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. ÇT MORTGAGE "rr>M COM PANY LYNN DEI REES Office: (503) 245-8640 Residence: (503) 697-8179 Mortgage Loan Officer Lager (503)299-0777 An v»W .»/I Outrageous Celebration! \ , V" ' 1 r . * * , 6 / f . V “ > V • ; 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