4 T a u g u s t 1 9 , 1 9 9 4 ▼ Just ou t
world briefs
Announcing 4 0 0 0 sq fL o f
FUTONS & FRAMES
o n BROADWAY
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BACKS
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1905
Rejuvenation... We Sell the Past.
BALTIC STATES
Queer life is blooming in Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania, the former Soviet republics located
across the Baltic Sea from Sweden and Finland.
Estonia boasts a disco, a bar, a leather club, two
political organizations, three AIDS groups, two
sex shops, and two mixed-clientele saunas.
Latvian gay men have two discos, a civil
rights group, two AIDS groups, a campground,
several sex shops, a sauna, and a bunch of well-
publicized cruising grounds.
Lithuanians can make use of a disco, three
bars, a cafe, two civil rights organizations and
two AIDS agencies.
Lesbian organizing has come furthest in
Estonia, where the Estonian Lesbian Union is
four years old. The group’s proudest achieve
ment is a telephone help line, said founder
Lillian Kotter.
Of course, with visibility comes gay-bashing.
In Latvia, the bashers call themselves “remonts,”
meaning they intend to “Fix” or “clear out” queers.
They find victims at the train station and at parks
popular for cruising.
The police are not usually helpful, according
to activists, and recently launched a seriesof raids
on the main gay disco.
COSTA RICA
Thirteen cross-dressers in San Jose, have filed
complaints with the national Human Rights Com
mission claiming police harassment and arbitrary
detention, activists report.
The drag queens say they were held without
charges between June 17 and 19. They say
they
were
mocked, insult
ed,
fin g er
printed, lashed
and forced to
sweep
and
clean the police
station.
Si mi l ar
complaints
were filed in
June of 1992 by
16 cross-dress
ers. The Minis
try of Security
i nves t i gat ed
and
subse
quently reas
signed some
police officers.
A 1993 re
port by Am
nesty Interna
tional accused Costa Rica of arbitrary and unlaw
ful violation of the human rights of cross-dressers.
CUBA
Famed Cuban singer Pablo Milanes dedicated
the song “Original Sin,” from his new album, to
a gay musician in his band, Lazaro Gomez, and to
all people throughout the world who fight for gay
and lesbian liberation, reported Info Gai, the gay
magazine of Barcelona, Spain.
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ISRAEL
The Israeli Tourism Ministry has reaffirmed
its commitment to support gay and lesbian tour
ism to Israel despite calls from some American
Orthodox Jews threatening to boycott Israel as a
response. The Minister of Tourism, Uzi Bara’m,
speaking to Ron Dayan of ITP Travel, the New
York company that introduced Gay Israel Dis
covery Tours, promised they will continue to
assist gay travel to Israel “the same way we assist
any other type of tourism, be it a convention of
scientists or a Christian pilgrimage tour.”
At the same time, the Education Ministry is
planning to introduce a very progressive gay
awareness and sensitivity program into the Israeli
high school curriculum next year, again despite
calls from right wing religious elements.
▼ ▼ T
Gay Pride Month in Israel has seen unprec
edented participation by members of the govern
ment. Almost every pride event was sponsored by
a member of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament.
Cu l mi n a t i n g
Pride Mont h
was an official
reception at the
Knesset for gay
men and lesbi
ans, hosted by
Knesset Mem
ber Yael Day
an, chair of the
Knesset Com
mittee for Gay
and L esbian
Rights.
ITALY
Some 10,000 gay men and lesbians marched
in Rome’s pride parade July 2, led through down
town by Mayor Francesco Rutelli.
The parade was also a protest against Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s new Conservative
government, which queer activists see as indiffer
ent to their cause, according to Reuters.
“This is a joyous and gay demonstration of
lesbians and gays,” said Franco Grillini, national
chair of Arcigay, Italy’s top queer rights organi
zation. “We are protesting the absolute indiffer
ence of Berlusconi’s government and the Catho
lic hierarchy which is against homosexuals.”
JAPAN
The city of Tokyo will appeal its loss in the
nation’s first queer rights court case, reports OC
CUR, Japan’s leading sexual minority activist
organization.
In April, Tokyo District Court Judge Toshiaki
Harada ruled the city discriminated against the
group’s members when it barred them from stay
ing overnight at a city lodge and recreation center,
for fear they would have sex and upset straight
guests. He awarded the group $2,600 in damages.
ROMANIA
Police in Bucharest prevented five gay Scan
dinavian artists from performing at the Casa di
Cultura theater July 16, reported the Swedish gay
newspaper Kom Ut.
Under orders from the mayor, who cited a law
that bans positive representations of homosexual
ity, the officers, accompanied by dogs, surrounded
the building to stop the men from entering.
The artists, a musician and four dancers, were
booked for the event by the new Romanian gay
magazine Gay 45.
The crackdown was heavily covered by Ro
manian TV and newspapers, which have been
intrigued by queers since 1993, when Romania
was admitted to the Council of Europe on the
condition that it legalize same-sex relations. The
country has not yet done so, the International Gay
and Lesbian Human Rights Commission reported
July 21.
The Bucharest newspaper Tineretul Liber
asked if the crackdown means that Elton John
would also be banned from performing in Roma
nia.
RUSSIA
Legislation mandating HIV testing of foreign
ers who stay in Russia more than a month, and
requiring testing of “high-risk” Russians once
every five years, passed a first reading in Parlia
ment on June 24, UPI reported.
The bill does not say exactly who is at “high
risk” for HIV, but Russian AIDS activists con
sider it likely gay men would be targeted.
Foreigners who refuse to be tested would be
deported, while Russians would face criminal
charges.
Compiled by Rex Wockner and Jann Gilbert