Australia’s government is trying to stop its citizens who live overseas from entering same-sex marriages in countries that allow them, The Age newspaper reported Jan. 14.

The tactic being utilized is refusing to provide written proof to the other nation that the Australian in question is free to marry.

In one case, Peter Kakucska, an Australian living in Vienna who wanted to marry his Austrian partner in the Netherlands, where same-sex marriage is allowed, was given stamped certifications of the anti-gay policies by Australia’s Austrian embassy.

One certification said: “Following the advice of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department we herewith certify that Australian law does not allow the issue of a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage to persons wishing to enter into a same-sex marriage.”

A second document refused to confirm that Kakucska was single.

The Netherlands ultimately let the couple marry anyway, when presented with the Australian refusals and Kakucska’s affidavit that he was single.

Gay activist Rodney Croome of the Australian Coalition for Equality called the government’s actions “mean-spirited and bloody-minded.”

A college student in Oxford, England, who was arrested for calling a police officer’s horse “gay” saw his case dismissed by the Oxford Magistrates’ Court Jan. 12.

The court cited a lack of evidence that Sam Brown’s remark violated the Public Order Act, which prohibits homophobic statements that are “likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.”

Brown, 21, had said to a mounted police officer, “Excuse me, do you realize your horse is gay?”

He was hauled off to jail for the night and later taken to court for refusing to pay a fine.

In a Jan. 12 speech to political leaders from the Rome area, Pope Benedict XVI spoke against government recognition of same-sex unions, calling it a grave mistake.

“It is a serious error to obscure the value and function of the legitimate family founded on matrimony, attributing to other forms of unions improper legal recognition, for which there really is no social need,” Benedict said.

The day after his remarks, about 40 gay activists staged a protest outside Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square.

The following day, around 1,000 people rallied in Rome, demanding legal recognition of same-sex relationships.

Only 58 couples have taken advantage of the relationships register in the Australian state of Tasmania during its two years of existence, The Mercury newspaper reported Jan. 16.

Forty-three couples got hitched in 2003 and 15 in 2004. Forty-six were same-sex couples and 12 were opposite-sex couples. Of the same-sex couples, 24 are male and 22 are female.

Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesperson Rodney Croome blamed the slow take-up on the government, saying it has failed to promote the register.

The register also is available to nonsexual partnerships, such as when one person is a caregiver to another. It grants spousal rights in areas such as pensions, taxes, insurance, health care, hospital visitation, wills, property, parenting and bereavement leave.

Tasmania has a population of 484,700.

The European Parliament passed a resolution Jan. 17 demanding that its 25 member states clamp down on homophobia, protect GLBT people from discrimination and extend them full equal rights.

The vote was 468 to 149 with 41 abstentions.

The resolution was aimed in particular at nations such as Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania where governments, religious leaders and anti-gay organizations have stepped up oppression of the GLBT community in recent years.

The document cited “a series of worrying events … in a number of EU Member States … ranging from banning gay pride or equality marches to the use by leading politicians and religious leaders of inflammatory or threatening language or hate speech, failure by police to provide adequate protection or even breaking up peaceful demonstrations, violent demonstrations by homophobic groups, and the introduction of changes to constitutions explicitly to prohibit same-sex unions.”

The parliamentarians urged the European Commission “to ensure that all Member States … are correctly implementing Directive 2000/78/EC [establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation] and to start infringement proceedings against those Member States that fail to do so.”

They also told the commission “to consider the use of criminal penalties in cases of violation” of directives based on Article 13 of the European Community Treaty, which empowers the Council of the European Union to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and other factors.

Since Spain legalized same-sex marriage in June, 55 percent of same-sex marriages have occurred in Andalusia, where Seville is located.

Of the 425 same-sex marriages recorded by the Justice Ministry, 235 took place in the southern region, said the Andalusian COLEGAS Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals.

The group called Andalusia “a land of tolerance and coexistence.”