Northern Ireland: Gay Bishop to Marry Partner Next Month

Outspoken bishop Pat Buckley is set to have a civil partnership in Larne - where he blesses gay and lesbian unions in his private independent chapel. The maverick cleric (57) will tie the knot on February 8.

While the intention was posted at Larne Borough Council offices, it is thought that a follow-up service will take place at the chapel in The Oratory - his residence which was owned by the Diocese of Down and Connor and which he refused to vacate when he was suspended as a priest.

The chapel, where the bishop celebrates Mass twice a week, has also been used as a wedding venue for the past 22 years. PR guru Max Clifford’s agency is now handling the publicity surrounding the nuptials. It is believed that Bishop Buckley and his partner have been together for almost three years and decided to enter a civil partnership several months ago.

Full Story from the Belfast Telegraph
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India: Gay Prince to Marry Partner in Nepal

Manvendra Singh Gohil, the openly-gay Indian prince, is set to marry his partner in a ceremony in Nepal, raising hopes that the war-ravaged country will begin to rake in business from gay tourists.

Prince Gohil, who rose to international attention after appearing on Oprah and the BBC publicizing his search for a lover, plans to marry his Nepalese partner Pajwal Miskin in a Hindu ceremony in Kathmandu.

Nepal’s tourism industry ground to a halt after a brutal decade-long civil war that ended in 2006. In 2008, Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered the government to enact laws to guarantee the rights of gays and lesbians after bowing to pressure from the Blue Diamond Society, run by parliament member and gay-oriented travel mogul Sunil Babu Pant. The country’s new constitution is currently being drafted and is expected to define marriage as a union between two adult individuals, regardless of gender, and to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Full Story from Just Out
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To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook - just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you'll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We're also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Argentina: Gay Couple's Wedding Tuesday Divides South America

The Beruti register office in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires will never have witnessed a marriage like it. On Tuesday, Alex Freyre and José María Di Bello, who met three years ago at a conference on HIV, will make history and divide a continent as they become Latin America's first gay married couple. The ceremony will be a tribute to their determination as well as their love for each other, after a bitter three-year campaign which has divided a city, outraged Argentina's powerful Roman Catholic church and overturned the constitution. Freyre and Di Bello's forthcoming nuptials have been debated on television, in churches and on the street. Hostile posters can be found on billboards across the city. But, in Di Bello's words, nothing can now prevent him and his partner becoming "husband and husband". Full Story from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/29/latin-america-first-gay-wedding

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To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook - just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you'll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We're also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Russian Lesbian Couple to Marry in Toronto Today

Two lesbians denied the right to marry in their native Russia were set to circumvent national laws Friday by getting married in Toronto. Irina Shipitko, 32, and Irina Fedotova-Fet, 30, told the Toronto Star through an interpreter two requests for a marriage license in Moscow were denied in May. Russia's Family Code only allows for male-female marriages, so the pair decided to have a city hall wedding in Toronto and then use other Russian laws to validate their union, the report said. Full Story from UPI: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2009/10/23/Russian-lesbians-travel-to-Toronto-to-wed/UPI-38211256309256/

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook - just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you'll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We're also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.