NewsWrap for the week ending February 16, 2013

SUMMARY

Backlash in Belarus - Police in Minsk and other cities in Belarus raid gay nightspots and hold detainees overnight, while more than 60 LGBT rights activists are summoned to police stations for interrogation about their sex lives …

Party Crashers - 22 men are arrested under the 1951 Bombay Police Act for "public indecency" at a "gay party" in a suburb of Mumbai, India's most populous city …

French Kiss - France's National Assembly, by a comfortable margin, formally passes a bill to open civil marriage and extend adoption rights to same-gender couples …

Wedding Announcements - the Illinois Senate passes a marriage equality bill – next stop the state House – while Oregon United for Marriage launches a signature-gathering campaign to qualify a November 2014 marriage equality ballot measure, but a bill to open civil marriage to lesbian and gay couples dies in the Hawai'i House …

Second Place Win - the Colorado Senate passes a civil unions bill for same-gender couples – which now heads to a predicted win in the House …

Liberty, Union and Discrimination - the North Dakota Senate rejects a bill to ban sexual orientation-based employment and housing discrimination …

Town of Ambivalence - gay and lesbian couples try to get marriage licenses in Thailand's "Town of Love," while legislative hearings in Bangkok consider a marriage-like civil partnership proposal …

Parting Glances - colorful and topless feminists chant "no more homophobe" inside Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral to celebrate Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI's surprise resignation …

Con Game - the Boy Scouts of America bans "known or avowed homosexuals" as members and troop leaders, but it's happy to hire ex-convicts ….

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