Brussels - Non-Belgian same sex couples will now be able to marry in Belgium thanks to a recent amendment to the country’s gay wedding law. Beginning February 6, 2004, the Belgian state will recognize marriage between non-Belgian gay couples provided at least one partner lives in or visits the country regularly. Before the changes to the law only gay couples from European countries where gay marriages were legal could get married there. In reality this means Dutch people and Belgians. But under the new legislation, non-Belgian gay couples can tie the know there even if their home countries don’t recognize same-sex marriages.
 

The king expressed his views in a hand written message on his website which has proved extremely popular in Cambodia. The king said that as a "liberal democracy", Cambodia should allow "marriage between man and man... or between woman and woman." He said he had respect for homosexuals and lesbians and said they were as they were because God loves a "wide range of tastes."

Sihanouk, who is currently in Beijing for medical treatment, also said transgender people should be "accepted and well-treated in our national community." Such views are not widespread in Cambodia, but the king is hugely revered, although he is a constitutional monarch and has no executive power.
 

In January, for the first time, Turkey’s Parliamentary Justice Commission took homosexuals into consideration when they decided to regard discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation to be prohibited by law. Proposed amendments to the Turkish penal code will now consider that those who commit this crime may be subject to six months to one year in jail or a monitary fine. The Justice Commission gathered on January 29, 2004, to review the "discrimination" clause in the draft penal code change. They unanimously agreed the amendment specified that "discrimination base on sexual orientation" is a crime.