Raffarin had separate meetings with members of the Joint Association of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals, and with members of Gay Lib, who are affiliated with President Jacques Chirac's center-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party.

Attendees said Raffarin refused to budge on two of their requests: residency and pension rights for gay couples who tie the knot under France's civil-solidarity pact law.

The Commons Standards and Privileges Committee determined Betts broke the MPs' Code of Conduct by undermining public trust and confidence in the integrity of Parliament.

Activists Cesar Cigliutti and Marcelo Suntheim got hitched at the Civil State Registry office under the city's new Public Registry of Civil Unions law.

Registered couples receive spousal rights in areas such as insurance, health care, hospital visitation and bank loans.

Outside the office, gays celebrated with firecrackers, confetti and cider.

"I am overcome with emotion," Cigliutti said. "This law frees gay men and women to be citizens."

Activists with the Comunidad Homosexual Argentina organization are continuing their push for a national civil-union law.

Following a string of court rulings, the Canadian government has begun the process of legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. Gay marriages currently are taking place in Ontario and British Columbia, where provincial courts declared the federal ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. But Klein has said he will do everything he can to ensure there are no queer weddings in Alberta.

The 12 protestors struck at the Klondike Days' pancake-and-sausage breakfast outside the provincial legislature just as Klein began addressing the 6,000 diners. The activists rushed the stage and started making out.

The smooching and fondling continued throughout Klein's address. At the end, Klein said, "Thanks also to the roster of talented people who have been keeping us all entertained, including those in front of us today."

Canada has no residency requirement for marriage. Foreign same-sex couples can obtain a license and marry the same day in both British Columbia and Ontario.

According to Human Rights Watch, Sharipov's May 26 arrest likely was retaliation for articles he has written on police corruption and human-rights abuses. He was also charged with having sex with minors and pimping.

The trial has been closed, allegedly to protect the identities of the boys Sharipov allegedly violated.

"Sharipov's longstanding history of criticizing government policy, combined with past harassment against him and his colleagues, raise strong suspicions that this is a politically motivated case," said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division. "That the authorities would charge him with committing homosexual acts, violating his fundamental rights to non-discrimination and privacy, makes it doubly egregious."

Only three of the 15 former Soviet republics still ban gay sex -- Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The ruling will extend protections to gays, lesbians and bisexuals in 45 countries. Benefits and rights granted by governments to opposite-sex cohabitants now will have to be granted to same-sex couples who live together.

The court declared that "differences [in treatment] based on sexual orientation require particularly serious reasons by way of justification."

Austria's contention that it was "protect[ing] the family in the traditional sense" was not a "convincing" or "weighty" enough reason for discrimination, the court said.

"Dunkin' Donuts' Beirut branches have been denying service to gay and 'gay-looking' customers under the pretext of protecting their version of 'family values,'" activist Ghassan Makarem said in a statement posted at beirut.indymedia.org.

Company spokesman Elie Tanios told The Daily Star that the evicted customers "talk loudly and invade other customers' privacy."

An employee at one of the shops told the paper: "In several instances, these customers displayed homosexual affection. They held hands, hugged and sometimes even kissed while they were on the premises. Personally, I'm not offended by such demeanor. But for Lebanese social norms, their behavior was not acceptable to other customers, who threatened to call the police."

The activists are demanding "a press release from the mother company and the Lebanese local branches clarifying the issue and stating that homosexuals are welcome on the premises of Dunkin' Donuts worldwide, including Beirut, and will be offered the same services just like any other customer."

The measure was sent to a constitutional-review committee for discussion and public testimony.

During debate on the matter, 200 Christians sang hymns outside the Assembly building. Religious denominations opposed the measure with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church which supported it.

A similar bill passed the Assembly two years ago but was vetoed by President Bharrat Jagdeo.

Guyana is 60 percent Christian and 30 percent Hindu.