Civil Partnership in the UK

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 will come into force on 5 December 2005. Civil partnerships are a new legal relationship which can be registered by two people of the same sex and give the couples legal recognition for their relationship. More
 

Sunday, December 04, 2005

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- More than two dozen gay Arab men - arrested at what police called a mass homosexual wedding - could face government-ordered hormone treatments, five years in jail and a lashing, authorities said Saturday.

The Interior Ministry said police raided a hotel chalet earlier this month and arrested 22 men from the Emirates as they celebrated the wedding ceremony, one of a string of recent group arrests of homosexuals here.

The men are likely to be tried under Muslim law on charges related to adultery and prostitution, said Interior Ministry spokesman Issam Azouri.

Outward homosexual behavior is banned in the United Arab Emirates, and the gay group wedding has alarmed leaders of this once-isolated Muslim country as it grapples with a sweeping influx of Western residents and culture.
 

July 11th 2005

Spain's Gay Marriage Law Hits First Snag

By DANIEL WOOLLS
Associated Press Writer

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Spain's new gay marriage law hit its first snag Wednesday as a court said a Spanish man can't wed his Indian partner because India does not allow same-sex marriage.

The Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia cited an article in the Spanish civil code which says foreign residents seeking to wed Spaniards are bound by the laws of the country where they have citizenship. The Indian man is resident of Spain but holds an Indian passport.

The dispute erupted Tuesday, six days after Spain's parliament made this country the third in the world to legalize gay marriage. The others are Netherlands and Belgium. A decision in Canada is pending until later this month.

The court's comments - released in a statement prompted by media inquiries, not in a formal ruling - suggest that for the time being at least, gay Spaniards seeking to marry foreigners can only do so with people from the Netherlands and Belgium.

The Spanish Justice Ministry did not return calls seeking comment.

The Indian man, identified in news reports as Vipul Dutt, 33, went to a judge in the Barcelona-area village of Canet de Mar with his partner, 45-year-old Spaniard Enric Baucells, seeking to file papers that will allow them to get married.

Their lawyer, Jose Maria Ortiz, told the newspaper El Periodico that the judge informed them he could not marry them because Dutt is from India, which doesn't allow same-sex marriage.

The court said that the couples can appeal to a Justice Ministry department that oversees Spain's civil registries.