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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 1996)
4 ▼ a u g u st 2 , 1 0 9 6 ▼ ju s t o u t A re we at the top of ou r m arket? world briefs attSWER AMEBICA Is now the time to sell? BOLIVIA Call me for a consultation. 24-hour, 7 -d ay -a-w e e k live answ ering service. Voice Mail - Paging & O perator Revert P agers/D isp atch 225-1115 8 0 0 N um bers - Order Taking Portland Salem Vancouver ► 5 0 3 -2 2 3 -1 1 9 1 5 0 3 -3 9 1 -7 2 7 0 3 6 0 -6 9 3 -3 6 0 1 ▼ ▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼ y- ▼ Monthly St^port Groups ► For Parents, K xlh 4 Children ► V A FAMILY ► ► B ’Zillion Dollar Club ► ► WrxJermere The Parent Tocher Pend ◄ *lo«« Makes a Faulty“ ◄ Weekly Tak Radio Proyam KKEY1150 AM • 7-9 a.m. Wed. ◄ ◄ ◄ ► ► 503/228-3892 ◄ Fax: 5 0 3 /2 2 8 -3 9 7 0 ◄ PO Box 11694 Portland, OR 97211 ► ► A A A A A A A A A A À A A I ravel A g e n t s I n t e r n a t io n a l ^ ZL» 'Serving Our Community ... By Meeting Your Needs" Designated Agency for Team Portland to Gay Games IV Designated National Agency to Lavender Law Convention Designated National Agency for Dignity Convention Official Agency for IMW Women's Shaw Official Sponsor Rase City Softball Assn. Bonus Dollars issued fo r all Travel HIV Community Support Program through donated Bonus Dollars _ j/\ H v A ◄ Speaker Empowerment Wakshops ◄ A Public Voice for Lesbian and Gay Families ► 225-1115 • VM 497-5211 2078 NW Everett St. Portland, OR 97209 f m ì Opening Hearts t MMs » I A A A I4 ► Cronin & C»pUu Ranlty Group, Inc ◄ ◄ Dialogue for Educators ► ◄ (Meets second Monday of morth) ► David Anderson ▼ * Coming August 1998 GAY GAMES V Call fo r details! 503 - 223-1100 • ■léiA m m 800 - 357-3194 There is organized gay life in Bolivia. A group called the La Paz Gay Freedom Movement has established communication with the International Lesbian and Gay Association. But its report was not particularly rosy. “In Bolivia,” the activists wrote, “homosexu als are viewed...as undesirables that are outside society’s normal moral code.... The sort of social clubs, community and health centers and gay press that are so common in many countries.. .do not exist in Bolivia.” The group hopes “to protect the rights of its members, promote gay solidarity, fight for social recognition to destigmatize homosexuality, and deal with the threat of abuse and discrimination.” There are other gay groups in the Bolivian cities of Santa Cruz (UN ELDYS, or United in the Fight for Dignity and Health) and Cochabamba (Dignity), the report said. EUROPE The European Commission’s poky drug-ap proval process is killing people with AIDS, says Raffi Babakhanian of the European AIDS Treat ment Group. EATG demanded that European Union Coun cil of Health Ministers Chair Brian O ’Shea, who is Ireland’s health minister, “pick up the phone and tell the Commission to get its act together.” Among the drugs awaiting approval are 3TC and the protease inhibitors indinavir, saquinavir and ritonavir. ◄ ◄ ◄ IN TER N A TIO N A L Afraid of losing half its members, the Interna tional Lesbian and Gay Association has revoked an ultimatum that all organizations which belong to the association sign a letter stating they do not condone pedophilia or be expelled. The history of this is somewhat involved . In 1993, ILGA was granted consulta tive status at the United Nations. This upset anti- gay forces in the U nited S ta tes, who eventually dug up the dirt that a few of ILGA’s hundreds of member organizations did not oppose all sexual contact between adults and persons under the age-of-consent, which varies from 12 to 21 worldwide. This revelation led Congress to threaten to cut o ff U.S. funding o f the U.N. unless the U.N. guaranteed that no groups associated with it condoned pedophilia. The U.N. in turn demanded that ILGA prove that none of its members condone pedophilia. ILGA responded by revoking the membership o f the North Ameri can Man/Boy Love Association and two Euro pean pedophile organizations. But this was not enough, replied the U.N., which claimed that at least one other ILGA member, a mainstream German gay group, condoned pedophilia. The U.N. suspended ILGA ’s consultative status until such time as ILGA could prove it is pedophile- free. But now ILGA has apparently abandoned that task. In a letter to the president o f the Canadian chain of Xtra! newspapers— which resigned from ILGA rather than sign the anti-pedophilia docu ment— ILGA ’s Secretariats’ Committee wrote: “Just less than half the letters [of confirmation] have not been returned.... While the Secretariats’ Committee cannot go against decisions made at [an ILGA] World Conference by the [general membership], a responsible board of an interna tional federation cannot take a decision to sus pend so many of its members. The decision [on any suspensions] is therefore suspended until the next World Conference.” ILGA asked the Xtra! papers, which have donated over $12,000 to the perennially cash- ILGA strapped association, to rejoin the group. Xtra! responded that it too will wait until the next World Conference to make any decision. ILGA is a federation of several hundred groups and individuals from more than 80 countries. Recent ILGA initiatives have increased lesbian and gay clout within the European Union, Coun cil of Europe, World Health Organization and Amnesty International. THE NETHERLANDS Dutch officials are less than thrilled with the April vote by parliament instructing the Labour- led coalition govern ment to present legis lation to legalize gay marriage. Parliament voted 81-60 in favor of the move. A second vote o f83-58 signaled sup port for gay and les bian adoption as well. “There is no ob jectiv e justification for the ban on mar riage of couples of the same sex,” the legislators declared. Among those who remain unconvinced are Queen Beatrix (according to reports) and Junior Justice Minister Elizabeth Schmitz, who is as signed the task of steering the same-sex-marriage legislation through parliament. Schmitz is worried, in particular, about the fact that homosexuality is taboo in many Third World countries from which the Dutch adopt children. She has set up a committee to study the matter. It must report back by August 1997. RUSSIA The Third All-Russian Gay and Lesbian Con ference drew 150 delegates to Moscow from June 7 to 9, including representatives of more than 20 gay organizations from 14 regions of the country. Attendees urged Russian gay men and lesbi ans never to vote for Communists and defined the Russian gay movement’s immediate goals as pas sage of anti-discrimination and domestic-part nership laws, according to correspondent Vitali Joumagaliev. They sent open letters to the Duma detailing their demands. SWEDEN Sweden’s Aliens Appeals Board is preparing to deport three gay Iranians back to their home country— where same-gender sex is sometimes punished with the death penalty— and activists are angry that the Foreign Office will not release the report on which the board’s decision is based. The “confidential” document, prepared by Sweden’s Iranian embassy, reportedly concluded that homosexual Iranians are not persecuted. TU RKEY Police harassment of transvestites and gay men in Istanbul, is becoming more aggressive, reports Britain’s The Guardian. Ho me s have been burned, danc ers and street walkers are be ing beaten, and court cases against police have been dropped due to threats, the newspaper said. The crackdown intensified during the recent United Nations Habitat II summit. Transvestites were told to disappear and several of their homes were allegedly torched. Compiled by Rex Wockner