Another slow summer week, but a few items of note:

• Eight members of the LGBT activist organization GetEqual were arrested during a sit-in at the U.S. Capitol. They held the event in order to get House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take a vote on the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA).
• The New Jersey Supreme Court declined to hear Lambda Legal’s case claiming that civil unions have failed to provide the equality that the Court earlier mandated for same-sex couples. The Court said “This matter cannot be decided without the development of an appropriate trial-like record,” and told the plaintiffs they could take their case back to Superior Court, if they wished.

Around the world:

• Australia’s first openly gay cabinet minister, Penny Wong, said she agrees with the Labor Party’s view that marriage “is an institution that is between a man and a woman.”
• Nepal will hold its first Pride march on August 25, said Sunil Pant, the country’s first openly gay MP.
• The New York Times looks at the contrast between South Africa’s embracing of marriage equality and the reality for gay men and lesbians in many of the poorer townships.