Argentina extended its pension system to cover same-sex couples Aug. 18.

When a couple has lived together for five years prior to one of the individuals’ deaths, the surviving partner will qualify.

The move, the first gay-rights measure implemented nationwide, came in the form of a decree from the federal government.

Activists plan to continue pushing for a national civil-union law like the ones already in place in several Argentine cities.

A bill legalizing same-sex marriage was informally presented to Argentina’s Congress in May by the head of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism.

The bill now sits with the Ministry of Justice, Security and Human Rights, which likely will arrange for it to be formally introduced into Congress by the executive branch.

Of the 10,500 athletes who competed in the Beijing Olympics, only 10 were publicly gay, reported Outsports.com.

Of those, nine were lesbians. The lone gay man was Australian diver Matthew Mitcham.

The out lesbians were Judith Arndt (Germany, cycling), Imke Duplitzer (Germany, fencing), couple Gro Hammerseng and Katja Nyberg (Norway, handball), Natasha Kai (U.S., soccer), Lauren Lappin (U.S., softball), Victoria “Vickan” Svensson (Sweden, soccer), Rennae Stubbs (Australia, tennis) and Linda Bresonik (Germany, soccer).

Outsports also took note of openly bisexual U.S. softball player Vicky Galindo.

Some 600 people took part in the Queer Freedom March Aug. 16 in Mumbai (Bombay), India.

The date, one day after Indian Independence Day, was chosen “to say that it’s time for us to get our freedom from being treated as criminals under Indian law,” said Vikram Doctor, one of the organizers.

Marchers set off from August Kranti Maidan, a park in South Mumbai where in August 1942 Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi launched the Quit India movement, the call for the British to leave the country once and for all.

“Today we invoke the father of our nation’s spirit and call on the British government to apologize for the legacy of hatred they left us in the form of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code,” gay activist Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil said before the parade stepped off.

“Through this law, the idea of treating homosexuals as criminals was imposed by the colonial government on the more tolerant traditions of India. Through laws like Section 377, the British imposed Victorian ideas of morality that have come back to haunt us in the form of rising HIV rates among queer men who are forced to have sex in secret and unsafely, in the form of persecution of hijras (eunuchs) who are treated as unnatural despite their ancient history in India, and in the form of the suppression of the lives of women who love women.”

Section 377 bans gay sex under penalty of up to 10 years in prison. An ongoing court case could see the law “read down” so it no longer applies to consensual sex between adults.

Berlin’s new memorial commemorating the tens of thousands of gays and lesbians persecuted by the Nazis was damaged by vandals Aug. 16.

The large, gray rectangular block – 11.8 feet tall and 6.2 feet wide – is breached only by a small window on one side through which visitors can view a 90-second black-and-white art film of two men kissing.

The vandals smashed the window.

The following day, openly gay Mayor Klaus Wowereit joined a demonstration at the site, saying: “An attack against this memorial is clearly directed against homosexuals – that can be said without waiting for further police investigations. We must show our condemnation of this act of intolerance and homophobia.”

Ironically, the $942,000 box – designed by the Danish-Norwegian duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset and paid for by the federal government – is accompanied by a plaque that reads, “A simple kiss could land you in trouble.”

“In many parts of the world people are still persecuted because of their sexual identity, homosexual love is a criminal offense and a kiss can spell danger,” it says.

The memorial, unveiled May 27, sits in the Tiergarten park, half a block from the Brandenburg Gate across from the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

Some 54,000 gays and lesbians were arrested by the Nazis and 7,000 were exterminated.

Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, hopes to recruit more gay members and encourage current agents to come out.

The agency has hired top gay lobby group Stonewall to help make it happen.

“I am optimistic that in 10 to 15 years (MI5’s) employment profile will look very much like modern Britain,” said Stonewall head Ben Summerskill. “There is no reason why there shouldn’t be a lesbian or gay director-general.”

The mayors of Vilnius and Kaunas in Lithuania blocked the European Union’s antidiscrimination truck from parking on public property in their cities Aug. 20-22.

The European Commission, which sponsors the touring truck, responded by arranging for it to visit supermarket parking lots instead.

The “For Diversity – Against Discrimination” truck travels Europe promoting diversity and tolerance and raising awareness about EU legislation prohibiting discrimination based on gender, disability, age, religion, belief, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

In banning the truck, Kaunas Mayor Andrius Kupcinskas stated that the “homosexual festival may cause many negative emotions.”

Last year, Kaunas banned the truck from entering the city at all.

Assistance: Bill Kelley