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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1997)
® ▼ d*c*m tM T 5 . 1 9 9 7 ▼ j u s t o u t Proudly Serving Our Community world briefs & Woodworth Attorneys at Law 503 - 226-0088 920 Crown Plaza 1500 Sw First Avenue Portland, OR 97201 Fax 503-226-9005 If you think that Cotton Cloud is just another one o f those futon stores - it’s time you stopped by and see what we’re really about. Some of the most beautiful, classic and contemporary home furnishings in the Northwest at prices that still allow room for living. And yes, we do make & sell great futons too. Furniture CANADA Tim Stevenson, a member of the Legislative Assembly from British Columbia, caused an up roar at the recent meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius, when he said he left his husband at home because homosexuality is ille gal in Mauritius. Stevenson went on to call for creation of a Commonwealth Court of Human Rights to pro tect lesbians and gay men in nations that ban gay sex, reports Xtra West. ▼ ▼ ▼ The Ontario Human Rights Commission has fined London Mayor Dianne Haskett $7,100 for refusing to proclaim Gay Pride Weekend in 1995. Haskett withheld the proclamation because recognizing gay men and lesbians would be “turn ing my back on God and I can’t do that.” The fine will be paid jointly by Haskett and the city to plaintiff Richard Hudler, former president of the Homophile Association of London, Ontario. The commission also ordered the city council to issue gay pride proclamations when asked to, to “make a statement of recognition that the lesbian and gay and bisexual communities are integral and important communities within the city of London,” and to “make a commitment to investi gate ways of fostering a positive relationship between the city of London and the gay, lesbian and bisexual communities.” Pordand 335-0758 1916 N E B roadw ay 10-7:30 M on-Sat & 12-5 Sun. Beaverton 626-0400 11345 SW C anyon Road 10-7 M on-Sat & 12-5 Sun. Delivery available • 90 days same as cash Spend the Holidays with us! New Thought Sunday Services 10:00 a.m. Community Church orned ion ( 503 ) 643-7591 5050 SW Griffith Dr. Beaverton, Suite 200 Beaverton H w y 2 1 7 to C a n y o n R d. E x it *o Pi rt o s S Q ^ 505° __ Rev. Casey Chaney Rev. Berdel 1 Moffett G riffith Dr. 1^1 X § t: • V > $ Christmas Service 7:30 p.m . December Sunday Services 7 Rescuing Christmas from Fundamentalism 14 The Journey to be Counted 21 Mangerized! 28 Stay Tuned... " Practical Christianity ... light-hearted , liberal -, powerfully inspirational!" "Born o f a Woman " Dessert Social & Christinas Carols following the service INTERNATIONAL The secretariat general of the Council of Eu rope granted consultative status to the Interna tional Lesbian and Gay Association on Nov. 12. The decision takes effect Jan. 15 unless objec tions arise from the Council’s Committee of Min isters or Parliamentary Assembly. ILGA’s consultative status at the United Na tions has been suspended since 1994 due to the ILGA group’s inability to prove that no ILGA member organization condones sex between adults and persons under the age of consent (which varies from 12 to 21 worldwide). ILGA kicked out three pedophile organiza tions, including NAMBLA, in 1994 after politi cians in the United States raised the issue, but the U.N. seeks written proof that no other ILGA member group is lax on underage sex, and some ILGA members have resisted signing such a pledge. ILGA is a federation of several hundred gay and lesbian groups and individuals from more than 80 countries. It stages conferences, pub lishes a bulletin, issues action alerts, and net works Western nations with the growing gay and lesbian movements of the Third World and former communist nations. Recent ILGA initiatives have increased gay clout within the European Union, World Health Organization and Amnesty Inter national. IRELAND A new statue of 19th century gay author Oscar Wilde has gone up in Dublin Merrion Square. Wilde lived half his life in the city. The multicolor monument is made of granite, jade, porcelain and quartz. Two black columns, one topped by a pregnant woman and the other by a naked male torso, are engraved with some of Wilde’s witticisms. MEXICO Mexico C ity’s new mayor, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, has promised to build a gay and lesbian community center, says Patria Jimenez, the newly elected openly lesbian mem ber of the Mexican Congress’ Chamber of Deputies. “He’s an incred ible person and among his many plans he has promised us he’ll con Patria Jimenez struct the Gay-Les- bian-Transgendered Community Center, a true triumph that really fills us with pride,” Jimenez told the Chicago gay magazine En La Vida. NICARAGUA A gay couple who got married after one of the two obtained a fake birth certificate changing his gender were arrested in León in mid-November along with the people who witnessed the wedding. The couple was taken into custody after a doctor who treated their 2-month-old adopted child became suspicious and called police. They were also charged with kidnapping the baby. Nicaragua bans same-sex marriage, and gay sex is prohibited under penalty of one to three years in prison. NORWAY A preacher in Norway’s state Lutheran Church has been suspended for marrying her female lover. Siri Sunde faces a final decision by the church hierarchy in a few weeks, but in the meantime Church Affairs Minister Jon Lilletun and Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik have suggested that she resign. Norway is one of four nations in which gay men and lesbians can enter registered partner ships that grant all the rights of matrimony except access to adoption, church weddings and artifi cial-insemination services. But the state church continues to refuse ordination to people who make use of the “gay marriage” law. SCOTLAND West and Wilde, Scotland’s only gay bookshop, has gone out of business after 16 years. The Edinburgh store, run by partners Bob Orr and Raymond Rose, suffered from competition from mainstream bookstores that now stock gay books, according to ScotsGay. SOUTH AFRICA South Africa’s National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality and the nation’s Human Rights Commission will present their case against the nation’s sodomy laws before the Rand Supreme Court on Nov. 25. Their job is much simplified by Justice Minis ter Dullah Oman’s recent decision to end his opposition to the repeal efforts. Anal sex between men is a serious crime in South Africa. The Criminal Procedure Act allows police to shoot men caught engaging in sodomy if they refuse to be taken into custody. At the same time, South Africa’s new consti tution is the only one in the world that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation— which will likely form the basis for a gay-friendly ruling from the court. SWITZERLAND Switzerland’s two leading gay groups, Pink Cross and the Swiss Lesbian Organization, have presented the Federal Department of Police and Justice with two new partner measures. One asks for legalization of same-sex mar riage and the other seeks a registered-partnership law that grants the same rights as marriage. Gay and lesbian groups obtained the authority to force introduction of the measures by collect ing 85,000 signatures in support of legal same- sex unions. Compiled by Rex Wockner