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Partnership Bill Introduced in Great Britain |
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By Rex Wockner International News Report Ukrainians Celebrate Sodomy Law Repeal
Ukrainian gay activists celebrated the 10 year
anniversary of the repeal of the nation's ban on gay
sex in mid-December with a cultural conference
entitled "Our Rainbow."
Supporters attended from Belarus, Moldava, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden and the U.S.A. Events took place at five venues around Kiev, including the international press center, a bookstore-cafe, a gay bar and a gay sauna, where men and women sat together to discuss gay culture, visibility and human rights. During the conference, Bill Schiller of the Stockholm-based gay cultural workers organization Tupilak announced that American journalist Rex Wockner (author of this column) won the group's 2001 Heimdahl award "for his years-long spreading homo rights information around the globe." Previous Heimdahl winners include the Scandinavian magazines Zon and Zink, the Ukrainian magazine One of Us and east Berlin gay activist Colin de la Motte-Sherman. Heimdahl was an ancient Nordic god who blew his trumpet during Ragnarrök to announce the end of one world and the birth of another.
Nations that grant many, most or all marriage rights to same-sex couples include Canada, Denmark (and Greenland), Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, The Netherlands (the only nation where gay couples, including foreign residents, can marry under the ordinary marriage laws), Norway, Portugal, Sweden and, in the United States, the state of Vermont. |
