4 ▼ n ovam bsr 21, 1907 ▼ just out
world briefs
AUSTRALIA
A ruling that had granted lesbians access to
insem ination clinics was overturned by
Queensland Supreme Court Justice Brian Ambrose
on Oct. 24 in Brisbane.
An Anti-Discrimination Tribunal had previ
ously found that a medical practitioner service
company and a doctor had discriminated against a
26-year-old woman by refusing to inseminate her.
State Health Minister Mike Horan welcomed
the new ruling, saying, “I strongly support the
view that every kid should have a chance to have
a father from the outset.”
CANADA
On Oct. 20, Canada’s largest union, the Cana
dian Union of Public Employees, argued for the
right to grant same-sex domestic-partner benefits
before the Ontario Court of Appeals.
“It’s about dignity and self-worth,” said CUPE
attorney Peter Engelmann. “It’s about having
same-sex relationships recognized on the same
level as those of heterosexual colleagues, not
being treated as second-class citizens.”
The union is prevented from extending its
pension plan to gay and lesbian couples by Rev
enue Canada’s refusal to redefine “spouse” in the
Income Tax Act.
COLUMBIA
The province of Valle del Cauca, where Cali is
located, elected an openly gay governor Oct. 26,
reports Colombian correspondent David Olson.
C oalition candidate G ustavo A lvarez
Gardeazabal, a well-known author who previ
ously served as mayor of the small city of Tuluá,
defeated Conservative Carlos Holguin.
According to Olson, Alvarez Gardeazabal
defines himself as a liberal with renovated ideas.
Olson also says as mayor of Tuluá, Alvarez
Gardeazabal was known as an incorruptible ad
ministrator.
(S ss
LATVIA
A policeman in Bauska has been forced to
resign after coming out of the closet in the main
stream newspaper Atspulgs.
Gatis Bugoveckis’ superiors insisted he name
other gay cops or leave his job “voluntarily,”
reports the Latvian Homosexuality Information
Center, which acquired audio tapes of the conver
sations.
In response to the incident, HIC is demanding
passage of laws banning discrimination based on
sexual orientation and also that the Commission
of the European Union not discuss Latvia’s pro
posed entry into the EU until the nation protects
the fundamental rights of gay men and lesbians.
NETHERLANDS
On Oct. 28, a special parliamentary commit
tee on gay and lesbian equality instructed the
government to legalize full same-sex marriages
and gay adoptions.
The government is expected to do so by April
1998. It will be traditional marriage rather than
specialized gay partnership like in Scandinavia.
In the meantime, a new Dutch partnership law
takes effect Jan. 16. It grants registered same-sex
and straight couples every right of matrimony
except access to adoption and alternative insemi
nation.
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Kristin Applegate-King
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DENMARK
The bishops of the state Lutheran Church
voted unanimously Oct. 28 not to perform same-
sex weddings.
Since 1989, gay and lesbian Danes have been
able to register their partnerships at city halls and
acquire all the rights of matrimony except access
to adoption, alternative insemination and church
weddings.
Ignoring the recommendations of their own
committee, the bishops said they adopted the
policy to preserve church unity. Some bishops had
previously spoken in favor of same-sex weddings.
JAMAICA
Jealousy over favors that guards bestowed on
prisoners they were having sex with sparked
August’s prison riots, police investigators told an
investigating commission Oct. 23.
Sixteen inmates were killed—by other in
mates who thought they were gay—and 40 were
injured in the melees at Kingston’s General Peni
tentiary and Spanish
Town’s St. Catherine
district prison.
Violence broke out
after C orrections
Commissioner John
Prescod proposed dis
tributing condoms to
guards and inmates.
The guards went on
strike to protest the implication they were having
gay sex and the inmates seized control.
Early reports said the inmates were also upset
over the suggestion of gay activity, but police
Superintendent DaCosta Briggs testified that the
anger was actually fueled by the special treatment
guards lavished on their sex partners, including
letting them roam the compounds and sending
them outside the prisons on errands.
mm
H0UDAY GALLERY
® f CUAYW0RKS
N ovem ber 8 th —
D ecem ber 31st, 1997
legally recognized gay couple
Mark Heimann
Despite the new stance, bishops say gay and
lesbian relationships will be acknowledged within
regular church services, just not with a wedding
ceremony.
Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have
nearly identical registered-partnership laws that
also don’t allow for church weddings.
3 3 0 3 S .E . Division
P ortla n d , O K 9 7 2 0 2
H O LiK S:
Su n d a y 11 am-5 pm
JVIonday-Saturday 11 am -7 pm
INTERNATIONAL
AIDS ison the decline in the 15-nation European
Union, and HIV infection remains relatively low at
one infection in 2,078 residents, new statistics show.
There was a 10 percent drop in the number of
AIDS cases in 1996, following a leveling off of
the numbers in 1995.
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The media relations team of the 1998 Gay
Games in Amsterdam says men are not, in fact,
currently prohibited from registering, except for
badminton.
Reports to the contrary (including by this
news column) resulted from a loose translation on
the English summary page of the Dutch gay
newspaper De Gay Krant, says Gay Games media
officer Paul van Yperen.
However, Van Yperen says the longer Dutch
article also misrepresented the situation.
“Only for badminton there is a waiting list for
men,” he wrote via e-mail. “For 28 sports (ice
hockey is full) and many cultural activities men
can register at the moment.... We get and got
many worried questions from participants about
the rumor that we halted registration for male
participants. For certain sports men have to wait
for their turn...[but there] is not a ban or a halt to
male registration.”
He says because 50 percent of the spots are
reserved for women until Jan. 1, some male par
ticipants could be placed on a waiting list. After
that date, however, there will no longer be re
served places.
Compiled by Rex Wockner