Finland Sept. 28 became the latest European nation to pass a comprehensive registered-partnership law for same-sex couples.
Parliament approved the measure by a 99-84 vote. Fifteen MPs skipped the vote and one cast a blank ballot.
The law treats registered same-sex couples the same as married couples except in the areas of adoption and name changes.
"This at long last gives gay couples the rights they deserve," said Rainer Hiltunen, head of SETA, the National Organization for Sexual Equality. "But it's a compromise and we are disappointed that it doesn't secure the rights of children in a gay marriage because they can only be registered to one parent."
The measure will take effect in a few months.
Other nations that grant many, most or all marriage rights to same-sex couples include Canada, Denmark ( and Greenland ) , France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, The Netherlands ( the only nation where gay couples, including foreign residents, can marry under the ordinary marriage laws ) , Norway, Portugal, Sweden and, in the United States, the state of Vermont.
UKRAINE'S GAY
CENTER CLOSED
Less than a month after it opened, the first gay community center in the former Soviet Union has been shut down by its landlord, activists reported.
Employees, volunteers and patrons of the Our World Center in Lugansk, Ukraine, were forced from the building Sept. 15, the electricity was shut off, and the locks were changed.
The center's coordinator, Andriy Maymulakhin, believes the actions were politically motivated.
"Reputedly, the actual building owner is planning to be a candidate for election to the parliament of Ukraine during the spring of 2002," Maymulakhin said. "Thus it becomes clear the basis of the urgent actions aimed at pushing gays and lesbians out into the street. We are confident that once again ... we have suffered acts manifesting prejudice against people of homosexual orientation in wider Ukrainian society."
COUNCIL OF
EUROPE REACHES
OUT TO GAYS
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe ( CoE ) issued a statement Sept. 21 saying it regrets that anti-gay discrimination and violence still occur in Europe and urging members countries to stamp them out.
The committee, the CoE's executive arm, is composed of the foreign ministers ( or their deputies ) of 43 nations. It was the council's first statement in support of gay/lesbian rights in the CoE's 50-year history.
"Homosexuality can still give rise to powerful cultural reactions in some societies or sectors thereof, but this is not a valid reason for governments or parliaments to remain passive," the statement said. "On the contrary, this fact only underlines the need to promote greater tolerance in matters of sexual orientation."
The International Lesbian & Gay Association's co-delegate to the CoE's non-governmental organization forum, Nico Beger, called the statement "strong ... given the number of countries involved and the fact that they are at widely differing stages in their acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered rights."
Co-delegate Nigel Warner added: "Never before have so many governments joined in attacking homophobia."
One CoE member state, Armenia, bans gay sex. Ten other member countries have laws that treat gays differently than heterosexuals ( in areas other than cutting-edge partnership matters ) ...Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom. Four territorial entities controlled by the United Kingdom...Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey...also maintain discriminatory laws.
The Council of Europe's main role is to strengthen democracy, human rights and the rule of law throughout member states. Founded in the wake of World War II, it is the continent's most important human-rights organization. The European Convention on Human Rights is the most significant of its many human-rights treaties. The European Court of Human Rights settles complaints of violations of the convention.
TATCHELL BANNED FROM AUSTRALIA
London gay activist Peter Tatchell has been denied a visa to enter Australia where he planned to report from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting for the BBC and make a citizen's arrest of virulently homophobic Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Tatchell has twice before attempted to "arrest" Mugabe, in London and Brussels, where he was beaten by Mugabe's security guards.
"The refusal to grant me a visa is an illegal abuse of the immigration laws," Tatchell said. "The Australian government is welcoming Mugabe as an honored guest yet I am being denied the right to return to the country of my birth."
Leaders of 54 Commonwealth countries were scheduled to meet in Brisbane Oct. 6 to 9.
Tatchell said the Australian High Commission in London told him he was being excluded under Section 501 of the 1958 Migration Act, a rarely used law usually invoked against suspected terrorists, war criminals, drug barons, gangsters and others believed to be of "bad character" or to have engaged in "criminal behavior."
MANILA GAYS PROTEST FOR RIGHTS
About 20 people marched on the Philippines Congress Sept. 25 in support of legislation that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, correspondent Doug Sanders reports. The demonstration was organized by the Lesbian and Gay Legislative Action Network, a coalition of 12 Filipino gay organizations.
Among the marchers was the executive director of Amnesty International's Philippines office.
The International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission is coordinating foreign lobbying efforts in support of the anti-discrimination bills.
For more information, visit www.iglhrc.org .
GAY CABLE CHANNEL WINS FIGHT
Canada's national gay cable-TV channel won a legal battle to be treated like other new digital cable channels on Sept. 28.
During an ongoing free preview period showcasing all of the new digital channels, two cable companies had been forcing customers to sign up for PrideVision TV rather than making it automatically available like the other channels.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission told Shaw Cable and Star Choice to immediately unblock PrideVision so it automatically appears on every cable subscriber's TV for the duration of the preview period, which ends in early December.
Shaw Communications head Jim Shaw had told the Canadian Press wire service that customers would "revolt" if they were forced to receive gay programming along with other "Category 1" channels guaranteed delivery by cable and satellite TV regulations.