Belarus President Says It Is “Better A Dictator That Gay,” India Union Home Ministry Files Affidavit With Supreme Court Supporting Decriminalization Of Gay Sex, Brazil Gay Couple Become Fathers Via IVF, Scottish Cardinal O’Brien Comments Classifying Same Sex Marriage Proposal As “Madness” Condemned As “Scaremongering,” Zac Efron, Prince Harry Uniformed

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has again lashed out at new European Union sanctions imposed last week against his government officials, saying it “was better to be a dictator than gay,” in an apparent reference to Germany’s foreign minister Guido Westerwelle, according to RIA Novosti. “It’s absolute hysteria, and as you see, there are two types of politicians in the avant guard,” he said. “One lives in Warsaw, the second in Berlin…as for the second, either lesbians, or gays shouting about dictatorship there…when I heard that, I thought it's better to be a dictator than gay,” said Lukashenko. The Belarusian president also slammed the European Parliament’s statement last week calling for Belarus’ hosting of the Ice Hockey World Championship in 2014 to be revoked because of the government’s holding of political prisoners and other repression. “I get less worked up than anyone over talk about moving the ice hockey championship,” he said. “These discussions are a disgusting fact on the part of the bureaucrats of our planet, most of all the Americans and Europeans. Belarusians deserve to host the World Championship in 2014 in Belarus. We will take this very seriously,” he said.

In New Delhi, India, the Union Home Ministry has filed a formal affidavit in the Supreme Court, coming in support of decriminalization of gay sex among consenting adults saying the decision was taken as early as July 2009 by a Group of Ministers comprising Union ministers of Home, Law and Family Welfare. The affidavit comes in the backdrop of the rebuke of the Centre by the apex court on February 28 and earlier hearing for taking contrary stance on the issue. The Times of India reports that on February 28, a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya told Additional Solicitor General Mohan Jain not to make "mockery" of the system by adopting contradicting stance on the issue after the counsel submitted that there is "no legal error" in the Delhi High Court verdict which had decriminalised gay sex in 2009. The stand taken by Jain, appearing for the Union Health Ministry, was contrary to the argument by Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra, who had opposed decriminalisation of gay sex on behalf of the Home Ministry. In an affidavit filed by Union Home Secretary R K Singh it was submitted that the Group of Ministers in their meeting held on July 28, 2009 recommended to the Cabinet that the following view may be submitted by the Government before the Supreme Court. "The high court has not struck down the entire Section 377 IPC. The high court has interpreted Section 377 IPC and read down this section so that the section is consistent with Articles 14, I 5 and 2 I of the Constitution. The correctness of the judgement has been questioned in an appeal before the Supreme Court. The government may submit before the Supreme Court that there does not appear to be any legal error in the judgement and the Supreme Court may take a final view 'whether the judgement of the high court is legally correct or not'," the affidavit said.

A gay couple has succeeded for the first time in Brazil in having a child through in vitro fertilization, the baby's two fathers announced Friday. According to the AFP, baby girl, Maria Teresa, was born January 29 in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, and her birth certificate lists both men as her parents. Mailton Alves, 35, and Wilson Albuquerque, 40, told television channel O Globo that they decided they wanted to have a child after being together for 15 years. They were married in 2011 in ceremony recognized under Brazilian law. The couple's right to have a child was upheld by a decision of Brazil's Federal Council of Medicine, which authorized the artificial fertilization with sperm donations from either partner. Until then, authorizations for artificial fertilization were granted only to women who were married or in stable relationships. Doctors used an anonymous egg donor and sperm from Alves. The fertilized egg was implanted into the womb of his cousin. "It's an important precedent for people like us who have spent 15 years together and who managed to realize their dreams to have a child, a family," Alves said. Clicerio Bezerra, a family court judge in the Pernambuco capital of Recife, has legally recognized the paternity of the couple's child. "There are cases of registration of double paternity by adoption," the judge told a local newspaper. "This case is the only one in which two men have registered a baby as a legitimate child, as far as I know." If it "is permitted that (same sex couples) constitute a family through marriage, why not allow that family to be completed with a child," the judge said. The couple said they plan to have another baby next year.

A Scottish Catholic clergyman who described same sex marriage as "madness" faced criticism on Sunday when he was accused of scaremongering and Downing Street reiterated the prime minister's personal support on the issue. The Guardian reports that in an article for a Sunday newspaper, Cardinal Keith O'Brien accused the coalition of trying to "redefine reality" with its proposal for legalising gay marriage, which is due to go out for consultation later this month. The letter reignited a sometimes passionate debate over the issue, which David Cameron made a personal crusade when he used his party speech two years ago to support same sex marriage "because I am a Conservative". A Downing St spokesman said there was no change in the government's pledge to legalise gay marriage, though he said Cameron was "relaxed" about church criticisms, which have also been voiced by the Archbishop of Canterbury. "There inevitably will be some people in the church who disagree with us, but it's important for equality," he said. Margot James, the first openly lesbian Conservative MP, criticised the "apocalyptic language" used by the cardinal and accused him of "scaremongering.” She told BBC 1's Andrew Marr Show: "I think it is a completely unacceptable way for a prelate to talk. I think the government is not trying to force Catholic churches to perform gay marriages at all. It is a purely civil matter,” adding, "I think this sort of scaremongering is what it is, it is just scaremongering." Cardinal O'Brien wrote in the Sunday Telegraph: "Since all the legal rights of marriage are already available to homosexual couples, it is clear that this proposal is not about rights, but rather is an attempt to redefine marriage for the whole of society at the behest of a small minority of activists. Same-sex marriage would eliminate entirely in law the basic idea of a mother and a father for every child. It would create a society which deliberately chooses to deprive a child of either a mother or a father. Other dangers exist. If marriage can be redefined so that it no longer means a man and a woman but two men or two women, why stop there? Why not allow three men or a woman and two men to constitute a marriage, if they pledge their fidelity to one another?" Earlier this week the Home Office defended the plans after Tory MP Peter Bone called them "completely nuts.” A Home Office spokeswoman said the government believed that "if a couple love each other" and want to commit to a life together they should "have the option of a civil marriage irrespective of their sexual orientation.” Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone is due to launch a consultation on the plans later this month. Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman said she hoped the comments would not end up "fuelling or legitimising prejudice." She told the Andrew Marr Show: "We have had prejudice, discrimination and homophobia for hundreds of years, that doesn't make it right. I don't want anybody to feel that this is a licence for whipping up prejudice."

Zac Efron makes his way through the arrivals level at Los Angeles International Airport.

Prince Harry – in full military regalia – spotted in Belize.