Italian government sends civil-union bill
to Parliament
The government of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi finalized its civil-union legislation Feb. 8 and sent it to Parliament for a vote.
The parliamentary coalition aligned with the ruling party is expected to provide enough votes for the measure to pass.
The proposed law applies to both gay and straight couples, and grants rights in areas such as health care, social benefits, pensions, inheritance, rental contracts, and hospital and prison visitation.
Inheritance rights would apply only to relationships of at least nine years' duration and rental rights to those that have lasted at least three years. The amount of time after which pension rights would kick in is not yet specified.
Other countries with civil-union laws include Andorra, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Greenland, a self-governing administrative division of Denmark, also has a civil-union law. There are state or local partnership laws in parts of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and the United States.
Full marriage is available to same-sex couples in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa and the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Informal cohabitation of same-sex partners has become legally recognized in Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Hungary, Israel and Portugal -- and in parts of Australia, Italy and the U.S.
Ukrainian Parliament human-rights chief denounces gays
The Ukrainian Parliament's human-rights chief denounced gays again on Feb. 9, reported Kiev's Our World Gay and Lesbian Center.
Leonid Grach, head of the Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations, said: 'My colleagues and I in Parliament have to defend society from infringements upon morality and not admit into the consciousness and souls of people of any age the thought that the state is on the side of the people who are sowing debauchery, propagandizing for dissoluteness [ or ] sexual permissiveness, or bringing the abomination of seduction into society. [ The ] state must protect society from evil, from violence, including such evil as homosexuality, lesbianism and the like.'
Our World, which translated the comments, responded that 'such public statements by a high-ranking politician whose duty it is to protect human rights are simply inadmissible in civilized democratic society.'
The center asked activists in other nations to alert their governments to the situation and write protest letters to Grach and Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko.
Last November, Grach called homosexuality 'an anomaly that is caused by the amorality and depravity of man,' Our World said.
Ontario deputy
premier to marry
The deputy premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, George Smitherman, will marry his partner, chocolate company manager Christopher Peloso, on Aug. 5, the Toronto Star reported.
The couple will tie the knot at the Laurentian Lodge resort 325 miles northwest of Toronto.
Smitherman, who also is provincial health minister, told the Star, 'I'm going to make a long-term commitment to Christopher in August and then I'm hoping that the people of my riding are going to make a long-term commitment to me [ in the next election ] on Oct. 10.'
The two men have known each other for 10 years but only reconnected 18 months ago. Once married, they plan to adopt a child.
A huge hockey fan with a feisty political reputation, Smitherman has been a Liberal legislator since 1999 and health minister since 2003. His district includes Toronto's gayest neighborhood.
In 2006, Smitherman acknowledged that in the 1990s he was addicted for five years to illegal stimulant 'party drugs' that are popular on the gay scene.
Canada is one of six nations where same-sex couples have access to traditional marriage.
Colombian high court rules for gay couples
Same-sex couples who have lived together for at least two years have the same property and inheritance rights as common-law opposite-sex couples, Colombia's Constitutional Court declared Feb. 8.
In an 8-1 decision, the justices said the law governing such rights for heterosexual couples was unconstitutional to the extent it excluded gay couples.
The gay group Colombia Diversa had asked the court for the determination.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
