Police and skinheads fought in Krakow, Poland, May 7 following a gay-rights march by 1,500 people.

Some 200 counter-demonstrators had pelted the gays with firecrackers, eggs, bottles and rocks during the march.

When the march ended, police suggested the gays leave in small groups to diffuse the situation, but the skinheads gave chase anyway.

“It was probably the worst decision they could take – to let people leave in small groups,” said Sylwester Gumienny of Campaign Against Homophobia. “While everyone was going through the park towards the Old Town Square, all the skinheads and neo-Nazis started running after us. ... We stormed into the square trying to find a place to hide but the restaurant owners did not let us in.”

A mêlée quickly ensued.

“Two minutes later the police was there and the fights started,” Gumienny said. “Glasses and bottles that were on the tables outside the restaurants started flying at police officers and everyone else. Confused tourists did not know what is going on. Mothers with children were trying to escape the place. Then the police started shooting in the air to calm down the situation. ... The fights between the hooligans and police lasted till late in the evening. They arrested 20 [of the] most aggressive of them. Two people are in the hospital, one with a face burned as one of those Nazis threw a bag with acid into a crowd.”

Conservative political parties had lobbied the city unsuccessfully to prohibit the march.

“The most appalling [thing] was the fact that the youth aggressors were encouraged and coordinated by local politicians,” Gumienny said. “We are preparing lawsuits against them.”

Dutch gays have formed a new organization to fight for recognition of their marriages when they travel outside the Netherlands.

The Netherlands, Belgium, three Canadian provinces and one U.S. state let same-sex couples marry.

The Love Exiles Foundation was launched May 9 in Amsterdam.

“Dutch gays and lesbians still lack essential rights they need to protect themselves and their families when they go abroad,” the founders said. “If you are outside the Netherlands and your partner is hospitalized, you may be excluded from making medical decisions or even visiting your partner in the hospital. ... In most countries, our relationships are not recognized for immigration purposes. Even within the EU [the 25-nation European Union] we cannot move as partners and maintain our rights in another country. We live on an island of acceptance. We need a world, not an island.”

Only 16 of the world’s 192 nations allow citizens to sponsor their same-sex partner or spouse for immigration: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

France’s Socialist and Green parties will draft a law to open up ordinary marriage to same-sex couples.

“Marriage should be open to everybody,” Socialist Party leader François Hollande told the Agence France-Presse wire service on May 13. “Every society should be organized on the principle of equal rights and respect.”

For the past five years, French gay couples have been able to enter into Civil Solidarity Pacts, which grant many but not all of the rights and obligations of matrimony.

Deputies from France’s ruling party, the conservative Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a People’s Movement), are lukewarm or opposed to the new proposal, reports said.

Full marriage is available to same-sex couples in Belgium; the Netherlands; the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec; and the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Around a dozen other nations have registered-partnership or civil-union laws that extend many, most or all of the rights and obligations of marriage to same-sex couples.

Five blocks of Toronto’s übergay Church Street will be shut down for a leather/kink/fetish festival Aug. 15.

The first annual Church Street Fetish Fair is being staged by the Church-Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area (CWVBIA).

“It’s everything your mother warned you about – in a street fair,” said CWVBIA’s Dennis O’Connor. “Toronto is world-famous for its cultural diversity and Toronto’s gay village is famous for its history of creating spaces for people to celebrate and take pride in who they are. We’re building on that reputation – and we’re going to have a hell of a lot of fun doing it.”

The daylong fair will feature music by well-known DJs, a street dance, S/M and fetish demonstrations, a marketplace and community information booths.

The winner of the first International Mr. Leather title in 1979, David Kloss, will serve as executive producer of the event.

Brazil will launch an antihomophobia campaign in schools and police departments on May 25, national human-rights minister Nilmário Miranda announced.

“Prejudice and discrimination breed much of the violence practiced against homosexuals,” Miranda told the Agência Brasil news service. “To stem this violence, teachers must be able to transmit values of tolerance and respect.”

Gay leaders welcomed the move and expressed hope that it will amount to more than “just a bunch of well-intentioned words on paper,” said prominent activist Antonio Martins dos Reis.

In other news, the Brazilian government extended official recognition to the gay Metropolitan Community Churches in early May. The move designates MCC as a Christian denomination that is authorized to establish churches nationwide.