O ▼ ju n « 1 6 . I M S ▼ j u s t o u t
world briefs
ARGENTINA
G A R D E N - S T O R E
From TOOLS to TREES to TOPIARY, we have what it
takes to make your DAD glad! Whatever your plans,
make Max & Hildy's a big part of your Fathers' Day fun!
19350 NW Cornell Road • just off 185th in Hillsboro
Choosing the
right mortgage
is as important,
as choosing
the right home!
More than 100 lesbians gathered here in April
for the Fourth Meeting of Lesbian-Feminists from
Latin America and the Caribbean.
Delegates came from Argentina, Bolivia, Bra
zil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru. They
discussed such issues as sexuality, motherhood,
domestic partnership, sexually transmitted dis
eases, ethics, activism, communication, visibility
and lesbophobia. Music, shows and art and pho
tography exhibits were also a part of the gather
ing.
“Everything developed in a climate of har
mony, liberty and solidarity, reaffirming these
meetings as a forum for pluralist participation,
democracy and debate that lesbian-feminists can
count on to continue building a movement against
the patriarchy,” organizers wrote.
For more information, write to Casilla de
Correo 115, Sucursal 1,1401-Buenos Aires, Ar
gentina; or e-mail marroyo@wamani.apc.org or
marroy @ mey osp. mecon .ar.
FRANCE
AUSTRALIA
Five thousand people walked through the
streets of Melbourne on May 20 in the city’s 11th
AIDS Candlelight Vigil, reported the gay and
lesbian newspaper Brother Sister.
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The Portland G a y M en's Chorus
7*
15th Anniversary Concert
Saturday
Sunday
$9
July 1st 8pm
July 2nd 7pm
$13
$1 6
Intermediate Theatre
The Portland Center
for the Performing Arts
Tickets available by calling:
699-8586
And at the PCPA Box Office
are w heelchair accessible
ACT UP-Paris urged French President Jacques
Chirac on May 21 to fire new Health Minister
Elisabeth Hubert, charging that she is a homophobe
and supports mandatory HIV-testing, reported
Reuters.
In an ad in the newspaper Libération, ACT UP
also called for the removal of Education Minister
François Bayrou and Secretary of State for Emer
gency Humanitarian Action Xavier Emmanuelli.
The group said that Bayrou has obstructed
teaching on AIDS prevention in schools and
Emmanuelli has lowered the quality of health
care for poor people.
NETHERLANDS
At City Square, Melbourne’s chief executive
officer, Elizabeth Proust, addressed the crowd
and issued a proclamation urging everyone to be
aware of AIDS and prevent the spread o f HIV.
The vigil ended at the Exhibition Building
with the unfurling of the full Australian Quilt.
Drag queens in The Netherlands now have
their own national TV program: De Travestie
Show.
‘Transvestites are all the rage in The Nether
lands,” explained the newspaper De Gay Krant.
“On a typical Saturday evening Amsterdam is
positively bursting with drag queens.”
Program hosts Robert ten Brink and Dutch
American drag queen Nicky Nicole will intro
duce four debutantes each week, De Gay Krant
said.
BRAZIL
NORWAY
Leading Brazilian gay activist Luiz Mott’s
house was spray-painted and his car windows
were broken early in May, after newspapers pub
lished an opinion piece in which he suggested that
a hero to black Brazilians— the late Zumbi— was
gay.
Mott is head of the Grupo Gay da Bahia in the
city of Salvador.
In an e-mail message, Mott said he is con
cerned for his safety and urged gay activists to
lobby the Secretary of Public Safety, Francisco
Andrade, at fax number 011-55-71-320-4175.
A group of gay men and lesbians in Oslo was
removed from a May 7 peace march commemo
rating victims of the Nazis, reported the gay and
lesbian newspaper Blikk.
A well-known soccer referee, Rolf Nyhus,
from one of the march organizing groups, the
Oslo Sports Federation, led the call to ban lesbi
ans and gay men, calling their participation “im
proper.”
Other marchers then accused the group of
turning the event into a “homo celebration” and
“ruining the day.”
The contingent was carrying a rainbow flag
and a banner reading "The Nazis marked us with
a pink triangle— thousands died for their love.”
March co-organizer the Oslo Red Cross, which
had approved the gay contingent, apologized for
the matter and asked the Sports Federation to
make “an unreserved apology.”
BRITAIN
People in the midst of a sex-change operation
will now be issued two picture IDs by London
Transport to reduce confusion among ticket-tak
ers, authorities announced May 19,
One ID will show the passenger as a man and
the other, as a woman.
An agency spokeswoman said some trans
sexuals go to work as men but go out in the
evening as women, and ticket agents were not
coping well.
Applications for the dual cards must be en
dorsed by a doctor. The cards are not available to
transvestites.
CANADA
A interpreted for the hearing im paired
However, in issuing its ruling, the court de
clared that in general Canada’s Charter of Rights
and Freedoms prohibits discrimination based on
sexual orientation— even though sexual minority
protections are not specifically written into the
document.
Elated gay and lesbian activists quickly an
nounced plans to use the landmark ruling to
challenge dozens of discriminatory laws nation
wide.
On the main issue of the case, the court said
plaintiffs Jim Egan, 73, and Jack Nesbit, 67, did
not meet “the fundamental social objectives” of
the Old Age Security Act because it was designed
to aid poor elderly women who had chosen to
raise children rather than work outside the home.
Spouses of retired heterosexuals get up to
$504 monthly if the couple has an income below
about $15,170.
Egan and Nesbit have been together since
1948.
Canadian gay men and lesbians both lost and
won on May 25.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the lifelong
male partner of a British Columbia man was not
entitled to the pension paid to spouses o f retired
government employees.
ROMANIA
Five years after the overthrow of President
Nicolae Ceausescu— and despite assurances to
the international community— serious human
rights violations persist in Romania, says Am
nesty International.
On the eve of the International Seminar on
Tolerance held the first week of May, Amnesty
issued a report condemning Romania for restric
tions on free expression, imprisonment solely for
homosexuality, torture and ill-treatment of de
tainees, and a pattern of police failure to protect
Gypsies from racist violence.
Compiled by Rex Wockner