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901 SW WASHINGTON ST.
Mon-Sat 10-6 Sun 12-5
(503) 786-4959
653-9720 x284
Pager 833-8314
world briefs
BRITAIN
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in
Britain, Cardinal Basil Hume, said March 7 that
same-sex love should be “treasured,” according
to Reuters news service.
“Love between two persons, whether of the
same sex or of a different sex, is to be treasured
and respected,” Hume said in a statement issued
to the media. “Nothing in the church’ s teaching
can be said to support or sanction, even im plicitly,
the victimization of homosexual men and women,”
he continued. “Furthermore, homophobia should
have no place among Catholics.”
Hume did note, however, that the Vatican
considers lesbian and gay sex “morally wrong.”
T ▼ ▼
Members of London’s Lesbian Avengers in
vaded the offices of The Sunday Times recently
and chained themselves to reporters’ desks, re
ported London’s Capital Gay.
They demanded the right to reply to an article,
titled “Lesbian Militants Target Gay Men,” that
they felt was inaccurate. The Sunday Times did
not report the zap, but the rival News o f the World
stunned the Avengers with an objective half-page
story.
CANADA
The province of British Columbia has cleared
the way for gay men and lesbians to adopt chil
dren, reported the Toronto newspaper Xtra!
The Ministry of Social Services quietly issued
a directive Feb. 6 that removed “restrictions re
lated to marital status, the capacity to have a
biological child, or the number of children in the
fam ily.”
HUNGARY
The country’ s Constitutional Court legalized
common-law same-sex marriage March 8.
Common-law and formally married couples
have all the same rights. Any couple that lives
together permanently and has sex is considered
married under common law.
—^
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The court said a law limiting common-law
marriages to “those formed between adult men
and women” was unconstitutional.
The justices ordered parliament to make the
changes necessary to implement common-law
same-sex marriage by March 1, 1996.
Paradoxically, the court also ruled that formal,
civil marriages are for heterosexual couples only.
Denmark, Norway and Sweden are the other
countries where same-sex couples have the same
rights as married people, under “registered part
nership" laws.
JAPAN
Japan has its first English-language gay news
paper.
“Outrageous Tokyo is a forum to exchange
ideas and opinions, learn more about what’s go
ing on in Tokyo, and work toward creating a more
vibrant and cohesive gay community,” said editor
Anthony Fox.
The paper is also available on the Internet
W orld W ide W eb; its ad d ress is http://
shrine.cyber.ad.jp/~darrell/outr/hom e/outr-
home.html
NETHERLANDS
The city of Amsterdam has put up $610,000
for its part in bringing the 1998 Gay Games to the
city. It is the first time the gam es w ill be held
outside of North America.
Organizers are expecting 12,000 athletes and
100,000 spectators to attend.
The budget for the games is reportedly $8.5
million.
SOUTH AFRICA
Five hundred HIV-positive people from 82
countries gathered in Cape Town from March 6 to
10 for the seventh annual International Confer
ence for People Living with HIV and AIDS.
It was the confab’ s first appearance in Africa,
which has three-fourths of the world’ s 4.5 million
AIDS cases, according to the Associated Press.
At the opening plenary session, South African
Deputy President Thabo Mbeki called on indus
trialized nations to help the rest of the world fight
AIDS. The European Union’ s South African en
voy, Erwan Fouere, responded with $14 million
for South African AIDS programs.
▼ ▼ ▼
Famed gay British Shakespearean actor Sir
Ian McKellen met with South African President
Nelson Mandela during a recent visit to South
Africa and said Mandela assured him he w ill fight
to see that the sexual minority rights clause in
South A frica’s new interim constitution makes it
into the permanent constitution.
South Africa is the only country in the world
to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation
in its constitution. The final document w ill be
finished in two years.
McKellen also raised $80,000 for South Afri
can gay and lesbian groups with performances of
his one-man show A Knight Out.
SOUTH AMERICA
Gay men and lesbians here have high hopes
that the continent’ s first world conference of gay
activists w ill help their cause by attracting signifi
cant media coverage.
For the first time in its 17-year history, the
International Lesbian and Gay Association will
hold its annual confab in South Am erica— in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 18 to 25.
ILGA comprises leaders of 400 gay organiza
tions from around the world. They w ill strategize,
mingle and network.
The event, to be held at the Rio Palace Hotel in
the famed Copacabana sector, w ill culminate with
R io’ s first gay pride march.
To attend, write: ILGA Committee, Caixa
Postal 4305, 20001-970 Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Bra
z il; phone: 0 1 1 -5 5 -2 1 -3 2 2 -4 1 5 0 ; fax :
011-55-21-254-6546.
THAILAND
Thirty HIV-negative heroin addicts are being
injected with an experimental HIV vaccine in
Thailand, reported Thai Health M inister Arthit
Urairat.
The GP-120 vaccine, made by U.S.-based
Genentech Inc., is given at three-month intervals
for a year. If it works, the addicts w ill become
immune to HIV.
Brazil also has expressed interest in the trial
study.
ZIMBABWE
The country’ s president, Robert Mugabe, re
cently denounced gay men, reported the German
wire service Deutsche Press Agentur.
“Let us have no more talk of prostitutes’ rights
or of homosexual rights, and recognize their ac
tivities for what they are— a threat to the morality
and health of our growing nation,” M ugabe said
while visiting a hospital in the city of Bulawayo.
The president’ s remarks cam e amid a cam
paign by the group Gays and Lesbians of Zimba
bwe to overturn the law that bans sex between
men.
Compiled by Rex Wockner