The Rights of LGBT Couples Around The World

• EURO-LETTER, No. 77, February 2000:  Historic Vote at the Council of Europe Proposes Measure to Counter Homophobia; A Report on Latvia (a partnership bill, constitution includes sexual orientation, and draft labor code includes sexual orientation); Britain Lifts Military Ban; Ukraine Allows State Registration of A Gay And Lesbian Centre
  
  The Euro-Letter is published on behalf of ILGA-Europe - The European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association by Gay and Lesbian International Lobby in co-operation with The Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians.  E-mail: steff@inet.uni2.dk URL: http://www.steff.suite.dk   You can receive Euro-Letter by e-mail by sending an empty message to euroletter-subscribe@egroups.com  and from no 30 onwards the Euro-Letters are available on the Internet at  http://www.steff.suite.dk/eurolet.htm and
  at http://www.france.qrd.org/assocs/ilga/euroletter.html  Documents relating to ILGA-Europe can be found at ILGA-Europe's homepage http://www.steff.suite.dk/ilgaeur/  An update of the Survey on the Legal Situation for Gays and Lesbians in Europe can be found at http://www.steff.suite.dk/survey.htm  A description of partnership laws and other laws regarding same-sex partners can be found at http://www.steff.suite.dk/partner.htm

• January 14, 2000:  Britain has just lifted the ban on gays in the military.

• Here are  some web sites that survey the international situation, including the new domestic partnership law in France (the PaC, Pact Civil d'Solidarite).  An update of the Survey on the Legal Situation for Gays and Lesbians in Europe can be found at http://www.steff.suite.dk/survey.htm  A description of partnership laws and other laws regarding same-sex partners can be found at http://www.steff.suite.dk/partner.htm  For a French language account go to d'Solidarite at http://www.france.qrd.org/actualites/991015/index.html  The full text of the law and more information can be found in the France QRD at the URL http://www.France.QRD.org/texts/partnership  The French courts have now ruled the PaC as constitutional, which means that they should take effect soon; go to France for the November 9, 1999 AP story on this.
  

• A good overview article appeared on the web at Gay Financial News on July 19, 1999.  The good countries are Denmark (including Greenland), Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Hungary and The Netherlands, but one of the two persons must be a citizen and some rights of marriage are not available.  Immigration issues are a real mess, but some countries can be friendly without having marriage rights (Canada, New Zealand and Australia).
  

• Canada's Supreme Court ruled May 20, 1999, that Ontario's laws must recognize same-sex couples.  A good source for this story, complete with links to the full texts of the decisions, is Egale.  See Egale's statement, the full court decision, the Toronto Star report on the likely impact, the Ottawa Citizen report, and the Honolulu Star Bulletin editorial on the impact on Hawaii (with a quote from Baehr attorney Dan Foley).
  

• Namibia's high court has ruled that gay and lesbian couples have exactly the same rights in the country as heterosexual couples; reported June 25, 1999, by the Associated Press.
  

• Finland's government expects to consider the Swedish style of "almost marriage" this year (Reuters, June 3, 1999).
  

• South Africa's government has yet to decide how to reconcile its constitution, which bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and current law which reserves marriage to heterosexual couples.