Ethics/rights

A Brazilian Senate Judiciary Committee, responsible for reviewing the Criminal Code, approved Friday a proposal to criminalize "homophobia" and other situations that can be considered discriminatory against homosexuals.

According the current wording of the bill, any person who discriminates based on gender, identity or sexual orientation as well as regional origin will face criminal charges. Under current laws only those who discriminate against another person because of race, color, ethnicity, religion or national origin can be prosecuted.

The new legislation's wording also proposes that any person discriminated against can request the commencement of legal proceedings at any time, even if the discriminatory act happened a long time ago. Moreover, under the proposals if the accused is arrested temporarily, controversially they will not have the right to be released on bail. more >>

Brazil has become the latest country to pave the way for same-sex marriage after it approved a measure on Thursday changing the legal definition of a "civil union" to simply be between two people, without making it exclusive to a man and a woman.

The measure passed the Brazilian senate, its first legislative step in congress, after the issue had been disputed for 16 years, the Associated Press reported.

The Senate still does not approve of gay marriage, but Brazil's judiciary has already moved toward legalizing same-sex marriages after state courts last year began allowing civil unions between homosexuals to be converted to full marriages. more >>

WASHINGTON – A former director of the State Department's Office of Religious Freedom believes misunderstandings regarding religious liberty in America have made it hard to advance religious liberty abroad.

"The United States is required by law to advance religious freedom in its foreign policy. It has been required to do that since 1998," said Dr. Thomas F. Farr, referring to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. "By and large we have done very poorly and there are many reasons for that. One of them is we are so confused about the meaning and reach of religious liberty."

Farr, who was among many speakers at the 2012 National Religious Freedom Conference on Thursday, feels that over the past half-century a series of court decisions have distorted the concept of religious liberty that the United States was founded on. more >>

A bill that would have challenged the controversial all-comers policy for religious student organizations at Vanderbilt University was vetoed by the Governor of Tennessee.

In keeping with statements made to the press earlier this month, Governor Bill Haslam officially vetoed House Bill 2576 on Monday. It was the first veto Haslam had done in two years.

"Although I disagree with Vanderbilt's policy, as someone who strongly believes in limited government, I think it is inappropriate for government to mandate the policies of a private institution," said Haslam to a statement a couple weeks before the veto. more >>

Dr. Alveda C. King, the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., has expressed dissatisfaction with the NAACP's affirmation of gay marriage and rejects claims that the fight for such unions is linked to the civil rights movement. King claims the anti-traditional marriage community wants "a world where homosexual marriage and abortion will supposedly set the captives free."

Dr. King, who is also the Sr. Pastoral Associate and Director of African-American Outreach for Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries, said in a statement that she opposes the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's recent endorsement of same-sex marriage.

"Neither my great-grandfather an NAACP founder, my grandfather Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. an NAACP leader, my father Rev. A. D. Williams King, nor my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. embraced the homosexual agenda that the current NAACP is attempting to label as a civil rights agenda," the civil rights leader expressed. more >>

A national atheist activist group says an Indiana church's plans to use tax exempt bond financing to help construct a campus for its ministries is a violation of the state's constitution and the separation of church and state clause in the Constitution.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation says the city of West Lafayette cannot legally subsidize Faith Church's "Faith West Project" with $7 million in economic development revenue bonds. FFRF's co-president Dan Barker sent a letter of complaint to Mayor John Dennis and the City Council.

In a video posted on Faith Church's website, the church's pastor Steve Viars said that asking whether it is appropriate for government to allow a tax exempt bond to be issued for a non-profit religious organization like Faith is a "very reasonable question." However, the tax exempt bond financing is done for all types of organizations, including religious ones. more >>