ju st o u t V fmbntary 3 , 1 9 0 9 ▼ 9
world briefs
AUSTRALIA
A founder of a group working to build a
lesbian center in Sydney has withdrawn $20,000
of the $30,000 she donated to the project, to
protest a Dec. 10 vote to ban transsexual lesbians
from using the planned
For Survivors o f Trauma
Side One
Delegates also appealed for research on gay
themes in ancient Indian literature, poetry and
folklore.
Kawi believes there are 50 million gay men in
India, almost all of them closeted.
MEXICO
The Mexican state of Baja California Norte
(where Tijuana is) has moved from fourth to third
place nationally in AIDS cases, trailing the Federal
District (M exico City) and Jalisco (where
Guadalajara is). Seven hundred two cases have
been reported in Baja, 88 of them since April 1994.
Four hundred thirteen of the cases are in Tijuana,
which ranks eighth among Mexican cities.
AIDS is now the leading cause of death in
Mexico among people aged 25 to 34; in the United
States it ranks second in this age group.
The disease is gaining among women, hetero­
sexuals and children in Mexico. A few years ago,
one woman was infected with HIV for every 25
men, but now the ratio is l-to-5.
Georgina Abrahams told the Sydney newspa­
per Capital Q: “I am heartbroken, as the [Lesbian
Space Project] was something I put a lot of my
love into, but 1 don’t want to be associated with a
project that is discriminatory...that categorizes
people into right and wrong, good and bad. There’s
no place for that in the ’90s.”
About $250,000 has been raised toward build­
ing the center.
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The parliament of Australia’s Northern Terri­
tory has banned single women and lesbians from
accessing in vitro fertilization programs, accord­
ing to a report in The Chicago Tribune.
“The territory government believes that the
best possible relationship for a child to be bom
into is a stable, loving relationship between a man
and a woman,” said territory Attorney General
Fred Finch.
In vitro fertilization is available to all women
on a case-by-case basis in Australia’s other states
and territories.
BRITAIN
A tape of international safer-sex videos was
seized and branded obscene by customs officials
in late December en route to the organization Gay
Men Fighting AIDS.
The tape contained winning entries from the
San Francisco Gay Safer-Sex Video Awards, said
the London newspaper Capital Gay.
GMFA Chairman Peter Scott commented:
“This demonstrates how organizations like Gay
Men Fighting AIDS are fighting more than just
the vims. Every day we’re faced by a new ex­
am ple o f ig n o rance, d iscrim in atio n and
homophobia.”
CANADA
Half of respondents told pollsters they would
speak out in support of a co-worker if the em­
ployee faced discrimination based on sexual ori­
entation, reported Ottawa’s Capital Xtra!
And 81 percent said an out gay or lesbian
would face discrimination at work, according to
the poll, which was conducted by the Angus Reid
company.
The survey also found that three in four re­
spondents would feel somewhat comfortable hav­
ing a gay friend and one in three already have one.
INDIA
About 70 gay men from India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka gathered at the
year’s end near Bombay, India, for the region’s
first-ever gay conference.
They demanded that India repeal its law against
gay sex, which is punished with up to 10 years in
jail, according to gay activist and magazine pub­
lisher Ashok Row Kawi, who organized the
confab. He said men jailed for homosexuality are
forced to work and are chained in their cells.
. <
Answers Within
ROMANIA
Both of Romania’s gay organizations have
died, victims of infighting and societal disapproval,
according to the International Lesbian and Gay
Association.
Total Relations was formed in February 1993
and Group 200, in February 1994.
“The public still clings to the idea of a
traditional, orthodox Romania that can stay
u n c o rru p te d by
fo reig n -in sp ired
d é v ia n c e s and
perversions,” ac­
cording to printed
m in u te s
from
ILGA’s European
Regional Confer­
ence, held in Fin­
land.
“Publicly self-
id e n tifie d gay
men in Romania
are few,” the report
said. "Publicly self-identified lesbians are virtu­
ally nonexistent. [TJhe very existence of...any
homosexual community which might come to the
attention of the police is tenuous and inchoate at
best.”
SWEDEN
Two men in the northern town of Ostersund
were the first to tie the knot after Sweden’s law
legalizing gay and lesbian marriage took effect
Jan. 1.
Hans Jonsson, 42, and Sven-Olov Jansson, 58,
were married at city hall by former member of
parliament Jom Svensson, who publicly supported
same-sex marriage as early as 1973.
SWITZERLAND
Lesbian and gay activists in Switzerland have
collected 84,000 signatures on petitions calling for
the legalization of gay marriage, reports activist
Yves de Matteis.
The petitions have been filed with federal offi­
cials, he said.
TURKEY
Gay identity in Turkey is uncommon but men
have a lot of male sex, said the nation’s delegate to
the International Lesbian and Gay Association’s
European Regional Conference held in Finland.
Kursad Kahramanoglu said the dominant con­
cept of masculinity divides men into sexually
passive and active. He said there are many gay
bars, two gay organizations, and one AIDS group.
An attempt to organize a gay pride march in
Istanbul last year was quashed by police, and when
the organizers tried to hold a press conference the
next day the Turks were arrested and the foreigners
were deported, Kahramanoglu said.
Understanding
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Side Two I
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Compiled by Rex Wockner
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