International Gaze

Costa Rica’s top court has blocked the electoral tribunal from holding a referendum that would have let voters decide if same-sex civil unions should be allowed in the Central American country.

The Constitutional Court’s 5-2 decision says such a referendum would put a minority at a disadvantage in a largely Roman Catholic country. It also says gay civil unions is a legislative issue and not an electoral one.

Argentina became the first Latin American nation to legalize gay marriage earlier this month, granting same-sex couples all the legal rights, responsibilities and protections that marriage brings to heterosexuals.

The law’s passage – a priority for President Cristina Fernandez’s government – has inspired activists to push for similar laws in other countries and a wave of gay weddings are expected in Buenos Aires. Some gay business leaders are predicting an economic ripple effect from an increase in tourism among gays and lesbians who will see Argentina as an even more attractive destination.

An attack July 18 on a gay-themed birthday party in the northern Mexican city of Torreon has left 18 people dead and more than a dozen injured, police say.

Gunmen sprayed bullets at revelers after storming the party inside a walled garden in the city in Coahuila state, across the border from Texas.

A Berlin court declined to set a precedent by recognizing a gay marriage performed in Canada, ruling in late June that the union would only be considered a civil partnership in Germany.

German law defines marriage as exclusively between men and women. It allows civil partnerships between same-sex couples.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission won a hard-fought campaign and secured accreditation July 19 from the United Nations.

The UN Economic and Social Council, which serves as the main UN forum for international economic and social issues, voted 23 – 13 in favor of a U.S.-led resolution to grant consultative status to IGLHRC, the 10th organization working on LGBT to gain such status at the United Nations.

A lesbian couple wed June 7 in Portugal’s first same-sex ceremony since the predominantly Catholic country introduced a law allowing gay marriage last month.

Teresa Pires and Helena Paixao, who have been together since 2003, married in a 15-minute ceremony at a Lisbon registry office.

A defense attorney says police in Zimbabwe have arrested two members of a gay organization in Harare.

Attorney David Hofisi says he has not been allowed to visit them in jail since their arrest May 20, but they were expected to be brought to court in late May.

Peruvian police in early June continued to question Joran Van der Sloot, who allegedly confessed to killing a 21-year-old business student in his Lima hotel room May 30.

Stephany Flores died five years after U.S. teen Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba. Van der Sloot is a prime suspect in that case as well.