Eva Brunne became bishop of Stockholm’s diocese in a ceremony Sunday.

She lives in a “registered partnership” with another woman, a civil union between gays used in Sweden before same-sex marriages were legalized this year. The couple also has a child.

“It is very positive that our church is setting an example here and is choosing me as bishop based on my qualifications, when they also know that they can meet resistance elsewhere,” the 55-year-old Brunne told The Associated Press by phone.

Brunne’s spokeswoman Annika Sjoqvist Platzer said she didn’t know of any openly gay women who had reached the position of bishop in other countries.

In 2003, the Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the U.S., caused an uproar in the global Anglican fellowship by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The 77 million-member Anglican Communion is now on the brink of schism.

Brunne was elected as bishop of Stockholm in May, then ordained Sunday in Uppsala Cathedral. She said hadn’t encountered much resistance within the church over her sexual orientation.

The Church of Sweden has become more open toward sexual minorities in recent years, though there still is resistance from individual clergy. Former Archbishop Gunnar Weman protested Brunne’s elevation in a statement to the Christian newspaper Dagen, saying it “is not compatible” with Holy Scripture.

The Church of Sweden counts about 6.7 million members though few of them regularly attend services in the largely secular Scandinavian country.

Following a five-hour debate in Parliament, the legislation was overwhelmingly passed on a 261 to 22 vote, with 16 abstentions. The new law will go into effect May 1, replacing a 1995 law that allowed civil partnerships.

Six of the country’s seven political parties backed the bill. Only the Christian Democrats voted against it.

“This is a great victory,” said Soren Juvas, president of the Swedish Federation for LGBT Rights.

A parliamentary committee studying civil partnerships in 2007 called them “outdated” and recommended Parliament allow same-sex marriage. 

The new law does not require churches to conduct same-sex weddings, but the Church of Sweden, a Lutheran church, and the largest denomination in the country, will consider a motion this fall to allow pastors to perform gay weddings.

The Swedish Lutheran Church has offered blessing services for couples in civil unions since 2007, but it has balked at allowing pastors to perform weddings for gay couples.

Same-sex marriage already is legal in four European Union countries – Netherlands, Belgium Norway and Spain.

Elsewhere in the EU, the UK affords gay couples all of the rights and obligations of marriage but without the name. Several other EU countries such as Germany and France allow same-sex couples limited rights.

Outside Europe, gay marriage is legal in Canada and South Africa. Gays and lesbians can marry in two US states – Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Reinfeldt said he is confident the legislation will be approved by Parliament despite the lack of support from one of the parties in his four-party coalition government.

The junior Christian Democrats say they are not opposed to giving same-sex couples all of the rights of marriage but have balked at using the word marriage.

The opposition Social Democrats have endorsed the bill, and Reinfeldt said that even without Christian Democrat support he has the votes to ensure passage.

The bill would allow same-sex couples to have either civil marriages or church weddings in those denominations that approve them.

Sweden already allows civil partnerships.

A parliamentary committee studying the issue in 2007 called civil partnerships outdated and recommended Parliament allow same-sex marriage.

The Swedish Lutheran Church has offered blessing services for couples in civil unions since 2007 but it has balked at allowing pastors to perform weddings for gay couples.

The Lutheran Church makes up than 70 percent of Sweden’s population although few are churchgoers. Until 2000 it was the state church in Sweden.

Passage of the bill would make Sweden the fourth European country after Holland, Belgium and Spain to allow same-sex marriage. A marriage bill is under consideration in Norway. The UK affords gay couples all of the rights and obligations of marriage but without the name. Several other countries in the European Union, such as Germany and France, allow same-sex couples limited rights.

Earlier this month the Parliament approved a motion calling for the recognition of the rights of same-sex couples and an end to homophobia in all 27 EU countries. The measure still needs the approval of the EU’s Council of Ministers before becoming law.

(Stockholm) Sweden’s highest court ruled Tuesday that a same-sex couple married in Canada are not married but in a civil union.

The Supreme Administrative Court said that Swedish law does not recognize same-sex marriage and that the couple cannot pay income tax at the lower rate allowed for married couples.

