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Lesbianism in Gibraltar became legal in 1992.
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Lesbianism in Gibraltar became legal in 1992.
According to Gibraltar's Equality Rights Group, the word lesbian "is a term used to identify a woman who has an emotional and or sexual orientation towards women. Lesbians have always existed; they are in every culture and part of every economic and social class." [1]
The exact number of lesbians in Gibraltar is unknown. According to accepted scientific and government studies, homosexuality occurs in about 5 to 7% of the population. Given that, the size of the lesbian and gay population in Gibraltar is likely around 1,700 people. [1]
Lesbians faced discrimination in Gibraltar society during the 1990s and 2000s. [2] Because of historic discrimination against lesbians and the illegality of homosexuality until 1992, many lesbians in Gibraltar married men to hide their orientation. [3] The ability to easily hide their orientation was also difficult in earlier periods as a lack of a large housing stock and the small size of Gibraltar meant the multiple generations of the same family often lived together. [3]
Nadine Rodríguez and Alicia Muscat, one of Gibraltar's most visible lesbian couples and most important activists for LGBT rights, became a couple in 1988. [4] [5] In 2017, the couple were presented with the Independent Civil Society award. They were recognized at a ceremony at the Gibraltar Garrison Library. [6]
In September 2000, Gibraltarian Felix Alvarez created Gib Gay Rights in response to the lack of movement on homosexual rights following the decriminalizing of male homosexuality in 1993. After calling a meeting of the newly formed organization, lesbians were among the 21 people to show up and support these efforts. [7] In September 2005, the group's executive committee included three women, Sandra Poveda, Annette Vallejo, and Susan Haywood. [8] In 2019, the organization was dominated by men, with only one woman, Danica Field, on the executive committee. [9]
Gibraltar's laws around homosexuality were first drafted in the Victorian England period. This period did not believe women had a sexual life or identity separate from men. Consequently, there was no need for the law to recognize the existence of potential female/female sexual activity and laws about same-sex sexual activity only related to men. [7]
Homosexuality, defined legally as male sodomy, was decriminalized in Gibraltar in 1993 following pressure from the European Court of Human Rights and Government of the United Kingdom. [2] [10] [11] Because it related to male sodomy, it did not apply to women. [10] [12]
In 2008, the law in Gibraltar was discriminatory against lesbians when it came to the age of consent as it was different for same-sex female couples than it was for opposite sex couples. [13] [14]
Political campaigning prior to the 2007 elections was prominent with equality rights organisation Gib Gay Rights (GGR), [15] headed by human rights campaigner Felix Alvarez openly challenging the incumbent Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, for more rights in Gibraltar for gay and lesbian people, and others who are discriminated against. [16] Campaigning on the issue of an equal age of consent of 16 had been strongly undertaken. [17] [18] [19] The issues were raised at the Foreign Affairs Committee enquiry into the overseas territories in 2008, where they concluded:
The influential Gibraltar Women's Association (GWA) has called for the age consent to be leveled at 18. [21] On 1 October 2009, new proposed legislation would enable the Government of Gibraltar to ask the Supreme Court to test whether existing or draft laws are compatible with the Constitution. This would provide a simplified, purpose-built mechanism to deal with contentious issues such as the age of consent. [22]
In March 2010, the Government of Gibraltar sought an opinion from the Court to see if the unequal age of consent was discrimination under the principles of the European Council. [23] [24] On 1 April 2010, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband pointed out that if a British Overseas Territory is unwilling to meet "international obligations" such as equalising the age of consent it may be imposed by an Order in Council. [25] [26] [27] [28]
On 8 April 2011, the Supreme Court of Gibraltar ruled that a higher age of consent of 18 for gay sex was unconstitutional, and thus mandated an equal age of consent of 16, while at the same time also decriminalising heterosexual anal sex. [29] In August 2011, the gender-neutral Crimes Act 2011 was approved, which sets an equal age of consent of 16 regardless of sexual orientation, and reflects the recent Supreme Court decision in statute law. [30] The law took effect on 23 November 2012. [31]
In late 2008, the lesbian couple of Nadine Rodríguez and Alicia Muscat tried to include each other on a shared rental agreement for an apartment through the Gibraltar Housing Allocation Committee but were denied that ability as same-sex partnerships are not recognized in Gibraltar; lesbian couples could not share legal responsibility in things like renting public apartment, in case something would happen to the other member of the couple. In December 2008, in the case titled Nadine Rodriguez v. the Minister for House of the Government of Gibraltar & ORS, a local court ruled in their favor of the couple in that they be allowed to share a rental contract but the Government appealed this. [32] [13] [14] In May 2009, their case appeared before the Supreme Court of Gibraltar who reaffirmed the rights of the couple. [13] [14] [33] [5] When they continued to be denied the ability to share a lease contract, they took the matter to the British courts, London’s Privy Council, to get their ability to share property recognized. The couple again proved successful in their claims. [34] [33]
Same-sex marriage was not legal in Gibraltar in 2008 and 2009 and the colony also did not recognized same-sex partnerships. [13] [14] In 2009, Equality Rights GGR requested the government approve legislation that would grant recognition to same-sex couples through civil unions. [34]
