Norway’s government announced plans March 14 to open marriage to same-sex couples. The nation has had a registered-partnership law that gives gay couples the same rights as marriage since 1993.

The government’s minister of children and equality, Anniken Huitfeldt, said letting same-sex couples marry “won’t weaken marriage as an institution; rather, it will strengthen it.”

“Marriage won’t be worth less because more can take part in it,” she told Aftenposten.

The law would permit same-sex couples to marry in churches, adopt children and receive state-funded medical assistance in getting pregnant.

The bill is expected to pass Parliament before summer, although two government ministers – Minister of Local Government Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa and Transport Minister Liv Signe Navarsete – said they oppose the part that would fund assisted fertilization for lesbian couples.

The state Lutheran Church of Norway, which counts 85 percent of the population as members, is conflicted on same-sex marriage and likely will allow parishes to choose whether to perform gay weddings.

Full marriage is open to same-sex couples in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain and Massachusetts. Numerous nations have civil-union or registered-partnership laws that grant same-sex couples some, most or all rights and obligations of marriage.

Three hundred two couples have taken advantage of Mexico City’s civil-union law since it came into force in March 2007.

Unions have been registered in 15 of the city’s 16 boroughs, led by Cuauhtémoc, with 59 unions, and Iztapalapa, with 46.

Some 94 percent of the unions were between people of the same sex.

The law allows gay and straight couples – as well as two friends, roommates or extended family members – to register their relationship and receive spousal rights in areas such as inheritance, pensions, property, co-parenting and medical decisions.

Only one couple has dissolved a civil union, and one union ended when a partner died.

The state of Coahuila, which borders Texas, is the only other locale in Mexico with a civil-union law.

The Mexican city of Guadalajara is threatening to move gay clubs out of the city center in advance of the 2011 Pan American Games that will take place in the city, according to Carlos Oceguera, who owns two such clubs.

A February story in the daily newspaper La Jornada Jalisco made the same claim, with the headline “Guadalajara mayor’s office attack against gay clubs; it doesn’t want them in the Historic Downtown.”

Oceguera said city officials believe the presence of businesses catering to gays gives the city a “bad and promiscuous image” for tourists.

“They claim that our lifestyle is offensive to the clean conscience of the citizens of Guadalajara and that we have to sacrifice our personal economic interests to the good citizens of Guadalajara,” Oceguera said.

“In order for us to have a presentable face to visitors, homosexuals have to go out of the center.”

Oceguera said that while local media have reported on gay business owners’ “discontent” with the apparent plan, “we now need some international help since the local authorities are not paying attention to our protests.”

Among the clubs possibly threatened are Caudillos, Circus, La Prisciliana, Club Ye Ye, Azul, Azul Vip, El Aposento, Mundo Cool, Máskaras and Red Light, La Jornada Jalisco said.

Well-known New York City gay activist Brendan Fay filed a complaint with the Polish consulate general after Polish President Lech Kaczynski displayed a photo and video clip from Fay’s 2003 Canadian wedding during a March 17 nationally televised address in which Kaczynski denounced same-sex marriage.

The Polish broadcast also showed Fay’s and husband Thomas Moulton’s marriage certificate.

In the speech, Kaczynski urged that Poland not adopt the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights because it might force Poland to recognize or legalize same-sex marriages.

“This could clash with the prevailing moral order in Poland and force us to accept an institution which contradicts the convictions of the great majority,” Kaczynski said.

In a letter to Poland’s consul general in New York, Fay protested: “We are frustrated to hear that images from such a joyous day are used to spread intolerance. I request a meeting to discuss the matter of civil rights raised by the Polish political leader’s remarks and the uses/misuse of our wedding photographs. ... We would never have agreed to permit our photographs as part of a homophobic campaign.”

Consul General Krzysztof Kasprzyk has agreed to meet and called Kaczynski’s actions a “pitiful incident.”

The Polish gay group Campaign Against Homophobia commented: “The message and the choice of images used in the address is a clear sign of ignorance and overt homophobia. It is an embarrassment that an image of a foreign, happily married couple ... should be used to promote hatred and misconceptions in our country by the head of state.

“[I]n light of Lech Kaczynski’s decision to ban the [gay] Equality Parade twice [when he was] mayor of Warsaw, we worry that the president is consciously capitalizing on the fears of a certain part of Polish society towards lesbians and gays.”

Assistance: Bill Kelley