Gay unions a global issue

By DANYA LEVY


South African homosexual couples can adopt children; in Zanzibar gay marriages are illegal and Canada recently granted the world's first same-sex divorce.

In the debate over whether same-sex couples should enjoy the same legal recognition as heterosexual couples, New Zealand joins a number of nations juggling issues of equality, heritage, morality and religion.

Our closest neighbour, physically and culturally, Australia, banned gay marriage in August through a law which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Prime Minister John Howard, who has said marriage is the bedrock institution of Australian society, rushed the bill through Parliament, ensuring it would not become a divisive election issue.

Gay marriage is expected to be legal in Spain by next year after the passing of a bill last week.

Spain, where a reported 95 per cent of the population is Catholic, will join Belgium and the Netherlands as the only European countries to legalise gay marriage.

The move has enraged the Roman Catholic church, which has compared it to "imposing a virus on society".

After legalising gay marriages last year, Belgium is considering giving same-sex couples the right to adopt children.

In Scandinavia, governments have taken a similar approach to New Zealand, with Sweden and Denmark both passing "civil union" laws for same-sex couples, but falling short of allowing outright gay marriage.

However, in both Denmark and Sweden, civil unions can be blessed under the official state religion in the Lutheran Church.

Canada last month granted its first same-sex divorce, just one year after legalisation came into effect.

Canada allows gay marriages in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and the Yukon Territory.

In the United States, Massachusetts is the only state which recognises same-sex marriages. Last November's law created a furore and provoked legal challenges in many states.

US President George W. Bush is staunchly against gay marriage and is trying to establish a ban through a federal constitutional amendment.

In July a French court annulled France's first gay marriage and in the process set a legal precedent outlawing same-sex marriages.

Although French law permits civil unions between homosexuals, gay rights activists claim it disadvantages them in tax, inheritance and adoption rights.

Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, in April became the country's first state to legalise gay marriages.

At the same time, Zanzibar passed a law outlawing gay marriage.

Marriages between men are punishable by up to 25 years in prison, but women who wed each other face seven years.

Although 95 per cent of the population is Muslim, the Government was concerned about tourists celebrating gay marriages on the semi-autonomous Tanzanian island in the Indian Ocean.

Post-apartheid South Africa was the first country in the world to recognise gay rights and same-sex couples are now allowed to adopt children and to be included in their partners' wills. But in most African nations, homosexuals have no rights.

The Taiwanese Government is preparing a bill that would allow same-sex unions. Homosexuality is illegal in mainland China but the law is rarely enforced.

Two Russian men secretly married in Nizhny Novgorod in September 2003 in what was reported as the country's first gay wedding.

Homosexuality was banned in the former Soviet Union and is considered a sin by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Since 1993 men have been allowed to have same-sex relationships but gays and lesbians cannot legally marry, adopt children, or have parental rights over a partner's child.

The city of Tel Aviv granted same-sex couples the same discounts as married couples in July 2003.

Tel Aviv is more liberal than other cities in Israel, where the Jewish Orthodox community considers homosexuality a sin.

At the Vatican, meanwhile, Pope John Paul II continues to implore church and civil powers not to condone same-sex marriages.

But his message has not been heeded by all his disciples. Father Franco Barbero, of Pinerolo, near Turin, in northern Italy, was fired by papal decree in March 2003 for marrying gay and lesbian couples, as well as priests, in the belief that the church "must give an equal welcome to every form of true love".

- NZPA