All seven European successor republics to the Soviet Union -- Belarus, Estonia, Moldova, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine -- have repealed the Soviet law that banned gay sex.

But only one of the eight Asian successor republics is known to have OK'd homosexuality -- Kazakstan.

In Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, penal-code reform is underway that may lead to legalization of gay sex.

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are still using the old Soviet criminal code.

Uzbekistan instituted a new penal code and kept the Soviet ban. Article 120 punishes sodomy (besakalbazlyk) between consenting adults with up to three years in prison.

Gay activists have been unable to determine the legal status of homosexuality under Turkmenistan's new penal code.

Ecuador's Constitutional Tribunal unanimously declared the nation's gay-sex ban unconstitutional November 25.

The gay groups Andean Triangle Movement and En Directo and the AIDS Education and Prevention Foundation had filed suit against Penal Code Article 516 on September 24. It punished gay sex with four to eight years in prison.

"Today's declaration of unconstitutionality is the result of more than 10 years of work and pressure by the Ecuadorian and international communities," the plaintiffs said in a Spanish- language press release.

"The ruling is a triumph for the defense of the human and sexual rights of thousands of Ecuadorians, especially gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendereds who up until now have seen their freedom of expression, identity and private lives restricted as a consequence of the existence of this law."

Only two other Latin American nations ban homosexuality – Chile and Nicaragua. Gay sex is also illegal in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

The Manitoba Human Rights Commission ruled November 24 that the provincial government must offer health, dental and vision benefits to gay employees' partners.

The decision came in a case launched 15 years ago by provincial employee Chris Vogel.

Labor Minister Harold Gilleshammer said he was displeased with the ruling but will not appeal it.

The decision does not apply to pension plans, which the commission said are a federal matter.

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Rex Wockner's gay-press reporting since May 1994 is archived at

http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/wockner.html.

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