Portugal's President Anibal Cavaco Silva has announced he will set aside his "personal convictions" and ratify a law that legalises gay marriage in the predominantly Catholic country, making it the sixth European country to do so.
The US capital of Washington DC became the sixth US jurisdiction to allow same-sex marriage after the Supreme Court threw out a last-minute legal challenge. Update: Buenos Aires sees second same-sex marriage, Mexico's capital city hands out its first same-sex marriage licenses
A federal court in San Francisco is hearing a case to determine whether a 2008 voter initiative dubbed Proposition 8 violates the U.S. Constitution by creating a law that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.
The predominantly Catholic nation looks set to be the sixth European country - after Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway - to allow same-sex marriages although many other European countries have introduced civil partnerships.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to allow all Senators a free vote on same-sex marriage so that the issue can be debated fully.
Just days ahead of Saturday's same-sex marriage right rallies to be held in its seven capital cities, PM Kevin Rudd says that his government will not change its stance in only recognising marriage as being between a man and a woman.
In the first known case of its kind in Asia, a gay couple and a middleman have been sentenced to jail for organising a bogus marriage between a Malaysian man and a Hong Kong woman to gain residency.
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