British Prime Minister Gordon Brown opposes Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that last November re-banned same-sex marriage after the state Supreme Court had legalized it.

“This Proposition 8, this attempt to undo the good that has been done, this attempt to create divorces among 18,000 people who were perfectly legally brought together in partnerships, this is unacceptable and shows me why we always have to be vigilant, why we have always got to fight homophobic behavior and any form of discrimination,” Brown said March 5 at a Downing Street reception for GLBT VIPs.

On March 4, the California Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case seeking to overturn the constitutional amendment. It is widely expected that the effort will fail, with the justices deciding, in effect, that the right of the voters to amend the constitution is more sacrosanct than the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law.

The court must issue its decision by early June.

Meeting with young people at the European Parliament in Brussels on March 6, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised to fight for gay rights on the world stage.

At a question-and-answer session, Clinton called on Maxim Anmeghichean, programs director for the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, after commenting on his “I Love Hillary” T-shirt.

Anmeghichean said: “My name is Max. I am from Moldova, and I am a gay-rights activist. In seven countries in the world, homosexuals are sentenced to death and many more to prison. A lot of gay men around the world die because of the HIV/AIDS policies that the Bush administration had that did not allow to spend money on prevention for men who have sex with men. How do you see the foreign policy of the United States changing in the coming years in the field of human rights and in particular sexual rights and gay and lesbian rights?”

Clinton responded: “Human rights is and will always be one of the pillars of our foreign policy. And in particular, the persecution and discrimination against gays and lesbians is something that we take very seriously. It is terribly unfortunate, as you just recited, that, you know, right now in unfortunately many places in the world violence against gays and lesbians, certainly discrimination and prejudice, are not just occurring but condoned and protected. And we would hope that over the next few years we could have some influence in trying to change those attitudes.”

Clinton continued: “Specifically, with respect to HIV/AIDS, we have made a very big treatment commitment, as some of you know, through our program called PEPFAR. And it is an important part of the American approach toward trying to deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. But we haven’t done enough on prevention, and we haven’t done enough on outreach or testing. We’re beginning to, and under our administration we will do much more. And I can only hope that we all live long enough—certainly I hope I live long enough; I think you all will—to see the end to this kind of discriminatory treatment, and recognition that human rights are the inalienable right of every person no matter who that person loves, and that’s what we should be trying to achieve.”

Sydney’s 31st gay Mardi Gras parade attracted 300,000 spectators, 130 floats and 9,500 participants March 7.

Openly gay Olympic gold medal diver Matthew Mitcham led off the procession. His winning dive at the Beijing Olympics was the highest-scoring dive in Olympic history.

Marching units included the Federal Police, the military and New South Wales firefighters. U.S. comedienne Joan Rivers also joined in, riding on top of a truck.

Moscow Police Chief Vladimir Pronin strongly denounced gay Pride March 8, expressing support for Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s ongoing bans on Pride festivities.

“It’s unacceptable,” Pronin told Interfax, according to a translation provided by GayRussia.ru. “Gay Pride parades shouldn’t be allowed. No one will dare to do it. (They) will be torn to shreds.”

“The West can say we’re bad guys, but our people will see it is right,” he said. “Our country is patriarchal, that sums it up. I positively agree with the church, with the (Russian Orthodox) patriarch, politicians, especially with Luzhkov, who are convinced that man and woman should love each other. It is established by God and nature.”

In 2007, GayRussia.ru got hold of a letter Pronin sent to Luzhkov confirming that the police conduct surveillance to prevent public gay events.

“Units of GUVD (city police) in Moscow are constantly controlling mass public actions in the city, monitoring media and the Internet with the aim of taking measures of a preventive character (against) illegal actions on the part of representatives of sexual minorities,” the document said.

Moscow Pride founder Nikolai Alekseev said he is not particularly concerned about Pronin’s latest remarks.

“Mr. Pronin already showed his incompetency last year when his services were unable to prevent us unveiling a banner directed against the mayor right opposite his office,” Alekseev said. “The world already knows about the systematic breach of human rights by Moscow officials. This is nothing new.”

Luzhkov’s bans on gay Pride parades are the subject of several pending cases at the European Court of Human Rights.

He has called gay Pride parades “satanic” and “weapons of mass destruction.”

Assistance: Bill Kelley