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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 17, 1994)
4 ▼ ju n e 1 7 . 1 9 0 4 ▼ ju s t o u t Womane Natural Fiber Clothing for work & play Jewerly, acceeeorle© and folk a rt gift© child's playroom S u m m e r S a le 20% off 49 All Mlehl and Cut Loo©« 49 1 0 0 7 . co tto n knit ©aparata» «9 ©elected Unan and rayon top© and bottom© a 9 49 All aarrlng© and pin© 4 9 <9 Dlua Fl©h handpaintad clothing 4 S u n d a y J u n e 1 0 -th t h r u S a t u r d a y J u n e 2 5 t h Special Sale hour#: Sun. 1 1 - 0 . K i o n . - F r l . 1 0 - 7 and Oat. 1 0 - 0 Hllledale Shopping Center next to Nature'# 24 ^ - 34-17 REPORT HOMOPHOBIC VIOLENCE w orld b rie fs AUSTRALIA Legislators in New South Wales recently granted gay and lesbian couples spousal rights to each other’s property. Other Australian states restrict property rights to married or common-law heterosexual couples. Lesbians and gay men in the Australian capi tal state can now make claims to the Magistrates Court to prove they contributed to the “property of the other person or their child.” The Australian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby urged other states to follow suit. BERMUDA Bermuda’s House of Assembly voted 22 to 16 on May 16 to legalize sex between men over age 18. The measure now advances to the Senate. Legislator John Stubbs, a member of the rul ing party, introduced the measure, saying ban ning homosexuality infringes on human and pri vacy rights. Debate on the bill lasted over 14 hours. Others legislators said homosexuality is un- Christian and wrong. Prime Minister John Swan cast his House vote against decriminalization. CANADA The Catholic archbishop of Toronto, Aloysius Ambrozic, issued a letter that was read in Catho lic churches May 29 condemning Ontario’s plan to require employers to give spousal benefits to same-sex couples. The legislation passed its first reading in the provincial Parliament in May. “Any attempt to promote a homosexual lifestyle as the equivalent of legal marriage must be vigorously opposed,” Ambrozic said. “It is a matter of considerable urgency and.. .we are ask ing you to write your local member of the provin cial Parliament to protest the proposed legisla tion.” Ambrozic ordered priests to place paper, pens, sample letters and addresses at the back of churches, according to the Toronto Star. ▼ ▼ ▼ The province of Alberta has appealed a court ruling that gay men and lesbians must be pro tected under the provincial human rights act, reports the Ottawa gay and lesbian newspaper Capital Xtra! The Queen’s Bench Court of Alberta ruled that the Individuals Rights Protection Act must "be interpreted, applied and administered as though [it] containfs] the words ‘sexual orienta tion.’ ” The only other provinces that do not protect sexual minorities from discrimination are New foundland and Prince Edward Island. T T Y There is a new magazine out of Vancouver, British Columbia: Lezzie Smut. Three women associated with the Little Sis ters Bookstore launched the publication because Canadian Customs kept seizing the erotic litera ture they tried to import, reports Capital Xtra! CROATIA Info AIDS is the first nongovernmental AIDS group to form in war-tom Croatia. The group has launched a speakers’ bureau, a switchboard, a gay and HIV-positive rights project, and is publishing several pamphlets. DENMARK About 3,000 gay and lesbian couples have married since the country became the first to legalize same-sex marriage in October 1989, according to the Danish gay newspaper Pan Bladet. Male couples outnumber female couples by a large margin, the newspaper said. Meanwhile, Norway legalized same-sex mar riage last year, and Sweden is expected to do so this month. In the United States, Hawaii may be the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. It is expected that the state government will be unable to meet a court-imposed requirement that it prove a “com pelling need” to discriminate against gay men and lesbians in the issuance of marriage licenses. ENGLAND The British Broadcasting Corporation an nounced May 21 that lesbian and gay employees who have a commitment ceremony with their partner would receive a paid honeymoon week off and a $112 gift voucher. The benefits previ ously went only to heterosexuals who married. Two days later, however, the gift vouchers were suspended for all employees after anti-gay politicians accused the network of wasting tax payer money. The BBC is funded by a tax on TV set owners. The original announcement said, “In line with our equal opportunities policy, the BBC has decided to extend the marriage leave provision to include same-sex partners and heterosexual couples who undergo a formal ceremony of com mitment.” ▼ ▼ T The London direct-action group OutRage dis rupted Mass at Westminster Cathedral in May to denounce the new Roman Catholic catechism w h ic h c a lls homosexuality “a grave de pravity.” Fifteen protesters lec tured Cardinal B asil Hume for about 10 m inutes and then left. OutRage spokesman Peter Tatchell told the Reu ters news ser vice, “The catechism denigrates gay love and gives theological legitimacy to anti-gay preju dice.” In related news, the group has petitioned Queen Elizabeth to grant a royal pardon to queer playwright Oscar Wilde, who was jailed in 1885 for having gay sex. The pardon would mark the 100th anniver sary of W ilde’s imprisonment. “[Wilde’s] imprisonment is a stain on the judicial system,” said Peter Tatchell. “The very least society can do is acknowledge the wrong done.” \\ FRANCE More than 10,000 people marched against AIDS on May 29 in central Paris. The five-mile “March for Life” followed the path of the Seine River, ending at the Eiffel Tower. France has 32,000 AIDS cases and an esti mated 150,000 people are infected with HIV, according to Reuters. GREENLAND Same-sex marriage will soon be legal in Greenland, a self-governing dependency of Den mark. When Denmark became the first country to legalize lesbian and gay marriage in 1989, Greenland declined to go along, but now the Parliament has changed its mind, requesting a royal decree to bring the law into effect. Scandinavian reports credited Greenland’s minister of social affairs, Henriette Rasumssen, with winning over legislators. Greenland lies between the North Atlantic Ocean and the Polar Sea and has a population of 56,000. Compiled by Rex Wockner