In a surprising move, the Czech Republic’s Chamber of Deputies overrode President Vaclav Klaus’ veto of a same-sex partnership bill March 15.

Klaus called the vote “a defeat for all of us who believe that the family in our society is fundamental, unique, unrivaled.”

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek, on the other hand, said legislators were “liberating one minority of … our fellow citizens.”

The bill passed 101-76 – the minimum needed for an override in the 200-seat chamber. The original measure had passed 86-53.

In his February veto message, Klaus had argued that such a law should be approved by a majority of legislators rather than a majority of those present for the vote. He also said same-sex unions undermine traditional values.

Paroubek later denounced Klaus as “unable to overcome his prejudices.”

A recent poll found that 62 percent of Czechs support same-sex registered partnership.

Dozens of German gays and lesbians yelled at Polish President Lech Kaczynski March 9 at Berlin’s Humboldt University, where he was giving a lecture on European solidarity.

The protesters shouted, “Solidarity without exclusion and homophobia” and “Homophobia is curable.”

Police attempted to halt the invasion but a university official reportedly intervened and allowed the demonstrators to make a statement.

As mayor of Warsaw, Kaczynski banned the Pride parade in 2004 and 2005, calling it “sexually obscene.” He also refused to meet with Pride organizers, reportedly saying, “I am not willing to meet perverts.”

Following the Berlin protest, Kaczynski commented: “I don’t agree to see this issue in a way that there is a heterosexual culture and a homosexual culture and that they are equal. I see no reason to promote such attitudes, because if they were common, the human race would have to die out.”

European Parliament member and former British TV star Michael Cashman “married” his partner of 23 years, Paul Cottingham, in London March 11 under the U.K.’s Civil Partnership Act, which provides the rights and obligations of marriage.

Cashman starred in the TV series “EastEnders” before being elected to the European Parliament.

While on “EastEnders,” Cashman became a gay activist, chairing the national gay lobby group Stonewall.

A threat by Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk to end a moratorium on deporting gay and lesbian asylum-seekers back to Iran rested on a misunderstanding of Iranian law, Human Rights Watch says.

The deportation ban was implemented last year after reports of executions in Iran for homosexual conduct. But in a recent letter to Parliament, Verdonk stated: “It appears that there are no cases of an execution on the basis of the sole fact that someone is homosexual. … For homosexual men and women it is not totally impossible to function in society.”

In fact, Article 111 of the Code of Islamic Punishments, Iran’s criminal code, states that sexual intercourse between men “is punishable by death.” Articles 121-122 punish non-penetrative sex between men with 100 lashes, and with death on the fourth conviction. Article 123 allows for 90 lashes “if two men who are not related by blood lie naked under the same cover without any necessity.” Articles 127-134 punish sexual intercourse between women with 100 lashes, and with death if the offense is repeated three times.

“Men and women suspected of homosexual conduct in Iran face the threat of execution,” said Scott Long of HRW’s gay-rights program. “We have documented brutal floggings imposed by courts as punishment, and torture and ill-treatment, including sexual abuse, in police custody.

“The legal machinery of persecution is oiled, ready and operating in Iran – and the Netherlands has a binding and absolute legal obligation not to send people back to face it,” Long said.

The European Convention on Human Rights prohibits member nations from deporting a person who may be at risk of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Amnesty International USA said March 8 that it considers eight men and a 17-year-old boy who are being tried in Cameroon on charges of practicing homosexuality to be prisoners of conscience. The organization mobilized its members to petition for the detainees’ release.

“These defendants are being held unjustly solely on the basis of their alleged sexual orientation,” said Michael Heflin of Amnesty’s gay rights program. “Additionally, we fear that they are in grave danger of being subjected to intrusive medical examinations that would amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

The High Court trial began in late February. If found guilty, the individuals could face five years in prison and a $350 fine.

They were arrested at a nightclub in the capital, Yaoundé, in May and have been jailed since, in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions with inadequate food, Amnesty said.

Cameroon bans gay sex under Article 347 of its Penal Code.

New Zealand’s largest fertility service is dropping its ban on sperm donations by gay men.

After consultation with the nation’s Human Rights Commission, which was investigating Fertility Associates’ rejection of a gay donor, the agency decided it will treat gays’ sperm the same as straights’ sperm – testing it for HIV and hepatitis B and C.