(Photo Credit: Bill Ebbesen, Wikimedia Commons)
Bryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen cancel concerts over anti-trans laws
Bryan Adams has cancelled a concert in Mississippi and Bruce Springsteen in North Carolina over the two states’ recent anti-LGBT laws. Both state governments have passed laws allowing many businesses and religious institutions to freely discriminate against LGBT people, and forcing trans people to use washrooms according to their birth certificates.
French court dismisses “dirty faggot” case
According to a French labour court, an employer firing a hairdresser after calling him a “dirty faggot” was not discriminatory because it occurred in “the context of the hairdressing business.” France’s minister of labour says she hopes the courts will reconsider their decision.
Read more at Agence France-Presse.
Chinese trans man takes employer to court
A Chinese trans man will bring the country’s first trans workplace discrimination lawsuit, after he was fired for “looking like a lesbian” and wearing men’s clothes to work. Chinese law does not explicitly protect against LGBT discrimination, but recent legal attempts have gained more traction.
Read more at the Washington Post.
Pope loosens marriage rules, shuts out gays
In a new doctrinal document, Pope Francis has loosened rules on remarriage and contraception, but still denies any possibility of legitimate gay relationships. Francis says churches should be government more by conscience and less by dogma and advocated a softer Catholicism, but said no word of accepting gays.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Norway church endorses equal marriage, but Finland doubtful
Norway’s largest church has voted to endorse same-sex marriages, allowing priests to decide whether to conduct ceremonies according to their individual consciences. The archbishop of Finland’s central church, however, says he urges priests not to consecrate same-sex marriages when they become legal next year.
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