Moscow mayor sticks with threat to ban gay rights parade in May

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov repeated his promise to ban the city's first gay-pride parade in May.

Speaking in Berlin Feb. 22 at a press conference with the mayors of Paris, London and Berlin, Luzhkov said he is "against such a phenomenon in life" and that the parade would provoke society.

"I will not permit such parades," he said, according to Interfax. "My philosophy is my negative attitude to these phenomena, as I believe them to be unnatural to the human nature, though I try to be tolerant to whatever develops in human society."

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë and Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit are both gay. On Feb. 27, Human Rights Watch denounced Luzhkov's statements, calling them "a threat to civil liberties and civil society."

On March 2, gay groups picketed outside Russian government buildings in London, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna and Warsaw. In Warsaw, about 20 protesters put a letter in the Russian Embassy's mailbox after no one came outside to meet the group.










Scottish Parliament member plans civil union with lesbian partner

A member of the Scottish Parliament, Liberal Democrat Margaret Smith, will unite with her partner this month under the United Kingdom's new Civil Partnership Act.

The ceremony will take place in Edinburgh in the presence of family and friends, Smith and partner Suzanne Main said in a statement.

Smith came out in 2003, saying, "I am happy to confirm that I am in a relationship with a female partner. My partner is not in the public eye. We would hope that the media would respect the privacy of both families at this time."









Gay activists in Czechoslovakia protest president's veto of partnership bill

About 100 people marched from Wenceslas Square to Prague Castle on Feb. 24 to protest against Czech President Vaclav Klaus' recent veto of a same-sex partnership bill that passed Parliament. According to the Czech Happenings website, the protesters carried signs reading, "We are not in Poland," "Love is not politics" and "Stop sexual racism."

The bill has returned to the Chamber of Deputies for a possible override of the veto. The bill originally passed 86 to 54 with seven abstentions and 53 deputies absent.







France extends joint parental rights to gay couples for each other's children

Same-sex couples were granted access to joint parental rights over each other's biological children by France's highest court, the Cour de Cassation, Feb. 24.

The court said a biological partner is free to delegate parental authority to his or her partner in a live-in, stable relationship when it is in a child's best interest to do so.






U.K. civil partnerships flourish while New Zealanders show less interest

The United Kingdom's new Civil Partnership Act is in high demand, but far fewer couples took advantage of New Zealand's Civil Union Act, according to media reports.

More than 3,600 ceremonies took place in the United Kingdom during the six weeks after the law took effect in late December.

But only 298 same-sex couples have tied the knot since New Zealand's Civil Union Act came into force in April 2005, the Sunday Star-Times reported Feb. 25.

One hundred forty-five male couples and 153 lesbian couples have entered a civil union, along with 62 straight couples.






14 youths sexually assault, beat transsexual to death in Portugal

A transgender woman was beaten to death in Porto, Portugal, in late February, according to PortugalGay.PT.

The woman reportedly was beaten, stoned, stomped on, burned, sexually assaulted with a stick and thrown into a deep pit in an abandoned building where she had been living. Media reports said 14 boys between the ages of 10 and 16 admitted to police their involvement in her death. The 46-year-old woman, an immigrant from Brazil known as Gisberta, worked as a prostitute and performed in gay bars.

14 youths suspected of beating transsexual beaten to death in Portugal
A transgender woman was beaten to death in Porto, Portugal, in late February. According to PortugalGay.PT, "Gisberta" reportedly was beaten, stoned, stomped on, burned, sexually assaulted with a stick and thrown into a deep pit in an abandoned building where she had been living.Media reports said that 14 boys between ages 10 and 16 admitted to police their

involvement in the crime after one of the boys confessed to a teacher.On Feb. 24, about 40 people staged a candlelight vigil in a parking area of the building in which Gisberta's body was found.An immigrant from Brazil, Gisberta, 46, had lived in Portugal for 25 years. She worked as a prostitute and an occasional performer in gay bars. Her legal name was Gilberto Salce Júnior.

Quebec priests oppose Vatican's antigay moves
Nineteen priests in the Canadian province of Quebec published a letter in Montreal's La Presse Feb. 27 denouncing the Roman Catholic Church's recent pronouncements against same-sex marriage and its new crackdown on gay seminarians, the CanWest News Service reported.Titled "Enough is enough," the 1,000-word letter said the church's categorization of homosexuality as a "disorder" leads to increased societal homophobia.In November, the Vatican announced a ban on seminarians "who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture."








This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, March 10, 2006.