Gay Marriage Watch

Poland may not discriminate against gay couples, in spite of a clause in the its constitution stating that marriage is “a union of a man and a woman”, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Strasbourg.

The court found, in a unanimous ruling released on Monday, in favour of Piotr Kozak, whose partner died in 1998, and who had his request to continue living in their municipal flat in the western city of Szczecin turned down, in spite of a provision in Polish law allowing a “person who has lived in de facto cohabitation with the tenant” to succeed to the tenancy.

The Strasbourg tribunal recognised the difficulty in maintaining a balance between traditional marriage and the rights of sexual minorities but found that the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights is “a living instrument” and has to be interpreted in the light of present-day conditions. It also found that, in this case, Poland did not have a clear interest in discriminating between heterosexual and homosexual couples.

The case was greeted with joy by gay and lesbian groups in Poland.

Full Story from FT.com
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A gay couple accused Austria before Europe’s top rights court yesterday of discriminating against homosexuals in adoption and other matters despite a new law allowing same-sex unions. Horst Michael Schalk and Johann Franz Kopf, 48 and 50 respectively, claim they were denied the right to wed after Vienna authorities declined to marry them in 2002.

Austria’s constitutional court also ruled it justified to limit the definition of marriage to the traditional union between woman and man.

The couple, who filed their petition before the European Court of Human Rights in 2004, claim “that the notion of marriage had evolved over time thus having to be understood nowadays as a permanent union encompassing all aspects of life”, the Strasbourg-based court said in a statement.

Full Story from the Jamaica Observer
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A gay couple jailed for holding a same-sex wedding in Malawi will be sentenced on charges of “gross indecency” next month. Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were denied bail in January and it was confirmed on Thursday that they will return to court on 22 March.

Homosexuality is banned in Malawi and the couple face a maximum sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment for holding a symbolic wedding ceremony in December.

Authorities in the conservative southern African country have launched a crackdown on homosexuals in the past few weeks. On Monday police spokesman Dave Chingwalu said a 60-year-old man was arrested and charged with sodomy.

Full Story from RFI
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Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo had hoped for years to get married, but as they watched anti-same-sex marriage campaign material proliferate in their Burbank community, the obstacles facing them became clear. More than a dozen “Yes on 8” signs — supporting the 2008 initiative that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman — cropped up in one neighbor’s yard as the election approached.

“It was a slap in the face every time you left for work, and it was a slap in the face every time you came home,” Katami said. But when the campaigning was over, and the state’s law prohibiting their union was passed, the couple decided to challenge it.

Together with a lesbian couple from Berkeley, the men are part of a federal lawsuit in San Francisco claiming that the same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional because it discriminates against a minority group. Proposition 8, the couple said, was too troubling of an affront on their rights to allow it to stand, particularly after they had built a relationship together and fallen in love like any other couple.

Full Story from the Burbank Leader
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China’s first gay couple, who openly “got married” on Jan 3, want more understanding from society and hope to get an official marriage certificate, the Beijing News reported today. The couple, Zeng Anquan and Pan Wenjie, “fell in love at first sight” when they met at a bar in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province.

Zeng is 46 years old and has a daughter from a 26-year marriage. Pan, 27, confessed to his parents that he is more into men after the failure of many blind-dates arranged by his family.

“I don’t feel well when I am with a woman, but I could not speak about it in the past. When Pan planned a surprise wedding for me, I was shocked at first but on second thought, said, ‘Why not’” Zeng said.

Full Story from China Daily
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In Malawi, two men who dared to go public with their relationship by holding a traditional “marriage” ceremony are on trial for indecency, and face 14 years in jail. “It’s so scary,” one gay man, who didn’t want to be identified, told Sky News in the city of Blantyre, where the trial is taking place.

“We are not feeling free and are worried about being arrested. It is the first case to be brought under Malawi’s longstanding legislation banning homosexuality in years.

The rise of US style evangelist preachers has contributed to a hardening of attitudes in the tiny southern African state.

Full Story from Sky News
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Two men in Mumbai are planning to marry each other. Not quietly, but with a full-fledged Hindu ceremony — including mehendi, haldi, et al — the first such wedding in the city. The fact that homosexual marriage is not legal in India does not deter Jignesh (22), a Gujarati from Mulund, who will marry Sameer (25), who lives in Bandra, next month.

Narrating his two-year-old love story, Jignesh said, “We love each other. However, society hates us. We have decided to marry to give each other respect. We will marry in a resort away from Mumbai according to Hindu rituals. Our friends and relatives will bless us. We will fight if there is any hurdle to get it registered,” he said.

The couple had planned to get married on December 31, but had to postpone their plans, as no pandit was willing to perform the ceremony.

Full Story from Mid-Day.com

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The traditional engagement ceremony of two men on Dec. 26, 2009 has created controversy in conservative Malawi. Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were arrested two days after their engagement and remain in police custody, facing long jail terms.

A traditional engagement in Malawi counts as a civil marriage and is recognised as such throughout the country. Chimbalanga and Monjeza are the first gay couple to declare their sexual orientation in this manner. The couple is facing charges of “gross indecency” and buggery for “having carnal knowledge against the order of nature”, offences under Malawi’s colonial-era penal code.



Arrest condemned: Following their arrest, local human rights activists, civil society organisations and international human rights organisations condemned the government. Amnesty International criticised the arrest and called for the immediate and unconditional release of the couple from police custody. Amnesty accuses Malawi of criminalising homosexuality, gender identity and the couple’s legitimate exercise of their rights.

Full Story from IPS

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A Malawian court yesterday refused bail to two men who celebrated their engagement to be married in a traditional African ceremony, which they held late last year. Giving his ruling at a court in the city of Blantyre on Monday January 4, judge Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa claimed Steven Monjeza (26) and Tiwonge Chimbalanga (20) were at risk of mob violence and would be safer in custody – a claim rejected by the defendants and their lawyers.

In Malawi, even people accused of serious crimes like violent robbery and assault usually get bail.

The same day the police arrested a worker from the human rights group CEDEP, which assisted the detained men and secured them legal representation.

Full Story from UK Gay News: http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/10/Jan/0501.htm

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Two gay Malawian men charged with gross public indecency after getting engaged have been remanded in custody until their trial starts next week. Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were arrested last month at the home they share in the city of Blantyre.

The pair, believed to be the first gay couple in Malawi to start the process of getting married, pleaded not guilty to the charges last week.

Homosexual acts carry a maximum prison sentence of 14 years in Malawi. Prosecutors have said they would send the pair to hospital to prove they have had sex together but their lawyers say he will resist this.

Full Story from BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8439918.stm

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