In January 2014, the Civil Partnership Bill 2014 was published for community consultation and headed for introduction in the Gibraltar Parliament. [35] [36] On 21 March, the bill was approved by Parliament with no noticeable opposition. [37] [36] The bill was given royal assent on 25 March. The law and related rules and regulations took effect on 28 March. [38] [39] [40] [41]
| Political Affiliation | Voted for | Absent (Did Not Vote) |
|---|---|---|
| G Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP) | - | |
| Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD) | ||
| G Liberal Party of Gibraltar (LPG, or Libs) | - | |
| Total | 16 | 1 |
In March 2014, the Parliament passed a civil partnership law, granting same-sex couples most of the rights of marriage, including allowing the adoption of children by civil partners, as mandated by the court ruling in 2013. [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] Nadine Rodríguez and Alicia Muscat became the first couple and first lesbian couple in Gibraltar to get a civil union. Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo was present for the ceremony. [48] [49] [5] [50] Rainbow flags were flown along 6 Convent Place in celebration of their union. [49] The couple had their honeymoon in Venice. [5]
Starting in 2009, Nadine Rodríguez and Alicia Muscat had been trying to get same-sex marriage legalized in Gibraltar using judicial processes. [48]
Same-sex marriage became an issue of interest for the Government after their re-election in 2015. A command paper to that effect was published in December 2015 and a public consultation was held, whilst talk of a possible referendum on the issue was not ruled out. [51] [52] The leader of the opposition Social Democrats Party announced his support for same-sex marriage in January 2016, [53] [54] days before the Government ruled out a referendum. [55] An inter-ministerial committee was set up in March 2016 to listen to stakeholder concerns and more than 3,400 responses to the discussion were received. [56] [57] The Government published a bill to legalise same-sex marriage in August 2016. [58] [59] [60]
On 26 October 2016, the Civil Marriage Amendment Bill 2016 was passed in the Gibraltar Parliament with unanimous support from all 15 members present during the vote. [61] The bill received royal assent on 1 November and took effect on 15 December 2016. [62] [63] The first legally recognized same-sex marriage in Gibraltar took place the next day. [64]
The GSLP–Liberal Alliance, who were re-elected in 2015, included the following commitment in their election manifesto: "We will now publish a Command Paper in order to take the views of the public on how to best deal with the request by some for civil marriage to be extended to same sex couples. We are totally committed both to ensuring that religious denominations are not forced to change their practices, beliefs or sacraments in any way and to the principle that the State must not discriminate between individuals based on the grounds of sexual orientation. The results of the responses to the Command Paper will be published by June [2016]." [51] The Equal Rights Group said it did not go far enough and asked for more commitment to introduce same-sex marriage. [65]
On 22 December 2015, a command paper on introducing same-sex marriage was published and was under consultation until 15 January 2016. [66] [67] [68] On 4 January 2016, it was announced that the consultation period had been extended to 29 January 2016. [69] [70] [71] On 5 January 2016, a spokesman for the Government stated that a referendum on the issue had not yet been ruled out until all the comments submitted by the public had been considered. [72]
On 18 January 2016, in his New Year message, GSD leader Daniel Feetham declared his support for same-sex marriage and, despite allowing members of his party a free vote on matters of conscience, stated that his parliamentary colleagues all declared their support for the issue as well. He then stated that it was up to the Government to decide on how to proceed with the issue when the time comes. [73] [74]
On 20 January 2016, it was announced by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo (GSLP) that there would be no referendum on same-sex marriage after a parliamentary debate on the issue was initiated by the Opposition. [75] [76] In that same debate, the Chief Minister stated that he expected the feedback from the consultation process to actually improve the bill on same-sex marriage. [77]
On 21 March 2016, the Government announced that it had received 3,490 responses in regards to the public consultation and that, due to the controversial nature of the subject, it would establish an Inter-Ministerial Committee (composed of four members of the Government: Gilbert Licudi, Samantha Sacramento, Neil Costa, and Albert Isola) to listen to the views of the various groups and many of the individuals who expressed a view on the subject, and report its findings back to the Cabinet by June 2016. [78] [79] [80] In response to the Government's announcement, the chairman of the Equality Rights Group (ERG), Felix Alvarez, questioned the commitment of the governing GSLP-Liberal Alliance to legislate on the matter and urged both the LGBT community at large and their friends and supporters to remain calm and reserve their responses until the Government comes up with a definitive answer on how to handle this situation. Based on their own statistics and past advocacy efforts, ERG claimed that over 63% of those consultation responses were in favor of same-sex marriage and that the situation shouldn't be made more complicated than it should be. [81]
