Same-sex couples who have lived together for at least two years have the same property and inheritance rights as common-law opposite-sex couples, Colombia’s Constitutional Court declared Feb. 8.

In an 8-1 decision, the justices said the law governing such rights for heterosexual couples was unconstitutional to the extent it excluded same-sex couples.

The gay group Colombia Diversa had asked the court for the determination.

The government of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi finalized its civil-union legislation Feb. 8 and sent it to Parliament for a vote.

The parliamentary coalition aligned with the ruling party is expected to provide enough votes for the measure to pass.

The proposed law applies to both gay and straight couples, and grants rights in areas such as health care, social benefits, pensions, inheritance, rental contracts, and hospital and prison visitation.

Inheritance rights would apply only to relationships of at least a nine-year duration and rental rights to those that have lasted at least three years. The amount of time after which pension rights would kick in is not yet specified.

Other countries with civil-union laws include Andorra, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Greenland, a self-governing administrative division of Denmark, also has a civil-union law. There are state or local partnership laws in parts of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and the United States.

Full marriage is available to same-sex couples in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa and the U.S. state of Massachusetts.

Informal cohabitation of same-sex partners has become legally recognized in Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Hungary, Israel and Portugal – and in parts of Australia, Italy and the U.S.

The Ukrainian Parliament’s human-rights chief denounced gays again on Feb. 9, reported Kiev’s Our World Gay and Lesbian Center.

Leonid Grach, head of the Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations, said: “My colleagues and I in Parliament have to defend society from infringements upon morality and not admit into the consciousness and souls of people of any age the thought that the state is on the side of the people who are sowing debauchery, propagandizing for dissoluteness [or] sexual permissiveness, or bringing the abomination of seduction into society. [The] state must protect society from evil, from violence, including such evil as homosexuality, lesbianism and the like.”

Our World, which translated the comments, responded that “such public statements by a high-ranking politician whose duty it is to protect human rights are simply inadmissible in civilized democratic society.”

The center asked activists in other nations to alert their governments to the situation and write protest letters to Grach and Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko.

Last November, Grach called homosexuality “an anomaly that is caused by the amorality and depravity of man,” Our World said.

The deputy premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, George Smitherman, will marry his partner, chocolate company manager Christopher Peloso, on Aug. 5, the Toronto Star reported.

The couple will tie the knot at the Laurentian Lodge resort 325 miles northwest of Toronto.

Smitherman, who also is provincial health minister, told the Star, “I’m going to make a long-term commitment to Christopher in August and then I’m hoping that the people of my riding are going to make a long-term commitment to me [in the next election] on Oct. 10.”

The two men have known each other for 10 years but only reconnected 18 months ago. Once married, they plan to adopt a child.

A huge hockey fan with a feisty political reputation, Smitherman has been a Liberal legislator since 1999 and health minister since 2003. His district includes Toronto’s gayest neighborhood.

In 2006, Smitherman acknowledged that in the 1990s he was addicted for five years to illegal stimulant “party drugs” that are popular on the gay scene.

Canada is one of six nations where same-sex couples have access to traditional marriage.

The cofounder and chairman of the popular Gaydar Web site died in an eight-story fall from the balcony of his London penthouse Feb. 10.

Scotland Yard said it didn’t know if Gary Frisch, 38, jumped from the building or fell by accident.

In a statement, Gaydar’s corporate parent, QSoft Consulting, said: “Gary’s legacy as a co-founder of the Gaydar phenomenon is immense and it is one that we shall both celebrate and continue into the future. Gary will never be forgotten and is deeply missed by us all.”

The Supreme Court of Moldova ruled Feb. 13 that the city government in the nation’s capital, Chisinau, acted illegally in banning a Pride march in 2006.

According to a translation provided by the International Lesbian and Gay Association, the court said the activities of the pride organizing group, Information Centre GenderDoc-M, are legal and the court “considers unjustified the refusal of the Chisinau city hall to authorize a march of solidarity by GenderDoc-M reasoning it with possible threat to the public order, as this motive is disproportional with the right to freedom of assembly, guaranteed by … the European Convention for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.”

GenderDoc-M Chair Alexei Marcicov said he hoped the ruling “will put a political end [to the] open discrimination of the LGBT community by Chisinau city authorities. It is the win of consciousness, law and human rights over prejudice and intolerance.”

Assistance: Bill Kelley