This is a list of events in 2011 that affected

LGBTQ rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Nota ...

Events

January

* 1 — The

Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 The Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 is an Act of the Oireachtas ( Irish Parliament) which allows same-sex couples to enter into civil partnerships. The Act also provides rights for participants in lon ...

comes into effect in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, allowing same-sex couples to enter

civil partnerships A civil union (also known as a Civil partnership in the United Kingdom, civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for Same-sex relationship, same-sex couples. Civi ...

. * 3 —

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

n High Court Justice V.F. Kibuuka Musoke rules that ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' violated the civil rights of homosexuals when it printed their pictures on the front page with the headline "Hang Them". The court orders the newspaper to pay each of the three lead plaintiffs USh 1.5 million. * 7 — The 3rd Court of Appeals in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, rules that the

Texas Attorney General The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer
of the

does not have standing to intervene in a same-sex divorce case. The ruling, which conflicts with a ruling issued in 2010 by the 5th Court of Appeals, means that a Texas divorce granted to two women who married in Massachusetts is legal. However, the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unaffected. *10 ** The

Saskatchewan Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan (SKCA) is a Court system of Canada#Appellate courts of the provinces and territories, Canadian appellate court. Jurisdiction and structure The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal is the highest court in the provin ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

rules that marriage commissioners in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

cannot refuse to marry same-sex couples due to religious objections. The decision is in response to a proposed law which had two versions: One would allow any marriage commissioner to avoid performing a same-sex wedding because of his or her religion; the other version would allow commissioners to opt out of performing a same-sex ceremony only if they were commissioners before Canada enacted marriage equality in 2004. ** Newly sworn-in Ohio Governor

John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician and author who was the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001, and a Republican candidate for the pre ...

allows a previous executive order prohibiting discrimination in state employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity to expire. * 14 — A

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

circuit court judge reverses his earlier ruling and allows one half of a lesbian couple to change her last name legally to that of her partner. The judge had initially denied the name change, stating that since same-sex marriage is illegal in Virginia and the couple "hold themselves out as a married couple" the name change was for "fraudulent purposes". * 18 — A Bristol County Court judge rules that the owners of a

bed and breakfast A bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. In addition, a B&B sometimes has the hosts living in the house. ''Bed and breakfast'' is also used to ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, violated the rights of a gay couple in a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...

when they refused to rent them a double room because of the owners' Christian beliefs. * 24 — The

Wyoming House of Representatives The Wyoming House of Representatives is the lower house of the Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming State Legislature. There are 62 Representatives in the House, representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the Wyoming, st ...

passes a bill that would bar the state from recognising legal same-sex marriages performed in other legal jurisdictions, changing a law that though bars same-sex marriage within Wyoming recognises legal marriages performed elsewhere. * 27 — The

Iowa Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the Iowa, state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, . Each Senat ...

rejects a proposal for a voter initiative to amend the Iowa constitution to ban same-sex marriage. * 28 **The

Constitutional Council of France The Constitutional Council (, ) is the highest constitutional authority in France. It was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958 to ensure that constitutional principles and rules are upheld. It is housed in the ...

rules that French laws which restrict marriage to unions between men and women do not violate the French Constitution. ** In

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, the

Gary Community School Corporation Gary Community School Corporation is a school district headquartered in Gary, Indiana. The school district includes the majority of Gary. History In 2017, Gary Community Corp became the first school system in Indiana involved in a state tak ...

, as part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed in 2007 by a transgender former student, announces a new anti-discrimination policy that includes specific protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. * 31 ** Following its passage in December 2010,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Governor Pat Quinn signs the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act. This act allows all couples, regardless of gender, to enter into

civil unions A civil union (also known as a Civil partnership in the United Kingdom, civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for Same-sex relationship, same-sex couples. Civi ...

which provide all of the state benefits of marriage. The law is scheduled to take effect June 1. ** As same-sex marriage is constitutionally prohibited in the state of

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, an Otoe County judge refuses to grant a divorce to two women legally married in Vermont in 2003. The judge does, however, rule on child support and visitation rights for the couple's four-year-old daughter (specifics not given). ** Representatives at

São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two archipelagos around the two main isla ...

's United Nations Universal Periodic Review announce that upcoming revisions to its Criminal Code will decriminalize homosexual sex in the country. The new code would come into effect four months later.

