Same-sex partnerships are a human right

The latest poll from Gallup shows that support for same-sex marriage has fallen only slightly since the Supremes ruled that such marriages must be legal across the country. The high point for support was reached in May at 60%. It is now at 58%. Strangely, Gallup says approval percentages are most likely not done shifting. Of course, support will keep changing and for the better! Wait, did you think Gallup was implying support would sharply decline?



The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that same-sex partnerships are a human right and governments are required to offer some kind of legally recognized same-sex unions. This ruling applies to European Union countries – Italy was the one named in the suit – and also to all countries that have signed the European Convention on Human Rights. In particular, that means Russia and Turkey, though it might be hard to enforce the ruling there.



Houston, TX has a lesbian mayor, Annise Parker. I think she is nearing the end of her second term and cannot run again. As part of her legacy she and the city council passed HERO, the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance. This being Texas, there were many who were outraged at being denied the right to discriminate against sexual minorities. So they gathered signatures to put the ordinance on the ballot. That effort failed because too many of the signatures were declared forged. HERO went into effect.

But the opposition wasn't done. They took their petitions to the Texas Supremes, where all justices were appointed by Republicans. The justice used a technicality to rule that city must stop enforcing HERO and that the city council must either repeal it or put it on the ballot. Houston is the last major city without protections for sexual minorities.