex marriage that could automatically invalidate their state bans, but the invalidation doesn’t seem to have taken effect. I take reports of these “5 amparo” developments with a big grain of salt, because it seems very few people actually understand how the law works in this regard.

PANAMA: A Supreme Court case dating from 2016 still was not resolved as of this writing, though there was some drama surrounding a draft ruling that was released last year and found against equality – it was withdrawn in February. A couple of dates went by in December where we expected to see the ruling, but it didn’t arrive. It is expected the new ruling will take into account the IACHR decision. The Vice President and Attorney General have both said the government must fully comply with the IACHR, but no executive action has been taken so far.

ECUADOR: Following the IACHR ruling, a provincial court in Cuenca, Azuay ruled that the government must recognize LGBT marriages in June, but that ruling was overturned in September by a higher court. In July, the president of the Constitutional Court said that a majority of justices were in favour of same-sex marriage and would likely vote in favour of it. No case has yet been brought to the Constitutional Court.

CUBA: After a change in the presidency, the country spent much of the year debating a new constitution, which included a clause that called for gay marriage. After a backlash from Evangelicals, the clause was altered to be less specific, but leave language vague enough to allow for gay marriage in the future. Mariela Castro, the country’s most prominent LGBT rights activist, says nothing’s really changed, since the language still permits equal marriage legislation, which would need to be passed anyway. She says after the new constitution is passed in a February 2019 referendum, discussions will begin on a new, LGBT inclusive family code, which will probably go to referendum in 2021.

VENEZUELA: Also in the process of drafting a new constitution which could include same-sex marriage. Venezuela is kind of a legislative shitshow right now, with dueling legislative assemblies – the de jure National Assembly, which is controlled by the opposition, and the de facto Citizens Assembly, which is controlled by the government and has been charged with drafting the new constitution. Amazingly, both seem to support same-sex marriage but neither has passed such a law. A Supreme Court case on the issue has not advanced since 2016.

PERU: A case that required the national registry to record a foreign same-sex marriage in 2017 was thrown out by the Supreme Court on a technicality in March, but then an appeal on that decision was held in the Constitutional Court in June. No decision has been announced yet. Some legislators welcomed the IACHR decision, but the government has announced no position on it.

HONDURAS: The President announced his opposition to same-sex marriage, but said it was up to the judiciary. The constitution does explicitly ban same-sex marriage since 2005. In May, a case was filed with the Supreme Court for same-sex marriage and it remains pending.

EL SALVADOR: The Constitutional Court struck down a proposed amendment to the constitution banning same-sex marriage, on procedural grounds. There hasn’t been any news in response to the IACHR ruling.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: There hasn’t been any movement regarding the IACHR’s marriage decision, but the President did issue an order allowing a group of trans people to change their legal gender in June.

BOLIVIA: With no movement from the government after the IACHR ruling, a group of trans activists appealed directly to the IACHR in May to have their relationships recognized. No decision has been made in that case.

PARAGUAY: Following the IACHR ruling, the President announced he would veto any same-sex marriage bill that came to his desk. The country’s LGBT advocacy group announced its intention to file a Supreme Court case for equal marriage.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: The nation’s high court ruled in September that the state’s buggery and indecent acts laws were unconstitutional, becoming the latest nation to decriminalize homosexuality in the region (following Belize in 2016). The Court did not go as far as Belize in finding that the a ban on sexual orientation discrimination must be read into the law. The government has announced its intention to appeal to the JCPC in London – the state’s final court of appeal. Read on the section above regarding UK territories for how this might impact other countries.

Also this year, a court ruled on the dissolution of a same-sex relationship, although this does not seem to have set a precedent so far.

GUYANA: The Caribbean Court of Justice, the state’s highest court, struck down an anti-cross-dressing law on the grounds it discriminated against trans people. A buggery law remains unchallenged.

GUATEMALA: The government reacted very negatively to the IACHR ruling, introducing a so-called “life and protection” bill that further bans same-sex marriage and criminalizes abortion and miscarriage. It is still pending through the legislative process.

CANADA: I didn’t write a year in review for Xtra this year, but here are the highlights. Canada’s House of Commons passed a justice reform bill that sweeps a number of anti-LGBT sections from the Criminal Code, including anal intercourse, vagrancy, and sections relating to bawdy houses. That bill is pending at the Senate. The government’s LGBT apology and expungement act was passed into law. Regulations around assisted reproduction were loosened to the benefit of queer couples, but maintained discrimination against queer sperm donors. Ontario elected a bigot as Premier and he’s set about throwing meat to the base by removing queer people from the sex ed curriculum. Nova Scotia and the city of Vancouver banned conversion therapy on minor; an Alberta MLA announced she’d introduce a bill to do so there, but it hasn’t landed yet.

 

ASIA-PACIFIC:

Before 2018: Equal Marriage in Australia, New Zealand, French overseas territories (French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia), UK overseas territories (Pitcairn Islands and British Indian Ocean Territory), parts of Antarctica (see below), US territories (Guam and Northern Mariana Islands Territory); limited recognition in American Samoa, Israel; civil union in Chilean territory (Easter Island); limited civil partnerships in some Japanese cities, most of Taiwan.

Developments in 2018: An inconclusive Taiwan referendum, limited victories in Hong Kong, more civil partnerships in Japan, decriminalization in (most of) India

Looking ahead: Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong/China, India, Cook Islands.