February

* 1 — The

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

begins issuing passport applications that ask applicants for "Mother or parent one" and "Father or parent two" instead of for "Father" and "Mother". The change, announced in December 2010, is "in recognition of different types of families". * 7 — New York City adopts a new policy regarding transgender marriage license applicants specifying that once an applicant displays a proper photo identification the city clerk may not request further proof of sex. * 17 — The

Arkansas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Arkansas is the highest court in the state judiciary of Arkansas. It has ultimate and largely discretionary appellate jurisdiction over all state court cases that involve a point of state law, and original jurisdiction ...

upholds a lower court ruling giving a woman visitation rights with the child of her former partner. The court rules that even though same-sex marriage is not legally recognised in Arkansas, the woman stood ''

in loco parentis The term ''in loco parentis'', Contemporary Latin, Latin for "in the place of a parent", refers to the legal responsibility of a person or organization to take on some of the functions and responsibilities of a parent. Originally derived from ...

'' to the child. * 18 ** Massachusetts governor

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was the first African Americans, African-American Governor of Massachusetts and the first Democratic Pa ...

signs an executive order banning discrimination against state employees based on gender identity or expression. ** The Alaska Board of Regents votes to add sexual orientation to its anti-discrimination policy. * 23 ** In response to two lawsuits, '' Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management'' and '' Windsor v. United States'', the US Justice Department announces that it will no longer defend the constitutionality of section 3 of the

Defense of Marriage Act The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21, 1996. It banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage by limitin ...

although the department will "remain parties (''

sic The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; ''thus'', ''so'', and ''in this manner'') inserted after a quotation indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated as found in the source text, including erroneous, archaic, or unusual spelling ...

'') to the cases and continue to represent the interests of the United States throughout the litigation." That section had been ruled unconstitutional in two district court cases, '' Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services'' and '' Gill v. Office of Personnel Management''. **

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

governor

Neil Abercrombie Neil Abercrombie (born June 26, 1938) is an American politician who served as the seventh governor of Hawaii from 2010 to 2014. He is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. Born in Buffalo, New York, Abercrombie is a ...

signs the state's civil unions bill. The law will take effect on 1 January 2012. * 24 — A New York state appellate court rules that recognising a legal same-sex marriage performed in Canada for purposes of probate does not violate the public policy of the state of New York.

March

*1 — The

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, courts in the following United Stat ...

rules that Indian Prairie School District 204 may not bar students from wearing shirts with anti-LGBT slogans finding that a "school that permits advocacy of the rights of homosexual students cannot be allowed to stifle criticism of homosexuality." The district had argued that it barred a shirt reading "Be Happy, Not Gay" on the grounds that it violated the rights of students toward whom the derogatory comment was directed. *2 — The Wyoming Senate defeats a bill that would have prevented the state from recognising same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions. * 7 — Citing the 1971

Minnesota Supreme Court The Minnesota Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center. History The court was first assemb ...

ruling in '' Baker v. Nelson'' and the local defense of marriage act,

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1,281,565, and was estimated to be 1,273,334 in 2024, making it the List of counties in ...

District Judge Mary Dufresne dismisses a lawsuit brought by marriage equality advocacy group Marry Me Minnesota which contended that the ban on same-sex marriage violates the rights of same-sex couples to due process, equal protection, religious freedom and freedom of association. * 9 — Along party lines, the United States House of Representatives Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group votes to defend the constitutionality of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act after the Obama administration announced it would not support the bill. The Advisory Group vote sidesteps a full House vote on the question. * 16 — Upon its second reading, the

Liechtenstein Parliament The Landtag of the Principality of Liechtenstein () is the unicameral parliament of Liechtenstein. Qualifications Citizens who have attained the age of 18, have permanent residency in the country and have lived in the country for at least on ...

passes a bill legalising registered civil partnership. The law will take effect on 1 September 2011. * 21 — The

Cook County Jail The Cook County Jail, located on in South Lawndale, Chicago, Illinois, is operated by the Sheriff of Cook County. It is sometimes referred to as ''California'' or ''Hotel California'', as its address is on California Avenue. A city jail has e ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

implements a new policy for housing transgender prisoners, allowing for them to be housed based on their gender identity rather than birth sex. * 24 **

announces a pilot programme to provide $100,000 in living assistance funds to refugees facing persecution because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. **

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

-operated

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

announces that it will offer domestic partnership benefits to employees beginning in 2012. * 28 —

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and Immigration to the United States, immigration system. History ...

