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Swedish lawmakers, church make strides on gay marriage

Friday, November 04, 2005

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Congressional delegates, led by the ruling Social Democrat party and Prime Minister Göran Persson, this weekend voted in favor of gender-neutral marriage, SR International-Radio Sweden reported. Health & Welfare Minister Ylva Johansson called for gender-orientation neutral marriage, and a delegate vote then approved the move. Also in Sweden, the nation’s Lutheran Church last week agreed to let gay partners be blessed in special church ceremonies, although not in traditional weddings, the Associated Press reported. The issue has been debated since the secularized Scandinavian country recognized civil unions for gay couples in 1994. The Swedish Church Assembly, the decision-making body for the Church of Sweden, voted 160-81 to approve a blessing ceremony for same-sex partnerships. Sweden has a liberal attitude toward gays, but same-sex couples cannot yet marry legally. Later this year, a government committee is expected to file a report on whether the law allowing civil unions between gay couples should be changed to include marriage as well.

Report: Singapore bans gay Web site, fines another

SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore’s government banned a gay Web site and fined another after both were deemed to carry offensive content, a newspaper reported last week. The Media Development Authority in July put one of the sites on a list of 100 that are banned, after officials received complaints that it promoted promiscuous gay behavior and recruited underage boys for sex and nude photography, the Straits Times reported. The ban means that Web surfers in Singapore can no longer access the site, which is based overseas. Most of the banned sites on the list contain pornographic material. A local Web site called “Meet Gay Singapore Friends” obeyed a government warning to remove allegedly offensive content and was fined $2,960, the newspaper said. Singapore bans gay sex, defining it as “an act of gross indecency” punishable by a maximum of two years in jail.

Gay kiss on soap opera stirs Brazilian controversy

BRASILIA, Brazil — A Brazilian soap opera scriptwriter set off shock waves in this liberal country by announcing last week that two male soap opera characters will soon share the first gay kiss in the country’s television history, the U.K. Observer reported. The series, “América,” is drawing to a close, and scriptwriter Gloria Perez’s hint at a gay kiss on the show’s finale has sparked numerous complaints from viewers to television company Globo, which broadcasts the series. One online poll found that 25 percent of respondents said it is “best to hide these things,” rather than show gay affection on television, while almost 36 percent of those who responded to the poll said, “society is not ready” for an on-air gay kiss. “Obviously, I thought there would be some polemic, and I expected a torrent of protests against the kiss,” Perez told the newspaper Globo last week. “But this hasn’t happened, which proves that our country is changing.” The actor who is to initiate the kiss, Bruno Gagliasso, said he agrees with Perez that people are rooting for the soap opera couple.

Trans rights bill fails in New Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Leading lawmakers are failing to back a move to protect transgender people from discrimination, while few gay couples couples are taking advantage of the new civil union law, according to Stuff, one of the nation’s leading news Web sites. Prime Minister Helen Clark informed transsexual lawmaker Georgina Beyer this week that her measure to offer discrimination protection for transgender people is “history.” Beyer said a “climate of intolerance” is to blame for the bill’s failure. Beyer submitted the Human Rights (Gender Identity) Amendment Bill late last year, but Clark and Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen now say the measure will not be considered. Also this week, TVNZ reported that only 205 same-sex and heterosexual couples have obtained civil unions, six months since they became legal in the country. More than 5,000 traditional weddings have been held in that period of time. So far, slightly more gay men than lesbian couples have obtained civil unions, with far fewer heterosexual couples utilizing the option, TVNZ reported.

Spain’s Constitutional Court to study party’s appeal of gay marriage rights

MADRID, Spain (AP) — Spain’s Constitutional Court said last week it plans to study the conservative opposition Popular Party’s appeal against the Socialist government’s recent gay marriage law. The Popular Party filed the appeal late last month on the grounds that “marriage” in the constitution means the union of a man and a woman in matrimony. A court spokesperson said a final decision could take months. Spain’s Parliament passed the gay marriage bill in June, with only deputies from the Popular Party opposing. It was the world’s third country to give full legal recognition to same-sex marriages. Canada became the fourth country to do so in July. The others are the Netherlands and Belgium. The law angered the Roman Catholic Church but opinion surveys say most Spaniards back it.

From staff and wire reports

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