Another Canadian province legalized same-sex marriage Dec. 21. The province of Newfoundland and Labrador joins British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory in granting same-sex couples full access to the institution.

Two lesbian couples had sued for the right to marry and the Newfoundland Supreme Court declared, as courts had elsewhere, that the federal man-woman definition of marriage violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Plaintiffs Jacqueline Pottle and Noelle French wasted no time in tying the knot. They walked from the courthouse to the vital-statistics office in the Government Services Centre, acquired their marriage license and got hitched two days later.

The federal government plans to pass legislation in January to extend same-sex marriage to the jurisdictions where it is not yet allowed: Alberta, New Brunswick, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island.

Canada has no residency requirements for marriage, and foreign couples can buy a license and marry the same day – except in Quebec, where there is a 20-day waiting period. Quebec’s waiting period can be waived if advance arrangements are made with the person who will conduct the marriage.

Sixty percent of Spaniards want the Catholic Church to stop trying to interfere in politics, an Instituto Opina poll has found.

The church has been particularly outspoken against the new Socialist government’s plans to legalize full same-sex marriage. It also disapproves of proposals to relax abortion restrictions and permit euthanasia.

Pollsters asked 1,000 adults: “The Catholic Church has undertaken a campaign of protests against some of the government’s social reforms. Do you support or oppose this campaign?”

Sixty percent said they oppose it, 29.2 percent said they support it, 9.9 percent were unsure and 0.9 percent gave no answer. The margin of error was reported as 3.1 percent.

Spain’s Congress of Deputies Dec. 15 unanimously condemned the persecution of gays during the 1939-1975 dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco and during the transition to democracy, 1975-79.

But the legislators did not grant any monetary reparations as requested by gay activist organizations.

Some 5,000 people were detained under Franco for gay, lesbian or transsexual “acts or attitudes” according to Antoni Ruiz, president of the Association of Ex-Social Prisoners (Asociación de Ex Presos Sociales). Hundreds were jailed in “sexual re-education” centers, reports said.

Auckland, New Zealand, Mayor Dick Hubbard apologized Dec. 18 for signing a bizarre letter opposing the nation’s new civil-unions law, the New Zealand Herald reported.

The letter, which had several other high-profile signatories, said children of same-sex couples are more likely to be abused and murdered.

“On reflection I accept that unfortunate perceptions were created by the letter sent on the civil-unions bill,” Hubbard said, adding that he “deeply regretted” offending the gay community.

“I accept [that] gay couples can make good parents and I accept that some heterosexual couples in a marriage make bad parents,” he said.

Hubbard said he changed his mind during parliamentary debate on the bill, after he had signed the letter.

The civil-unions law passed Dec. 9 by a vote of 65 to 55 and takes effect in April. It grants registered couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage.

Polling showed that New Zealanders opposed recognizing same-sex relationships by a margin of three to one.

North Korea said in December that it still has no HIV or AIDS cases, and doesn’t have any homosexuals either.

But the secretive, isolated nation did say that 27 foreign workers who tested HIV positive were sent home at their own requests.

“The DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] is the sole country on the earth that has no AIDS-related patient so far,” said Han Kyong Ho, director of the Ministry of Health’s Central Hygienic and Anti-Epizootic Center, in an interview with the Pyongyang Times newspaper.

“As a medical worker I feel sure that there will not occur a case in the DPRK in the future, either,” Han said. “The DPRK … encourages the population to have a noble viewpoint towards love, marriage and family, and observe a sound lifestyle. The country has neither licensed and private prostitutes nor homosexuals and drug addicts.”

Han said “socialist morality” will keep AIDS at bay.

“The socialist system in the country has nothing to do with any socio-economic background giving rise to all descriptions of immorality and depravity,” he told the Times. “The sound lifestyle prevailing in the society will be upgraded more and more as the people’s standard of ideology and culture is on the rise and education on the socialist morality develops. It is crystal clear that AIDS can never penetrate into this environment.”

It is not possible to independently verify “news” from North Korea. The nation is notorious for its inadvertently humorous propaganda, and it maintains strict controls on the movement of foreigners within its territory, journalists included.