ju s t o u t ▼ d e c o m b e r 2 , 1 9 0 4 T 5
world briefs
BELARUS
Belarus is the latest former Soviet republic to
move to legalize male same-sex relations. The
measure has passed the necessary parliamentary
committee, and it’s just a matter of time before the
full Parliament OKs it, reported the Austrian gay
magazine Latnbda Nachrichten.
Belarus Legal Code Paragraph 119.1 calls for
three to five years in prison for anal sex between
males.
Other former Soviet republics that have de
criminalized gay-male sex (lesbian sex was never
illegal) include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia
and Ukraine.
CANADA
A British Columbia gay couple that has been
together 46 years appealed Nov. 1 to the Cana
dian Supreme Court for access to the federal
allowance for spouses of low-income pensioners.
James Egan and Jack Nesbit’s case is the first gay
challenge to the equality-rights section of
Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“They do not seek greater rights or privileges
or benefits than heterosexual couples,” said their
lawyer, Joseph Arvay. “They come to this court
with a simple plea [that] they want equality. My
clients are a gay couple who have lived together
in an intimate, sexual, emotional and financial
interdependent relationship for over 45 years.
Few heterosexual couples can make the same
claim.”
The couple was denied the allowance seven
years ago and has been fighting to receive the
benefits ever since.
Ontario’s toll-free hotline for gay youth has
been swamped by callers, and the provincial gov
ernment is stepping in
B isexual Youth
Line received 1,300
calls since starting
up in M ay, but
phone com pany
records show an
other 30,000 callers
got a busy signal,
according to the
Toronto Star.
‘There are a lot
o f young gay
people,
in
sm all-tow
O ntario, desper
ately in need of someone
Guimond, one of three volunteer coordinators of
the service.
The government will give $35,000 right away
and $ 10,000 per year thereafter, said Community
and Social Services MinisterTony Silipo. Volun
teers say they need $98,000 to answer all the calls.
CHINA
On Oct. 27 China’s legislature passed a law
that bans marriage by people with contagious
diseases or mental problems. The Maternal and
Infantile Health Care Law takes effect June 1,
1995.
The Xinhua News Agency said China has 10
million disabled people whose births could have
been prevented by such a law.
EL SALVADOR
Wilfredo, an AIDS educator and Salvadoran
national, has been threatened with death in an
apparent attempt to stop his disease-prevention
efforts, according to the International Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Advocates
have begun using only his first name, to hide his
identity.
He has been working since July to distribute
condoms and educational materials in some of
San Salvador’s poorest neighborhoods.
On Nov. 5, Wilfredo was accosted twice by
two men with guns. They announced they were
“here to clean up the city, and if AIDS doesn’t kill
the faggots, we will.” Later they said they would
kill him unless he ceased his work and left El
Salvador within 30 days.
ISRAEL
Israeli police say the diaries, videotapes and
photographs of a university professor who had
AIDS reveal he spent the last year of his life
attempting to infect up to 500 men with HIV.
The man, Yeshayahu Demner, 46, was found
murdered at his Haifa home in late October. His
diaries show that starting in September 1993 he
advertised for sex, paid partners not to use
condoms, and sometimes had more than one part
ner a day—among them U.S. sailors, and students
from Technion University, where he taught.
“There is no doubt he wanted to extract re
venge for getting AIDS, that is made clear in his
diaries,” a police detective said.
Israel’s leading gay group, the Society for
Personal Rights, said the revelations were lousy
publicity for the gay cause.
KENYA
An Australian gay man who worked at a hotel
in the resort town of Lamu was deported Nov. 2,
according to Reuters. Immigration officials said
the man was told to leave “to protect him from the
people of Lamu, who abhor homosexual activi
ties.”
Two other suspected queers were targeted as
well, but immigration officials were unable to
locate them.
“Homosexuality is prohibited under our
country’s laws and is morally unacceptable in our
society,” Kenyan immigrations spokesman Frank
Kwinga explained. "We shall not allow these
people to come and teach our people bad man
ners.”
