Polish Senator Maria Szyszkowska has introduced a bill to set up gay civil unions that grant many of the rights and privileges of marriage. She took action after hospital authorities refused to let a dying man’s lover visit him.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the bill has received support from leaders of the ruling Democratic Left Alliance and the head of the populist Self-Defense Party.

“Even representatives of the gay community told me to slow down, but I decided to go for it,” Szyszkowska told the Tribune. “If we are going to be part of Europe, we have to learn to accept some things that we may not personally agree with. Tolerance is what a democratic society is all about.”

A recent survey found that 62 percent of Poles strongly oppose the idea of gays living together as a couple and 14 percent somewhat oppose the notion. Only four percent like the idea.

Three ex-presidents of Colombia are supporting a gay civil-union bill that came up for debate in the Senate Aug. 19. Alfonso López Michelsen, Julio César Turbay and César Gaviria Trujillo, who now is secretary general of the Organization of American States, all say the measure should be passed.

Debate on the legislation stretched late into the evening, by which time there was no longer a quorum for a vote. The measure was expected to come up for reconsideration Aug. 26.

Should the bill pass the Senate, it would advance to the House of Representatives, where activists believe it would be approved, then on to President Alvaro Uribe Vélez for his signature.

The proposal extends marriage rights to same-sex couples in areas such as job benefits, insurance, pensions, social security, alimony, inheritance, health-care decisions and family violence. It also bans all discrimination based on “sexual identity, gender or orientation.”

“If we want it to be true, as our Constitution promises, that Colombians are free and equal before the law, then it is necessary to guarantee equal rights for unions between homosexuals,” Gaviria said Aug. 19.

Police in rural Hebron, Wales, say homophobia was the reason someone left two dildos outside the home of three gay men.

The men responded by putting up a sign, placing the dildos underneath it, and asking the owner to retrieve them.

“We’ve had a laugh about it, but it’s still been done out of homophobia,” said Mike Foxwell, one of the residents. “The local subdivision has taken advice and says it comes under public-order [laws]. Whoever left them will be in no doubt by now that it’s the sort of behavior that won’t be tolerated.

“Living as we do in a very rural area, some people might be afraid to make a complaint because they don’t want their sexuality known,” Foxwell said. “We hope that by making our own protest — and involving the law — we may have helped to give others the confidence to act if they’re ever victims of homophobia.”

Gays should be accepted but not encouraged, Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said during his televised National Day Rally speech Aug. 17.

“In every society, there are gay people,” Goh said. “We should accept those in our midst as fellow human beings, and as fellow Singaporeans. If the public sector refuses to employ gays, the private sector might also refuse. But gays too, need to make a living.

“That said,” he continued, “let me stress that I do not encourage or endorse a gay lifestyle. Singapore is still a traditional and conservative Asian society. Gays must know that the more they lobby for public space, the bigger the backlash they will provoke from the conservative mainstream. Their public space may then be reduced.

“I am glad that conservative Singaporeans and religious leaders have made known their views on the matter, clearly but responsibly,” he said. “I hope we will now move on and focus on more urgent challenges.”

Goh stirred up a ruckus in June when he told Time magazine that gays are welcome in government jobs, including those considered the most sensitive, because the nation cannot afford to discourage talented gay foreigners from immigrating.

Members of the Hong Kong gay group Rainbow Action invaded the sacristy of the Roman Catholic cathedral during mass Aug. 17 to protest a Catholic newspaper having called same-sex marriage “immoral.”

They demanded the church apologize for the article.

Bishop Joseph Zen has filed a complaint with police over the incident.

Police arrived at the cathedral after the protest concluded but took no action because no property had been damaged.

The mayor of Hamburg, Germany, Ole von Beust, came out Aug. 19 after firing the city-state’s interior minister, Ronald Schill, for allegedly trying to blackmail him.

Von Beust claimed Schill threatened to reveal that von Beust and city Minister of Justice Roger Kusch are lovers — which von Beust denies — in an attempt to stop von Beust from firing Schill’s deputy, Walter Wellinghausen, who violated government regulations by drawing income as a director of a private company while serving in the cabinet.

Schill denied any blackmail attempt but said he did accuse von Beust of exhibiting favoritism in his appointments while not tolerating such behavior by those working under him.

Von Beust’s coming out means Germany’s two biggest cities now have openly gay mayors. Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit also is gay.

More than 4,300 same-sex couples have gotten married in The Netherlands since April 2001, when the nation became the first in the world to open ordinary marriage to gays.

Meanwhile, De Gay Krant newspaper and the Dutch national gay organization COC have published a 60-page, English-language booklet to coach foreign activists and politicians on how to legalize same-sex marriage in their countries. The manual also is available on the Gay Krant and COC Web sites.

Full same-sex marriage also is allowed in Belgium and in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. In Canada, one need not be a resident to get married. Foreign couples can arrive, buy a license and marry the same day.