6 ▼ march 21. 1097 ▼ just out
Emily Simon is pleased to
announce that Tracey Cordes,
formerly of the Metropolitan
Public Defender and the
Criminal Justice Commission
and a proud member of our
community, has joined her
as an associate.
From now on, we will be
known as
Emily Simon &
Associates
"Never on the fence when it
comes to criminal defense."
Specializing in misdemeanor,
elony, traffic, and DUII actions
in state, federal, and juvenile I
courts, civil forfeitures, and
administrative actions.
Call us, if you need us, at:
Emily Simon & Associates
620 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 1204
Portland, OR 97204
Telephone (503) 241-1553
world briefs
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in Washington
County?
We’re here for you!!
The Washington County Health
Department offers daily
HIV testing and counseling,
by appointment and walk-in,
in two convenient locations:
155 North 1st
Hillsboro
12550 SW 2nd
Beaverton
Other services include
STD exams and treatment
and a Wellness Program
for individuals who are
HIV positive.
Call 648-8851
for an appointment
AUSTRALIA
Gay activists in Tasmania celebrated on Feb.
26 after the Australian High Court gave the go-
ahead for their case against Tasmania’s state
sodomy ban, the nation’s last such law.
The court rejected a state demand that the case
be dismissed because plaintiffs Rodney Croome
and Nick Toonen had not been threatened with
prosecution.
Instead, the court said homosexuals need to
know once and for all whether the state ban—
which punishes private gay sex among adults
with up to 25 years in prison— or federal privacy
protections take legal precedence in Tasmania.
In 1994, the U.N. Human Rights Committee
found the Tasmanian ban in violation of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, to which Australia is a signatory. The
ruling led federal legislators to create privacy
protections that many observers believe override
Tasmania’s law.
BRITAIN
Three British gay men who were imprisoned
for engaging in consensual sadomasochistic sex
in their own homes lost their appeal to the Euro
pean Court of Human Rights on Feb. 19.
Ruling in the infamous “Operation Spanner”
case, the court said: ‘T h e state was unquestion
ably entitled to regulate the infliction of physical
harm through the criminal law. The determina
tion of the tolerable level of harm where the
victim consented was primarily a matter for the
state’s authorities.”
The history of the case is as follows: In 19R7 .
Manchester police found videotapes of private
consensual S/M scenes. To avoid prosecution, the
owner of the tapes gave the police names of some
men into S/M. By seizing address books and
through alleged in
timidation, the police
enlarged their investi
gation, questioning
more than 200 men
over a period of two
years at a cost of $6
million. Every witness
reportedly said that
nothing occurred
against anyone’s wishes, that everyone was an
adult over the age of consent, and that no one was
hurt. Nonetheless, 42 men were arrested.
Eventually 16 men were charged with assault
(tops), aiding and abetting an assault (bottoms),
keeping a disorderly house (hosting the activities)
and publishing obscene articles (making tapes)—
and British courts declared it illegal to harm an
other person’s body even when the person requests
the harm for purposes of sexual gratification.
Eight of the men were sentenced to up to four
and one-half years in prison. Some of the sen
tences were reduced on appeal.
▼ ▼ ▼
A man kicked out of the British Royal Navy
for being gay has launched a fresh challenge to the
military’s gay ban, BBC Radio 5 Live’s Out This
Week reported on Feb. 18.
Terry Perkins hopes his High Court lawsuit
will be referred to the European Court of Justice,
where recent rulings in other matters suggest he
might win against the defense forces when Euro
pean Union law is applied.
INDIA
For reasons unknown, India’s government has
stopped distributing condoms in New Delhi’s
red-light district— home to an estimated 10,000
sex workers.
Prostitutes Welfare Association president
Kharaiti Lai Bhola told United Press Interna
tional, “These hapless women have no protection
whatsoever.”
Condom manufacturers told the news service
the government simply has not placed any recent
orders.
INTERNATIONAL
Gay men and lesbians are routinely harassed,
tortured, abducted, imprisoned and murdered in
at least 60 countries around the globe, Amnesty
International said Feb. 25.
In a report titled “Breaking the Silence,” the
organization zeroed in on Columbia’s “social
cleansing” death squads, Iran’s death penalty for
gay sex, and Brazil’s high anti-gay murder rate,
among other problems.
The report praised South Africa for banning
anti-gay discrimination in its new constitution,
lauded 10 U.S. states for their sexual-minority
protection laws, and called on nations worldwide
to legalize homosexuality.
NEW ZEALAND
Eighty-five percent of New Zealand men who
have sex with men have safer sex every time, a
New Zealand AIDS Foundation study has found,
reports correspondent Mark Proffit.
NZAF researcher Heather Worth was very
pleased with the statistics, saying the nation’s
prevention programs and strategies clearly are
working.
SINGAPORE
Oral sex is a crime unless it is followed by
penile-vaginal sex, Singapore’s Court of Appeal
ruled on Feb. 21.
Only “the coitus of the male and female sexual
organs” is natural and “unnatural acts” are per
mitted only as foreplay, the court said.
The ruling came in the bizarre case of a man
who tricked a 19-year-old woman into fellating
him by convincing her it would cleanse her of a
toxin she acquired when another man performed
cunnilingus on her.
SPAIN
About 10,000 gay men and lesbians marched
from Madrid’s Puerta de Alcala to the Puerta del
Sol on Feb. 22, demanding legal recognition of
same-gender partnerships.
It was Spain’s largest sexual minority demon
stration since the 1970s. More than 40 organiza
tions joined in.
Two partnership proposals are under discus
sion in the Spanish Congress of Deputies, one
authored by socialists and the other by commu
nists.
The drafts have received support from all
parties in the lower house except the ruling Partido
Popular (People’s Party), which has yet to state its
position.
THAILAND
Education minister Sukhavich Rangsitpol
wants to send gay men to a “special education
center” for “treatment” because they are “sick—
both physically and mentally,” the Bangkok Post
reported.
Not to send gay men off for re-education risks
“adding male prostitutes to society,” he added.
Rangsitpol was speaking in support o f
Thailand’s new ban on gay students at the nation’s
36 teacher colleges.
ZIM BABW E
Zimbabwe has banned discrimination against
people with HIV, the nation’s PAN A Wire Ser
vice reported on Feb. 12.
At least 9 percent of Zimbabweans are be
lieved to be HIV positive.
Compiled by Rex Wockner