(USCIS) announces that it will no longer deny applications for green cards on the part of bi-national same-sex married couples but will put those cases on hold pending resolution of the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. * 30 ** USCIS later reverses its ruling and announces that it will continue to deny green cards to bi-national applicants in same-sex marriages. ** The

dismisses the complaint of a

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

employee fired in 2005 for anti-gay harassment of another employee. The court rules that Wal-Mart did not violate the fired employee's religious freedom. Wal-Mart's anti-harassment policy includes "sexual orientation" as a category. * 31 — The

Constitutional Court of Korea The Constitutional Court of Korea () is one of the apex courtsalong with the Supreme Court of Korea, Supreme Courtin Judiciary of South Korea, South Korea's judiciary that exercises constitutional review, seated in Jongno District, Jongno, ...

rules in a 5–4 decision that the Korean military ban on homosexual conduct is constitutional and does not discriminate against homosexual military personnel.

April

* 5 — The

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Metro Council passes a measure requiring businesses with contracts with the city to promise not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. * 7 — The

upholds a 2010 lower court ruling that a 2008 voter-approved ban on adoption by unmarried cohabiting couples is unconstitutional. * 11 — The Maine Human Rights Commission finds that a rental agency that repeatedly delayed an application from a transgender applicant illegally discriminated against her based on her gender identity. * 12 — The

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: ...

rules that a

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

registrar's refusal to list the names of both same-sex adoptive parents on a birth certificate does not violate their child's right to

equal protection The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "nor shall any State... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal pr ...

nor does the

Full Faith and Credit Clause Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, the Full Faith and Credit Clause, addresses the duty that states within the United States have to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state". Accor ...

, which requires each state to recognize the legal proceedings of the other states, require Louisiana to "confer particular benefits on unmarried adoptive parents contrary to its law." * 13 — Rear Admiral Mark L. Tidd,

Chief of Chaplains of the United States Navy The Chief of Chaplains of the United States Navy (CHC) is the highest-ranking military chaplain in the United States Navy and head of the United States Navy Chaplain Corps. As part of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and Department o ...

, issues a two-page "guidance" memo stating that following final repeal of the

don't ask, don't tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on Sexual orientation in the United States military, military service of homosexual people. Instituted during the Presidency of Bill Clinton, Clinton administration, the pol ...

policy, same-sex couples would be allowed to marry in Naval facilities with Naval chaplains officiating in those states in which same-sex marriage is legal. * 18 ** The

National Assembly of Hungary The National Assembly ( ) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to four-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proportional representation: a mixed-member m ...

adopts a new

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

that among other things explicitly restricts same-sex marriage. However, same-sex couples may obtain the same legal protections through registering as domestic partners. If signed as expected by President

Pál Schmitt Pál Schmitt (; born 1942) is a Hungarian Olympic fencer and politician who served as President of Hungary from 2010 until his resignation in 2012, following his academic misconduct controversy. Schmitt was a successful fencer in his ...

it will go into effect on January 1, 2012. **

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Governor

Jan Brewer Janice Kay Brewer (''née'' Drinkwine; born September 26, 1944) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015, as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. Prior to this, Brewer ...

signs into law a bill that requires adoption agencies in the state to "give primary consideration to adoptive placement with a married man and woman." Agencies may place a child with a legally single person if it is in the child's best interest or if there is no married couple applying for adoption. Same-sex marriage is not legally recognized in Arizona. * 20 — The Virginia Board of Social Services votes to strike language from new proposed adoption regulations which would have barred discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Single people and married mixed-sex couples may adopt children. * 21 —

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock rules against same-sex couples seeking to force the state to extend the benefits of marriage to them, finding that the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and the separation of powers between the courts and the legislature prevents it. * 23 — It is reported that pursuant to a 2008 order by then-Governor

David Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer, who resigned, and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to ...

that

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

state agencies recognize same-sex unions performed in other jurisdictions, the

New York State Department of Correctional Services The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (NYSDOCCS) is the department of the New York State government that administers the state prison and parole system, including 42 prisons funded by the state government. New ...

has updated its regulations to allow prisoners in same-sex marriages and civil unions to have conjugal visits and seek furloughs if a spouse or partner is terminally ill. * 26 ** In the UK, the

Charity Tribunal Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

upholds an earlier ruling from the

Charity Commission The Charity Commission for England and Wales is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's Government that regulates registered charities in England and Wales and maintains the Central Register of Charities. Its counterparts in Scotland and ...

that denies an exemption from the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations to the Leeds-based Catholic Care adoption agency. The charity must consider same-sex couples as prospective adoptive parents and may not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. * 29 — The

United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemp ...

updates its internal equal employment opportunity policy to bar discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

