Italians rally for gay and unwed couples' rights
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Thousands of Italians rallied on Saturday  for legal rights for unmarried gay and heterosexual couples  while Roman Catholics launched a movement against what many of  them consider an attack on the "traditional" family.
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Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has slammed the refusal by European lawmakers to endorse Italy's candidate for justice commissioner because of his views on gays as an attack on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his centre-right government.
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Gay couples in New Jersey get new legal rights as it becomes the third US state to offer civil unions.
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Italians are agog over a sex spat involving their former first couple. Could the Berlusconis have a broader agenda?
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VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II yesterday put lobbying against gay marriage at the top of the Vatican's agenda for 2005 and also urged politicians in prosperous nations to do more for the millions of hungry people around the globe.
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Rome) An Italian cabinet minister Wednesday launched into a homophobic tirade in response to this weeks rebuke of the country's nominee for the European Union's Commissioner for Justice.
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ROME: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi joined opposition leaders to urge a united front following the Baghdad abduction of two female aid workers.
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Italians began voting Sunday on constitutional changes that proponents say would increase stability in a country known for its revolving-door governments.
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TRENTON, New Jersey  - New Jersey lawmakers approved same-sex civil unions on Thursday, giving gay and lesbian couples the same rights as married partners without allowing such relationships to be called "marriage."
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Hundreds of gay couples were granted the same legal rights, if not the title, as married couples Monday as New Jersey became the third state to offer civil unions.
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Facing pressure from the state's top court, the New Jersey Legislature voted Thursday to give gay and lesbian couples the rights and privileges of marriage, while using the term "civil unions" to describe the partnerships.
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ROME (Der Spiegel) - Echoes of an old culture war have been rippling through Europe, as a bishop in Germany calls for Catholics to keep their kids away from a sex-education musical and the Vatican condemns a new gay-rights campaign in Italy. A children's musical about sex and babies, organized by the German government, has been touring the country since 2003 without noticeable friction. But now it's arrived in the city of Fulda, near Frankfurt, and the local bishop has called for a boycott. The Fairytale of Nose, Belly and Butt should be avoided by right-thinking Catholic families, according to Heinz Josef Algermissen, because in the Church's view, "explanations about sexuality belong in the home," and "can't be left to a theater troupe." The show's Web site begs to differ, saying the theory behind the project is that humans are "sexual beings from birth onward," and that children experience "smooching and touching genitals as no less fun or significant than tickling their big toe." Uproar in Italy, too This notion of human sexuality is no doubt as offensive to the Church as the idea that humans might be wired from birth to be straight or gay - which is the assumption behind an Italian ad campaign protested recently by the Vatican. The regional government of Tuscany has planned to use a photo of a newborn child wearing a hospital bracelet with the word "homosexual" as part of a publicity push to combat homophobia. "Sexual orientation," reads the tag line, which will appear on billboards throughout Tuscany, "is not a choice."  Italy's political right, along with some Catholic groups, want the campaign to be withdrawn. The Church's declared position is that homosexuality is a psychological disorder, not exactly a sin - although indulging in gay sex is a sin.
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Anti-globalization and far-left activists from across Italy were converging on the capital Saturday to protest against President Bush during his visit to Rome and the Vatican.
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Domani la giornata nazionale dell'orgoglio gay e lesbico. Partenza alle 16da piazzale Ostiense. Almeno quaranta carri. Cerimonia finale in piazza S.Giovanni                                            Gay pride, centomila in arrivo Unione divisa tra polemiche e manifesti                                                                                      I contrasti della vigilia tra teodem e laici. Poi il compromesso del "patrocinio mignon"Presenti i ministri Ferrero e Diliberto. L'adesione di Bonino, Mussi, Migliore e tutta la sinistra radicale
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Tens of thousands of people have marched through Rome to press for the release of two Italians being held captive in Iraq. Children and adults joined the torch-lit rally on Friday under rainbow-coloured banners
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BUCHAREST, Jun 27 (IPS) - The third Gay Pride Parade that drew strong  opposition earlier this month underlines the fact that gay rights  are far from being accepted in this country.
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ROME, Jan 25 (IPS) - Several Italian civil society groups will mark the  World Social Forum's global day of action Saturday by  pledging support for Palestinians.