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Friday
June 15, 2007
Vol 35 Issue 24

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Saturday, Aug 30, 2008

Rex Wockner

International News
EURO OFFICIALS DENOUNCE MOSCOW PRIDE ATTACK Western European officials have denounced Russia over the May 27 Gay pride rally mêlée in which hundreds of police officers watched anti-Gay thugs violently beat Gay activists, visiting European parliamentarians and other foreign dignitaries. (Story: http://tinyurl.com/2nkl7p.) The police then arrested several of the Gay people but few of their attackers. "I have to denounce the unacceptable violence perpetrated once again by extremists against peaceful demonstrators who participated in a rally for homosexual equality in the Russian capital," said openly Gay Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë. "In front of police forces obviously reacting in an inappropriate manner, these acts of intolerance and discrimination didn't spare anybody, including participating MPs from different European countries." London Mayor Ken Livingstone wrote to Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who had banned a planned pride parade. Luzhkov has called pride parades "satanic." "I am writing to convey my deep concern at the reported physical violence against, and arrest of, [leading British Gay activist] Peter Tatchell, a Parliamentary candidate for the Green Party in Britain, and other supporters of Lesbian and Gay rights, during their participation in an event in Moscow seeking to present a petition to you to lift a ban on the Gay Pride parade in Moscow," Livingstone said. "I would urge you to use your good offices to seek the lifting of all charges against Mr. Tatchell and his fellow demonstrators. I would also urge you to resolve the root cause of this protest by lifting the ban on the Gay Pride parade in Moscow in line with the practice of most cities throughout the world." In an official statement, Sweden's government said: "The Swedish government takes very seriously what happened in Moscow May 27th when an unsanctioned demonstration was held to protest against the city's ban on Gay parades. Protesters were ... exposed to violence from Russian police and counterprotesters. One of the organizers and several foreign politicians were seized during the tumult. 'The fact that the demonstration for human rights for LGBT persons did not have a permit should not be taken as a reason to view the participants as fair game,' says Integration and Equality Minister Nyamko Sabuni. ... 'We expect Russia, as a member in the Council of Europe, to live up to the council's democratic core principles.'" MONTREAL GAY BAR SUED FOR KICKING OUT WOMAN College student Audrey Vachon has filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission after the Montreal bear and leather bar Le Stud kicked her off its outdoor patio on a Tuesday afternoon because it doesn't allow females on the property. Vachon had gone to the bar with her dad, Gilles. "I thought it was a bad joke," Ms. Vachon told the Canadian Press wire service. Le Stud's policy apparently isn't unusual in Quebec. In 1989, several people from ACT UP/New York raised a ruckus during the International Conference on AIDS when the group's female members were prevented from entering Gay bars with their male friends. Gisèle Cloutier, a spokeswoman for the Quebec Human Rights Commission at the time, said the bars were in violation of Section 15 of the provincial Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. "No one can inhibit the access to a public place based on sex, but we have never received any complaints about this," Cloutier said in an interview then. "I think people accept that some people want to have their own places." Meanwhile, in Melbourne, Australia, a Gay pub called the Sir Robert Peel Hotel (which no longer offers hotel rooms) won a ruling from the state of Victoria's Civil and Administrative Tribunal in late May allowing it to refuse entry to heterosexuals and Lesbians. The bar's owner requested an exemption from the state Equal Opportunity Act because Gay-male patrons had been subjected to "sexually based insults and violence" from other customers. In defending the ruling, tribunal Deputy President Cate