Lars Gardfeldt and Lars Arnell had argued that the higher rate was discriminatory.  

The couple argued that since their marriage was legal in Canada, it should be recognized in Sweden. Their lawsuit said that “tax authorities can make an exception for a marriage where one party is underage but not for homosexuals.”

In its ruling, the court said that Swedish law permits the tax department to make exceptions for people who are underage but legally married, but there currently is no law in Sweden allowing for the recognition of same-sex marriage.

Gardfeldt and Arnell, who are both priests in the Church of Sweden, said they were disappointed in the ruling but hoped the government would soon amend the law.

Last month, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry is on track and should become law by next May.

Reinfeldt’s coalition government is divided, he conceded, over whether the legislation should allow for church weddings.  The Conservative Christian Democrats believe the bill should only allow for civil marriages.

The Prime Minister said he is confident that a compromise will be reached.

Sweden allows civil partnerships. 

A parliamentary committee studying the issue last year called civil partnerships outdated and recommended Parliament allow same-sex marriage. 

Six of Sweden’s seven political parties support the legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry either in civil or church ceremonies, leaving only the small Christian Democratic Party opposing the measure.

The Swedish Lutheran Church has offered blessing services for couples in civil unions since 2007, but it has balked at allowing pastors to perform weddings for gay couples.

Under the bill introduced by Reinfeldt’s government, pastors would have the right to decide whether to officiate at same-sex marriages.

(Stockholm) Scientists who discovered the AIDS virus, an outspoken U.S. economist and a Finnish diplomat who helped solve some of the world’s thorniest conflicts were honored Wednesday with the 2008 Nobel Prizes.

Marrti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland, received the coveted Nobel Peace Prize for decades of peace work, including a 2005 deal that ended fighting between the Indonesian government and rebels in Aceh province.

The 71-year-old said that “there is nothing higher” than receiving the award and divulged that the announcement in October had prompted him to reconsider retirement.

“I was planning to retire and sit in my rocking chair in my study and reading good books but when the news came that I had won the Nobel Peace Prize, I started getting calls from my friends who said you can’t retire now,” he said.

The peace prize ceremony was held in Oslo, Norway, while the Nobel awards in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics were presented in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, in line with the 1895 will of prize founder Alfred Nobel.

The award ceremonies were followed by lavish banquets at which the laureates dine with Scandinavian royals, university professors, politicians and foreign diplomats.

Nobel’s will stipulates that the prizes, first handed out in 1901, should be given to those who “have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind” in their respective fields.

This year, five Europeans, four Americans and three Japanese were selected by the Nobel Prize committees.

The medicine prize jury cited French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, in 1983. They shared the award with Germany’s Harald zur Hausen, who was honored for finding human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women.

Japan’s Osamu Shimomura and Americans Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien shared the chemistry prize for discovering and developing a fluorescent protein. Their work has helped researchers track such processes as the development of brain cells, the growth of tumors and the spread of cancer cells.

Japanese scientists Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa split the physics award with American Yoichiro Nambu for theoretical advances that help explain the behavior of the smallest particles of matter. Nambu, 87, canceled his trip to Stockholm for health reasons and was set to receive his award at a ceremony in Chicago.

The Swedish Academy continued a trend of honoring European writers by selecting Frenchman Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio for the literature prize. The author of more than 40 works including “The Book of Flights” and “Desert,” Le Clezio holds dual nationality with Mauritius and spends much of his time in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

U.S. economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his analysis of how economies of scale can affect international trade patterns. The prize is not one of the original Nobels, but was created in 1968 by the Swedish central bank in Nobel’s memory.

The prizes – including a 10 million kronor ($1.2 million) purse, a diploma and a gold medal – are always handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896. The Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite died in San Remo, a link that the Italian city marks by sending flowers to decorate the annual ceremony in Stockholm.

The National Board of Welfare says labeling those aspects of sexual behavior and gender identity as disorders can add to prejudices in society. Gay and transgender rights activists welcomed this week’s decision.

The board’s director Lars-Erik Holm says he will raise the issue internationally when the World Health Organization starts the process of renewing its classifications.