May

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

takes a national census and officially recognises a

third gender Third gender or third sex is an identity recognizing individuals categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither a man nor a woman. Many gender systems around the world include three or more genders, deriving the concept either from ...

in addition to male and female. * 5 ** The

Supreme Federal Court The Federal Supreme Court (, , abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the country's Constitutional Court. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for constitutional issues and its rulings ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

rules in a unanimous 10-0 decision, with one abstention, to legalise same-sex stable unions. ** The ACLU announces a settlement in the case of '' Witt v. Department of the Air Force''. The Air Force agrees to drop its appeal and remove Witt's discharge from her military record and she will retire with full benefits. ** The

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States too. Its theological roots lie primarily in the Scottish Reformat ...

approves a constitutional amendment allowing for the ordination of clergy in same-sex relationships. ** In the face of political opposition from Republican members of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

who claimed that allowing the use of federal facilities or personnel to perform same-sex marriages would violate the

, Rear Admiral Mark L. Tidd suspends his April 13 "guidance" memo pending further Naval review. * 11 **

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

Governor

Jack Markell Jack Alan Markell (born November 26, 1960) is an American politician and diplomat. He had served the United States ambassador both to Italy and to San Marino. He had served as the United States ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-oper ...

signs the state's civil unions bill into law, granting same-sex couples in the state all of the rights of marriage. The law will take effect January 1, 2012. ** The

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Minnesota Legislature, Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any State legislature (Unite ...

approves a proposed constitutional amendment to bar same-sex marriage in the state. * 13 — After delaying a vote originally scheduled two day ago, the

Parliament of Uganda The Parliament of Uganda is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Uganda. One of its primary functions is to pass laws that support effective governance in the country. Government ministers are required to answer to the people's represe ...

adjourns without taking action on the country's proposed anti-homosexuality bill. * 17 ** The

Nevada Legislature The Nevada Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, consisting of the Nevada Assembly (lower house with 42 members) and the Nevada Senate (upper house with 21 members). With a total of 63 seats, the Legisla ...

passes a bill to bar employment discrimination in the state on the basis of gender identity or expression. ** Moscow mayor

Sergei Sobyanin Sergey Semyonovich Sobyanin (; born 21 June 1958) is a Russian politician, serving as the 3rd mayor of Moscow since 21 October 2010. Sobyanin previously served as the governor of Tyumen Oblast (2001–2005), Head of the presidential administr ...

bans a gay pride march scheduled for 28 May, despite an October 2010 ruling by the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

that similar bans in 2006, 2007 and 2008 violated the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

. Activists plan to defy the ban as they had in past years. * 20 ** The

Tennessee Legislature The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title ...

gives final passage to the " Equal Access to Intrastate Commerce Act". The bill would repeal an ordinance passed earlier this year in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

that requires companies doing business with the city to adopt anti-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill would also prevent any unit of local government from requiring companies to bar discrimination on any basis that is not illegal under state law. The

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee , Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any ...

also passes Senate Bill 49, colloquially known as the "Don't Say Gay bill", which would bar schools from presenting any prepared material or lessons about homosexuality to students before high school. ** United States District Judge Frank Montalvo rules that a voter initiative in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

that stripped health benefits from the unmarried partners of city employees is constitutional. Although supporters of the initiative stated that they only intended to remove benefits from the partners of gay employees, Montalvo finds that the language of the ordinance also strips benefits from city officials and others who are not technically employees of the city. * 23 **

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

governor

Bill Haslam William Edward Haslam (; born August 23, 1958) is an American billionaire businessman and politician who served as the 49th governor of Tennessee from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Haslam previously served as the 67th mayor of ...

signs the " Equal Access to Intrastate Commerce Act" into law, reversing Nashville's LGBT-inclusive anti-discrimination ordinance and barring any local unit of government from requiring that companies bar discrimination on any basis not already covered by state law. ** The

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

votes to allow openly gay ministers, who can live in civil unions. * 24 — A judge in

Wharton, Texas Wharton is a city in and the county seat of Wharton County, Texas, United States. This city is southwest of Houston. Its population was 8,832 at the 2010 census and 8,627 at the 2020 census. Wharton is located on the Colorado River of Texas. ...

