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BELGIUM
exual minority persons between the ages of
15 and 25 in Belgium’s Flanders region are
two to five times more likely to attempt suicide
than straight youth, according to researchers at
G hent University.
Sociologist John Vincke and psychologist
Kees van Heeringen studied 404 young peo­
ple— half of whom identified as sexual minori­
ties, the other half as heterosexual.
Their report was presented at the Seventh
European Symposium: The Suicidal Process: C hal'
lenges fo r Treatment and Prevention, held Sept. 9
to 12 in Belgium.
According to the findings, 25 percent of
young lesbian and bisexual women had attempt­
ed suicide at least once, compared with 5.4 per­
cent of straight female youths. About 13 percent
of gay male youths had tried to kill themselves,
compared with 5.9 percent of straight male
youths.
T he report found that 45 percent of young
lesbians and one-third of young gay men had
considered suicide, compared with 24 percent of
straight females and 16 percent of straight
males.
S
T h e board said Woodside violated the
provincial Human Rights A ct’s ban on discrim­
ination based on sexual orientation when he
refused to declare pride weekend in 1995.
“[Gay men and lesbians] are simply seeking
to exercise their right to be equal members of
the community as they are entitled to do by
law,” wrote Brian Bruce, a board commissioner.
Fredericton gay activist James Whitehead
said of the mayor’s inaction: “It’s very frustrating
when someone can turn something that seems
so simple to begin with into something so divi­
sive. There’s been a lot of damage done.”
Similar cases in London and Hamilton,
Ontario, saw the same outcome, except the
mayors of those cities were also fined— $5,000
in Hamilton and $10,000 in London. Woodside
was not fined.
COLOMBIA
A
1979 law that allowed firing openly gay
and lesbian teachers was struck down by
Colombia’s Constitutional Court Sept. 10.
In a 5-4 ruling, the nation’s highest court
said the law was discriminatory. It affects about
250,000 public school teachers from grade
school through college.
“Homosexuality is not contagious,” said G er­
man Humberto Rincon, the lawyer who brought
the suit before the court.
No one was ever actually fired under the
statute.
he 14,644 mayors who signed a petition
against the country’s proposed registered-
partnership law were led to believe they would
be forced to conduct same-sex weddings, French
newspapers reported in mid-September.
In fact, the legislation, which will be debat­
ed in the National Assembly Oct. 9, proposes
that cohabiting couples— same- or opposite-sex,
romantic or not— be allowed to register with a
court clerk and obtain most of the social and fis­
cal rights of matrimony. Access to adoption and
state-funded alternative conception technology
will likely be excluded.
A recent poll found that 50 percent of
French people surveyed approve of government
registration of same-sex partnerships, and 28
percent say same-sex couples should be permit­
ted to adopt children. However, only 19 percent
of those surveyed would call a same-sex partner­
ship “marriage.”
T
rad Woodside, mayor of Fredericton, New
Brunswick, was ordered to proclaim gay
pride weekend by a provincial Board of Inquiry
B
| oao Soares, the mayor of Lisbon, attended the
| unveiling of the new headquarters of the Por­
tuguese gay group Opus Gay on Sept. 12, and
the kickoff of Lisbon’s second gay and lesbian
film festival two days later. The festival screened
more than 100 films.
Soares said he was “very proud that Lisbon is
a city of freedom, tolerance and openness.”
Opus Gay President Antonio Serzedelo, 53,
told Spain’s El Pais newspaper, “After the blacks
and the Gypsies, it’s our turn [for freedom].”
Opus Gay’s name is a takeoff on the extreme­
ly conservative worldwide Catholic organiza­
tion Opus Dei, which is Latin for the “work of
god.”
THAILAND
FBAN CE
T he case will likely advance to the federal
Supreme Court— a process that could take sev­
eral years.
“W e’re young enough for that,” Hendricks
told the Canadian Press wire service.
T he Superior Court case will be heard begin­
ning Dec. 15. T he lawsuit claims Quebec’s mar­
riage law violates the provinces Charter of
Rights and Freedoms, which has banned dis­
crimination based on sexual orientation since
1967. T he couple’s lawyer will also argue Que­
bec has no right to decide who can marry whom
because marriage falls under federal jurisdiction.
T he serostatus of the foreigners was detected
during mandatory medical examinations
required to obtain work and residency permits.
