Swedish lesbians
more like to marry
than gay men
Statistics Sweden reported July 21 that 37 lesbian couples and 11 gay male couples have married since same-sex marriage became legal on May 1.
The agency also reported that in the past 10 years, the number of children being raised by couples who took advantage of the nation's civil-union law has increased from about 70 to 749.
Forty-three of the kids have two dads and 706 have two moms.
"It's easier for female same-sex couples to have children," a spokesperson for the national gay group RFSL told Svenska Dagbladet newspaper. RFSL's former initials are now its full name.
ILGA-Europe
maps Euro equality
The European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association ( aka ILGA-Europe ) has created a map of the legal situation for European LGBs.
"The Rainbow Europe map reflects legal advances such as protection from discrimination, recognition of LGB families and parenting rights, inclusion of sexual orientation in hate speech/crime legislation," the group said. "The map also highlights the 'darker' corners of Rainbow Europe, where there is still criminalization of consenting same-sex acts, unequal age of consent and where Pride events have been banned during last 10 years."
Among the findings:
Two countries ban anti-gay discrimination in their constitutionsPortugal and Sweden;
Thirteen countries and one territory have laws banning anti-gay discrimination in employment only, while 25 countries and five territories ban such discrimination in both employment and access to goods and services;
Fifteen countries have hate-crime/speech laws that cover sexual orientation;
Same-sex couples can marry in five nations ( Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden ) and can enter into civil unions in 13 nations and two territories;
Nine countries let gay couples adopt children together, 11 allow second-parent adoption, and 10 provide insemination services to lesbian couples;
Two countries ( Greece and Cyprus ) and two territories ( Gibraltar and Guernsey ) have unequal age-of-consent laws for male-male sex, one territory ( North Cyprus ) still bans gay-male sex, and eight nations banned gay pride or other public gay events over the past 10 yearsBelarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Russia and Ukraine.
JPEGs of the two-sided map can be downloaded at tinyurl.com/ilga-m-1 and tinyurl.com/ilga-m-2.
U.S. gay magazine
intercepted by
Belarus customs
Pride, the annual magazine of the U.S.-based InterPride organization, has been intercepted by customs officials in Minsk, GayBelarus.by reported July 22.
Officials said the magazines, sent to the organization GayBelarus, were taken into custody because GayBelarus is not legally registered and the magazines were not intended for the personal use of the final recipient, Sergey Androsenko.
GayBelarus said the "rigid" process for registering is "complicated" and that numerous entities have been thwarted, including political parties, trade unions and activist groups.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko reportedly said last year, "The weapon of the most destructive forces is in the hands of mass media, so they should be supervised by the government," according to GayBelarus' translation.
Outer Hebrides
see 1st gay union
Scotland's Outer Hebrides islands saw their first gay civil union July 20 when children's TV host Andrew Robertson tied the knot with partner Craig Atkins at a registry office in Stornoway.
The couple then slipped out a back entrance to avoid reporters.
The civil-partnership law has been in effect since 2003.
Robertson works for the BBC and Atkins is the marketing manager for Stornoway's An Lanntair art center.
Assistance: Bill Kelley