The Australian state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, will set the age of consent for gay sex at 16, in line with the law for straight sex.

The Legislative Council voted 23-16 in favor of the change May 27, following a 54-32 vote in the lower house.

New South Wales was the last Australian state with an unequal age of consent.

The leaders of three of Canada’s four opposition parties, as well as all three Liberal Party leadership candidates — one of whom will be the next prime minister — said May 28 that same-sex couples should have access to marriage.

The announcements were made at a press conference staged by the national gay lobby group Egale.

Support for gay marriage was expressed by Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe, New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton, Progressive Conservative Party leader Joe Clark, and by Liberal leadership candidates Sheila Copps, who is the current minister of Canadian heritage; John Manley, who is the current deputy prime minister; and Paul Martin, a former finance minister.

“With three out of four opposition leaders supporting equal marriage for same-sex couples, together with all Liberal leadership candidates, it is clear that discrimination against same-sex couples’ right to marry will soon be a thing of the past,” said John Fisher, Egale’s director of advocacy.

“This unprecedented support from our national leaders confirms the unanimous judgments of courts across Canada, and recent opinion polls which demonstrate majority support amongst Canadians for providing same-sex couples with the equal right to marry.”

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon has until June 30 to decide whether to appeal a unanimous ruling by the British Columbia Court of Appeal, the province’s highest court, that the federal ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, joined other church leaders in opposing gay unions May 26, even though he personally favors them.

The primates who head the church’s 38 provinces took action at a meeting in Brazil in hopes of averting a schism in the church, which observers believe could be torn apart by the issue of gay equality.

“The question of public rites for the blessing of same-sex unions is still a cause of potentially divisive controversy,” the bishops stated. “There is no theological consensus ... therefore we, as a body, cannot support the authorization of such rites.”

The bishop in Vancouver, Canada, shocked church conservatives recently by approving blessings of same-sex couples — and the first ceremony took place May 29. A few other bishops in North America reportedly have similar plans.

Michael Kalmuc and Kelley Montfort took their historic vows at Vancouver’s St. Margaret’s Cedar Cottage Church.

Williams reportedly supports the ceremonies and, as a bishop, he ordained openly non-celibate gays. But after intense criticism following his selection as Archbishop of Canterbury last year, he promised to toe the antigay church line that was hammered out at a 1998 bishops’ conference.

Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham feels no such compunction.

“This is not a marriage ceremony, but a blessing of permanent and faithful commitments between persons of the same sex in order that they may have the support and encouragement of the church in their lives together under God,” he said prior to Kalmuc’s and Montfort’s wedding.

“The church recognizes that homosexual couples face the same challenges and share the same responsibilities as other people in living out the costly demands of love,” he said. “Our purpose is to encourage and strengthen fidelity and mutual supportiveness in family life on which the stability of our wider society depends.”

Police in Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic, arrested openly gay journalist and human-rights activist Ruslan Sharipov May 26 and charged him with committing homosexual acts, a violation of article 120 of the criminal code. Two of Sharipov’s colleagues also were taken into custody but have not been charged.

Human Rights Watch said May 29 that Sharipov likely has been targeted because of his articles on police corruption and human-rights abuses.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Gay Puerto Ricans who took to the streets for their annual pride parade last weekend had a new gripe: the Supreme Court’s refusal to protect them against domestic violence.

Gays and lesbians abused by partners are not entitled to protection under Puerto Rico’s domestic violence law, the U.S. territory’s Supreme Court said in a ruling published last month.

Gay rights advocates in the U.S. Caribbean territory say last week’s close decision opens gays to attack with no legal recourse — one available to all other people.

“It’s a discriminatory decision,” said Margarita Sanchez, a lesbian activist who heads the local Amnesty International chapter. She said the ruling cuts off gays and lesbians from protections offered every other type of citizen.

In its 4-3 decision, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court said the Caribbean territory’s 1989 law against domestic violence wasn’t intended to apply to gays and lesbians.

The assenting judges said the legislative record “shows clearly that the original focus of this legislation is the protection of the abused woman” in a heterosexual couple.