ENGLAND
More than 5,000 people attended a star-stud
ded benefit concert for the British gay and lesbian
lobby group Stonewall on Oct. 23 at London’s
Royal Albert Hall, reported Capital Gay. Celeb
rity performers and speakers included Sir Ian
McKellen, newly out Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant,
Elton John, Sting, Melissa Etheridge, Richard
Gere, and openly gay Member of Parliament
Chris Smith.
According to Capital Gay, John skipped around
the stage singing “I Feel Pretty” and called Sting
a “silly old tart.” Frequently bizarre Gere raised
eyebrows by announcing, “I am a lesbian.”
About $160,000 was raised, half of it profit.
LATVIA
The Latvian Lutheran Church issued a state
ment in October saying gay men and lesbians
must fight within themselves against the deadly
sin of homosexuality. The church also said gay
men could not hold positions in the church and
were banned from communion until repenting
INTERNATIONAL
Two statements concemi ng lesbi ans have been
included in an official United Nations statement
adopted last week in Vienna, Austria, at a prepa
ratory meeting for the fourth U.N. World Confer
ence on Women. The document, entitled the ECE
Regional Platform for Action, acknowledges that
sexual orientation must be taken into account in
addressing the human rights of women and calls
for the inclusion of lesbians in the design, devel
opment and implementation of strategies for the
advancement of women.
This is the first time the terms “lesbian” and
“sexual orientation” have been included in a U.N.
document adopted by member states. The docu
ment is one of five being prepared for the World
Conference on Women, scheduled to take place in
Beijing, China, in September 1995.
Homosexuality is not normal and pro-gay-
and-lesbian propaganda must be countered, the
church added. Most Latvians are Lutheran.
ROMANIA
The head of the country’s Orthodox Church asked
parliament Nov. 7 to bring back the Communist-era ban
on gay and lesbian sex, which is now only illegal if it
“offends public morals," reported Reuters.
“Even in times of greatest trial our forebears
knew how to distinguish between sin and virtue,
natural and unnatural, normal and abnormal,” Pa
triarch Teoctist said.
“Contrary to appearances, European structures
will accept us in their fold with our specific values
and our traditional Christian identity,” he said.
“The Church rejects unclean love, the tyranny of
selfish, barren passion.”
RUSSIA
Russia’s proposed law mandating HIV testing
of foreigners and “high-risk” Russians passed the
lower house of parliament Oct. 28 by a vote of 447
to 3. It is expected to pass the upper house as well.
The law would affect people “who visit Russia as
tourists, students, or for any other purpose,” as well
as foreigners now living there. Testing positive, or
refusing to be tested, would result in denial of entry
or deportation.
The test would be run by a Russian state medi
cal facility unless an agreement for issuing AIDS-
free certificates could be reached with one’s home
country. Russian testing is problematic, since Rus
sian clinics have a shortage of disposable syringes
and have reportedly infected people with HIV by
re-using needles.
The legislation does not say which Russians are
at "high risk” for HIV, but AIDS activists believe
gay men would be targeted.
TASMANIA
Four activists who confessed to having same-
sex relations in the Australian state of Tasmania
will not be charged, the director of public prosecu
tions said in late October. Tasmania is the only
remaining state to ban gay sex. Gay men have
fought a years-long public battle against the laws,
which were condemned in April by the United
Nations Human Rights Committee as violating the
International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, to which Australia is a signatory.
Rodney Croome, Jason Rostant, Roland Sinn,
and Richard Hale gave police declarations in May
detailing their sex acts with each other. Lesbian
activist Lavinia Saveli joined the action by con
fessing she aided and abetted Rostant by letting
him have gay sex in her house.
But officials determined it was not “in the public
interest” to prosecute the five for their “alleged
criminal conduct.” Federal legislation designed to
neutralize Tasmania’s ban on gay sex passed the
lower house of Parliament on Oct. 19 by a vote of
114 to 4. It is under consideration by the upper
house.
Compiled by Rex Wockner and Jann Gilbert
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