Members of the Legislative Assembly in Australia’s Northern Territory can now take their partners with them on overseas trips at taxpayer expense, the territorial Remuneration Tribunal ruled Dec. 9.

The tribunal redefined a de-facto spouse as a “person who is not married to the Member, but is in a marriage-like relationship with the Member.”

Cross-dressing artist Grayson Perry, 43, won Britain’s most prestigious contemporary-art prize, the Turner Prize, Dec. 7.

Perry decorates ceramic vases with disturbing depictions of pedophilia and violence against children, among other themes.

Dressed in drag as “Claire,” Perry collected his $35,000 prize at the Tate Gallery from artist Sir Peter Blake, The New York Times reported.

Members of Bolivia’s National Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS disrupted a speech by Vice Minister of Health Oscar Larrain Dec. 1 in Santa Cruz, the nation’s second-largest city.

As Larrain began his address to the nation’s first World AIDS Day ceremony, 19 members of the group stood and brandished placards bearing crosses and names of group members who have died.

“We are not here to celebrate World AIDS Day,” said activist Julio César Aguilera. “We are here because this is a day of mourning for us. Our friends continue to die because our government will not give them antiretroviral medications.”

Activist Violeta Ross seized the microphone from Larrain and declared that people living with AIDS are sick of the national AIDS program’s failed promises to provide HIV medications.

Larrain and other officials continue to pledge that the drugs, to be purchased from a company that markets generics, will be available soon.

Prior to the ceremonies, activists marched from the Central Plaza to the National Cathedral, attracting heavy media coverage.

In a groundbreaking decision Dec. 9, Australia’s High Court overruled the Immigration Department, the Refugee Review Tribunal, the Federal Court, and the Full Court of the Federal Court to revive the asylum claim of two gay men from Bangladesh.

The unnamed couple had been stoned, whipped and targeted with a fatwa in their home nation, they claimed.

In rejecting the asylum request, the review tribunal had argued that if the men kept quiet about their sexuality, they would suffer no ill treatment in Bangladesh.

But the High Court declared: “The Tribunal effectively broke the genus of ‘homosexual males in Bangladesh’ into two groups — discreet and non-discreet homosexual men in Bangladesh. By doing so, the Tribunal fell into jurisdictional error that renders its decision of no force or effect.”

The case was returned to the tribunal for a redetermination consistent with the High Court ruling.

About 36 percent of gays and lesbians in Taiwan have been harassed or discriminated against because of their sexuality, a survey has found.

The Taiwan Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Association questioned 1,641 homosexuals along with a smattering of heterosexuals and bisexuals. Thirteen percent of the 336 heterosexuals quizzed said they had been harassed after being misidentified as gay.

According to a summary of the research published in the Taipei Times, 36 percent of the harassment cases occurred at universities, 32 percent at home, 24 percent at work and the remainder elsewhere.

Jamaican reggae star Bounty Killer canceled planned concerts in London and Birmingham, England, Dec. 5 and 6 after the gay-rights group OutRage! urged the police to arrest him on charges of inciting violence against gays.

At OutRage!’s request, police warned the concert venues — the White Pearl Club in Birmingham and the Stratford Rex in London — that they could be found guilty of aiding and abetting criminal offenses if Bounty Killer performed his hit songs calling for gays to be burned, drowned, stoned, wiped out and murdered.

“The cancellation of his concerts is a victory over homophobia in pop music,” said OutRage!’s Peter Tatchell. “Our aim is to make Britain a no-go area for singers who incite violence against gay people and other minorities.”

Among Bounty Killer’s lyrics: “Bun a fire pon a kuh pon mister fagoty. Poop man fi drown a dat a yawd man philosophy (Uh huh).”

The translation, OutRage! said, is: “Burn the queer. Men who have anal sex should be drowned, that’s a yardie man’s philosophy.”

Spokesmen for the two clubs said Bounty Killer, whose real name is Rodney Price, canceled the shows because he missed his flight from Jamaica.

On Dec. 12 Italy’s Senate banned fertility treatment, egg donation, sperm donation and surrogacy for everyone except heterosexual couples of childbearing age that live together.

The senators also banned freezing of embryos and simultaneous creation of more than three embryos, and mandated that all three must be implanted. The vote was 169-92.

The measure, which passed the Chamber of Deputies earlier, imposes penalties of up to $726,000 on violators.