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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.”
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orned ion
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Beaverton
H w y 2 1 7 to C a n y o n R d. E x it
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December Sunday Services
7 Rescuing Christmas from
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14 The Journey to be Counted
21 Mangerized!
28 Stay Tuned...
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"Born o f
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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