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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 1998)
September 4.1998i past Mt j 5 FîmTlriews AUSTRALIA dent in order for the partner of an injured or killed person to claim benefits. n openly lesbian member of the Port Adelaide Enfield Council in the state of INTERNATIONAL South Australia resigned her seat Aug. 10 due to fter much infighting, bishops attending homophobic harassment. the Anglican Communion’s once-a- “I was faced with no decade Lambeth Conference, held in August in choice,” Savannah Con Canterbury, England, rejected gay sex as sidine said. The harass “incompatible with the Scripture” and said only ment included crass and celibate gay men can be priests. offensive remarks in per The 526-70 vote (with 45 abstentions) on son and via e-mail and the nonbinding resolution was a victory for con fax, she said, and she servative African, Asian and U.S. bishops who feared the abuse would say homosexuality is an abomination. escalate to physical vio Savannah Considine Church leader the Most Rev. George Carey, lence. Considine blamed the atmosphere on a Archbishop of Canterbury, supported the out “political war” between the council’s Labor and come. “I stand wholeheartedly with traditional independent factions. Anglican orthodoxy, [and] see no room in the Holy Scripture or the entire Christian tradition BRITAIN laiming the idea has worked in for any sexual activity outside of matrimony,” he > Copenhagen and Amsterdam, the London said. The text of the resolution states, in part: gay group OutRage! proposed Aug. 16 that a “ While rejecting homosexual practice as incom section of London’s Russell Square be set aside patible with the Scripture, [we] call on all our for outdoor gay cruising and sex. people to administer pastorally and sensitively The group says establishing a “zone of toler ation” would reduce public complaints and to all, irrespective of sexual orientation and to police harassment arising from nocturnal activi condemn an irrational fear of homosexuals, vio- lence within marriage and any trivialization and ty in the square. OutRage! is blaming local authorities for increased complaints about sex in the square. “[They] increased the lighting in the square and cut down the thick shrubbery, making the sex more visible,” the group claims. “No wonder public complaints have increased.” A CANADA n estimated 5,000 gay men and lesbians flooded into Ontario’s Wonderland amusement park Aug. 8. "It’s a chance to be a kid again,” said orga nizer Richard Silver. About 20 fundamentalist Christians protest ed at the entrance carrying signs reading: “Ban nudity and buggery from Wonderland.” “Last year, there was a man wearing a G- string and his testicles were hanging out,” Family Council regional director Terry Ruddell cautioned families about to enter the park. Only a few families turned around. A It further says the church “cannot advise the legitimizing or blessing of same-sex unions or ordaining of those involved in same-sex unions.” With roughly 70 million members, the Anglican Communion includes the Church of England, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada and the U.S. Protestant Episcopal Church. ITALY he country’s biggest Roman Catholic mag n August, the Insurance Corporation of azine polled Catholics to see if they disap British Columbia extended spousal benefits prove of same-sex partnership laws. to same-sex partners in common-law-type rela According to the results released in August, tionships, the Westeruler reports. ICBC insures all cars and drivers in Canada’s 72 percent of Italian Catholics believe unmar ried couples deserve spousal rights. westernmost province. The magazine, Famigiia Cristiano, was less Regulations stipulate that a same-sex rela tionship must exist for two years prior to an acci than enthralled with the result. I T “We are facing a very real breakdown of rea son,” the editors wrote. “There are not and can not be couples, and consequently families, that are real and proper outside the marriage between a man and a woman.” The national gay group Arcigay called the findings “revolutionary” and demanded a refer endum to enact a spousal rights law for unmar ried couples. The survey was conducted by the SWG polling agency and questioned 800 people. KENYA “ I Z enya has no room or time for homosexu- IX als and lesbians,” President Daniel arap Moi told the Daily Nation newspaper, the Sapa- Panos news agency reported Aug. 14 “Homosexuality is against African norms and traditions, and even in religion it is consid ered a great sin,” he said. Kenyan Health Ministry spokesman Maina Kahindo, meanwhile, said: “Taking into account other modes of transmission of HIV and AIDS, homosexuality is negligible and should not take up our resources and time. We have other, far more pressing areas which affect the majority of our people and therefore need urgent atten tion.” "Manila’s homosexuals are not just out of the closet," the magazine says. “They are in the street, on TV and in the media. They hold flam boyant gay pride marches, and the Santo Niño Club, a largely homosexual association of fash ion types, stages an annual religious parade fea turing a statue of the child Jesus in designer robes. Homosexual Filipinos participate in pub lic life with a verve unmatched anywhere in the region.” According to the publication, several A-list queers have become fixtures in the social circle of former First Lady Amelita Ramos. SWITZERLAND ctivists set off 60 alarm clocks outside the Z*. Swiss Justice Ministry in Bern Aug. 17 to protest the government’s failure to issue a long- overdue report on the state of gay and lesbian NEW ZEALAND lesbian who had three children via alter native insemination with her ex-partner will receive child-support payments from the woman, the city of Hamilton’s Family Court ruled Aug. 5. The court said the payments are appropriate since the ex-partner is the children’s legal step The protest was designed to serve as a wake parent. up call, say organizers. The report was due in NORTHERN IRELAND 1994. According to protesters, Swiss gay and les ay and lesbian protesters in Belfast heckled U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich Aug. bian couples face routine discrimination in such 11 as he visited a Habitat for Humanity housing areas as accessing disability benefits and trans ferring a lease after a death. project. The Georgia Repub VENEZUELA lican ignored the he head of the Caracas Metropolitan demonstrators, who Police took a potshot at gay people during chanted and waved an Aug. 6 demonstration. placards. Later, a group After 11 male students were arrested for of children tried to grab marching naked to protest plans to begin charg the protesters’ signs. Gingrich, who regularly votes against sexual ing tuition at universities, Chief Francisco minority interests, was leading a delegation of Belisario said: “It is not proper behavior for men representatives on a three-day trip in advance of to show themselves in the nude before the pub lic. It is more something identified with homo a planned visit by President Bill Clinton. sexuals, transsexuals and sexual deviants." The men could be jailed for up to a month PHILIPPINES 7 ilipino gay men and lesbians are becoming on indecency charges. very public, Asia Week reported in late ■ Compiled by R ex WOCKNER August. A G 1
