1995 in LGBT rights

Events

* A new penal code is introduced in Portugal, which lowers the age of consent for heterosexual acts to 14; however it retains an age of consent of 16 for homosexual acts.
* Sweden legalizes registered partnerships (a common-law marriage or civil union) with all the rights of marriage - except for marriage in a church and adoption.
* Rhode Island bans sexual orientation discrimination in the private sector. [ [http://www.counseling.org/PublicPolicy/PositionPapers.aspx?AGuid=5cc5633a-a87c-4782-b6b7-40845047dd10 Current Issues ] ]

March

*March 9 - Scott Amedure, a gay man, was shot to death by Jonathan Schmitz, a straight man, after Amedure revealed a secret crush on Schmitz during a taping of the Jenny Jones talk show. Schmitz was later convicted of second-degree murder with a sentence of 30 to 50 years.

May

*May 25 - In "Egan v. Canada" the Supreme Court of Canada rules that sexual orientation is a prohibited ground of discrimination under section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a part of the constitution. Section 15 does not explicitly list sexual orientation, but is designed to permit the addition of new grounds by the courts. The ruling will have a wide impact since section 15 applies to all laws, including human rights laws that prohibit discrimination by all employers, landlords, service providers and governments.

October

*October 10 - United States Supreme Court hears opening arguments in Romer v. Evans, the case that would eventually overturn Colorado's Amendment 2, which banned gay rights laws in the state.

November

*November 7 - Australia's Christian Coalition says it will fight gay rights advances in the upcoming elections.
*November 15 - The Florida Baptist state convention votes to begin a boycott of the Walt Disney Company after the firm extends domestic partner health benefits to employees.

December

*December 29 - KOAA-TV in Colorado Springs, Colorado pulls talks shows by Jenny Jones and Carnie Wilson off the air because they include homosexuals as guests.

Births

Deaths

*March 9 - Scott Amedure, 32, talk show murder victim
*November 17 - James Woods III, 32, author of ""
*November 20 - Steven Powsner, 40, former president of the New York City Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center

External links

* [http://www.advocate.com Web site for Advocate news magazine]
* [http://www.365gay.com 365gay.com]
* [http://news.google.com/news?as_q=&svnum=10&as_scoring=r&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=gay+lesbian+bisexual+transgender+homosexual&as_eq=&as_nsrc=&as_nloc=&as_occt=any&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=&as_minm=1&as_mind=20&as_maxm=2&as_maxd=19 Google search for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender news]
* [http://www.sodomylaws.org/world/germany/germany.htm Sodomylaws.org on Germany]

References