Feds to squash Australian capital's civil unions
Australia's federal government is attempting to squash a civil-union bill passed by the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory, a jurisdiction similar to Washington, D.C.
The government has advised the Queen's representative, Governor-General Michael Jeffery, to use his power to block the law.
'We are not prepared to accept something which is a plain attempt to equate civil unions with marriage,' said Prime Minister John Howard.
Australian law explicitly bans same-sex marriage.
Apparently angered by the federal move, ACT Attorney General Simon Corbell said he will rush to implement the law before the process for quashing it can be completed—so some couples can be united by then.
The ACT government also issued a direct appeal to Jeffery to ignore the federal government's plea.
The gay Australian Coalition for Equality 'utterly condemned Federal Cabinet's decision ... to override the ACT's civil unions laws as a desecration of the democracy and self-governance granted to ACT electors and the human rights of same-sex couples.'
BBC: Announcers
can use 'gay' to
mean 'lame'
The Board of Governors of the British Broadcasting Corporation has OK'd use of the word 'gay' as a synonym for 'lame' or 'rubbish.'
The board rejected a complaint filed against a disc jockey who said of a cell-phone ring tone: 'I don't want that one, it's gay.'
Young people nowadays, the board said, routinely use 'gay' as a pejorative in contexts unrelated to homosexuality. As such, the board said, on-air hosts may do the same.
It added, however, that announcers should reflect on their use of the word because its multiple meanings could lead to 'unintended offence.'
Brit marriage case reaches High Court
In a landmark High Court case heard June 6-9, a British lesbian couple married in Canada are challenging the United Kingdom's ban on same-sex marriage.
University professors Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson were married in a civil ceremony in Vancouver in 2003. Their marriage is recognized in Canada but not in the U.K., where the Civil Partnership Act automatically converts foreign same-sex marriages into U.K. civil unions.
In some sense, the matter is only semantic, since U.K. civil partnerships grant the same rights and obligations as traditional marriage. But the couple say that's not good enough.
'Our lawful marriage was converted—against our wishes and without our consent—into a civil partnership,' they wrote in an e-mail. 'We believe that treating same-sex couples differently from heterosexual couples in this way is deeply discriminatory. We feel distressed, demeaned and humiliated by the UK government's refusal to recognise our marriage.'
The couple's lawyers say the reclassification violated the European Convention on Human Rights.
The court did not indicate when it will issue a decision.
Qantas recognizes same-sex marriage
Australia's Qantas Airways has relented and will recategorize as married a gay employee who got married in Canada.
The airline previously had refused to update the employee's marital status in company records, saying it only recognized man-woman marriage.
Qantas reportedly changed its tune after former Family Court Chief Justice Alastair Nicholson took an interest in the case and sent a disapproving e-mail.
Australian law explicitly bans same-sex marriage and prohibits government recognition of foreign gay marriages.
Polish prosecutor targets gay groups
The office of Poland's state prosecutor has ordered prosecutors nationwide to investigate how local gay groups are funded, alleging they may be receiving support from drug dealers and pedophile organizations.
Attached to the order was a letter making such accusations written by conservative Member of Parliament Wojciech Wierzejski.
The order is the latest in a series of overt attacks on Poland's gay community by local and federal officials.
Denmark legalizes lesbian insemination
Danish legislators passed a law June 2 permitting lesbians and single women to obtain free artificial insemination in public hospitals.
The vote was 86 to 61 with 21 abstentions. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's right-leaning government opposed the measure.
Same-sex couples united under Denmark's groundbreaking 1989 registered-partnership law have all other rights of marriage with the exception of access to adoption. Around 3,000 couples have tied the knot.
Ontario OKs two moms on babies' birth certificates
Canada's Ontario Superior Court struck down a provision June 6 that prevented lesbian couples from putting both their names on a birth certificate as parents of a child they conceived via artificial insemination.
The court said the unequal treatment causes lesbian couples pain and hardship, suggests 'there is something wrong or unnatural about their families' and violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The court suspended implementation of its ruling for one year to allow legislators to remedy the charter breach.
