Albania's Parliament banned discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, last week.
On 21st December 2009 Mexico's Federal District, by amendments to its Civil Code, opened up civil marriage for same-sex couples and allowed joint adoption.
The Privy Council (the final court of appeal for Gibraltar) decided that a prohibition on the grant of joint tenancies to unmarried partners (unless they had a child in common) unlawfully discriminated against same sex partners and violated the Gibraltar constitution.
Austrian federal parliament (the “Nationalrat”) today (on the International Day of Human Rights) passed a law on registered partnership for same-sex couples (110 : 64 votes). When the law enters into force on 1st Jan 2010 Austria will become the 18th state in Europe legally recognizing same-sex couples. Rechtskomitee LAMBDA (RKL), Austria’s civil rights organisation for homo- and bisexual as well as transgender women and men, welcomes that Austria finally found its way into the 20th century, and deplores that it did not make it into the 21st century.