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▼ ▼ ▼
Australia’s only national gay radio program.
Out & Out, is back on the air after receiving
$ 10,000 from the Community Broadcasting Foun­
dation.
“It is important that there is reliable, down-to-
earth information available to the community, es­
pecially for people in remote areas,” producer
James Eade told the Melbourne Star Observer.
BRITAIN
British actor/novelist Rupert Everett came out
of the closet in the February issue of Attitude
magazine.
Everett starred in the film Another Country and
wrote the books The Hairdressers o f St. Tropez and
Hello Darling, Are You Working?
He told the magazine, “One of the most fantas­
tic things about being queer is that you don’t have
to look after a family. You can lead a very selfish
life. I like not having any responsibilities.”
CANADA
On Feb. 8, the Fraser Valley Regional Library
Board in British Columbia banned distribution of
all free publications that contain paid advertising,
after learning it was the only legal way to get rid of
the gay newspaper Xtra! West, reported the
Vancouver Sun.
The ban affects more than 40 publications and
22 libraries in the
conservative re­
gion east of
Vancouver. Ban­
ning only gay pub­
lications appar­
ently could have
run afoul of pro­
vincial and federal
human rights laws.
Other publica­
tions hit by the ban
include RV World,
The Independent
Senior, Book-
world, The Children's Reader, The Computer Pa­
per and The Georgia Straight.
Professional Librarians Association President
Sandra Smith told reporters: “I went home and laid
my head down and I cried. We have all these
publications because the public asked for them....
It was very painful for us to watch the attitudes
taken to the homosexual community.”
T T ▼
Réal Ménard, one of two openly gay men in the
Canadian Parliament, revealed during an emo­
tional outburst at a House of Commons committee
meeting Feb. 9 that his lover is HIV positive,
reported journalist Philip Hannan, who works with
the Canadian Press wire service and the Ottawa
gay and lesbian publication Capital Xtra!
Ménard was grilling Canadian Health Minister
Diane Marleau on her knowledge of Canada’s
AIDS strategy when his temper flared, Hannan
said.
“It was catastrophic. She didn’t have any un­
derstanding of the programs nor did she have any
understanding of what to do about it,” Ménard
explained later.
CYPRUS
The Cypriot government submitted a bill to
Parliament on Jan. 30 to legalize gay anal sex,
reported Agence France-Press, a wire service.
Cyprus is the only remaining nation of the 28-
country Council of Europe to ban gay sex.
The European Court of Human Rights ordered
Cyprus to decriminalize gay sex in 1992 in a case
brought by Alexander Modinos of the Gay Libera­
tion Movement of Cyprus.
The court said the ban violated the European
Convention on Human Rights, to which Cyprus is
a signatory.
EUROPE
The European Commission last week donated
$900,000 to fight AIDS in Indonesia’s top three
cities—Jakarta, Surabaya and Bandung. Sixty-
seven Indonesians have AIDS and another 208 are
HIV positive, Welfare Minister Azwar Anas said.
“The government is determined to fight AIDS
with all efforts and funds so the conquering of
AIDS becomes a part of our national development
plan,” he added.
Indonesia has a thriving sex industry, and offi­
cials say privately that the HIV rate could be 200
times the official figures, according to Reuters.
▼ T T
The European Court has accepted the case of a
17-year-old British man, Euan Sutherland, who
says Britain’s ban on gay-male sex prior to age 18
violates the European Convention on Human
Rights.
The European Commission, which investigates
court complaints, ordered the British government
to explain why young men need more protection
than young women and why young gay men are
punished for sexual relations when heterosexuals
of the same age are not. Lesbians and heterosexu­
als can have sex at age 16.
Britain’s Home Office has until April 14 to
respond, said the London weekly Capital Gay.
NETHERLANDS
Self-proclaimed queers in the Netherlands are
planning an educational bus tour across Europe
from June 1 to 24. Slots are still open for partici­
pants.
“It will be a cultural and political queer attack
with music, performances, politics, information,
actions, fun, love and queer power,” the group said
in a press release.
“With a bus full of dykes, fags and queers, we
want to cross the borders to show that there is more
than boy-meets-girl, but also more than the main­
stream lesbian and gay scene.”
Stops will include Berlin, Prague, Budapest,
Vienna, Munich, Zurich, Frankfurt and Antwerp.
For information, write IQLT, Postbox 19052,
3501 DB U trecht, N etherlands; phone
011-31-40-44-32-77; fax 011-31-40-43-87-49.
POLAND
Poland removes proven gay men from its mili­
tary by diagnosing them with “personality disor­
ders,” reports the newspaper Nowa Trybuna
Opolska. “The homosexual community has diffi­
culty as a whole [with] institutions and legal enti­
ties,” noted Poland’s Association of Lambda
Groups.
In addition to military harassment, gay men are
under surveillance by the Interior Ministry; are
discriminated against by police; see their careers
limited by corporations, the church and govern­
ment; have trouble renting space for gay bars;
suffer hate language in the media; and are mis­
treated by the health sector, the association said.
PUERTO RICO
Delegates to a U.S. gay police officers’ con­
vention in San Juan canceled a planned pride
march Feb. 9 due to safety concerns.
About 150 members of the Gay Officers Action
League had planned to walk through the Condado
tourist district but changed their minds for fear
they would be attacked, said local gay activist
Cukie Jones.
Leaders of both organizations that represent
Puerto Rico’s 10,000 cops said in interviews that
they opposed the march, according to the Associ­
ated Press.
Compiled by Rex Wockner