Officials say slightly more than 190 Jordani­
ans have been diagnosed with HIV, but repre­
sentatives of the World Health Organization say
they know of about 600 A ID S cases in the
nation.
According to Agence France-Presse, the
government of Jordan quarantines people with
HIV and does not discuss the disease because its
main modes of transmission— gay sex and pros­
titution— are taboo topics.
POBTUGAL
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W e ll-M e a n in g C h ristia n s D o
CANADA
wo Montreal men who have been a couple
for 25 years filed suit Sept. 14 demanding
the right to marry legally.
Gay activist Michael Hendricks, 57, and his
partner, Rene Leboeuf, 43, submitted their case
after Quebec Superior Court Assistant Clerk
Louise Lebrun rejected their application for a
marriage license.
“In concrete terms, it’ll give us recognition,”
Hendricks says. “W e’ll be able to share our pen­
sions and of course the inheritance. If I pass on,
he’ll be left with nothing. If we’re married then
we’ll be covered and assured.”
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TH E BIBLE DO ESN ’T
HURT PEOPLE
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INTEBNATIONAL
he International Lesbian and Gay Associa­
tion will stage its 1999 world conference in
Johannesburg, South Africa, in September.
1LGA is a federation of more than 350 gay,
lesbian, bisexual and trans organizations from
six continents.
T he conference organizing committee con­
sists of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, South
Africa’s Gay and Lesbian Organization of Wit-
watersrand and National Coalition for Gay and
Lesbian Equality, and Namibia’s Rainbow Pro­
ject.
T
JO BD AN
ealth Ministry officials say the nation
deported 26 HIV-positive foreigners this
summer.
H
T
hai A ID S activists picketed the U .S.
Embassy in Bangkok Sept. 4 to protest
what they view as U .S. governmental pressure
on companies that produce generic anti-HIV
drugs.
U .S. officials claim the cheaper Thai antivi­
rals illegally violate the patents of First World
drug companies. The protesters said if local
A ID S patients are forced to buy name-brand
drugs, many will have to go without because
they can’t afford them.
Thailand’s Pharmaceutical Organization
sells generic A ZT for about 35 cents a pill, com­
pared to Glaxo Wellcome’s price of approxi­
mately $ 1.
ZAMBIA
T
he government of Zambia will not register
the newly-formed group LEGATRA.
Legal Affairs Minister Vincent Malambo
says the group cannot be officially recognized
because homosexuality is illegal and “un-
Affican.”
Group spokesman Gershom Musonda
recently told reporters there are a half-million
gay men and lesbians in Zambia, which has a
population of 9 million.
■ Com piled by R ex WOCKNER
People calling themselves
Christians claim the Bible as the
authoritative basis for their faith.
O f course there is enormous vari­
ation in how people interpret the
Biblical material, some maintaining
it God inspired while others claim
it to be literally true in every
respect. In fact the Bible is a com­
pilation of many smaller books
written over many centuries, often
edited and later selected to
become the canon now accepted
as scriptural authority.The Second
Testament is comprised of the
Gospel Accounts of the work and
teachings of Jesus as well as vari­
ous letters written by Paul and
other early witnesses telling a
story of the unfolding of G od’s
saving grace on
behalf of
humankind. Jesus taught, and his
life demonstrated, G o d ’s unfalter­
ing love for us at any price, no
matter who we are or what we
do.
As gay men we are uncom­
fortably aware that the Bible has
been used as a weapon against us.
Many Christians, convinced of
Biblical condemnation of homo­
sexuality, have closed their minds
to any reconsideration of the sub­
ject. Their attitude is similar to
that of the Pharisees who, certain
of their interpretation of First
Testament
scripture,
were
incensed at Jesus healing on the
Sabbath.Then as now, there was a
tendency to be blinded by a legal­
istic, black and white view of
Biblical writings rather than to be
liberated by them from the tyran­
ny of judgment and fear.
In explaining the significance
of the Good News, Paul wrote
“There is neither Jew nor Greek,
slave nor free, male or female, for
you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
W ere he writing today with cur­
rent knowledge about human sex­
uality, he might add “straight or
gay” to the above declaration.
Certainly he would find himself
vehemently opposed by modern
day Pharisees dwelling on a tiny
number of scriptures taken out of
context to support their own
agenda. W e ought not to cast the
Bible aside because some have
used it to abuse us. Understood
correctly, the Bible is a rich and
profound source for discovering
and entering into the mystery of
God.
A message from
the Anawim Community