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Graphic Truth: Same-sex marriage around the world
LGBTQ+ rights remain far from equal around the world. As of 2025, only 38 of the 195 countries globally recognize same-sex marriage. While some nations are changing course — Liechtenstein and Thailand both legalized same-sex marriage this year — others are moving in the opposite direction, enacting discriminatory laws that target LGBTQ+ communities. In the United States, state-level lawmakers in Oklahoma are pushing to restrict transgender rights and challenge the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. Meanwhile in Uganda, the Constitutional Court last year upheld an anti-gay law – initially signed in 2023 – that includes the death penalty for certain homosexual activity, underscoring the legal challenges that LGBTQ+ individuals face in certain countries across the globe.
On immigration, Pope Leo XIV will advocate for the "dignity of the human" says Fr. James Martin
As part of a larger conversation about the role of religion in modern politics and society, Father James Martin discusses Pope Leo's approach to immigration. Then Father Martin reflects on his own advocacy for LGBTQ issues, emphasizing the Gospel's moral imperative over political convenience.
When it comes to migration, Martin says the Pope’s stance isn’t political, it’s biblical: “His orientation is the Gospel, and the Gospel talks about welcoming the stranger.” He pushes back against Vice President JD Vance's interpretation of "love thy neighbor," noting that Catholic teaching calls on people to care for those they don't know. While the Vatican usually avoids direct political confrontation, Martin says sometimes "directness is called for."
Later, Martin turns to the cultural backlash against transgender people, especially in the US, saying the Church’s call is clear: accompany and affirm their dignity. "The more that they are attacked, the more urgent it becomes for us to stand with them," he says. He points to the late Pope Francis’s quiet but consistent engagement with the trans community as a model of compassion over doctrine.
In both cases, Martin underscores the same theme: whether the issue is immigration or gender identity, the Church's mission is to recognize and protect the dignity of every person.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Pope Leo XIV's historic opportunity, with Father James Martin
Listen: Ian Bremmer sits down with Jesuit priest and bestselling author Father James Martin to talk about the historic ascendancy of Pope Leo XIV—the first-ever US Pope—and what his papacy means for the Catholic Church, American politics, and a world in search of moral clarity.
Known for his humility and prayerful presence, Marin says Pope Leo has would do well to make his top priority healing internal divisions within the Church. “There’s a lot of division and anger,” Martin says, “but Pope Leo has the opportunity to build bridges between progressives and traditionalists.” And his early comments on war and migration signal that he intends to take moral stances with global relevance—including the Church’s firm position on welcoming the stranger. “When Jesus says, ‘When you welcome the stranger, you welcome me,’ that’s pretty clear,” Martin says.
Martin also speaks about his own public advocacy for LGBTQ Catholics, especially trans people, who he says are “being treated like dirt.” The conversation also turns to the legacy of Pope Francis, whose pastoral outreach—from encyclicals on climate change to nightly calls with Gaza parishioners—inspired many, including his successor. “Francis showed us that the Church is a field hospital,” Martin says.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Satellite image of Hurricane Milton as of 8 p.m., on Oct. 8, 2024.
Hard Numbers: Florida braces for Milton, First survey of transgender US students, TikTok faces new legal challenges, BJP defeated in Kashmir, Dominican Republic escalates deportations
9: Millions have boarded up, sandbagged, and evacuated their homes in Florida this week as Hurricane Milton barrels through the Gulf of Mexico toward the Sunshine State. Deemed a Category 5 storm on Tuesday, with winds reaching speeds of up to 180 mph, Milton is expected to weaken slightly but still bring an "extremely life-threatening situation" when it makes landfall Wednesday night. Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency – still busy with the impact of last month’s Hurricane Helene – reported this week that only 9% of its personnel, or 1,217 staffers, were available to help with new disaster relief efforts.
3.3: About 3.3% of US high school students identify as transgender, according to a new survey. The first-of-its-kind study also revealed 2.2% of students are questioning their gender identity. About 10% of transgender students reported suicide attempts, 10 times that of cisgender boys. Transgender issues are at the center of America’s culture wars – while most Americans favor discrimination protections for transgender people, support for restrictions on transgender care and education is significantly higher among Republicans than among Democrats.
13: TikTok is in legal hot water again as 13 US states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit against the short-form video platform alleging that it breaks US consumer protection laws and has exacerbated a mental health crisis among teenagers. The suit comes as TikTok faces the prospect of being banned outright in the US next January unless it cuts ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance.
42: An alliance committed to restoring Kashmir’s autonomy within India won the region’s elections, which culminated on Oct. 8, taking 48 of the local legislature’s 90 seats. The vote was the first since Kashmir was stripped of its special status in 2019 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist BJP party won just 29 seats in the Kashmir election. However, the BJP also looked set to win a surprise victory in the state of Haryana – a result that the opposition Congress party is contesting.
7,000: The Dominican Republic has deported at least 4,900 Haitians since last Thursday alone. The move is part of a new policy in which the Dominican government says it will deport up to 10,000 undocumented migrants weekly amid rising concerns about crime and lawlessness. The government of Haiti, which is currently mired in a severe political, economic, and humanitarian crisis, has blasted the deportations as “an affront to human dignity.”
Georgia’s next target: LGBTQ+ freedoms
Pride Month is sure to look different in Georgia this year – and may soon disappear forever.
