world news
Let’s do
lunch.
4 T m ay 1. 1 M 3 ▼ J im « o a t
ARGENTINA
One in eight of the 4,500 federal prison in
mates has AIDS, the Federal Prison Service re
ported. Officials predict 45 percent could be
HIV-positive in 10 years.
Meanwhile, 23 prisoners who are very sick
asked President Carlos Menem for clemency.
Menem released 12 prisoners with AIDS last year
after they were found chained to their beds in a
Buenos Aires hospital ward used as a jail sick bay.
BURMA
The Columbia River Fellowship for Peace,
and the Women’s International League for Peace
and Freedom, are urging a boycott of Pepsi prod
ucts to pressure Burma’s ruling party to release
dissident Aung San Suu Kyi. Pepsi is one of
Burma’s few large foreign investors.
Suu Kyi’s democratic opposition party was
elected in May, 1990, but the State Law and Order
Restoration Council has not given up power.
They placed Suu Kyi under house arrest after the
elections, when she refused to leave the country.
She is the second generation in her family to
suffer for their political convictions; her father
was assassinated in 1947 shortly before Burma’s
independence.
PepsiCo includes Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew,
7-Up, Ruffles, Doritos, Lays, Fritos, Pizza Hut,
Kentucky Fried Chicken ami Taco Bell. Boycott-
ers can write to PepsiCo CEO Wayne Calloway at
PepsiCo, Inc., Anderson Hill Road, Purchase,
NY, 10577.
Irene K. Hislop
(And a lot more!)
The Portland Area Business Association (PABA) invites you to
join us for lunch - and a lot more. PABA, over 180 members strong,
is a networking organization for gays, lesbians and friends in
business. Organization activities include regular "After Hours"
events at member businesses and monthly luncheons.
Don’t miss out on any more of the excitement. Join us for lunch
this mohth and find out what the Portland business community, the
media and your friends are talking about.
Next Luncheon: Monday, May 10th
Guest Speaker: Portland Mayor Vera Katz
11:30 a.m. -
p.m.
Portland Marriott Hotel, Lower Level
P O R T L A N D A R E A ,W i
g * * BUSINESS ASSOCIATION^
CHINA
The National Health Education Institute has
launched “Men’s World,” a Beijing support group
for gays, reported The Beijing Weekend, a state-
run newspaper.
Discussions focus on AIDS prevention and
the agony of life in the closet, the paper said.
Luncheons cost $12.50 for PABA Members and $17.50 for
Non-members. (Reservations for the May luncheon must be made
by May 6th.) For more information about PABA membership, or
to make your lunch reservation and pay by credit card call
232-4895.
P.O. Box 4724 • Portland , Oregon 97208 • 503/232-4895
B ( >C) K S
TW ENTY-THIRD AVENUE
1015 N W 23rd Avenue, Portland, O re g o n 97210, (503) 224-5097
Monday- Friday 9:30 am - 8 pm □ Saturday 10 am - 8 pm □ Sunday 11 am - 4 pm
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CZECH REPUBLIC
The local government in Most has thrown its
support behind the Most Gay Club’s plans to open
a gay center.
According to the Prague gay magazine SOHO
Revue, the city will Fmd a site and rent it to the club
for next to nothing.
The center will house a cafe, library and read
ing room, counseling and legal offices, meeting
spaces, movie theater, fitness center, newspaper
office, exhibition hall and guest rooms for over
night visitors, the club says.
The only problem, said SOHO, is that so many
buildings in this Bohemian coal-mining town are
ugly, pre-fab high-rises that are unsuitable to the
project.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Atlanta-based World Community Build
ers, an affiliate of the Metropolitan Community
Church, recently built an open-air church for the
gay Christian community of Santo Domingo.
Eighteen American volunteers erected the
structure in just 10 days in the nearby village of El
Tamar indo.
“The sweat, laughter and love produced an
open-air pavilion and the village’s only flushing
toilet and running-water sinks,” said the U.S.
gay-Christian newspaper Second Stone. ‘The
building doesn’t look like an American idea of a
church, but it’s just what the community needs.”
WCB returns to Santo Domingo this month to
repair an orphanage and build a lean-to at the gay
pavilion.
The 60 attendees at the “Courage Trust” ser
vice shouted at the 20 demonstrators.
The Church of England released a statement
saying: “We do not regard it as an illness. We are
not of the opinion that homosexuality needs to be
About 40 percent of deaths among Parisian
men age 25-44 are from AIDS, according to a new
government report.
France leads Europe in AIDS cases, with more
than 22,000.
The high figure results from a large gay popu
lation, combined with governmental and public
resistance to AIDS education, researchers said.
The government did not promote condoms
until 1988, and many men don’t use them, due to
personal distaste or Catholic indoctrination, the
report said.
GERMANY
Two members of the Pink List party were re
elected to Munich City Council in December.
Thomas Niederbühl and Guido Vael plan to
introduce a gay anti-discrimination law.
The German Gay Association wrote Defense
Minister Volker Ruehe, charging gays in the army
have little or no chance <?f promotion, and are
effectively barred from reaching officer rank,
despite official acceptance of their presence.
The Second European Gathering of Gay and
Lesbian Youth is July 18-25 in Hamburg. Write
Europäisches Schwul Lesbisches Jugendtreffen,
Hausener Weg 27, D-6000 Frankfurt/Main 90,
Germany. Phone 011-49-69-455-821. Fax 011-
49-69469-2555.
GIBRALTAR
Legislators abolished the ban on queer sex for
persons above age 18 in early February. The
measure passed the House of Assembly unani
mously. The legal age is two years higher than for
straight sex.
Gibraltar is a British dependent territory just
south of Spain.
ITALY
Rome Mayor Franco Carraro met with gays
and appointed a liaison to the gay community last
month, after activists used the media to publicize
six identical anti-gay murders in recent months.
In addition, the police established a hotline to
receive tips on anti-gay violence.
VIETNAM
Vietnam has barred all HIV-positive people
from getting married, and is force-testing gays,
prostitutes, prisoners, drug addicts, immigrants,
and foreigners who stay in the country for more
than three months, the Vietnam News Agency
reported.
Although only 79 Vietnamese are known to be
HIV-positive, and no one is known to have ad
vanced to AIDS, the government fears an epi
ENGLAND
demic is looming, due to increased tourism, drug
The London direct-action group OulRage in use and prostitution.
vaded a Sunday church service for the “cured”
and “cure-seeking" homosexuals last month.
ZIMBABWE
They blew whistles, blasted foghorns, and
of the population is now HIV -posi
brandished signs screaming, “Once a queer al tive, One-sixth
according to a private study released Jan. 17.
ways a queeT,” “You call it sodomy, we call it
fabulous,” and "Jesus wants me for a bum-boy.”
compiled by Rex Wockner