South Africa's ruling African National Congress passed a wide- ranging resolution on gay equality Dec. 20 that includes a call for legalization of same-sex marriage.

Delegates to the ANC's 50th National Conference in Mafeking voted to push for :

* "The recognition of same-sex relationships for worker benefits (e.g. housing, medical aid and bereavement leave);

* "Custody and access, maintenance, immigration and adoption rights for lesbian and gay persons and the recognition of lesbian and gay families;

* "Establishing the equal right to marry for people of the same sex;

* "The protection of lesbian and gay youth from discrimination at home, at school, on the streets and in the media;

* "Equalising the age of consent [and];

* "Running programmes to counter anti-gay prejudice and inclusive sexuality education programmes for all scholars."

South Africa is the only nation in the world that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation within its constitution.

Canadian Member of Parliament Tom Wappel, Liberal-Scarborough, Ontario, has introduced a Defense of Marriage Act to ban gay marriage.

A similar law passed the U.S. Congress last year.

"In the case of marriage, we have always known it as between two people of the opposite sex and I think that is what it is," Wappel said. "A door is a door and a marriage is a marriage, no matter how many names you call it."

Gay Member of the European Parliament Peter Pex and his lover are planning trips to Cyprus and Romania to challenge those nation's anti-gay laws.

Both countries have applied for admission to the European Union and, before they can be accepted, need to repeal laws that criminalize gay sex.

"The situation is not such that my partner and myself can visit Cyprus and Romania without getting arrested," Pex told reporters. "I'm going to try it."

Homosexuality is banned outright in Cyprus while a new Romanian law prohibits homosexual relations between consenting adults "if the act was committed in public or has produced public scandal." A second law makes it an offense punishable by one to five years imprisonment "to entice or seduce a person to practice same-sex acts, as well as to form propaganda associations, or to engage in other forms of proselytizing with the same aim."