Manitoba on Sept. 16 became the fifth Canadian province or territory to legalize full same-sex marriage via court order.

The first gay wedding took place later in the day in Winnipeg between plaintiffs Michelle Ritchot and Stefphany Cholakis.

“It is just so wonderful to be able to marry my beautiful Stefphany,” Ritchot told the Winnipeg Sun.

Plaintiffs Laura Fouhse and Jordan Cantwell got married on Sept. 18.

“Words cannot express how much this means to us as a family,” Cantwell told The Globe and Mail newspaper. “Now our daughter will grow up knowing that her family is recognized and valued like those of her friends.”

In the ruling, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Douglas Yard declared that the federal definition of marriage as the union of a man and woman violates the Canadian constitution’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Essentially identical rulings over the past 16 months legalized full same-sex marriage in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and the Yukon Territory.

“The cumulative effect and the overwhelming effect of that judicial authority is to the effect that the traditional definition of marriage is no longer constitutionally valid in view of the provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Yard said. “The traditional definition of marriage in Manitoba is reformulated to mean a voluntary union for life of two persons at the exclusion of all others.”

One of the plaintiff couples in the Manitoba lawsuit – Chris Vogel and Rich North – were the first Canadian couple to attempt to register a same-sex marriage, in 1974, after they were united in a ceremony at a Unitarian church. A court declared that marriage invalid.

The next province expected to legalize same-sex marriage is Nova Scotia, where a court case is advancing. The jurisdictions where same-sex marriage is permitted already encompass 79 percent of Canada’s population. It is not yet permitted in Alberta, the Northwest Territories, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan.

“We look forward to the day when all Canadians have the equal right to marry, when Parliament finally passes legislation to make that a reality,” said Cicely McWilliam of Canadians for Equal Marriage. “Until then, we call on all the remaining provinces to accept equal marriage and begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.”

More than half of the GLBT members of the United Kingdom’s and Ireland’s National Union of Journalists say they’ve faced workplace discrimination because of their sexuality, a union survey has found.

Of the 150 GLBT journalists questioned, 35 percent said they’d been refused a promotion, 11 percent said they’d been denied work, 13 percent said they’d faced verbal abuse and 2 percent reported sexual assault or disciplinary action because of their sexual orientation.

A third of the respondents cited managers as the perpetrators of the antigay activity.

Ireland banned antigay discrimination in the workplace in 1999 and the U.K. did so last year.

Canada saw its first same-sex divorce Sept. 13.

Two Toronto women, identified as M.M. and J.H., got married on June 18, 2003, eight days after Ontario became the first of the four provinces and one territory that have legalized full marriage for same-sex couples.

In granting the divorce, Ontario Superior Court Justice Ruth Mesbur declared the section of the federal Divorce Act that defined marriage as between a man and a woman unconstitutional.

More than 3,000 same-sex couples have married since courts in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the Yukon Territory declared the opposite-sex definition of marriage unconstitutional.

The federal government is in the middle of a slow process of enacting legislation to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

Argentina will see its first GLBT film festival Oct. 28 to Nov. 3, the Reporter de Espectáculos y Cultura news service reported.

The festival, at the Cosmos Theater and Palais de Glace cultural center, will consist mainly of independent and short films that are rarely screened commercially.

The films are from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, England, Lebanon, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United States.

“The criterion we utilized to select the works you’re going to see ... was to choose material of high emotional quality that speaks to the bonds people have, and demonstrates the ways of life of GLBT people in various parts of the world – not as victims or representations of a problem but instead to show how life is and how human relationships are, to be able to know different realities,” said director Gabriela Waisman.

Police in Johannesburg, South Africa, have banned drag queens from the Sept. 25 Pride parade because their wigs and makeup obscure their identities, a violation of the nation’s Gatherings Act.

The law prohibits participating in a gathering, march or protest while wearing a disguise, mask or anything else that obscures facial features.

Johannesburg Metro Police Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar told The Citizen, a daily newspaper, that the decision was made to ensure consistency in application of the law.

Gay activists said any ban on drag queens would be unconstitutional and would be met with legal action.