Israel’s Supreme Court ruled 7-2 on Jan. 10 that lesbian partners have the right to adopt each other’s children.

Adoption previously had been an option only for married and common-law opposite-sex couples, local newspapers said.

The case involved a lesbian couple of 15 years who utilized a sperm bank to conceive three children.

The secretary of the Spanish Roman Catholic Church’s Episcopal Conference called homosexuality an “epidemic” Jan. 8.

“[It is] a true epidemic of homosexuality, a fount of psychological problems and painful frustrations,” said Fernando Sebastián, archbishop of Pamplona. “[Homosexuals], if they wish, with well-directed help, can change their situation.”

The Spanish church has been on the warpath for several months against the national government’s plans to legalize full marriage for same-sex couples this year.

No marriage officials in the Canadian province of Ontario have refused to perform same-sex weddings, provincial Attorney General Michael Bryant told the Canadian Press wire service Jan. 13.

There have been more than 1,000 same-sex marriages in Ontario since the province’s highest court legalized them on June 10, 2004, the report said.

“We’ve probably had more experience with civil ceremonies of same-sex couples than maybe any other jurisdiction in the world,” Bryant said.

“We’ve been very Canadian about this, and the municipalities in the province have managed it. ... There has not been any real problems that have developed.”

Same-sex marriage has been legalized by court order in seven provinces and one territory – British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory. It remains unavailable in Alberta, New Brunswick, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island.

The federal government, agreeing that the old opposite-sex definition of marriage is unconstitutional, plans to pass legislation through Parliament in the next few months legalizing full same-sex marriage nationally.

Only the province of Alberta has objected to the plan, with Premier Ralph Klein promising an all-out fight to protect Albertans from same-sex matrimony.

Full same-sex marriage also is allowed in the Netherlands, Belgium and the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Spain is expected to extend full marriage rights to same-sex couples later this year.

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.

The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Edmonton, Alberta, is trying to thwart Canada’s plans to legalize same-sex marriage, the Canada Western Catholic Reporter said Jan. 12.

The diocese’s Family Life Office has sent instructions to every parish on how to lobby national leaders and members of Parliament to oppose nationwide approval of same-sex marriage, which already has been legalized by courts in eight provinces and territories. It remains unavailable in five, including Alberta.

Federal MPs are expected to vote to change the definition of marriage this spring to include same-sex couples.

“This is not an issue of equal rights,” the director of the Family Life Office, John MacDonald, told the newspaper. “Marriage is uniquely dedicated to a man and a woman who have the incredible privilege and responsibility of bringing forth the next generation of Canadians.”

The Senegal gay group MSM (men who have sex with men) is fighting an uphill battle to get money from the National Council to Fight AIDS, the U.N.’s Integrated Regional Information Networks reported Jan. 12.

Senegal is considered to be devoutly Muslim and homosexuality is illegal.

The group has asked for about $73,000 to educate gays and assist people with HIV.

“We want to be able to train people and go to the homes of people living with AIDS who are suffering and who often are not informed about treatment,” an MSM leader told the U.N. news service, asking not to be identified by name. “The situation is extremely serious within the community.”

Senegal has received about $74 million in AIDS funding this year from the World Bank, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and other donors.

The MSM group has about 400 members. Senegal has a population of around 10 million.

Recent editions of this column reported on a poll from New Zealand which found that New Zealanders oppose the nation’s new gay-inclusive civil-unions law by a 3-1 ratio. However, this poll (a 900-number phone-in poll that cost $1 to participate in) was not scientifically valid. In fact, scientific polling has found that New Zealanders favor the law by a margin of 56.4 percent to 39.3 percent.