• Hate crimes against LGBTs have doubled in five years in Russia
• Democratic senators introduce the LGBT Elder Americans Act
• A growing number of millennial men are more prone to identify as the more fluid “mostly straight” than use the term “bisexual"
• The highly anticipated gay-themed film, "Call Me By Your Name," leads the 2017 Independent Spirit Awards with six nominations and does great box office in its first week in domestic release.
• Pink and Channing Tatum challenge gender-norms in her new music video, "Beautiful Trauma."
All that and more on this episode of The Randy Report.
Chile's government will begin debate today on whether to change existing marriage laws to include same-sex couples.
On August 28 President Michelle Bachelet introduced legislation that would define marriage as ‘a solemn contract by which two people, of the same or different sex, unite themselves, and for life, in order to live together, to procreate and to help each other.’
Chile's Senate Constitution Committee has called on LGBT advocacy groups to step up and make their case for marriage equality.
Since 2015, Chile has extended limited legal recognition of same-sex couples via civil unions.
Bachelet also supports efforts to strengthen hate crime and anti-discrimination law against the LGBTQ community as well as legislation that would allow transgender Chileans to legally change their names without requiring sex reassignment surgery - although the bill on transgender protections has stalled due to a lack of political will.
But time is of the essence as Bachelet will step down in March 2018, and one of the two leading candidates to replace Bachelet does not support marriage rights for same-sex couples.
Currently, only Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay have legalized same-sex marriage in South America.
On Saturday, over 100,000 marched in support of marriage equality in Santiago, Chile.
In this week's episode of The Randy Report podcast:
• Progress for marriage equality in Australia and Chile
• Gay and bisexual men are escaping persecution in Chechnya
• Acclaimed web series, "Where The Bears Are," debuts its 6th season
• Facts, figures and more about National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 1-800-273-8255 The Trevor Project’s 24-hour crisis hotline for youth - 1-866-488-7386
The Trans Lifeline - 1-877-565-8860
All that and more on this episode of The Randy Report
Tyson Beckford and the Chippendales (click to enlarge)
Some news items you may have missed:
• That time you're at the Planet Hollywood pool in Las Vegas and notice Tyson Beckford and the Chippendales just hanging... #HappyFriday
• In this sneak peek from MTV's The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros, Olympian Gus Kenworthy gets emotional recalling lying about his sexuality while being a professional skier.
• President Trump has no time to honor Pride Month, what with being so busy proclaiming June "National Ocean Month" and "National Homeowner Month." As such, Ivanka Trump got a whole lotta backlash when she tweeted a bubbly message about how she "celebrates" and "honors" the LGBTQ community.
• Chilean President Michelle Bachelet plans to send a bill to Congress later this year that will legalize same-sex marriage in her country. South America currently celebrates marriage equality in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay.
• MSNBC's Joe Scarborough says his sources point to White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon as the "leaker" inside the Trump administration.
Joe Scarborough: Leaks for recent Kushner-Russia stories came from Steve Bannon pic.twitter.com/ZPXslKvV6f
• A North Carolina minister is accused of kidnapping and assaulting a gay parishioner. The 23 year-old victim says he was slapped, punched, choked and screamed at for two hours in an effort to exorcise his “homosexual demons.”
• The film adaptation of Wonder Woman opens nationwide today boasting a rating of 94 percent on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing, putting it ahead of popular super hero movies “The Avengers” (92 percent), “Guardians of the Galaxy” (91 percent), and tying “Iron Man” (94 percent). Watch the trailer below.
After receiving final approval in January, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet signed into law today a bill that legalizes civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.
Bachelet — who publicly supports marriage rights for same-sex couples — signed the measure less than two weeks after the Chilean Constitutional Court upheld it. Her government earlier this year announced it would no longer oppose nuptials for gays and lesbians in a lawsuit before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that three same-sex couples filed in 2012.
Chile joins Colombia and Ecuador in legalizing civil unions in South America, while same-sex marriage is legal in Argentina, Brazil, French Guiana, and Uruguay.
• Walmart has announced plans to raise their minimum wage to $10 an hour. In other news, hell has frozen over...
• Arkansas state Sen. Jason Rapert says the best way to deal with ISIS would be a “strategically placed nuclear weapon.” He doesn't include a plan to deal with the nuclear fallout that would affect allies like Israel.
Chile is one step closer to joining South American countries that support same-sex unions as that country's House of Representatives has passed legislation to legalize civil unions by a vote of 86-23.
The bill has the backing of the Government, with President Michelle Bachelet saying that she believes civil unions are a stepping-stone towards full same-sex marriage rights.
When she became President of March 2014, Bachelet stated that the civil union bill was one of her priorities, but that marriage rights – which have proved a more divisive issue with the Chilean public according to polls – remained a long-term goal.
Some LGBT campaigners have expressed disappointment that the bill would not allow for same-sex marriage, while others have said that the bill is still welcome as a step in the right direction, reports TeleSUR.
The bill, which will now go to the Senate for expected approval, allows for the creation if the Pacto de Unión Civil (PUC), which couples who live together in a committed relationship can enter regardless of gender.
According to the poll of 501 nationwide households conducted by Radio Cooperativa e Imaginaccion, 54.9 percent of Chileans support gay nuptials, while 40.7 percent remain opposed.
The survey “reflects a broad and mainstream acceptance” of such unions, said El Movimiento de Integracion y Liberacion Homosexual (Movilh), the nation's largest gay rights advocate.
“[T]he 54.9% approval of marriage between persons of the same sex is a clear sign of openness, which must be analyzed, understood and accepted by the government and to move forward in advancing approval of such unions,” the group added.
A gay marriage bill introduced more than two years ago by Senator Fulvio Rossi has yet to be debated.
From the Advocate: Chilean newspaper La Tercera reported today that the nation's government is considering legislation that would legally recognize same-sex civil unions.
According to the Santiago-based paper, the bill — which could be presented to Congress as early as next week — would “grant legal rights to gay couples who have lived together for more than one year.”
Despite the heated debate the issue has caused in the predominantly Catholic country, last month Chilean president Sebastian Pinera was quoted by the newspaper El Mercurio as saying he wanted to safeguard “the dignity of those couples, whether of the opposite or even the same sex.”
If the legislation passes, Chile will be the fifth South American country to legalize same-sex civil unions, joining Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Uruguay. Argentina offers marriage rights to gay couples.
Chile's President Sebastian Pinera has announced that he will forward to parliament a bill that would grant both heterosexual and homosexual couples living outside of marriage the ability to access a form of civil unions granting them many of the same rights as marriage.
Pinera announced his intentions in an interview published Saturday by daily El Mercurio.
The conservative lawmaker said his bill seeks to “protect and safeguard” the civil rights of couples living outside of marriage and “safeguard the dignity of those couples, whether of opposite sex or even the same sex.”
This comes just one week after Chili's largest LGBT rights group Movimiento Chileno de Minorias Sexuales called for a national march for marriage equality that was designed to get the President's attention.
Majority public support for legal recognition of same-sex partners in Chili has been strong since 2004. However, same-sex marriage still polls considerably lower than civil unions.