, ruled that a transgender woman is still legally male and invalidates her marriage to a biological male. * 25 **

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

Governor

Brian Sandoval Brian Edward Sandoval ( ; born August 5, 1963) is an American politician, academic administrator, and former federal judge who served as the 29th Governor of Nevada from 2011 to 2019. A graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, Sandoval began ...

signs Assembly Bill 211, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression. The law will take effect October 1. ** A spokesperson for

ian President

Dilma Rousseff Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the only woman to have held the ...

announces that she has suspended an upcoming distribution of

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...

videos through the ministries of health and education, saying that the "anti-homophobia kits", as they are known, are inappropriate for children and do not offer an "objective" view of homosexuality.

June

* 2 — Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signs the Nevada Senate Bills 331 and 368, which outlawed discrimination in housing and public accommodation on the basis of gender identity. * 6 — The

Wyoming Supreme Court The Wyoming Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices. Each Justice is appointed by the Governor of Wyoming from a list of three nominees submitted by the ...

reverses a lower court ruling and allows an LGBT couple married in Canada to divorce. The ruling recognised same-sex marriage in Wyoming only in the context of divorce. * 8 ** The Virginia Board of Juvenile Justice, which oversees the state's juvenile correctional facilities, votes unanimously to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. ** The

Portland, Oregon City Council The Portland City Council (formerly the Portland City Commission) is the legislative body of the City of Portland in Oregon and forms part of the government of the city. In January 2025, the city of Portland switched to a mayor–council form ...

votes unanimously to expand health coverage for city workers to cover the cost of sex re-assignment surgery up to $50,000. **

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, announces plans to reimburse city employees in legal same-sex marriages for the federal tax burden they incur for the value of health benefits received by their spouses. Under federal law, employers are required to include the value of such benefits as taxable income, while mixed-sex married couples are not taxed. Reimbursement in the form of quarterly stipends are expected to begin in July. * 10 — The Obama administration issues a "guidance" memo stating that under existing law, states may choose to offer the same level of asset protection to same-sex couples under

Medicaid Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...

asset recovery plans as it offers to straight married couples. * 14 **

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a cabinet-level department of the United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and ...

Secretary

Arne Duncan Arne Starkey Duncan (born November 6, 1964) is an American educator and former professional basketball player who served as the 9th United States secretary of education from 2009 to 2015 and as Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools ...

affirms in a letter to educators that gay-straight alliances should be afforded the same rights and protections as any other student-initiated organisation under the

Equal Access Act The Equal Access Act is a United States federal law passed as Title VIII of the Education for Economic Security Act in 1984 to compel federally funded public secondary schools to provide equal access to extracurricular student clubs. Lobbied fo ...

. ** The

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

rejects a bill presented by the opposition

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

seeking to legalise same-sex marriage by 293 votes to 222. ** The

city council votes to restore health benefits to the non-married partners of city employees. The benefits had been stripped by a voter initiative in November 2010. * 15 — The

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

announces its first-ever grant in the amount of $250,000 to create a resource center for LGBT political refugees. * 16 — The

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a United Nations Regional Gro ...

passes a declaration which for the first time condemns discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The declaration also commissions a study of anti-gay discrimination around the world. * 19 — Voters in Liechtenstein approve a binding resolution by a margin of 68%–32% that recognises registered partnerships. Same-sex couples will have the same tax, inheritance and welfare rights as married couples but will remain barred from adopting children. * 20 — Dane County Judge Dan Moeser rules that Wisconsin's domestic partnership registry, which offers limited benefits to registered partners, does not violate the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. He finds that the state "does not recognise domestic partnership in a way that even remotely resembles how the state recognises marriage." * 23 — A

Washington County, Maryland Washington County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. The population was 154,705 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is Hagerstown, Maryland, Hagerstown. The ...

judge rules that one member of a same-sex couple legally married in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, may invoke

spousal privilege In common law, spousal privilege (also called marital privilege or husband-wife privilege) is a term used in the law of evidence to describe two separate privileges that apply to spouses: the spousal communications privilege and the spousal t ...

and refuse to testify against her spouse in a criminal case. * 24 ** Following a 36-26 vote passing exemptions for religious organisations, the

New York Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term ...

approves the same-sex marriage law; the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

also approved the bill to legalise same-sex marriage in the state by a vote of 80-63. Governor

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( , ; born December 6, 1957) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 until his resignation in 2021. A member of the Democratic Party and son of former governor Mario Cuomo, ...

signed the bill into law shortly before midnight. The law would make New York the largest state in the United States to recognise same-sex marriage. ** Police in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Russia, detain 14 gay rights activists holding an unsanctioned gay pride event. * 27 —

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Brazil state Judge Fernando Henrique Pinto rules that two men in a civil union may convert their union into a full legal marriage, believed to be the first legal same-sex marriage in the country.

