Elton John and his longtime partner, David Furnish, are getting married Dec. 21 when the United Kingdom’s comprehensive same-sex Civil Partnership Act comes into force.

“It’ll be a very small family affair and then in the evening there’ll be a soirée somewhere, which we have yet to work out,” John told the gay magazine Attitude on Nov. 24.

Furnish told Attitude: “I’ve always considered myself committed to Elton and he’s the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with. So in that sense I don’t feel like the dynamic of our relationship is going to change. But from a social standpoint, I think it’s hugely significant. It is a major, major change. It is one of the defining issues of our times.”

The Partnership Act takes effect Dec. 5 but the first registrations will not take place until Dec. 21 because of a required 15-day waiting period after a couple files notice of their intentions. Registered partners will receive all the rights and obligations of marriage.

Couples who have formalized a same-sex union overseas will not need to re-register in the U.K. to be recognized. There will be a formal, court-based process for dissolution of a civil partnership.

Australian gay and lesbian couples will gain the right to claim each other’s superannuation (pension) benefits, the federal government has announced.

The policy change also extends to elderly siblings who live together and to adult children caring for elderly parents.

In determining if two people had an “interdependent relationship,” officials will consider the length of the relationship, whether it involved sex, the degree of emotional support, and ownership and use of property, the Australian Associated Press said.

Superannuation is a system in which employers make compulsory contributions on behalf of employees (currently 9 percent of the salary package) into funds that are administered by financial institutions and employee/employer groups that invest the money in such things as property development and blue-ribbon stocks. Employees are taxed at a lower rate on the contributions than on other income. At retirement, individuals can opt for a lump-sum payout or a monthly pension. For low-income earners, the government makes matching co-contributions to add to the savings balance.

The International Initiative for Visibility of Queer Muslims has achieved official registration as a nongovernmental organization in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The group’s members said it is “the first ever officially recognized queer Muslim society in a predominantly Muslim country – or a country where Muslims are not considered a minority – as well as the only queer faith-based organization in the Balkans.”

The year-old group hopes to establish a faith-based dialogue between sexual, gender and cultural minorities and the rest of society, according to a press release.

The Siberian city of Tyumen banned a Nov. 19 concert by Russian singer Boris Moiseev because he’s gay, Radio Free Europe reported.

Local officials were persuaded to block the concert by the organization In Defense of Russian Orthodox Morals, which said Moiseev’s appearance would have a “damaging influence on youth.”

Moiseev commented: “In our country, no one takes into consideration the interests of consumers. The authorities think for some reason not about the rights of the people who bought tickets and paid their money but about the anarchists who think they have the right to decide what is good and what is bad.”

Thousands of people marched from the Plaza de Mayo to Argentina’s Congress in Buenos Aires’ 14th Pride parade Nov. 20.

A lead banner declared, “We want the same rights.” Activists are pushing for a national civil-unions law to match the one in effect in the capital city.

Six people were arrested when a small group of anti-gay Catholics tried to prevent the marchers from getting too close to the Metropolitan Cathedral, which sits on one corner of the Plaza de Mayo, where the famous Casa Rosada also is located.

Marcher Mariano Lago joked: “At one point, it started raining and we figured God was castigating us for being sodomites and that the end of the world was upon us. But the rain stopped quickly and a rainbow appeared!”

Activists rallied in several Polish cities Nov. 26-27 in protest against the violent police breakup of the Pride parade in the city of Poznan on Nov. 19.

A coalition of organizations calling themselves the Solidarity with Poznan National Committee reportedly staged events in Elblag, Gdansk, Krakow, Lodz, Poznan, Rzeszow, Torun and Warsaw, where more than 1,000 protesters turned out.

“The Poznan events – first the cancellation of the March of Equality by Poznan authorities and then the brutal pacification of the peaceful demonstration by the police – have shown that Poland is definitely not a place where law is fully respected,” the committee said.

“[N]ot only are citizens deprived of the possibility to express their beliefs and ideas, but the authorities let the fascist groups and the police get away with attacking innocent people. Polish democracy requires resuscitation.”

Poznan Mayor Ryszard Grobelny banned the Pride parade based on concerns about “protection of private property.”

Several dozen gays and lesbians marched anyhow, and police aggressively arrested some 65 marchers when they responded to orders to halt by sitting down in the street.