NewsWrap for the week ending January 28, 2012

SUMMARY

The Western Front - 184 Members of the European Parliament take the "Be Bothered Pledge" to advance LGBT rights in the E.U. …

Lead, Follow, Or … - Australia's government removes the roadblock to its gay and lesbian citizens' legal marriages overseas …

First Do No Harm - Ecuador's new "out" lesbian Health Minister Carina Vance Mafla vows to shut down so-called "cure" clinics that promise their tortured "patients" salvation from homosexuality through prayer …

Right For the Job - Bogota, Colombia Mayor Gustavo Petro's appointment of Tatiana Pinero as the Director of Corporate Management in the city's Social Integration Department makes her the capital's first transgender public official …

Real Hope for the Future - Washington appears poised to become the seventh U.S. state, along with the District of Columbia, to offer marriage equality to its lesbian and gay citizens …

Cracking the Oyster - Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley introduces a bill to open civil marriage to his state's same-gender couples …

They Guide - LGBT activists in Maine announce that they have submitted far more than the required number of signatures to put a marriage equality measure back on the state ballot …

Not An Acceptable Trade-Off - a bill to replace the state's inferior civil unions with civil marriage advances in New Jersey's Democratically-controlled legislature, but Republican Governor Chris Christie vows a veto, even as he stuns most LGBT activists by nominating openly gay African-American Chatham, New Jersey Republican Mayor Bruce Harris to the state Supreme Court ….

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