by Christopher Cappiello

Norway approves marriage equality

On the same day that same-sex weddings were being celebrated across California, the upper house of the Norwegian parliament approved a law that will grant same-sex couples the rights to marry, adopt children and undergo artificial insemination, Agence France-Presse reports. The vote was 23-17.

The June 17 vote came just weeks after the lower house approved the bill by a margin of 84-41. The law will take effect Jan. 1, 2009.

“We are so overjoyed. We have worked for this for so long,” Jon Reidar Oeyan, head of the Norwegian National Association of Lesbian and Gay Liberation, told The Associated Press. “Now we are going to celebrate. I didn’t dare until I heard the chairman of the upper house bang the hammer.”

The new legislation will replace a 1993 law that created one of the world’s most comprehensive domestic partnership arrangements. The earlier law did not allow couples to adopt, however, or have church weddings. Both will be possible under the new bill.

The Lutheran Church of Norway is the state church, with approximately 85 percent of the country’s 4.7 million citizens registered as members. The new law allows for church weddings, but does not require congregations or clergy to perform weddings for same-sex couples. It is expected that each congregation will decide whether or not to do so.

Norway will join Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and South Africa as the only countries recognizing same-sex marriage. Gay and lesbian couples can also marry in Massachusetts and California.

U.K. military permits uniforms in Pride parades

Great Britain’s Ministry of Defense has announced that this year members of the Royal Army and Royal Air Force will be allowed to wear their uniforms in Gay Pride parades. In 2006 the Royal Navy began permitting sailors to wear uniforms in Pride marches.

“The Armed Forces are committed to establishing a culture and climate where every individual’s contribution is respected and valued, regardless of sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin, religion, gender or social background,” a minstry spokesperson told the Press Association.

The spokesperson added that in spite of the festive nature of Pride events, a certain degree of decorum is required of those in uniform.

“When personnel are wearing service uniform, behavior of the highest order will be expected of them at all times, in keeping with the traditions of Her Majesty’s armed forces,” he said.

Activists greeted the announcement with enthusiasm. “It will be a historic moment, and a true sign of how much has changed,” Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, told the Press Association.

“We know that this gesture will be enormously appreciated by those lesbian and gay personnel currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Ben Summerskill, head of the LGBT rights group Stonewall.

The British military began allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in 2000.

LGBT protesters arrested at Uganda AIDS conference

After passing out leaflets and holding up placards at the HIV Implementers Meeting in Kampala, Uganda, to protest that country’s lack of HIV prevention efforts for the LGBT community, three protesters were arrested on June 4 and jailed for two days, Reuters reports.

“Today I realized how dangerous it is for us LGBTI people to express our constitutional rights,” said Frank Mugisha, co-chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), in a statement from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. The three protesters were affiliated with SMUG.

The annual meeting—co-sponsored by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, UNAIDS, the World Bank, the Global Fund, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS—is meant to provide a forum for HIV program implementers to share experiences and discuss best practices.

On the eve of the conference, the Ugandan government declared that it would not direct any resources to HIV/AIDS-prevention efforts among the gay community.

“Gays are one of the drivers of HIV in Uganda, but because of meager resources, we cannot direct our programs at them at this time,” Kihumuro Apuuli, chair of the Ugand AIDS Commission, told reporters.

“Gay men and lesbians are not ‘drivers of the disease,’” said Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of IGLHRC, in a statement. “Homophobia drives HIV. Silence drives HIV.”

“If they want us to die, let them ask themselves if they wish themselves the same,” said Kasha Jacqueline, chair of lesbian rights group Freedom and Roam Uganda. “Excluding us is just going to make the situation worse.”

Homosexual activity is against the law in Uganda and can carry a life sentence. Although the government of President Yoweri Museveni has been praised for an aggressive anti-HIV effort, those campaigns have ignored gay men, and some experts doubt the statistics that show a drop in infection rates.