Straight couple denied civil partnership in London
A heterosexual couple was refused a civil partnership at London's Camden Register Office on Dec. 8.
The registrar cited the legal ban on opposite-sex civil partnerships as the reason for the refusal.
Stephanie Munro and Andrew O'Neill plan to sue the government, along with three other straight couples who want to enter into civil partnerships and four gay couples who want to get married.
It's part of a new activist campaign dubbed Equal Love, coordinated by veteran gay activist Peter Tatchell.
"We feel a sense of injustice," said Munro. "It doesn't seem fair that in a democracy we can be denied a civil partnership just because we happen to be heterosexual. Andrew and I love each other very much. We don't like marriage because of its patriarchal history. I don't want to be called a wife and Andrew doesn't husband me. We are equal partners and the language of civil partnerships better reflects the character of our relationship."
Said O'Neill: "Being turned away was sad. It makes us understand what gay couples go through when they are denied the right to marry. It's really quite insulting and offensive. We don't feel comfortable with the institution of marriage. But even if we were happy with it, we would not want to get married while gay couples are denied the right to marry."
According to Tatchell: "Just as the ban on gay civil marriages is wrong, so too is the ban on heterosexual civil partnerships. ... Everyone should be equal before the law. Denying heterosexual couples the right to have a civil partnership is obnoxious and discriminatory."
An attorney for the activists, Robert Wintemute, said the marriage and civil-partnership laws violate three sections of the United Kingdom's Human Rights Act concerned with protection against discrimination, the right to respect for family life and the right to marry.
"The rights attached to civil marriage and civil partnership are identical, especially with regard to adoption of children, donor insemination and surrogacy," Wintemute said. "There is no longer any justification for excluding same-sex couples from civil marriage and different-sex couples from civil partnership. It's like having separate drinking fountains or beaches for different racial groups, even though the water is the same. The only function of the twin bans is to mark lesbian and gay people as inferior to heterosexual people."
Study finds that gay men can't find condoms and lube
A new international survey of more than 5,000 men who have sex with men (MSM) found that the majority find it difficult or impossible to access HIV testing and counseling or free condoms and lubricant.
The research -- conducted by the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) and professor Patrick Wilson of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, and paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- suggests that fewer than half of MSM worldwide have access to basic HIV prevention and services.
Only 39 percent reported easy access to free condoms and just one in four reported easy access to free lubricant. One quarter said free lubricant was completely unavailable.
Large percentages of men reported that it was difficult or impossible to access HIV testing (57 percent), HIV education material (66 percent) and HIV treatment
(70 percent).
The survey was carried out online in Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish and circulated through the MSMGF's global networks and those of Fridae.com .
"Since the beginning of the epidemic, it has been widely recognized that condoms, lubricant, testing and treatment, when combined with community-led behavior change and support programs, are the most reliable tools available in the fight against HIV among MSM," said MSMGF Executive Officer George Ayala. "More than 25 years in, it is inexcusable that MSM around the world continue to have such restricted access to these basic lifesaving resources."
The study also found that men in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Latin America report higher levels and harsher forms of homophobic stigma and discrimination than men in North America, Western Europe and Australia.
"Stigma and discrimination undermine access to prevention and treatment programs by forcing MSM underground and away from services they may need," said MSMGF Co-Chair Othman Mellouk. "Without addressing the bigger issue of homophobia, we will have no hope of ending AIDS."
Same-sex couples marry on SAS flight
A German gay couple and a lesbian Polish couple were married on an SAS flight over Sweden on Dec. 6.
Germans Aleksander Mijatovic and Shantu Bhattacharjee, and Poles Ewa Tomaszewicz and Gosia Rawinska were married by European Parliament Member Christofer Fjellner on the flight to Newark, N.J.
The couples had won an SAS social-media contest called "Love is in the air" by out-promoting other entrants in the online competition. They also received flights to and within the U.S., rings and honeymoons in New York and Los Angeles.
Lesbian couple honored at State Department
A U.S. lesbian diplomat and her partner who helped found Albania's gay movement while stationed there were honored at the State Department on Dec. 2 with the Secretary of State Award for Outstanding Volunteerism Overseas.
The award, handed out by the Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide, was given to Melissa Schraibman, who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Tirana as a resident legal adviser, and her partner, Mindy Michels.
It was presented by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg in a ceremony that was attended by former U.S. ambassadors to Albania John Withers and Marcie Ries.
It was the first time the Secretary of State Award recognized efforts to promote LGBT rights.
"This was, of course, extremely personally meaningful for Melissa and me, as the work on the Albanian LGBT movement was our primary focus over the last nearly two years," Michels said. "But it is also something that has larger meaning, as I think it was the first time that this sort of volunteerism and diplomacy on LGBT human rights has been recognized in a formal and high-level way as an important part of the work done by government employees serving abroad."
Michels said the announcement of the winners goes to every U.S. embassy worldwide.
Assistance: Bill Kelley
