The international edition of Newsweek magazine this week highlights the struggle for gay equality around the globe. "The growing maturity of the gay rights movement in the West is having a marked effect on the developing world," the magazine notes. "In the United States the Republican Party is in trouble in part because it has made a fetish of its opposition to gay marriage. At least some gays in big cities like New York question why they are still holding 'pride' parades, as if they were still a closeted minority and not part of the Manhattan mainstream." Since 2001, Western European countries like Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain have placed gay and lesbian partners on the same legal footing as their heterosexual counterparts, the article continues. "And now the major developing powers of Asia, Latin America and Africa are following the liberal road - sometimes imitating Western models, sometimes not - but in all cases setting precedents that could spread to the remaining outposts of official homophobia. "Of course, homosexuality remains taboo in some regions: In most of the Far East, laws permitting gay and lesbian civil unions are many lesbian civil unions are many years if not decades away. And even in Latin America, universal acceptance of homosexuality is a long way off." The magazine is published in Europe, Asia and Latin America and features a gallery of defining images from the past year, a spotlight on homophobia in Jamaica and an interview with Sir Ian McKellen. Newsweek's gallery of images, called 'A Changing Tide', is available to view online by following the link below. Ref: Newsweek (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 12th September 2007 - 9:57am