Illinois has legalized civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. The legislation passed the state Senate and House, and the governor signed the bill into law yesterday.The state will now recognize same-sex couples, and as a result, these couples will be granted significant legal protections and rights. This includes things like the right to decide medical treatment for their partner, visitation rights at the hospital, inheritance rights, and insurance coverage. The law will take effect June 1. Illinois is now the sixth state to allow civil unions. Five other states and Washington DC have legalized gay marriage. Marriage is still defined in Illinois as a union between one man and one woman, but this is still a huge step in the right direction. It should also be noted that civil unions are still not recognized by the federal government. (Full Story)
The influence of the Tunisian uprising has rippled across North Africa and the Middle East. There have since been protests and calls for reform in various countries including Egypt, Yemen, Algeria, Syria, and Jordan. Today in Egypt protests continued as a "march of millions" was held. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Cairo's main square to protest the government and call for President Mubarak to step down (he has run Egypt for nearly 30 years). The crowd has been estimated at anywhere between 250,000 and 2 million people. Thousands of other protesters have gathered in cities across Egypt. These protests have been happening despite Mubarak instituting a curfew and cutting internet and cellphone service.
Over the past several days, Mubarak has taken actions to appease the protesters -- he asked his cabinet to resign, he named a new prime minister and installed new members of the government, and he appointed a vice president for the first time during his rule. However, he has, as of yet, sidestepped the protesters' demands for him to step down. It's being reported that Mubarak will allegedly make a speech today where he announces that he won't run for reelection, but he will stay on until the end of his term (which will be in September). I cannot imagine the demonstrators will be happy with this concession, and I would assume they won't not stop until Mubarak steps down. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of days.
The Palestinian government in West Bank also recently pledged to hold local elections "as soon as possible". Many think this is a result of what's been happening in Egypt. Furthermore, the king of Jordan dismissed his government today and appointed a new prime minister as a result of several thousand people protesting and calling for reform in the country. (Full Story)(Full Story)
In China, news from Egypt is being censored. Two of China's largest online portals blocked keyword searches for "Egypt" (hopefully no one had to do a report on the Pyramids for school...). Searching "Egypt" has also been blocked from China's equivalent of Twitter. In addition to blocking information online, the Chinese government has also started to "spin" the events in Egypt. They can't keep this international news completely hidden (a task like this is too hard to carry out this day and age), but they can manipulate the stories. In articles and editorials in state-controlled newspapers, the protests in Egypt have been described as chaotic and riotous, and that this is the downside of trying to establish democracy in a country that is not yet ready for it (this is the line China's leaders have been saying for a while). The events in Egypt are being framed in China as an example of another unsuccessful attempt at democracy. One editorial mirrored official thinking and stated that "color revolutions will not bring about real democracy" (Read: don't even try it!). In some of the articles that appear in the Communist Party's main newspaper and China's official news agency, it was simply left out that the origins of the unrest in Egypt is political discontent. The last thing China wants is for Chinese citizens to see that political reforms can happen due to grassroot efforts to organize citizens together in order to express their unhappiness with the way their government is running. (Full Story)
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