Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero promised to legalize same-sex marriage during an April 15 speech to Parliament.

“It is time to bring to an end, once and for all, the intolerable discrimination still suffered by many Spaniards exclusively by virtue of their sexual preferences,” he said.

“Homosexuals and transsexuals deserve the same public consideration as heterosexuals and have the right to live freely the life that they themselves have chosen.

“We will recognize, on an equal basis, their right to marriage, with the consequent effects on labor rights, inheritance and social security protection.”

At present, full marriage is offered to same-sex couples only in Belgium, the Netherlands and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. It will become available in the U.S. state of Massachusetts on May 17.

Several European nations offer same-sex registered partnerships that provide nearly every right and obligation of marriage.

The mayor of Bègles, France, plans to perform a same-sex marriage in June. Bègles is a suburb of Bordeaux.

There’s nothing in French law to prohibit the marriage, Noël Mamère says, and gays should have full equal rights.

“This act is the continuation of a struggle I have fought for a long time – for equal rights and against all discrimination,” he told Britain’s The Guardian. “Homosexuals in this country, as in many others, suffer from a great deal of discrimination. They are the last category of French people who are banned from getting married.

“There’s nothing extraordinary about marrying two people of the same sex in the European Union,” he said, “because Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands have done it already and the new Spanish prime minister ... has already put it in his political program.”

Actually, Sweden does not offer same-sex marriage but rather gay registered partnership that provides the same rights. France has offered gay and straight couples marriage-like civil unions since 1999 but they lack certain matrimonial rights in areas such as adoption and economic benefits.

In addition to Belgium and the Netherlands, full marriage is available to same-sex couples in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. It will become available in the U.S. state of Massachusetts on May 17. Several other nations offer same-sex domestic partnerships or civil unions that include up to 99 percent of the rights and obligations of matrimony.

Mamère, who also is a member of France’s National Assembly and vice president of the Urban Community of Bordeaux, plans to marry the gay couple on June 5.

The commission reviewing Portugal’s Constitution approved adding a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation April 23.

“Portugal is now one of the few countries in the world that include nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the fundamental law of the nation,” said João Paulo, editor of the Web site PortugalGay.PT.

Other nations that ban antigay discrimination constitutionally include Canada, Ecuador, South Africa, Switzerland and, possibly, Fiji. At last report, Fiji’s government had announced it wanted to repeal the protections because it had no idea how they ended up in the 1997 constitution in the first place.

The Culture Ministry of the Russian republic of Dagestan blocked a concert by gay Russian pop singer Boris Moiseyev in Makhachkala, the capital city, the Gazeta newspaper reported April 16.

The ministry allegedly prevented Moiseyev from renting the Russian Theater, which was to be the concert venue, after local imams objected to Moiseyev being allowed to enter Dagestan, which is predominantly Muslim.

“We have canceled the show because Dagestan’s Culture Ministry refused to offer us concert space,” a Moiseyev spokesman told Gazeta. “They said that imams had approached them with requests to keep Moiseyev from entering the country.”

For its part, the Culture Ministry said the cancellation had nothing to do with imams but rather with “organizational problems.”

“If they canceled the concert, then they had their own reasons to do so,” said Deputy Culture Minister Zaripat Salakhbekova.

A New Zealand child has three parents following resolution of a court battle between a lesbian couple and an Australian gay couple who donated sperm to the lesbians.

The unnamed 2-year-old’s parents now consist of his biological mother, his biological father and his mother’s female partner.

The boy was conceived in Sydney by mutual agreement among the four friends but they later had a falling-out and the women moved back to New Zealand and denied the men access to the boy.

Auckland Family Court Judge Sarah Fleming determined the women’s actions were wrong, and gave the father joint guardianship and seven days’ access to the boy each month.

Bandanna-wearing lesbians stormed the national convention of the Concerned Christian Coalition April 17 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Seven women and one man burst into the conclave at the Coast Plaza Hotel, screaming, “Right-wing bigots go away, Gay Militia is here to stay.”

According to the Calgary Sun, convention attendees held hands and prayed as the protesters unfurled a banner reading, “Liberation: Queer Invasion.”

Police are reviewing tapes of the intrusion and may charge militia members with mischief or with disturbing a peaceful assembly, said Calgary police Constable Doug Jones.