2020 in LGBT rights

This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 2020.

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Events

January

• 1 - A law allowing third gender option on driver licenses takes effect in New Hampshire.[1]
• 13 - Same-sex marriage legislation goes fully into effect in Northern Ireland.[2]

February

• 7 - Croatia's top court has ruled blocking gay couples from fostering children is unconstitutional, making fostering legal for gay couples in Croatia effective immediately, by overruling part of a law regarding the foster system introduced in 2018 that barred gay couples from fostering. [3]
• 9 - Switzerland has banned discrimination on the basis of sexuality based on a referendum, putting into effect a law previous introduced in 2018, that was subsequently blocked by the government that requested a referendum to be held on the matter first. [4]
• 11 - In Northern Ireland the first same-sex couple married, after legislation to allow this took affect in January to allow such to happen. Same-sex couples will be able to file for marriage from this day onwards in Northern Ireland. [5]
• 25 - In Israel a change of gender on a passport no longer requires surgery to have occurred and the age for which this change is possible has been lowered from 18 to 16 year old. [6]
• 27 - The Supreme Court of Israel rules that the country's current surrogacy law, which denies access to surrogacy for same-sex couples is discriminatory and unconstitutional, and instructs the government to amend it within one year.[7]

March

• 4
  • In Hong Kong the High Court has struck down discriminatory public housing policies quoting the authority "has not been able to point to any difference between [the applicant’s] marriage and other foreign opposite-sex marriages." and "There is no reason to believe that low-income families constituted by same-sex couples have any lesser need for housing than low-income families constituted by opposite-sex couples without children." This ruling effectively means public housing for families will now be available to Same Sex Couples in Hong Kong, and so long otherwise eligible foreigners who reside in Hong Kong with a valid marriage license above who are in a same-sex relationship. [8]
  • In Virginia the governor has signed a bill into law that bans conversion therapy for minors after it passed in both the Senate and the House. [9]
• 5 - In Washington the governor has signed a bill into law after both the house and senate passed it, to remove the "gay panic defence" as a defence for committing a crime (usually a homicide), making the discovery of someone's sex, gender or sexuality no longer a legally valid defence for committing a crime in the state. Before the passing of this bill, one could claim "reduced capacity" to judge the severity of their actions based on a discovery of sex, gender or sexuality. [10]

April

• 23 - Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Sark.[11]

May

• 4 - In Ireland (female) same sex couples who chose to have a child via a DAHR procedure (Artificial Insemination with a traceable donor) can now both be co-registered as parents of the child, as is also done with this procedure when it's for opposite sex couple. [12]
• 7 - German parliament Bundestag banned nationwide conversion therapy for minors until 18 years and forbids advertising of conversion therapy. It also forbids conversion therapy for adults, if they decided by force, fraud or pressure.[13]
• 9 - In Brazil the supreme court have struck down a law that banned LGBT people from donating blood for 1 year after having sex as unconstitutional. [14][15]
• 21 - Hungary ends recognition of changes of sex for legal purposes including on documents for those who are Transgender and Intersex [16]
• 22 - The president of Zambia has pardoned nearly 3000 inmates that were convicted for Homosexuality in the past decade(s). Homosexuality does remain illegal in Zambia.[17]
• 26 - In Costa Rica same-sex marriages became legal.[18][19][20]
• 27 - In Malaysia which has a dual-track legal system, with Islamic criminal and family laws applicable to Muslims running alongside civil laws. Federal Court of Malaysia has given the go-ahead for a man to challenge an Islamic ban on sex "against the order of nature".[21]

June

• 12 - In USA the Department of Health and Human Services has rolled back an Obama-era executive order which made it so transgender individuals were protected from discrimination in healthcare. This executive order made it so discrimination of the basis of sex also included discrimination of sex-stereotypes in relation to HHS guidelines, effectively making it illegal for healthcare providers and insurance to discriminate against transgender individuals for being transgender. The rolling back of this executive order means transgender people in the US can legally be discriminated against in access and price of healthcare and healthcare insurance on the basis of being transgender.
• 15 - The US Supreme Court extended federal job protections provided to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender workers in 6-3 ruling.[22][23][24] In the case R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that discrimination of employees due to gender identity is prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the case Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia ruled that discrimination of employees due to sexual orientation is prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

July

• 1
  • Montenegro voted to legalise same-sex civil partnerships.[25]
  • In Russia a referendum on more then 200 constitutional amendments resulted in a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.[26]
• 7 - The President of Gabon signed a law decriminalizing same-sex sexual activity in the country.[27]
• 17 - Sudan has lifted the death penalty for Homosexuality. Homosexuality does remain criminalised.[28]

References

1. "Docket of HB669". Retrieved 13 January 2019.
2. "The Marriage (Same-sex Couples) and Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2019". Retrieved 13 January 2019.
3. "Croatia top court says gay couples can foster children". Retrieved 14 February 2019.
4. "Swiss vote to approve legislation to protect LGBTQ+ rights". Retrieved 13 February 2019.
5. "First Same-Sex Marriage Takes Place in Northern Ireland". Retrieved 18 February 2019.
6. "Israel Approves Allowing Transgender People to Change Gender on IDs Without Surgery". Retrieved 26 February 2019.
7. "Israeli Supreme Court Rules Surrogacy Rights Must Be Extended to Same-Sex Couples". Retrieved 1 March 2020.
8. "Hong Kong's homophobic public housing policy ruled unconstitutional and unlawful by High Court". Retrieved 5 March 2020.
9. "Virginia Becomes First Southern State to Ban Conversion Therapy For Minors". Retrieved 5 March 2020.
10. "Inslee signs legislation named for slain Vancouver transgender teen". Retrieved 6 March 2020.
11. "The Same-Sex Marriage (Sark) Law, 2019 (Commencement) Ordinance, 2020". Guernsey Legal Resources. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
12. "New co-parenting legal recognition for lesbian couples". Retrieved 4 May 2020.
13. Bundestag.de: Bundestag verbietet Therapien zur „Heilung“ von Homosexualität (german), May 7, 2020
14. "ADI 5543". Retrieved 9 May 2020.
15. "Brazilian court lifts restrictions on gay and bisexual men giving blood". Retrieved 9 May 2020.
16. "Hungary Ends Legal Recognition for Transgender and Intersex People=7 June 2020".
17. "Zambian president pardons gay couple jailed for 15 years". Retrieved 31 May 2020.
18. PinksNews: Same-sex marriage has finally been legalised in Costa Rica, May 2020
19. Same-sex marriages can be registered in Costa Rica starting May 26, May 2020
20. Reuters.com: Costa Rica allows same-sex marriages in a first for Central America, May 26, 2020
21. "Malaysian wins landmark right to challenge Muslim gay sex ban". news.trust.org. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
22. Wolf, Richard. "Supreme Court grants federal job protections to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender workers". USA TODAY. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
23. Ariane de Vogue; Devan Cole. "Supreme Court says federal law protects LGBTQ workers from discrimination". CNN. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
24. "Top US court backs protection for LGBT workers". BBC News. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
25. Reuters.com: Montenegro legalises same-sex civil partnerships , July 1, 2020
26. NBC News: Russian voters back referendum banning same-sex marriage
27. Gabon formally decriminalizes homosexuality
28. 'Great first step' as Sudan lifts death penalty and flogging for gay sex