On the heels of the United Kingdom’s new Civil Partnership Act, which grants registered same-sex couples the rights and obligations of marriage, England and Wales extended adoption rights to unmarried straight and gay couples Dec. 30.

Adoption previously was limited to married opposite-sex couples and single people. The change was passed by Parliament three years ago but only took effect now.

“This is very important at a time when too many children wait too long in temporary care waiting for an adoptive family or, in some cases, never have the chance of adoption at all,” said Felicity Collier, chief executive of the British Association for Adopting and Fostering.

Spain is planning to alter its asylum laws to take in gays and lesbians who face the death penalty or serious punishment based on their sexual orientation, according to a draft law obtained by the newspaper El País.

A report in Britain’s Telegraph newspaper said the changes also would apply to women facing sex discrimination.

The draft reportedly requires immigration officials to base decisions on an objective examination of the facts rather than on subjective concerns, such as a hunch that an applicant might be lying.

A vicar in Port Talbot, Wales, who changed her sex is planning to sue the United Kingdom government before the European Court of Human Rights because she will be forced to annul her marriage to her wife when recording the change in government records, ic Wales reported.

Dian Parry, 66, and her wife of 45 years, Anita, would have to end their union and enter a civil partnership instead – under the U.K.’s new same-sex Civil Partnership Act.

They will argue this violates the European Convention on Human Rights’ guarantees of respect for privacy and family life, as well as provisions on the right to marry and not be discriminated against.

The leader of Scotland’s Roman Catholics, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, denounced the United Kingdom government in his New Year’s homily for enacting the new Civil Partnership Act, which grants registered same-sex couples the rights and obligations of marriage.

Speaking at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh, O’Brien said the government had “promoted alternative lifestyles while undermining values which for generations have been treasured,” London’s The Times reported.

“Human societies throughout history and across cultures have flourished only when they have built their human relationships on the rock of marriage,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association said O’Brien’s remarks “could lead to an escalation of violence against gay people.”

The head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, has denounced the United Kingdom’s new Civil Partnership Act that took effect in December.

Speaking to the BBC Jan. 3, Sacranie said: “This is harmful. It does not augur well in building the very foundations of society – stability, family relationships. And it is something we would certainly not … encourage the community to be involved in.”

Sacranie called homosexuality “not acceptable … in terms of health, in terms of the moral issues that come along in a society.”

Gay activist Peter Tatchell of OutRage! told the BBC that since both the Muslim and GLBT communities suffer prejudice and discrimination, they “should stand together to fight Islamophobia and homophobia.”

A Jamaican gay man, Nokia Cowen, drowned Dec. 28 after he jumped into Kingston’s harbor while being chased by gay-bashers, according to the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, the country’s best-known GLBT group.

“In an attempt to flee this mob, the young man jumped into the Kingston harbor and perished because he could not swim,” the organization said. “JFLAG condemns the prevalence of incidents such as this and … we implore the highest members of government to clearly indicate that violence based on sexual orientation, both perceived and actual, is unacceptable in Jamaica.”

Anti-gay violence is unusually common in Jamaica. In another recent incident, leading AIDS activist Steve Harvey was murdered in Kingston on Nov. 30. According to police, at least four assailants forced their way into his home and abducted him in his Jamaica AIDS Support company car. His body was found in a rural area with gunshot wounds to the back and head.

Gay activists in Jamaica and elsewhere also have been fighting a years-long battle with several famous dancehall reggae singers whose lyrics, activists say, support anti-gay violence or, in some instances, the killing of homosexuals.

Among those targeted by the protests have been Elephant Man, Vybz Kartel, Beenie Man, Buju Banton, T.O.K., Bounty Killer, Capleton and Sizzla.

Courts in Poznan, Poland, refused in late December and early January to begin criminal proceedings against 75 people who were arrested at a Nov. 29 Pride march that had been banned by Mayor Ryszard Grobelny, the Campaign Against Homophobia reported Jan. 5.

The marchers were charged with taking part in an illegal gathering.

A few hundred people joined the demonstration. They were harassed by members of the group All Polish Youth, who shouted “Let’s gas the fags” and “We’ll do to you what Hitler did with Jews.”

Warsaw’s Pride parade also was banned by local officials last year and the year before. Mayor Lech Kaczynski, who is now Poland’s president, called last year’s planned march “sexually obscene.” An improvised parade took place on June 10 anyhow, with more than 2,500 participants.