Global gays

SODOMY CONVICTIONS TO BE WIPED

UK: From February, any person who had been convicted of consensual adult same-sex relations before homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK will be able to have the conviction removed from their record. Homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967, and other parts of the UK in the years that followed. The Home Office believes there are as many as 12,000 convictions still on the books which until now have appeared on criminal record searches by employers,

LAWS TIGHTENED

INDIA: India has moved to tighten regulations around its commercial surrogacy industry in ways which will make it harder for gay dads. Surrogacy will remain available for singles and couples, however, as same-sex couples are not yet recognised in India, where a same-sex couple seeks a child, only one father will appear on the birth certificate along with the child’s surrogate mother. This may be problematic for parents from jurisdictions where entering into commercial surrogacy arrangements is illegal.

SEASON OF LOVE

ARGENTINA: More than 1300 same-sex couples have married in Argentina since the country legalised same-sex marriage in July 2010. According to GLBT rights group Federacion Argentina de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales y Trans, the typical couple getting married are male and have been together for 12 years or more. The first couple to wed under the laws were Juan Carlos Navarro and Miguel Angel Calefato, who had been together 27 years.