About 4,000 people joined in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s 12th gay pride parade Nov. 1, marching from the Plaza de Mayo to Congress.

A scuffle broke out between cops and marchers at the Metropolitan Cathedral, seat of Argentine Roman Catholicism, when demonstrators spray-painted the building with graffiti reading “Church = dictatorship,” “Rapist priests” and “Nazi priests” while chanting, “Here is the repression of the Holy Inquisition.”

“We’re not attacking the faith but rather the attitude of the church of meddling in our beds and our elections,” said activist Lohana Berkins.

Newspaper editorial writers denounced the vandalism and Archbishop Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio commented: “In a pluralistic society when minority groups express themselves, it would be logical that they do so respecting the religious sentiments of the majority.

“We hope it is understood that when we express our doctrines around sexual conduct, we do so within the standard of truth we believe, but never without an attitude of respect and understanding toward individuals.”

The worldwide Anglican Communion — 70 million Christians in 164 nations — began disintegrating Nov. 3, the day after the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism, consecrated openly gay and openly non-celibate Gene Robinson as the bishop of its New Hampshire diocese.

National Anglican churches in Kenya, Uganda, Egypt and Nigeria either declared themselves no longer in full union with the Diocese of New Hampshire, no longer in full union with the entire U.S. Episcopal Church, or unwilling to recognize Robinson’s bishopric.

“The Devil has clearly entered the church,” said the head of the Anglican Church of Kenya, Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi. “God cannot be mocked.”

Archbishop Peter Akinola, head of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), stated: “The overwhelming majority of the Primates of the Global South cannot and will not recognize the office or ministry of Canon Gene Robinson as a bishop. We deplore the act of those bishops who have taken part in the consecration, which has now divided the church in violation of their obligation to guard the faith and unity of the church.”

Seventeen million of the world’s 70 million Anglicans live in Nigeria.

The head of the Episcopal Church of Egypt and North Africa, Bishop Mouneer Hanna Anis, declared: “Those who participated in the consecration of this gay bishop are considered among the violators of the teachings of the Holy Book, and therefore, they have become dissociated with Jesus’ church. Homosexuality is a clear sin.”

Southern Cone of America Anglican leader Bishop Gregory Venables warned: “The United States have declared independence. I think the chances of consensus are very slim.”

One hundred thirty-nine same-sex couples have gotten married in Belgium since it became the second nation in the world to redefine matrimony last June.

The number represents only weddings that took place in the cities of Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Charleroi, Ghent and Liège. A few weddings may have occurred in smaller towns, said the gay group Holebi, which gathered the figures.

Antwerp saw the most gay weddings, with 64. Same-sex marriages constituted 4.7 percent of all Belgium marriages between June and September.

The Netherlands extended full marriage rights to same-sex couples in 2001, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and British Columbia did so this past summer. Canada has no residency requirement for marriage. Foreign same-sex couples can travel to the two provinces, buy a license, and marry the same day.

The Association of New Men and Women of Panama staged the nation’s first GLBT film festival Oct. 28 to Nov. 2, screening six movies three times each to around 200 people per showing.

The films were Go Fish (USA); Urbania (USA); The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Australia); Don’t Tell Anyone (Peru/Spain); Krámpack (Spain); and Burnt Money (Argentina/Spain/France/Uruguay).

The event was held at an out-of-the-way theater on the campus of the University of Panama. “We consider this festival to have been a huge success,” said correspondent Javier Rodríguez. “At the very least, it will be a yearly event.”

New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Complaints Board has dismissed complaints against a billboard for Fagg’s coffee that called it “the great straight coffee” and said it is “not as Ponsonby as the name suggests.”

Ponsonby is Auckland’s gay district.

The board said the ad did not cause serious or widespread offense.

A spokesman for Fagg’s said the ad is not contrasting “straight” with “gay” but rather “straight” with “pretentious.”

“The tagline for Fagg’s, ‘the great straight coffee,’ is simply that — we are a straightforward, straight-up-and-down coffee — a coffee consumers know they can trust for its quality but also for its simplicity and down-to-earth approach,” Marketing Manager James Ford told GayNZ.com.

“The Ponsonby headline is also a reflection of the above logic,” he said. “Ponsonby is well-known as being the café capital of NZ but is also known for being sometimes a bit pretentious — we are suggesting that Fagg’s coffee is certainly of a quality that you would expect to get at a Ponsonby café, yet you can enjoy it in a more relaxed setting — at home or somewhere other than Ponsonby.”

NZGay.com writer Chris Banks commented: “But Ponsonby is well-known among people, coffee drinkers or not, to have very gay connotations. Linking Ponsonby with a coffee called Fagg’s, and then labeling it a ‘straight’ coffee ... are we expected to believe this is all just some strange coincidence?”

The first woman appointed to Britain’s highest court, a section of the House of Lords known as the Law Lords, supports extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.

“My present view is that there is a strong case for introducing a legal commitment between people who are unable to marry, principally gay and lesbian partners,” Lady Hale told The Independent.

The 12 law lords are the court of final appeal for the full United Kingdom on points of law in civil cases, and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal cases.