BY ROB SALERNO - Yesterday was the International Day Against Homophobia, a day when many queer communities around the world have tried to establish their own gay pride traditions independent of the June/summer Stonewall tradition that's become popular in North America. 

First the good news: the ongoing democratization of Burma/Myanmar has led to the country's first large-scale public gay pride event. Although homosexuality remains illegal in the country, the law is rarely enforced. Hundreds are said to have gathered at a hotel ballroom in the former capital city, Rangoon, for music and talks in a demonstration of the budding community. Still, the community is young and public pressure makes many Burmese gays reluctant to come out, so the event did not feature a parade or public demonstration.

Someday.

Meanwhile, an ocean away, Fijian gay activists attempted to organize a gay pride march in the capital city of Suva but were halted on the day of the event by Fijian police. The police claimed that they issued the activists a permit by accident and cancelled the event because they couldn't guarantee the safety of the participants. Although Fiji decriminalized gay sex in 2010, homosexuality is still taboo on the island, and Fijians are still governed by a military junta that took over the island in a coup in 2006.

And on Europe's periphery, Georgian queer activists marched through the capital, Tbilisi, but were stopped from reaching the parliament by a cordon of Eastern Orthodox priests and their followers, who blocked the marchers by shouting very Christian abuse and hurling deeply religious punches at the demonstrators.  

BY ROB SALERNO - Despite my cheeky headline from a couple of days ago, it appears that President Obama's statement in support of equal marriage is actually paying off in some American jurisdictions, with state leaders coming out in favour of marriage equality.

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee signed an executive order obliging the state to recognize gay marriages performed out of state for all official purposes. Rhode Island's legislature decided not to legalize same-sex marriage last year, opting instead for civil unions. The executive order means that Rhode Island gay couples who wed in any of the nearby states that perform same-sex marriages will enjoy new rights in health and life insurance, parenting and property ownership.

And Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has announced his support for equal marriage at a time when the legislature is considering just such a bill. After Iowa, it would be the second state in the Midwest to legalize same-sex marriage.

But in some parts of the States, it seems Obama's announcement has gotten opponents' backs up. After three committees of the Colorado legislature voted to enact same-sex civil unions and the state's governor even recalled the legislature to a special session to deal with the issue before it breaks, state Republicans killed the initiative.

And in Nebraska, activists are already working to kill the City of Lincoln's recently passed anti-discrimination ordinance.

Meanwhile, at least one other foreign kingdom has joined the push for marriage equality in the wake of Obama's announcement: the Magic Kingdom. Specifically, Tokyo Disney.

Staffers at Tokyo Disney Resort recently allowed a lesbian couple to wed on the grounds. Is it time for Cogsworth and Lumiere to finally tie the knot? How about Timone and Pumba? Gay marriage remains unrecognized in Japan. 

BY ROB SALERNO - In the wake of President Obama's historic announcement that he's now supportive of equal marriage for gay and lesbian couples, world leaders are crawling out of the woodwork to announce their own support for gay marriage. 

First, Cuban President Raul Castro's daughter announced that the Cuban regime may soon legalize gay marriage.

Then New Zealand's prime minister, John Key, announced his own support for gay marriage. The announcement means that the three main parties in the New Zealand parliament support gay marriage, and Key has suggested the government could soon consider a private member's bill from the opposition on the subject.

Now Croatia's president, Zoran Milanovic, has announced that the government will soon be introducing legislation to allow for gay marriage. If passed, it would be the first country in Eastern Europe and the first Slavic country to legalize gay marriage.

We're even seeing other presidents take up the cause in foreign countries directly. Argentine President Cristina Kirchner -- who introduced that country's same-sex marriage law in 2009 -- recently wrote to Australian PM Julia Gillard to ask her to reconsider her opposition to same-sex marriage. Gillard's so far refusing to bow to pressure. Unfortunately, Argentina doesn't have a great track record of fighting British colonies. 

It's enough to have Newsweek figuratively crown Obama as America's "first gay president," which is a remarkable achievement, given that his announcement hasn't actually had any direct consequences in America. 

BY ROB SALERNO - Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, says that Cuba could pass a same-sex marriage law this year, given legislation currently under consideration in the national parliament.

Mariela Castro is the country's premier sexologist and has long been a vocal advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans rights in Cuba. She'd like the country to go even further than gay marriage and pass a law similar to one Argentina passed last week, which gives trans people the right to change their sex on their official documents. 

Meanwhile, across the pond, it appears that UK Prime Minister David Cameron has quietly dropped plans to legalize gay marriage in that country by 2015, following stiff opposition from his own backbench MPs and the Catholic lobby. While the Home Office is still "consulting" on the issue, according to its website, it seems Cameron is planning to stop talking about it altogether. Even this week's throne speech didn't include any mention of it. 

BY ROB SALERNO - France's Socialists won a historic victory in the presidential race Sunday, May 6, with their candidate François Hollande beating out incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy with just under 52 percent of the vote.

The vote is also a major victory for the country's gay rights movement, as the Socialists -- and Hollande in particular -- have generally been supportive of same-sex marriage and adoption. 

Gay Star News reports that on Hollande's campaign website -- which has since been replaced entirely with a big picture of him saying "Merci" -- he wrote that "Freedom is the ability to let two people in love, regardless of their sexual orientation to unite. Equality is to allow any couple to use the same device without legal discrimination." (Liberté and égalité are, along with fraternité, part of the French motto.)

France's parliament rejected a same-sex marriage law last year, so in order to get the law passed, the Socialists will have to win big again in parliamentary elections scheduled for June.

In other news, US Vice-President Joe Biden came out strongly in favour of same-sex marriage equality in America, although the Obama campaign says that this is not inconsistent with Obama's "evolving" position on gay marriage and that the president believes same-sex marriages legally performed in individual states should be recognized equally by the federal government.

Biden credited the growing acceptance of gay issues to the show Will & Grace, which prompted this response from Sean Hayes, the (recently) out actor who played the (incredibly) out character Jack McFarlane on the show: 

"On behalf of everyone who worked on Will & Grace, we thank Vice-President Biden for his comments regarding our show, as well as his support for equality for gay Americans and everyone in the LGBT community." 

Tomorrow, voters in North Carolina will decide on a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage and all forms of domestic partnership that are not heterosexual marriage.