Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin strongly defended same-sex marriage Feb. 16 as Parliament began debate on the bill to legalize it nationwide. Courts already have legalized same-sex marriage in eight of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories.

“[S]ome have counseled the government to extend to gays and lesbians the right to ‘civil union,’” Martin said. “This would give same-sex couples many of the rights of a wedded couple, but their relationships would not legally be considered marriage. In other words, they would be equal, but not quite as equal as the rest of Canadians. ... ‘[S]eparate but equal’ is not equal.”

The bill is expected to pass this spring. Most Liberal, Bloc Québécois and New Democrat MPs support it, along with a few Conservatives.

Swiss voters will have their say on a same-sex partnership law June 5. The measure passed Parliament in June 2004 but religious conservatives then collected enough signatures to force a nationwide referendum on the law. It will be the first time an entire nation has voted on same-sex partnerships. The law extends many marriage rights to registered same-sex couples but withholds rights in the areas of adoption, in vitro fertilization and taking each other’s last name, according to the newsletter of the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association.

A same-sex registered-partnership bill failed in the Czech Republic’s Parliament Feb. 11 by a single vote. It was the fourth time a partnership bill was defeated. Most of the 82 MPs who supported the bill are from the Social Democratic, Communist, Freedom Union and Civic Democratic parties. Most of the 83 no votes came from Christian Democrats.

Russia’s Supreme Court refused to amend the Family Code to allow same-sex marriage Feb. 16, saying it’s a matter for other branches of government to consider. The suit was filed by Eduard Mishin, editor-in-chief of the Gay.ru website, and Eduard Murzin, a member of the Parliament of the Russian internal republic of Bashkortostan, after officials rejected their attempt to obtain a marriage certificate.

Murzin is heterosexual but wanted to help publicize the cause of gay equality.

“I do not belong to a sexual minority, but I am ready to stand up for the civil rights of gays and lesbians in Russia,” he told the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily.

Murzin said the heterosexual definition of marriage violates the Russian Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. The pair plans an appeal to the Council of Europe’s European Court of Human Rights.

The day after Murzin’s and Mishin’s attempt to marry, Gay.ru was evicted from its offices. Police declared that the premises were “being used not in accordance with their purpose,” said Gay.ru’s Nikita Ivanov. The offices also housed Kvir magazine and the gay organization Together.

A scientific poll by La Vanguardia newspaper found that 61 percent of Spaniards support extending full marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Spain’s Parliament is expected to legalize same-sex marriage this year. Thirty-two percent of those questioned oppose the plan. The poll also found that 44 percent of Spaniards favor letting same-sex couples adopt children but 50 percent do not.

Pollsters questioned 1,000 adults by phone. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.16 percent.

“We are seeing in Spain a historic cultural and ideological change ... the result of a slow and sustained evolution by all of society toward respecting differences and diversity,” said veteran gay activist Jordi Petit.

The Church of England will grant spousal pension rights to the same-sex partners of priests if the couples register under the United Kingdom’s new civil-partnership law that takes effect later this year.

The General Synod made the decision even though gays are technically barred from priesthood if they are sexually active.

In the secular world, registered couples will obtain marriage rights in areas that include accident compensation, life insurance, immigration, inheritance, intestacy, pensions, taxation, tenancy, spouse and child support and workplace benefits.

Fiji’s Law Reform Commission will look at legalizing gay sex, Executive Chair Alipate Qetaki said Feb. 10.

Sodomy is banned in public and private. Violators face up to five years in prison.

Paradoxically, Fiji’s 1997 constitution is one of only a handful in the world that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Turkey’s first gay radio station has come online. Web-only Radio Rebel can be heard at www.direnis.radyosu.com.

“Our main aim is to put the sound of homosexuals on the map,” one of the founders, Sanem Yurttas, told Roj TV. “We are responding to the dominant system which tries to cut off our voice.”

The station transmits music and programs in Turkish, Kurdish, Lazca, Circassian, Armenian, Syriac and Arabic.