McKenzie referred to so-called hen's nights at which female customers allegedly used Gay men as entertainment. "Sometimes heterosexual groups and Lesbian groups insult and deride and are even physically violent towards the Gay male patrons," she said. "To regard the Gay male patrons of the venue as providing an entertainment or spectacle to be stared at, as one would at an animal at a zoo, devalues and dehumanises them. "[This exemption gives] Gay men a space in which they may, without inhibition, meet, socialise and express physical attraction to each other in a non-threatening atmosphere." PAKISTANI COUPLE SEPARATED, JAILED A Transgender Pakistani man, Shumail Raj, 31, and his legal wife, Shahzina Tariq, 26, have been sent to separate women's prisons for three years after officials discovered that Raj used to be a woman. The Lahore High Court found the couple guilty of perjury for "lying" about Raj's gender. The two are threatening to kill themselves if they are not reunited. Full details on the case, as well as suggestions on how to help the couple, are on the Web site of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. See http://tinyurl.com/ysvltk. HIV CARE IS A MESS IN PUERTO RICO HIV care is a mess in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, The New York Times reported June 5. Patients are routinely experiencing interruptions in the supply of their antiviral-drug cocktails because of what the Times called "an overstretched health care budget," "rivalries between the commonwealth and the San Juan city governments" and poor management of federal funding for HIV care. "The state of HIV treatment here is a catastrophe," said Dr. José Varga Vidot, director of San Juan's Community Initiative, a private group that cares for 1,600 patients. CZECHS SUPPORT GAY PARTNERSHIPS BUT NOT ADOPTION Sixty-nine percent of Czechs support same-sex registered partnerships but only 22 percent approve of adoption by Gay couples, a Public Opinion Research Center (CVVM) poll has found. Thirty-six percent support granting same-sex couples access to ordinary marriage. People who know someone Gay, make a good living or are between ages 15 and 29 polled more supportive of Gay equality while Catholics, old people and poorer people polled less Gay-friendly. CVVM questioned 1,132 citizens over age 15 in mid-May. The results were reported by the Czech News Agency on June 7. A civil-union law took effect in the Czech Republic in July 2006 after the Chamber of Deputies overrode President Vaclav Klaus' veto of the measure. It grants many of the rights and obligations of marriage but withholds equality in the areas of adoption, pensions, taxation and joint ownership of property. 15,000 MARCH IN TEL AVIV Some 15,000 people marched through Tel Aviv June 8 in the city's 10th Gay pride parade. The procession began at Rabin Square and ended with a party and variety show at Gordon Beach. A small group of anti-Gay protesters was kept isolated by police. They held up posters saying "God hates debauchery" and shouted slurs at the marchers. GEORGE MICHAEL'S DRIVER'S LICENSE TAKEN AWAY Gay singer George Michael, 43, was banned from driving for two years and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service by London's Brent Magistrates' Court on June 8. Last October, he was found slumped over the steering wheel of his SUV, drooling, sweating and blocking an intersection. Michael admitted having taken cannabis, and prosecutors said tests found evidence he'd consumed the club drug GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid), the antidepressant Efexor and the sleeping pill Ambien. Michael's lawyer pointed out that GHB, found at a level of 16 milligrams/1 milliliter, can occur naturally in the body at that level. Judge Katherine Marshall determined that "cannabis was not the cause of unfitness" and that "GHB was found, but I make no findings about the origin." Outside the courthouse, Michael told reporters: "Media coverage of this case has been farcical, concentrating almost entirely on the prosecution's allegations. In reality I've been sentenced today on the basis of unfit driving through tiredness and prescription medicines, which I fully accept responsibility for." He also must pay $4,580 in court costs.
QUOTE UNQUOTE

