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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1998)
march 2 d 19 98 1 BRITAIN 'l ay pop star Elton John, 50, was knighted by J Queen Elizabeth 11 on Feb. 24 at Buckingham Palace in honor of his contribu tions to pop music and A ID S charities. “They don’t come much bigger than this,” John said afterward. “I am extremely proud. I love my country and to be recognized in such a way— I can’t think of anything better.” John took his parents and partner, David Furnish, to the ceremony. C fficials of Britain’s Caribbean Dependent Territories— Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands— are angry over the British government’s demand that they legalize homosexuality. Britain took the stance due to its concerns of being found in violation of international human rights agreements. Anti-gay sentiment in the region was high lighted recently when the Cayman Islands denied docking privileges to a cruise ship carry ing 900 gay men. T he tourism ministry said gay people could not be counted on "to uphold the standards of appropriate behavior expected of visitors to the Cayman Islands.” “We are a simple Christian society,” Anguilla head minister Hubert Hughes said in response to London’s demand. “T hat is the foundation of our society. People say homosexuality is sinful. We would like Britain to understand that even though we are dependent on British aid, we will not, definitely, compromise our principles when it comes to Christianity.” London previously forced abolition of the death penalty on the colonies in defiance of local public opinion. O ITALY ome police have launched a series of raids against gay bars and outdoor cruising areas, activists report. Among the clubs closed down on legal tech nicalities are the very popular Qube and T he Drag Cafe. Activists charge that the actions suggest the beginning of a “cleanup” in advance of Rome’s year 2000 jubilee and a reaction to plans for the gay and lesbian Rome World Pride 2000. R JA P A N n a new biography, writer Jiro Fukushima, 68, has outed the late novelist Yukio Mishima. Mishima is perhaps best remembered abroad for his sensational 1970 harakiri (ritual suicide) at a Tokyo army post. His more widely translat ed hooks include Forbidden Colors and Runaway Horses. Fukushima said he and Mishima were lovers for four months in 1951 when Mishima was 26, and again for five years in the early 1960s. Mishima’s biographer, Henry Scott-Stokes, commented to reporters, “It’s astonishing it’s taken nearly 30 years for this (outing] to hap pen.” ose Barroso Chavez, president of the Mexican Red Cross, has defamed people with HIV and should be removed from his post, says the M exican Federation of Sexual Education and Sexology. In a media interview, Barroso Chavez said, “We have many other needs and if 10,000 die from A ID S, there are a million people with res piratory or digestive health problems. I believe it is far more important to help the 1 million than the 10,000.” He also recently said, “I really feel that the more you promote condom use as means to pre vent becoming infected, the more infected peo ple there will be.” J ROMANIA resident Emil Constantinescu signed a decree March 3 releasing Mariana Cetiner from prison. Cetiner, 40, had served two years of a three- year sentence for “luring another woman into sexual intercourse.” In December, she had been adopted by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. In a statement, Amnesty welcomed Cetiner’s release but said it remains concerned for her welfare. “She suffered repeated beatings whilst in prison. She is unwell and is extremely isolated with little support from friends and family in her country,” said Linda Wilkinson of Amnesty’s British gay and lesbian network. In January, Constantinescu promised foreign gay and lesbian activists he would pardon all gay men and lesbians jailed under the nation’s anti gay laws. “Homosexuality is the last remaining human-rights problem we have to address in Romania, and we will address it," he told the visiting activists. P RUSSIA ell-known journalist and former Culture Minister Andrei Cherkizov has outed himself on the television show Man in a Mask. Cherkizov, himself an anchor of the popular program Hour o f a Bull, appeared on Man in a Mask wearing the customary mask and T :D ON SALK NOW iuy D irect ► 0 3 2 8 3 -7 6 5 1 - R etail Outlets I t ’s M y P l e a s u r e Locals Only M usic M illennium In O t h e r W o r d s M o t h e r Kali's (In Eugene) We flen’i discriminate! We Gappy Everything! 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