On 15 August 2016, a government bill on the legalisation of same-sex marriage was published. [82] [83] [84] On 26 October 2016, the Civil Marriage Amendment Bill 2016 was passed in the Gibraltar Parliament with unanimous support from all 15 members present during the vote. An amendment to remove a controversial part of the bill, which allows deputy registrars to opt out of conducting same-sex marriages was defeated 11 to 4 with only some of the Opposition MPs voting in favor. [61] [85] [86] The bill requires that, in circumstances where a deputy registrar does not agree to officiate a same-sex marriage, an alternative registrar must be assigned to conduct the marriage. [87] The bill received royal assent on 1 November and took effect on 15 December 2016. [88] [89] The first same-sex marriage in Gibraltar was performed the following day. [64] [90]
In May 2017, Nadine Rodríguez and Alicia Muscat sought to convert their civil partnership into a marriage were told to divorce first by authorities, who cited a lack of legislation for converting a civil partnership to a marriage. This occurred despite the Gibraltar Equality Rights Group confirming that such a provision existed in the law, and that the matter was simply one of excessive paperwork. [91] [92] [93]
| Political Affiliation | Voted for | Absent (Did Not Vote) |
|---|---|---|
| G Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP) | ||
| Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD) | ||
| G Liberal Party of Gibraltar (LPG, or Libs) | - | |
| Independent | - | |
| Total | 15 | 2 |
A long term lesbian couple tried to adopt in Gibraltar but were denied on the basis of the lack of legal recognition of their relationship under Gibraltar adoption laws. [95] The couple had a child together using IVF, where one woman had her fertilized eggs implanted in her partner's uterus. [95] They then went to court to challenge these laws. [95] [96] On 10 April 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that section 5 (2) of the Adoption Act was in violation of the Gibraltar Constitution thus in effect, de jure legalising LGBT adoption in Gibraltar. The Government announced that they planned to amend the law as soon as possible and that the Care Agency would take appropriate measures to allow same-sex couples to adopt. [97] [98] Gibraltar's Equality Rights Group said after the announcement by the Supreme Court, "They (the couple) have been brave and determined in their application, despite social pressures, out of love for their child and for each other. [...] GGR will continue to support individuals, regardless of any status, in just human and civil rights claims before the Courts." [96] Prior to that point, only heterosexual married couples and single people had been eligible to adopt. [96]
In June 2017, the Gibraltar Health Authority approved an amendment to its In Vitro Fertilisation Policy to include female same-sex couples. [99] [100]
When the Gibraltar constitution was being revised in 2006, sexual orientation was intentionally excluded from the list of specific non-discrimination categories. [101]
The Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party Government, elected in 2011, announced plans to include sexual orientation in the goods and services anti-discrimination law (sexual orientation is already covered in employment anti-discrimination law since 2005). The party renewed this commitment in their manifesto for the 2015 election, in which they were re-elected. [51]
A bill to amend the Crimes Act 2011, that would criminalise both hatred and harassment on the ground of sexual orientation as a hate crime, was approved by the Gibraltar Parliament on 19 September 2013 and given royal assent on 25 September. The law took effect on 10 October 2013. [31] [102]
Civil partnership in the United Kingdom is a form of civil union between couples open to both same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples. It was introduced via the Civil Partnership Act 2004 by the Labour government. The Act initially permitted only same-sex couples to form civil partnerships, but the law was expanded to include opposite-sex couples in 2019.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Ireland since 16 November 2015. A referendum on 22 May 2015 amended the Constitution of Ireland to provide that marriage is recognised irrespective of the sex of the partners. The measure was signed into law by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, as the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland on 29 August 2015. The Marriage Act 2015, passed by the Oireachtas on 22 October 2015 and signed into law by the Presidential Commission on 29 October 2015, gave legislative effect to the amendment. Same-sex marriages in Ireland began being recognised from 16 November 2015, and the first marriage ceremonies of same-sex couples in Ireland occurred the following day. Ireland was the eighteenth country in the world and the eleventh in Europe to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBTQ rights that took place in the year 2005.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have developed significantly over time. Today, lesbian, gay and bisexual rights are considered to be advanced by international standards, while transgender, gender-nonconforming and non-binary rights face some of the highest levels of discrimination of any modernised country.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Australia since 9 December 2017. Legislation to allow it, the Marriage Amendment Act 2017, passed the Parliament of Australia on 7 December 2017 and received royal assent from Governor-General Peter Cosgrove the following day. The law came into effect on 9 December, immediately recognising overseas same-sex marriages. The first same-sex wedding under Australian law was held on 15 December 2017. The passage of the law followed a voluntary postal survey of all Australians, in which 61.6% of respondents supported legalisation of same-sex marriage.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in the British Crown dependency of the Isle of Man have evolved substantially since the early 2000s. Private and consensual acts of male homosexuality on the island were decriminalised in 1992. LGBTQ rights have been extended and recognised in law since then, such as an equal age of consent (2006), employment protection from discrimination (2006), gender identity recognition (2009), the right to enter into a civil partnership (2011), the right to adopt children (2011) and the right to enter into a civil marriage (2016).
