Italy erects plaque for gays killed by Nazis
A pink-triangle plaque was erected at the site of Italy's only Nazi concentration camp Jan. 26 to commemorate gays killed by the Third Reich.
The plaque, at the San Sabba camp near Trieste, is Italy's first official recognition of the Nazi's homosexual victims.
Up to 15,000 gays are believed to have perished in the Holocaust.
Canadian military
OKs gay weddings
The Canadian Forces OK'd performing same-sex weddings on military bases Jan. 19.
Full same-sex marriage has been legalized by court order in eight of Canada's 13 provinces and territories. The federal government plans to redefine marriage nationally to include same-sex couples this year.
The military's 150 chaplains won't be required to marry gay couples if they don't want to, but, in such cases, they will have to help the couple find a chaplain who will perform the ceremony.
Aruba rejects
Dutch marriage
The Caribbean island of Aruba, a dependency of the Netherlands, has refused to recognize the marriage of a Dutch lesbian couple who moved to the island.
The Netherlands is one of four nations in the world where same-sex marriage has been legalized. According to news reports, Dutch dependencies are legally obligated to recognize all marriages from the Netherlands.
Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Thom de Graaf and a group of parliamentarians reportedly flew to Aruba recently to attempt to resolve the stalemate.
Same-sex marriage also is legal in Belgium, eight Canadian provinces and territories, and one U.S. state.
UK gay man wins
discrimination case
A British gay man won a $66,700 payout Jan. 28 in the nation's first successful case filed under the 2003 Employment Equality ( Sexual Orientation ) Act.
According to The Guardian, Rob Whitfield, 28, quit his $102,000-a-year managerial job at the Cleanaway waste-management company in Essex due to ongoing antigay taunting, belittling and goading by other executives.
An employment tribunal in Stratford ruled that Cleanaway had been woefully lax in addressing the harassment.
British schools to out
historical figures
British schoolchildren will be taught that historical figures such as William Shakespeare, Florence Nightingale, Isaac Newton and Alexander the Great were gay or bisexual, The Guardian reported Jan. 18.
The course modules, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, are part of the government's first gay history month, which will be launched Feb. 7 at the Houses of Parliament.
The lessons also will examine the early years of gays on British television and the history of Britain's GLBT Muslim movement.
Schools can choose whether to participate in the program.
'I believe the month will be important in helping to drive the culture change to create a more inclusive society,' the government's deputy minister for women and equality, Jacqui Smith, told The Guardian. 'It will also be a great opportunity to uncover some hidden LGBT histories.'
Russian men seek
marriage license
A male heterosexual politician and the male editor of a gay Web site applied for a marriage license in Moscow, MosNews reported Jan. 18.
Bashkortostan Republic National Assembly deputy Eduard Murzin and Gay.ru Editor-in-Chief Eduard Mishin hope their action will advance the cause of gay equality by stimulating debate. They also will use the refusal document from the registration office to launch a Constitutional Court case.
'I do not belong to a sexual minority, but I am ready to stand up for the civil rights of gays and lesbians in Russia,' Murzin told the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily. ' [ This is ] an action of protest against the discrimination of sexual minorities.'
The day after Murzin's and Mishin's attempt to marry, Gay.ru was evicted from its offices. Police declared that the premises were 'being used not in accordance with their purpose,' said Gay.ru's Nikita Ivanov.
The offices also housed Kvir magazine and the gay organization Together. All three entities are urgently seeking new space.
The Republic of Bashkortostan, population 4 million, is in the South Ural mountains. It was proclaimed a sovereign republic of the Russian Federation in 1990.