July

*2 —

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

Governor

Lincoln Chafee Lincoln Davenport Chafee ( ; born March 26, 1953) is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island, from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a ...

signs a civil unions bill into law. The law, which is effective immediately, grants same-sex couples the same rights as married couples but withholds the word "marriage" from their certificates. Some LGBT rights activists had urged Chafee to veto the bill, saying that exemptions for religious organisations were overly broad and might allow some such groups to discriminate against civil unions. However, some rights, such as tax exemptions based on marital status, remain unavailable because the state uses federal tax law to determine them, which does not recognise any form of same-sex union. *5 — Governor

Dan Malloy Dannel Patrick Malloy (; born July 21, 1955) is an American politician who served as the 88th governor of Connecticut from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he chaired the Democratic Governors Association from 2016 to 2017. In Jul ...

of Connecticut signs bill HB-6599, which bars discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit and other laws based on gender identity or expression. The law, which will take effect 1 October, makes Connecticut the 15th state (along with Washington, D.C.) to outlaw some form of gender identity discrimination. *6 — In '' Log Cabin Republicans v. United States'', the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...

lifts its stay of a lower court's order and orders an immediate halt to the enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell". The court cites progress implementing the 2010 repeal of the policy and the Obama administration's 1 July brief in a DOMA case that cites the history of government and private discrimination based on sexual orientation. *7 — The United States Department of Justice seeks to withdraw its appeal of a California same-sex couple's joint bankruptcy petition and announces that it will no longer raise objections to "bankruptcy petitions filed jointly by same-sex couples who are married under state law." *14 — California governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

signs the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful Education Act. The new law mandates that educational material in California schools includes information on the contributions of LGBT people to California and United States history, prohibits discriminatory material and lessons and adds "sexual orientation" to existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education. *15 — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals grants the government's emergency request to reinstate "don't ask, don't tell" but bars the government from investigating, penalizing or discharging anyone under the policy. * 20 — The

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

confirms that it, along with the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, is investigating

Anoka-Hennepin School District 11 The Anoka-Hennepin School District 11 is a school district in Minnesota, northwest of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The district serves 13 communities: All of Anoka, Champlin and Coon Rapids, and parts of Andover, Blaine, Brooklyn Center, ...

in Minnesota for "allegations of harassment and discrimination in the istrictbased on sex, including peer-on-peer harassment based on not conforming to gender stereotypes." Several students, including four who, according to friends and family, were homosexual or perceived as such and committed suicide within the last two years. The school district has a policy barring any discussion of homosexuality and requires staff to remain neutral on matters of sexual orientation. * 22 — The

Michigan Supreme Court The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the s ...

rejects an appeal from a lesbian seeking shared custody of the children of her former partner. * 24 — The first legal same-sex marriages are performed in the state of New York. New York City records 659 marriages, a one-day record for the city. * 26 ** The Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled that same-sex couples in ''de facto'' unions constitute a family. The Court further ruled that the

Congress of Colombia The Congress of the Republic of Colombia () is the name given to Colombia's bicameral national legislature. The Congress of Colombia consists of the 108-seat Senate, and the 188-seat Chamber of Representatives, Members of both houses are e ...

has two years to address marriage equality through the legislative process. If the deadline passes without legislation, same-sex couples would be able to formalise their unions through notaries public. ** The United Nations Economic and Social Council reports that the International Gay and Lesbian Association has been granted consultative status. This gives ILGA the right to attend U.N. meetings, speak, and provide information to U.N. bodies on treatment of gays. ** The

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies () is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the upper house being the Senate of the Republic (Italy), Senate of the Republic. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform ...

rejects a bill that would have outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. ** The

releases a report on employee benefits in the United States which for the first time includes information on the availability of same-sex domestic partnership benefits. * July — The

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of the Christian g ...

allowed same-sex marriages in their churches.

August

* 1 — Members of the

Suquamish tribe The Suquamish () are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American people, located in present-day Washington in the United States. They are a southern Coast Salish people. Today, most Suquamish people are enrolled in the federally recognized Suqua ...

in the U.S. state of Washington vote unanimously to legalise same-sex marriage. The tribal court may issue a marriage license to two unmarried adults regardless of sex as long as at least one of them is a registered tribal member. * 4 — US President Barack Obama signs a proclamation ordering the State Department to bar from entry into the United States anyone who has engaged in oppression against various groups, including those defined by "sexual orientation or gender identity". * 5 — The

upholds a lower court ruling in ''Fields v. Smith'', striking down Wisconsin's "Inmate Sex Change Prevention Act". The law barred doctors in Wisconsin prisons from prescribing hormone treatment or sex reassignment surgery to transgender inmates. The court found that denial of treatment without a medically necessary reason constitutes

cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisdi ...