Reinfeldt’s coalition government is divided, he conceded, over whether the legislation should allow for church weddings.  The Conservative Christian Democrats believe the bill should only allow for civil marriages.

The Prime Minister said he is confident that a compromise will be reached.

“Sweden could have a gender neutral marriage law by May 1, 2009,” Reinfeldt told Swedish Radio. 

Sweden allows civil partnerships. Under a law enacted in 1995 same-sex couples haves most of the rights and obligations of marriage to gay and lesbian couples who register. But it did not provide for adoption or IVF.

In 2003, the law was amended to allow registered partners to adopt children and since 2006, women in registered partnerships have been allowed to receive in vitro fertalization.

A parliamentary committee studying the issue last year called civil partnerships outdated and recommended Parliament allow same-sex marriage.

Six of Sweden’s seven political parties support the legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry either in civil or church ceremonies, leaving only the small Christian Democratic Party opposing the measure.

The Swedish Lutheran Church has offered blessing services for couples in civil unions since 2007, but it has balked at allowing pastors to perform weddings for gay couples.

Under the bill introduced by Reinfeldt’s government, pastors would have the right to decide whether to officiate at same-sex marriages.

The revelation triggered harsh criticism; the government agency, the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, agreed later in the day to resume helping police.

Officials for the agency were quoted in a medical newspaper as saying they had declined to cooperate with police because they disagreed with current legislation that criminalizes the willful spread of the AIDS virus.

The report in the Dagens Medicin weekly sparked anger among prosecutors, police and government officials, who accused the institute of placing itself above the law.

The institute backtracked and its officials clarified their position, saying they had no problem with the law itself, but believed the penalties for spreading HIV were too severe. The willful transmission of the virus is punishable by a maximum 10 years in prison.

Jan Albert, an expert at the agency, said the threat of imprisonment harms prevention efforts because some people who suspect they may have the virus refrain from getting tested for fear of prosecution.

Albert said the agency had declined to help police on many occasions, “but we’ve come to the understanding that we’ll resume work with the police.”

All three attacks this week marred the start of EuroPride, which is being held this year in the Swedish capital and which has attracted thousands of LGBT tourists from across Europe. The weeklong festival ends Sunday.

As EuroPride was getting underway, two gay men in their late 20s were stabbed and robbed.

Police said the men had just shared a kiss when they were accosted by two men yelling gay slurs. They were robbed of their cell phones.  When one of the men resisted, he was stabbed in the stomach.  The other was stabbed when he tried to fend off the attackers.

The attackers escaped before police arrived on the scene.

Early Wednesday morning, two other gay men were beaten by three men who used gay slurs and denounced EuroPride. Neither of the victims was seriously injured.

Three men aged 17 to 20 were arrested a short time later and charged with assault as a hate crime.

Also Wednesday, three Lutheran churches in Stockholm were vandalized. Authorities said the churches had flyers pasted over the facades of the buildings denouncing EuroPride and containing Biblical condemnations of homosexuality. The flyers also criticized female pastors and loud music.

The Swedish Lutheran Church, the largest denomination in the country, is gay welcoming and has a booth at EuroPride.

(Stockholm) A 35-year old man suspected of a number of murders of gay men in Sweden has been sentenced to life in the killing of one of the men.

The accused stood impassively as the sentence was read.

His name, the name of the victim he was convicted of slaying and names of the other victims whose killings remain under investigation have not been published,

“All the victims were, or are, homosexual,” prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad told the court. “He has taken advantage of their sexual preferences and violated them.”

The victim whose murder he was convicted of was 43. Police said he was killed in his apartment in a Stockholm suburb last December.

The accused also was convicted of robbing another gay man two weeks earlier south of the city.

But police believe he also is linked to several other unsolved killings of gay men.

Ingblad said that the killer met his victims on several different internet gay chat sites. He would arrange to meet for sex in the victims’ homes but once there would beat and rob them.

Ingblad said the accused has served time in the past for attacks on gay men.

The 43 year old victim had been dead for several days when his body was found.

He had been bound and stabbed.

A computer was seized from the home of the accused. Police said it contained a large number of names which are still being compared to lists of unsolved murders and other violent crimes.