 

TAIWAN: In May 2017, the Judicial Yuan ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, and said the law would come into effect May 26, 2019 unless the government acted sooner. After stalling for over a year, anti-LGBT groups and pro-LGBT groups collected enough petitions to force competing referendums on the issue in November. The pro-equality side lost badly. It seems the government’s position is that it must respond to the referendum results by passing a law for same-sex ‘marriage’ that is separate from the marriage sections of the civil code but otherwise equal. We have no idea what this would look like now, but the Constitutional Court has already hinted that that would not be in the spirit of its original ruling and that the referendum cannot overrule it. In any event, in five months marriage equality should be the law in Taiwan, making it the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.

HONG KONG: The territory’s Court of Final Appeal upheld an order requiring the government to grant a spousal visa to a lesbian citizen’s British partner. The government is complying with the ruling. In another case, a lesbian has filed a case with the High Court demanding the right to a civil partnership with her partner. The case is expected to be heard in early 2019.

CHINA: As the country moves to modernize its Civil Code by 2020, there have been calls to add provisions for same-sex marriage.

THAILAND: After long delays, the military government approved a civil partnership bill that gives many of the same rights as marriage, including adoption rights, on Dec 25. It will be sent to Parliament, but it appears unlikely to pass before the February elections.

JAPAN: A number of cities added same-sex partnership registries in 2018: Fukuoka, Osaka, Chiba, Toshima, Nakano, Fuchu, Kumamoto, Yokosuka (the latter five all taking effect in 2019). Partnership registries are also under consideration in:  Saitama, Yokohama, Abashiri, Hachiōji, Hannō, Iruma, Kamakura, Kawagoe, Kawasaki, Kazo, Moroyama, Sakado, and the Tokyo wards of Arakawa, Bunkyō, Chiyoda, Chūō, Katsushika, Kita, Kōtō, Nerima, Sumida, and Taitō. A legal challenge demanding access to full same-sex marriage has been announced.

PHILIPPINES: A civil unions bill and a sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination introduced in Congress last year appear to have both stalled. Both look like they will die ahead of May 2019 elections.

SOUTH KOREA: Hopes that a new draft constitution would include same-sex marriage were dashed when the constitutional talks failed.

INDIA: India’s Supreme Court struck down sections of the Indian Penal Code that criminalize gay sex, in a widely expected ruling. India was the largest country by population and area to criminalize LGBT people. An underreported detail, the ruling does not apply to the semi-autonomous disputed territory Jammu & Kashmir, which has its own penal code. It is expected that that should fall under an eventual separate court challenge, however. Some speculate that with the Supreme Court’s ruling, a ruling for same-sex marriage rights can’t be far behind. It certainly doesn’t look like the legislators are touching that though.

ISRAEL: A same-sex civil union bill was introduced, but failed by three votes in its preliminary reading after the government voted against it. The next election is scheduled for April 9, 2019, and the government is currently dominating the polls.

COOK ISLANDS: A revision of the territory’s Crimes Bill, which would strike the sodomy law, has been in consultations since 2017. It appears to have been delayed by elections, but I can’t find evidence that the bill was reintroduced post-elections. The Cook Islands is a sovereign country within the Realm of New Zealand. The South Pacific has been a specific focus of UN action on decriminalization recently, with decriminalization passing in Palau, Nauru, and Fiji this decade. Still to go: Solomon Islands, Samoa, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Tonga, and Papua New Guinea.

NEW CALEDONIA: This French territory’s independence referendum failed in November 2018, but another will be held in 2020. If it passes, and independence is achieved (likely after another couple of years of transition), it would become a new equal marriage country from birth (the first, unless Catalonia beats it).

Speaking of new states, the Bougainville Autonomous Region of Papua New Guinea is meant to hold an independence referendum in June 2019. If successful, it could be a new criminalizing state, unfortunately.

EASTER ISLAND: This Polynesian territory is part of Chile, and would gain equal marriage if Chile’s law passes.

ANTARCTICA: In a strictly academic sense, marriage equality is almost complete in Antarctica, since all of the claiming countries except Chile have passed a same-sex marriage law that applies to their Antarctic claims. However, the claims are not generally recognized internationally, except by each other (and even then, not completely – Argentina, Chile, and the UK claims all overlap). A quarter of Antarctica is not claimed by any country. Many countries have research bases in other countries claimed areas, and in practice, it is the base country’s laws that apply. Australia, France, Norway, New Zealand, UK, and Argentina are all equal marriage countries, and their law applies within their claim areas. Should Chile’s equal marriage bill pass, same-sex couples will have theoretical marriage rights throughout the claimed territory of Antarctica.

 

AFRICA:

Before 2018: Equal Marriage in South Africa, French overseas territories (Reunion, Mayotte), Spanish exclaves Cueta and Melilla; UK territory Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.

NAMIBIA: A court case was brought to force the government to recognize a same-sex couple who were married in South Africa has been pending since December 2017.

ANGOLA: A long-delayed overhaul of the 19^th-century colonial penal code was delayed further in 2018. Though it would eliminate the vague laws banning sodomy, it also would forbid abortion in all circumstances. An MP is also proposing to reintroduce the death penalty. Consultations around the bill are ongoing, and it’s expected to pass in early 2019.

Southern Africa has been a relative hotspot of the decriminalization movement this decade, with victories in Lesotho, Sao Tome & Principe, and fellow former Portuguese colony Mozambique, along with discussions in Malawi and Botswana.

CHAD: It appears that the law criminalizing sodomy did come into effect in 2017, contrary to what I’d previously reported.