September

* 2 — The

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

passes AB 9, known as "Seth's Law", after 13-year-old Seth Walsh, who died by suicide in 2010 after constant homophobic harassment at his school. The bill would require every school in California to implement anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies and programmes that include actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. The state assembly had passed the bill in June. * 6 — California governor

signs SB 117 into law. SB 117, also known as the Equal Benefits Act, bars the state from entering into contracts worth more than $100,000 with vendors that do not offer equal benefits to the spouses of same-sex employees. * 7 — The

issues a finalised guidance memorandum that creates an enforcement mechanism for the policy announced last year by the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

mandating hospitals that receive Medicare and

funding allow patients to designate their choice of visitors during inpatient stays, including same-sex partners. * 15 — The government of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

announces new passport guidelines that will allow

intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...

people to select "X" as their gender identifier. Only intersex people may select X, transgender people must still select either "male" or "female". * 17 —

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

Supreme Court Judge Frank Pfiffner rules that denying same-sex couples the senior citizen and property tax exemptions given to mixed-sex married couples violates the state's constitutional guarantee of equal protection. * 20 —

Don't ask, don't tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on Sexual orientation in the United States military, military service of homosexual people. Instituted during the Presidency of Bill Clinton, Clinton administration, the pol ...

, the law which since 1993 has excluded LGB people from serving openly in the United States military, expires nine months after it was legislatively repealed. The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

is the first branch of the military to announce officially that the exclusionary policy is over. * 28 — The

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

Straßburg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin department and the official seat of the European Parliament. The cit ...

passed a resolution against discrimination on the basis of

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

October

* 3 — The U.K.'s

Identity and Passport Service His Majesty's Passport Office (HMPO) is a United Kingdom government agency. As a division of the Home Office (HO), it provides passports for British nationals worldwide. It was formed on 1 April 2006 as the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), ...

announces plans to change passport application forms to include options for same-sex parents to identify as "parent one" and "parent two" rather than as "mother" and "father". It would also allow transgender applicants to opt out of selecting a gender for passport purposes. * 5 — California Governor

signs Seth's Law, requiring school districts across the state have a uniform process for dealing with complaints about bullying and mandating that school personnel intervene, when safe to do so, to stop bullying. * 8 —

Andrew Mitchell Sir Andrew John Bower Mitchell Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG (born 23 March 1956) is a British politician who was Shadow Foreign Secretary from July to November 2024 and served as Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom), Deputy Foreign S ...

, the British

Secretary of State for International Development The minister of state for development, formerly the minister of state for development and Africa and the secretary of state for international development, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The offic ...

, announced that African countries which persecute homosexuals will face cuts in financial aid from the British government. This followed a cut of £19 million in aid to

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

after two men were sentenced in 2010 to 14 years' hard labour for attempting to marry (the men were later released after intercession by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

). * 9 — California Governor Jerry Brown announces the signing of the Gender Nondiscrimination Act (AB 887) and the Vital Statistics Modernization Act (AB 443). AB 887 makes illegal discrimination based on gender identity or expression in employment, education, housing, and other public settings and AB 443 allows transgender people to obtain a court order to protect their gender. * 25 — The

ruled in favour of two women seeking a legal civil marriage. It found that "sexual orientation should not serve as a pretext for excluding families from the legal protection that marriage represents."

November

* 2 ** The U.K. Equalities Commission announced that same-sex couples may use houses of worship in England and Wales for civil partnership ceremonies, although no religious organisation can be forced to perform them. ** The United States

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

announces that it intends to issue a formal agreement, known as a "notice of acquiescence", with the 2010

United States Tax Court The United States Tax Court (in case citations, T.C.) is a Federal judiciary of the United States, federal trial court court of record, of record established by US Congress, Congress under Article One of the United States Constitution, Article ...

decision in '' O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner'', allowing people to deduct the costs for treating

gender identity disorder Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assignment, sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic lab ...

from their federal income taxes. * 15 — The

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

Council votes to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in city employment. * 22 — An independent arbiter rules that

Baltimore County, Maryland Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland. The county is part of the Central Maryland region of the state. Baltimore County partly surrounds but does not include the independent cit ...

, must extend spousal benefits to the same-sex spouses of two police officers who legally married in other states.

