aprii 17. 1998 » J u s t mat. 17
CANADA
April 2, the Supreme Court ordered
O n Alberta
to protect gay men and lesbians
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became the first transsexual member of the New
Zealand Order of Merit in January.
Grant has lived as a woman for more than 25
years and is thought to be the only transsexual
approved as a foster parent by the state Children
and Young Persons Service. She also runs cours
es for children with behavioral problems and
founded a facility for endangered animals.
New Zealand has one other openly transsex
ual elected official, Carterton Mayor Georgina
Beyer.
from discrimination.
In a case brought by a man fired from a
Christian college due to his sexuality, the court
ruled Alberta’s failure to include sexual orienta
tion protections in its Individual Rights
Protection Act violates the national Charter of
Rights and Freedoms.
“The exclusion sends a message to all
Albertans that it is permissible, and perhaps
even acceptable, to discriminate against indi
viduals on the basis of their sexual orientation,”
Justice Peter Cory wrote for the court. “The
effect of that message on gays and lesbians is one
whose significance cannot be underestimat as
ed.... Perhaps most important is the psycholog
ical harm which may ensue from this state of
affairs. Fear of discrimination will logically lead
to concealment of true identity, and this must be
harmful to personal confidence and self
esteem.”
The 7-1 decision stipulates that Alberta’s
human rights statute must be interpreted as
including sexual orientation, effective immedi
ately.
The Canada Family Action Coalition
denounced the decision.
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POLAND
he Mr. Gay Poland contest was delayed by
a bomb threat March 27 in Warsaw.
Police searched the club Tango for two hours
the 400 attendees, including Secretary of
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WHEEL ALIGNMENTS & TIRES
COLOMBIA
26, the Constitutional Court
O n ruled March
private religious schools cannot ban
gay and lesbian students.
The court declared: “Homosexuality is a
condition of the human person that implies the
choice of a life option equally as respectable and
valid as any other.”
Wienczyslaw Gasz
State Barbara Labuda and several members of
Parliament, waited outside in the cold. No
bomb was found.
Knurow resident Wienczyslaw Gasz, 26, was
selected Mr. Gay Poland 1998. The event was
JAPAN
book that posthumously outed the famed sponsored by Nowy Men, a gay magazine. All
author Yukio Mishima was recalled March profits from the evening were sent to the newly-
30 after his family secured an injunction from established Bosnian Gay Group in Sarajevo.
the Tokyo District Court.
ROMANIA
The family argued the author of the book,
ariana Cetiner, the Romanian woman
Jiro Fukushima, violated copyright laws by pub
who spent two years in jail for “luring
lishing letters that he had personally received
from Mishima—letters which confirmed another woman into sexual intercourse,” has
issued a public thank you to those who fought
Mishima’s homosexuality.
Hie family’s lawyer denied a charge from for her release.
The letter, dated April 1, reads: “I would like
Fukushima’s publisher that the injunction was
not really about copyright issues but rather to thank all of you for being by my side. Thank
you for your letters and I am sorry that I wasn’t
about concealing Mishima’s gay relationships.
Fukushima claims he and Mishima were able to reply from prison. Now, being free, I will
lovers for four months in 1951, when Mishima try to keep in touch with you.
“As for me, I can tell you that, with the help
was 26, and again for five years in the early
of
Amnesty International, the Romanian
1960s.
Helsinki Committee and the lawyer Monica
Macovei,
I intend to take my case back to court,
MEXICO
penly lesbian so that the truth comes out.... It seems that
Congresswoman being a lesbian in Romania is worse than being
Patria Jiménez met a criminal. The detention affected me a lot. The
with Mexico City beatings, the treatment in prison affected me.”
Cetiner, who was adopted by Amnesty
Mayor Cuauhtémoc
Cárdenas March 24 International as a prisoner of conscience in
to begin planning the December 1997, was released on March 18.
city’s first gay and les
THAILAND
bian community cen
he country’s transsexual beauty pageant
ter.
returned in late March after a six-year hia
“He’s an incredi
tus, and 22-year-old Thanapom Wongprasert of
ble person and among
Patria Jiménez
his many plans he has Bangkok was crowned Miss Tiffany 1998.
The event, staged in the resort city of
promised us he’ll construct the Gay-Lesbian-
Transgendered Community Center—a true tri Pattaya, coincided with the annual Miss
umph that really fills us with pride," Jiménez Thailand pageant in Bangkok.
Wongprasert said she will spend the $ 1,300
said of Cárdenas.
prize money to make herself more beautiful.
The event attracted 1,500 spectators, mainly
NEW ZEALAND
n late March, a transsexual was elected to the local businessmen with their wives and small
children, according to Agence France-Presse.
Grey District Council on South Island.
Jacqui Grant, known as the “Tranny
Granny” for fostering more than 50 children, ■ C om piled by R ex WOCKNER
A
PHOTO BY REX W O CKNER
M
O
T
I
(503) 232-3600
2454 E. BURNSIDE • PORTLAND, OR 97214
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TWENTY-THIRD AVENUE
B- c > • 0M K* S
invites you to an evening with
Barbara Wilson
author of
Blue Windows:
A Christian
Science
Childhood
Wed., April 29,
7:30 pm
1015 NW 23rd Avenue, 224-5097