Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said Jan. 29 that Pride parades are “satanic.”

“Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the parade, which can be described in no other way than as satanic,” Luzhkov said. “We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future.”

He continued: “Some European nations bless single-sex marriages and introduce sexual guides in schools. Such things are a deadly moral poison for children.”

Last year’s Pride ban, supported by the courts, led organizers to replace the planned parade with attempts to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and stage a rally across from City Hall.

Participants in both small events were violently attacked by neofascists, skinheads, Christians and riot police.

Organizers again have vowed to march this year on May 27.

Luzhkov’s new comments came on the day Pride organizers filed suit in the European Court of Human Rights over last year’s ban. They seek the right to march and $26,000 in compensation.

“Not a single European legal expert we have spoken with doubts in the success of our application to the court,” said organizer Nikolai Alekseev. “After that, not a single official, including the Moscow mayor, will be able to deprive us of our legal right to freedom of public expression.”

The groundbreaking civil-union law in the Mexican state of Coahuila took effect Feb. 1.

A lesbian couple, Karina Almaguer and Karla López, who traveled from the nearby state of Tamaulipas to the Coahuilan capital of Saltillo, reportedly were the first to tie the knot.

Officials said Coahuila civil unions are available to couples from anywhere in Mexico.

The state Congress passed the law Jan. 11 in a 20-13 vote. It was signed by Gov. Humberto Moreira the same day.

The statute allows same-sex couples to register their union with a justice of the peace and extends spousal rights in such areas as property, health insurance and pensions. Heterosexual and nonsexual couples can register as well.

Mexico City’s Legislative Assembly passed the nation’s first civil-union law last November but it does not take effect until March 16.

The federal district’s statute allows gay and straight couples – as well as two friends, roommates or extended family members – to register their relationship and receive spousal rights in areas such as inheritance, pensions, property, co-parenting and medical decisions.

Couples must present identification, proof of residence, birth certificates and witnesses; pay a fee of about $3.90; then return in 10 business days with the witnesses for the ceremony. During the interim, the city’s Justice Department confirms that both partners are unmarried and not already in a civil union.

In other Mexican news, gay federal legislator David Sánchez Camacho is planning to introduce a proposed constitutional amendment and other legislation to extend civil-rights protections to transsexuals and assure they can change their name and gender in official documents.

The proposed amendment says “every person has the right to the recognition and free exercise of their gender identity and their gender expression.”

To pass, the amendment must receive a yes vote from two-thirds of the members of both houses of the federal Congress and two-thirds of the members of the Legislature in at least 16 of Mexico’s 31 states.

Same-sex couples in Portugal acquired some additional rights at the end of 2006.

Public employees who live with a partner for at least two years now can extend their health coverage and certain other benefits to their partners.

And the nation’s “de facto union” law now covers immigration.

According to correspondent João Paulo from the Web portal PortugalGay.PT, a Portuguese citizen who lives with a foreign same-sex partner for at least three years, whether in Portugal or abroad, can sponsor the partner for Portuguese citizenship.

A declaration from a judge is required to confirm the legitimacy of the relationship.

French Member of Parliament Christian Vanneste was fined about $3,900 Jan. 25 for having called homosexuality “inferior” and “dangerous for humanity if it was pushed to the limit.”

A court in Douai imposed the fine under a two-year-old law that bans anti-gay language. Vanneste, a member of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party, also must pay about $13,500 in costs and damages to the plaintiffs, three gay organizations.

Vanneste previously vowed to appeal any guilty verdict to the European Court of Human Rights.

Somebody has been stealing all copies of the Ottawa, Canada, gay newspaper Capital Xtra! from more than 30 newspaper boxes in the downtown area.

“Someone [is] so dedicated to making a point to our community that they invested the time to travel our entire downtown core and vacuum up every single paper,” said Managing Editor Gareth Kirkby. “Someone really doesn’t like us.”

Pink Triangle Press, which publishes the paper, is restocking the boxes as needed and has sought help from the city’s Hate Crimes Unit.

And Kirkby has urged readers to watch out for the culprit or culprits.

“We want to nab this person or persons, charge them, and give them publicity that will leave even their priest blushing,” he said.

Kirkby also offered to let the vandal or vandals write a guest column in the paper.

“We’re not afraid of your opinion,” he said.

Assistance: Bill Kelley