December

* 1 —

n state

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

passes in parliament ''Civil Partnership Bill''. * 6 —

Elio Di Rupo Elio Di Rupo (; born 18 July 1951) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 2011 to 2014, heading the Di Rupo Government, and as minister-president of Wallonia for three non-consecutive terms between 1999 and 20 ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

becomes the first openly gay male leader of a European Union country.

Deaths

* 7 January — Carlos Castro, Portuguese journalist and LGBT rights activist, bludgeoned. * 15 January — Lance Lundsten, American student, suicide. following alleged school bullying. * 19 January — Kameron Jacobsen, American student, suicide following alleged bullying on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. * 26 January —

David Kato David Kato Kisule ( – 26 January 2011) was a Ugandan teacher and LGBT rights activist, considered a father of Uganda's gay rights movement and described as "Uganda's first openly gay man". He served as advocacy officer for Sexual Minorities ...

, Ugandan, LGBT rights activist, bludgeoned. * 27 February — James Gruber, American LGBT activist, last surviving member of the

Mattachine Society The Mattachine Society (), founded in 1950, was an early national gay rights organization in the United States, preceded by several covert and open organizations, such as Chicago's Society for Human Rights. Communist and labor activist Harry Ha ...

, following an illness. * 28 February — Peter J. Gomes, American theologian and same-sex marriage advocate, complications following a stroke. * 17 April — Alfred Freedman, American psychiatrist who led the campaign to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness in 1973, complications following surgery. * 23 April —

Noxolo Nogwaza Noxolo Nogwaza (1987 – 24 April 2011) was a South African lesbian LGBT rights activist and member of the Ekurhuleni Pride Organising Committee. She was raped, then stoned and stabbed to death by assailants in KwaThema, Gauteng. Nogwaza had bee ...

, South African LGBT activist, possible victim of

corrective rape Corrective rape, also called curative rape or homophobic rape, is a hate crime in which somebody is raped because of their perceived sexual orientation. The common intended consequence of the rape, as claimed by the perpetrator, is to turn the ...

, murdered. * 7 May — Doric Wilson, American playwright and LGBT activist. * 25 June —

Jean Harris Jean Struven Harris (April 27, 1923 – December 23, 2012) was the headmistress of The Madeira School for girls in McLean, Virginia, who made national news in the early 1980s when she was tried and convicted of the murder of her ex-lover, Herm ...

, American LGBT rights activist. * 22 July — Ifti Nasim, Pakistani poet and LGBT rights activist, heart attack. * 3 August — Rudolf Brazda, German survivor of

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Nazi Germany, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (pre-1938 ...

and the last known homosexual internee. * 11 September —

Arthur Evans Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. The first excavations at the Minoan palace of Knossos on the List of islands of Greece, Gree ...

, author and LGBT rights activist, co-founder of

Gay Activists Alliance The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) was founded in New York City on December 21, 1969, almost six months after the Stonewall riots, by dissident members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). In contrast to the Liberation Front, the Activists Alliance ...

, heart attack. * 18 September — Jamey Rodemeyer, United States high school student, suicide following bullying. * 7 October — Paula Ettelbrick, United States lawyer and LGBT rights activist, cancer. * 11 October —

Frank Kameny Franklin Edward Kameny (May 21, 1925 – October 11, 2011) was an American gay rights activist. He has been referred to as "one of the most significant figures" in the American gay rights movement. During the Lavender scare, in 1957, Kame ...

, United States LGBT right activist, heart disease. * 14 October — Jamie Hubley, Canadian student, suicide following depression and bullying. * 26 October ** Axel Axgil, Danish LGBT rights activist, complications from a fall. ** Aristide Laurent, United States LGBT right activist and co-founder of ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

'' magazine, cancer. * 29 October — Rose Robertson, British, LGBT rights activist, natural causes. * 7 November —

Peter Burton Peter Ray Burton (4 April 1921 – 21 November 1989) was an English film and television actor. Early life Peter Ray Burton, was born in Bromley, Kent, to Frederick Ray Burton and Gladys Maude (née Frazer). Career Burton played Major Boothr ...

, British journalist and LGBT rights advocate, heart attack. * 10 November —

Barbara Grier Barbara Grier (November 4, 1933 – November 10, 2011) was an American writer and publisher. She is credited for having built the lesbian book industry. After editing ''The Ladder (magazine), The Ladder'' magazine, published by the lesbian ci ...

, American lesbian rights activist and co-founder of Naiaid Press, cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 In Lgbtq Rights LGBTQ rights by year

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Deaths

See also

References