Germany's gay partnership law took effect Aug. 1. Dozens of ceremonies took place in cities and towns across the country.
The first couple to tie the knot was Heinz Harre and Reinhard Leuschow, who married at the Hanover town hall at 8:20 a.m.
In Hamburg, 15 couples got hitched the first day.
"For gays and lesbians in Germany it's a huge step forward after a long battle," said openly gay Member of Parliament Volker Beck. "The law will make a lot of people very happy."
The law grants registered gay couples marriage rights and obligations in areas such as inheritance, health insurance, immigration, name changes and alimony. It withholds marriage rights in the areas of adoption, taxation, pensions and social-welfare benefits.
Legal efforts by two states to overturn the law were rejected by the Constitutional Court on July 18.
Elsewhere, registered gay couples have nearly all rights of marriage in Denmark, France, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the U.S. state of Vermont. The Netherlands lets gays marry under the same laws as heterosexual couples. Court rulings have given gay couples many marriage rights in Canada and Hungary.
HUNGARIAN GAYS BEAT MAYOR
Budapest District III Mayor Istvan Tarlos and organizers of Hungary's week-long Pepsi Island Festival agreed in writing that homosexual groups would not be allowed to participate in the event, but gay groups went to court and beat the ban.
Two gay-themed tents were staffed as the fair got underway Aug. 2.
"The Habeas Corpus Working Group, Hatter Support Society for Gays and Lesbians, Labrisz Lesbian Association and NANE Women Against Violence ... are holding human-rights educational workshops on discrimination against sexual minorities and on rape and domestic violence against women and children," said Habeas Corpus spokesman Gabor Kuszing. "Discussions include homophobia workshops that aim to sensitize participants to the hatred, violence, discrimination, humiliation and other problems faced by sexual minorities in Hungary."
Kuszing said the court ruling was "a major victory of the human-rights movement of sexual minorities in Hungary, since this is the first time that the collective rights of sexual minorities have been protected by the state."
"The injunction is also unique because for the first time it directly interprets the Hungarian Constitution as defending the rights of sexual minorities," he said.
Judge Judit Vida of the Districts II and III court ruled that Mayor Tarlos "had no right to sign an agreement that ... strengthens society's prejudices against sexual minorities."
CANADIAN MARRIAGE CASE BEFORE COURT
A case challenging the constitutionality of Canada's ban on same-sex marriage arrived at the British Columbia Supreme Court July 23.
The plaintiffs are eight couples to whom the province refused to issue marriage licenses.
They argue the ban violates the equal-treatment provisions of the nation's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada's bill of rights.
"We are less than full citizens and I want full citizenship," plaintiff Murray Warren told the Canadian Press wire service.
Whichever way the B.C. court rules, the case is expected to advance to the Supreme Court of Canada.
386 DUTCH GAY
COUPLES MARRY
Three hundred eighty-six Dutch gay couples got married in the month after The Netherlands became the first country to let same-sex couples marry under the regular marriage laws.
According to the Central Statistics Office, one-and-a-half times as many male couples as female couples tied the knot in April.
Researchers expect there will have been about 10,000 gay weddings by next April.
Gay couples from other nations can marry in The Netherlands as long as one of the individuals has lived there for at least four months.
Readers of De Gay Krant magazine are assisting foreign couples in establishing residency.
"These foreigners have to prove that they are using the Amsterdam address for at least four months," said De Gay Krant Publisher Henk Krol. "During these months it is possible that the City Hall will ask them to come by. If this is asked, they have to show up within three weeks. American citizens need a permit to stay that long in The Netherlands, but it is rather easy for Americans to get that permit."
For more information, e-mail h.krol@gaykrant.nl.
INDIAN ACTIVISTS REMAIN JAILED
Several employees of the Lucknow, India, AIDS organizations Bharosa Trust and Naz Foundation International remain jailed, charged with conspiracy to commit "unnatural sexual acts" and possession of obscene material.
The agencies were raided on July 7.
A judge refused the arrestees' bail requests on July 11, accusing them of "polluting the entire society by encouraging the young persons and abating [ sic ] them to committing the offence of sodomy."
The AIDS work of both organizations has been supported by the Uttar Pradesh State AIDS Control Society and India's National AIDS Control Organization.
The International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission denounced the arrests on July 25.
"The use of police force to raid agencies and arrest staff engaging in government-sanctioned HIV/AIDS prevention activities—the conflation of this educational activity with abetting, spreading, and conspiring to commit sodomy— reflects ignorance and prejudice masquerading as enforcement of the law," IGLHRC said.
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code punishes sodomy with up to 10 years in prison.
GAY MAN WINS BRITISH BIG BROTHER
A gay flight attendant emerged victorious in British TV's second Big Brother reality series July 27.
Brian Dowling, 23, won about $100,000 after spending 64 days locked in a house with other contestants who were voted out one by one.
Dowling's laid-back humor was a decisive factor, reports said. He received 4.2 million viewer votes, 1.6 million more than the second-place finisher.
The Channel 4 network program scored very high ratings.