This week, the Eurasian country – not the US state – introduced legislation aimed at curtailing civil liberties for LGBTQ+ people. The draft text includes a ban on same-sex marriages, same-sex adoptions, gender-affirming care, endorsement of same-sex relationships at gatherings and educational institutions, plus any same-sex depictions in media.
Over a decade ago, the South Caucasus republic became one of the few post-Soviet states to enshrine anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination into law. So, why the 180-degree change?
The Georgian Dream ruling party, in power since 2012, has been slowly shifting the country’s alignment away from Brussels and toward Moscow. This year, thousands protested Georgia Dream’s foreign agent law, which opponents say is identical to a law used by the Kremlin to crush dissent. Huge demonstrations and a presidential veto couldn’t stop the bill from passing.
But don’t expect mass protests against the similarly Kremlin-aligned anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Tbilisi has repeatedly canceled Pride Marches after right-wing protesters violently stormed the celebrations, and much of Georgia’s majority Orthodox Christian society is likely to support the measures in the name of national and religious identity.
Tinatin Japaridze, a Georgian-born regional analyst at Eurasia Group, says the Georgian Dream party is pushing this legislation to serve them politically and shore up conservative support.
Without a strong coalition to oust Georgian Dream, she says “they will continue to adopt and adapt the Russian playbook in a way that they hope will keep them in power for as long as possible.”
FILE PHOTO: Thai LGBT community participates in Gay Freedom Day Parade in Bangkok, Thailand November 29, 2018.
Thailand Moves One Step Closer to Marriage Equality
Thailand’s House of Representatives approved a bill aiming to secure legal recognition of same-sex marriages, a historic first in Southeast Asia. It passed with overwhelming support: 400 votes in favor and 10 against. The bill will ensure all couples equal rights under the law in key areas like marital tax savings, property inheritance, medical rights, and child adoption.
Thailand is known for being one of the few safe havens for the LGBTQ+ community on a continent with historically restrictive laws. Thai law lagged public opinion, with polls showing as many as 96.6% of respondents supporting same-sex marriage legalization. The country is known internationally for its thriving, public social scene, as well as by many media watchers for their hugely popular queer “Boy Love (BL)” dramas and RuPaul’s Drag Race spinoff.
Thailand’s ruling Pheu Thai party capitalized on this gap between policy and public opinion. The opposition Move Forward Party – fueled by a progressive wave of young voters – campaigned on the issue during their most recent election cycle. Move Forward won the most seats in parliament but was shut out after Pheu Thai struck a deal with conservative and military-aligned parties.
Many assumed a continuation of the status quo was imminent. Voting on same-sex marriage legislation was a low-risk, high-reward move for Pheu Thai that would appease progressives angered by the sidelining of Move Forward and draw positive international attention without any pushback from their base.
The bill still requires approval from the Senate and an endorsement from the king. Thailand will then follow only Taiwan and Nepal (kind of) as countries that allow same-sex unions in Asia.
Greece's PM on NATO, Navalny, and the wake-up call to Europe
Greece, the world’s oldest democracy, is undergoing a major digital, economic, and social transformation era. Ian Bremmer sat down with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to discuss global security, the threat of AI in elections, and Greece’s landmark ruling allowing same-sex couples to marry.
With the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looming large, Mitsotakis stressed the importance of continuing to send financial and military aid to Kyiv and for Europe to increase its own defense spending. NATO allies have committed to spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense, but only 18 of the 31 NATO countries currently meet this goal. Mitsotakis says it’s high time for all NATO countries to step up.“We do our part as Greece, we spend more than 3% of our GDP on defense,” Kyriakos emphasized, “Just taking a look at what's happening in Ukraine, we cannot afford the same risks.”
Kyriakos also explains why it was important for Greece to participate in the unveiling of a major new tech accord aimed at combating AI-generated election misinformation at the conference and why his center-right government pushed hard to pass the recent landmark LGBTQ+ rights bill granting marital and adoption rights to same-sex couples.Watch full episode here: Can Ukraine win the war?
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week online and on US public television. Check local listings.
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Why Greek PM Mitsotakis pushed for same-sex marriage despite strong opposition
On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer asked Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for his reaction to Greece becoming the first Orthodox Christian country to legalize same-sex civil marriage. Greece’s parliament voted 176-76 to approve the legislation, which also legalizes adoption for same-sex families, despite opposition from the influential Greek Orthodox Church and from within Mitsotakis’ own center-right New Democracy party.
“I knew from the beginning that there are a lot of people within my party that did not agree with this,” Mitsotakis tells Bremmer, “But at the end of the day, human rights is about protecting smaller groups. Otherwise, you have the tyranny of the majority.”
Marriage legalization is a watershed moment for Greece’s LGBTQ+ community, which has been fighting for equal rights and recognition for decades. While opinion polls suggest that most Greeks support the new reform by a narrow margin, the conservative Orthodox Church is still a powerful force in Greek society. That, Mitsotakis explained, is why consensus-building was crucial for passing legislation.
“We worked very hard to explain to people what we’re doing, and we fully respected those who disagreed,” Mitsotakis said, “People understand it’s something that helps a few people and doesn’t threaten anyone, that’s why it’s so important.”
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week online and on US public television. Check local listings.
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