by Rex Wockner "When we try to have an honest debate about the crises we face, whether it's on the Senate floor or a Sunday talk show, the conversation isn't about finding common ground, it's about finding someone to blame. We're divided into red states and blue states, and told to always point the finger at somebody else -- the other party, or gay people, or immigrants." --Presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., addressing the California Democratic State Convention, April 28 in San Diego. "Are you ready for a president again who actually respects science and believes we ought to listen to scientists on -- oh, let's say, global climate change and stem cell research? Are you ready for a government that treats all Americans with dignity and equality no matter who you are and who you love? Are you ready to replace cronyism with competence again?" --Presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., addressing the California Democratic State Convention, April 28 in San Diego. "I think that is left up to the individual business. I really sincerely believe that that is an issue that business people have got to make their own determination as to whether or not they should be." --Presidential candidate Tommy Thompson, former governor of Wisconsin, when asked during the May 3 Republican candidates' debate, "If a private employer finds homosexuality immoral, should he be allowed to fire a gay worker?" After he answered, Thompson was then asked, "So the answer is yes?" and he replied, "Yes." (Video: http://tinyurl.com/257krv) "I made a mistake. I misinterpreted the question. I didn't hear, I didn't hear the question properly and I apologize." --Gov. Thompson a day later, to the Associated Press. "The sex was good." --Dina Matos McGreevey, wife of now-gay former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, in her new book, Silent Partner. "It just hit me like a ton of bricks [when he came out to me]. I wasn't absorbing it. I just started to cry. ... I felt like my world had crumbled and my life was over. In the course of the three days of his explanation and confession to me, it was clear to me that he never loved me. ... No one ever said to me that he was gay. It's a cliché that the wife is always the last to know, and it's true. ... I'm not in denial, but I don't think he's simply gay. I think he's bisexual. I mean, he was married twice. He has two children. And, you know, I never saw him checking out men, but I certainly saw him checking out women. ... I want [other people in a similar situation] to know ... you have nothing to be ashamed of. You've done nothing wrong. Most of them, just like me, probably married their spouse because they fell in love with them." --Dina Matos McGreevey, wife of now-gay former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, in an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's TV show, May 1. In divorce papers, the ex-governor has claimed his wife "knew of my sexual orientation before our marriage" and "chose to either ignore it or block it out of her mind, even when questioned by her friends." "I think that arguments against gay marriage are just ridiculous! Who cares? People want to get married for the same reason I wanted to get married. They want to do it in front of their friends and family. They want it to be a legally binding thing. They want to have that commitment. The idea that there's some moral issue about it is so ridiculous." --Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter writing in Instinct magazine, May issue. "This legislation would create equal legal protection and responsibilities for all individuals who seek to marry or have their marriage protected in the state of New York. Strong, stable families are the cornerstones of our society. The responsibilities inherent in the institution of marriage benefit those individuals and society as a whole." --New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer as he and Lt. Gov. David Paterson submitted legislation to legalize full marriage for same-sex couples, April 27. "This bill guarantees that the inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness will be protected equally for all individuals in the state of New York. This is an important step in the fight for civil rights for all people." --New York Lt. Gov. David Paterson as he and Gov. Eliot Spitzer submitted legislation to legalize full marriage for same-sex couples, April 27. "I feel that if I had been more mysterious about my own sexuality and played it a little more ambiguous, I probably would have sold more records and had more supporters, and sometimes I do bemoan the fact that I didn't go that route." --Out singer Rufus Wainwright to AfterElton.com, April 22. "I'm aware that I was representing, in certain ways, a minority, and my greatest wish was to make [Kevin] -- not just believable and not a cliché -- but an entertaining character as well. Which is what any actor's job is. I hope I don't sound like a complete asshole at the moment." --British actor Matthew Rhys, who plays the gay character Kevin Walker on the ABC-TV series Brothers & Sisters, to Instinct magazine, May issue. "When gay fans approach me, after they say how much they love Kevin, the next question inevitably is about Sally Field and what she's like to work with and how much they adore her work from Steel Magnolias and Soapdish, so I realize the magnitude of Sally's standing as a gay icon." --British actor Matthew Rhys, who plays the gay character Kevin Walker on the ABC-TV series Brothers & Sisters, to Instinct magazine, May issue. "I am the first openly gay congressional committee chairman, which means I am the first openly gay or lesbian person in American history to have significant governmental powers. A lot of very important people in the country and in the world are going to have to deal with me on equal terms, which will be very helpful in dealing with the prejudice against gay people. This is a big deal because this chairmanship oversees legislation on banking, securities, the Federal Reserve, the World Bank, the New York Stock Exchange -- hard-edged bastions of conservatism." --Openly gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who became chairman of the House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee in January, to Out magazine, May issue. "There are probably five or seven [closet cases] in the [U.S.] House and at least three senators." --Openly gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to Out magazine, May issue. "I wish to acknowledge that I did formerly have a four-year relationship with Jeff Chevalier. ... My initial witness statements [in a behind-the-scenes court case attempting to keep this news story from being published] contained an untruthful account about how I first met Jeff. ... These allegations will result inevitably in considerable media attention for both myself and BP. ... I have therefore informed the board of BP that I intend to stand down as group chief executive with immediate effect." --BP (formerly called British Petroleum) chief executive John Browne, 59, quitting his job May 1 after he was outed by London media as having been in a relationship with a 27-year-old man he met through an escort service. "On Monday 23 April we lost the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, a man who, risking his life, gave freedom to us -- a man who underpinned the democratic values of contemporary Russia. The Russian gay community will always remember Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin as a man who put an end to almost sixty years of criminal prosecution for male homosexual relations. The law that he signed in April 1993 came into force on 27 May 1993. This day entered into the Russian history of the LGBT movement. 27 May was chosen as the date for the conduct of the first-ever gay pride march in Moscow last year." --Gay activist and journalist Nikolai Alekseev writing at GayRussia.ru, April 23. "Sero-sorting -- condom-free sex between people of the same HIV status -- is a big reason why [San Francisco has seen a marked decrease in new HIV cases]." --Gay writer Andrew Sullivan on his blog, April 28. "At the same time that sero-sorting has been widely adopted in SF, HIV-infection rates are dropping. And who deserves credit for this 'prevention success'? Average, rank-and-file, commonsensical gay men that adopted the practice without any 'institutional support.' Credit shouldn't go to AIDS prevention orgs." --Gay writer Dan Savage on his blog, April 30.

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