IGLHRC receives OAS status
The U.S.-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission said June 1 it has received civil-society status from the Organization of American States.
The recognition will enable IGLHRC to attend and make presentations at OAS meetings and provide information and advice during drafting of OAS documents.
Court: Judges can't refuse to marry gays
Spain's Supreme Court ruled May 30 that judges can't refuse to marry same-sex couples.
The ruling came in the case of a judge from Valencia province who wanted to be excused from marrying gays for religious reasons.
The General Council for Judicial Power had previously come to the same determination.
Northern Irish LGBs report high level of hate crimes
Twenty-one percent of gay and bisexual men and 18 percent of lesbian and bisexual women in Northern Ireland say they've been the victim of a homophobic hate crime or incident in the past three years.
The figure comes from a survey of 1,143 LGB people carried out by the Rainbow Project with funding from the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
The study found that 64 percent of such incidents were not reported to police and 30 percent resulted in physical injury.
Mayor Luzhkov lashes out at gays
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has again lashed out at gays, calling them "homos" and calling gay pride parades "demonic."
Appearing on a TV program June 2, Luzhkov reportedly said: "There are two reasons gay pride parades are unacceptable in Moscow. First and foremost, public morality does not accept such parades, public morality does not accept those homos."
Secondly, he said: "If they gather together, assuming they are allowed to hold a parade, other people will simply kill them. There are radical Christians in Moscow who stand strongly against such demonic manifestations, as they say.
"There were attempts made ( in May ) to hold the gay parade during the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. We had to isolate about 19 radical Christians who intended to attack those homos."
On May 16, riot police broke up an attempt to stage the fourth annual gay pride parade in Moscow, arresting up to 80 participants, including gay leader Nikolai Alekseev, British gay leader Peter Tatchell and Chicago gay activist Andy Thayer.
Luzhkov previously has called gay pride parades "satanic" and "weapons of mass destruction," and has officially banned them each year.
Ruling: English adoption agencies cannot discriminate
The Charities Commission of England and Wales ruled June 2 that adoption agencies cannot discriminate against gay couples.
The commission cited the Equality Act ( Sexual Orientation ) Regulations 2007, which ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Violation of the law would lead to a loss of charity status and public funding.
The ruling came in a case involving the Catholic Care charity in Leeds, which wanted to amend its official statement of objectives with the commission to exclude consideration of gay couples.
Lithuanian Parliament votes for 'no promo homo' law
Lithuania's parliament, the Seimas, approved a measure on first reading June 4 that bans references to homosexuality in schools and in public information that can be visible to children. The bill still has to clear a final vote.
The tally was 57-2 with 8 abstentions. Many MPs missed the vote.
Amnesty International said the "Law on the Protection of Minors Against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information" would classify "homosexuality alongside issues such as ... the display of a dead or cruelly mutilated body of a person, and information that arouses fear or horror, or encourages self-mutilation or suicide."
Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty's Europe and Central Asia program director, said the proposed law "denies the right to freedom of expression and deprives students' access to the support and protection they may need."
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
