Venezuelan legislative committee approves amendment protecting gays
A constitutional amendment to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation has passed a Venezuelan legislative committee and moved to the full National Assembly.
Should the measure and other proposed changes pass the assembly, they would advance to a national referendum in December.
The same committee also may consider a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage.
16,100 UK gay couples tied the knot in 2006, first full year of law’s existence
More than 16,100 same-sex couples registered under the United Kingdom’s civil partnership law in 2006, its first full year of existence, the Office for National Statistics said Oct. 11.
About 4,000 of the ceremonies took place in London. Ninety percent of the unions were in England, 6 percent in Scotland, 3 percent in Wales and 1 percent in Northern Ireland.
The average age of men entering a partnership was 47; for women, it was 44. Sixty percent of the unions were between men.
A civil partnership carries the same rights and obligations as a marriage within the UK.
Moscow Pride organizers lose slander case, plan to appeal to EU court
Moscow gay pride organizers lost an appeal of a slander case against Mayor Yuri Luzhkov on Oct. 11 and now plan to move to the European Court of Human Rights.
Nikolai Baev and Nikolai Alekseev sought a retraction of Luzhkov’s statement that gay Pride parades are “satanic” and asked for 2,000 rubles $80 in damages.
On Jan. 29, Luzhkov had said: “Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay parade, which can be described in no other way than as satanic. We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future. … Some European nations bless single-sex marriages and introduce sexual guides in schools. Such things are a deadly moral poison for children.”
The appeals court, the Moscow City Court, agreed with a lower court that Luzhkov had not attacked Alekseev and Baev personally, but only the gay parade in general, and also concurred that Luzhkov was expressing a personal opinion.
Calgary mayor upsets gays with remarks about not “‘condoning’ gay “‘lifestyle’
The mayor of Calgary, Alberta, Dave Bronconnier, upset gays Oct. 10 by allegedly saying during a debate that he doesn’t “condone” the gay “lifestyle.”
When a questioner complained that Tourism Calgary promotes the city to gay travelers, Bronconnier responded: “I hear your lifestyle question and that’s not something I can condone, but Tourism Calgary, they have their marketing. … Would it have been my choice for an article? Probably not.”
But the next day, Bronconnier said his response had been misunderstood and that it was the question itself that he didn’t “condone.”
“Her question was why are my tax dollars going to market this,” Bronconnier told the Calgary Herald. “She actually had the ad in her hand. I defended Tourism Calgary’s right to market our city to all groups, including people who are gay, so it’s sort of a trumped-up matter.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 26, 2007.