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights within the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar have evolved significantly in the past decades. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1993 and the age of consent was equalised to 16 in 2012. The Supreme Court of Gibraltar ruled in April 2013 that same-sex couples have the right to adopt. Civil partnerships have been available to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples since March 2014, and in October 2016, Gibraltar voted to legalise same-sex marriage with the Civil Marriage Amendment Act 2016 passing unanimously in Parliament. The law received royal assent on 1 November and took effect on 15 December 2016.
Felix Alvarez OBE is a Gibraltarian human, civil rights, democracy and LGBT activist.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBTQ rights that took place in the year 2008.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Scotland since 16 December 2014. As family law is not reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Scottish Parliament has legislative competence to make changes to the law on marriage. A same-sex marriage law was approved by the Scottish Parliament on 4 February 2014 and received royal assent on 12 March 2014. It came into effect on 16 December with many civil partners converting their relationships into marriages, while the first same-sex marriage ceremonies occurred on 31 December 2014.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Queensland have advanced significantly from the late 20th century onwards, in line with progress on LGBTQ rights in Australia nationally. 2019 polling on gay rights consistently showed that even in regional areas, Queensland is no more conservative about the subject than any other states.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the Australian state of South Australia are advanced and well-established. South Australia has had a chequered history with respect to the rights of LGBT people. Initially, the state was a national pioneer of LGBT rights in Australia, being the first in the country to decriminalise homosexuality and to introduce a non-discriminatory age of consent for all sexual activity. Subsequently, the state fell behind other Australian jurisdictions in areas including relationship recognition and parenting, with the most recent law reforms regarding the recognition of same-sex relationships, LGBT adoption and strengthened anti-discrimination laws passing in 2016 and going into effect in 2017.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands enjoy most of the same rights as non-LGBT people. Marriage and civil partnerships have been open to both opposite-sex and same-sex couples since 29 April 2017. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is constitutionally banned. Additionally, attitudes are largely positive; a public consultation found that 90% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage.
Gay and lesbian citizens have been allowed to serve openly in His Majesty's Armed Forces since 2000. The United Kingdom's policy is to allow lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) personnel to serve openly, and discrimination on a sexual orientation basis is forbidden. It is also forbidden for someone to pressure LGBT people to come out. All personnel are subject to the same rules against sexual harassment, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
This is a timeline of notable events in the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in South Africa.
This article details the history of the LGBTQ rights movement in Australia, from the colonial era to the present day.
The Marriage Act 2013 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which introduced same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is one of Australia's leading jurisdictions with respect to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The ACT has made a number of reforms to territory law designed to prevent discrimination of LGBTQ people; it was the only state or territory jurisdiction in Australia to pass a law for same-sex marriage, which was later overturned by the High Court of Australia. The Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Queensland and both South Australia and New South Wales representing a population of 85% on Australia – explicitly ban conversion therapy practices within their jurisdictions by recent legislation enacted. The ACT's laws also apply to the smaller Jervis Bay Territory.
The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which allows same-sex couples to marry in Scotland since 16 December 2014.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Gibraltar since 15 December 2016. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriages was approved by the Parliament on 26 October 2016 and received royal assent on 1 November 2016. Gibraltar was the sixth British Overseas Territory to legalise same-sex marriage, after South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Pitcairn Islands, and the British Antarctic Territory.
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