Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 1998)
i PTTîTïïFlnews AUSTRALIA CANADA he education department of the state of Tasmania has rescinded a ban on school- based discussions or displays related to homo sexuality, and has launched a series of projects designed to make lesbian and gay students feel • welcome C anadian figure-skating champion and »«'Olympic silver medalist Brian Orser was outed Nov. 18 when a 10-month-old, $300,000 (U S$195,000) palimony suit brought by ex lover Craig Leask became public knowledge. Leask, 35, says Orser, 36, cheated on him, kicked him out of their house, stole his property and killed their dogs. The five-year relationship ended in mid-1997. “This is very upsetting to me and my family,” Orser told reporters. “This came as a total shock, and obviously it’s very serious.” In a court affidavit requesting to keep the suit secret, Orser said he had never publicly acknowledged his “gayness” and feared his career would be “irreparably harmed” if the court records were not sealed. T “There have been some disturbing inci dences of harassment and victimization of stu dents based on their sexuality,” Education M in ister Paula Wreidt told reporters in November. “We want to send a clear message out to other people that this is not acceptable at all, that children have the right to attend schools in an environment which is free of harassment.” Among other moves, the department will distribute sexuality reference cards listing sup port services for gay and lesbian youth, stock comprehensive material on homosexuality and homophobia, and issue guidelines on usage of nondiscriminatory language. “In the past, the education department has actually banned any discussion of homosexuali ty in the classroom, but thanks to today’s initia tives, Tasmania is now at the cutting edge of cre ating safe school communities for a range of minorities including young gays and lesbians,” says Rodney Croome, spokesman for the Tas manian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group. C BRITAIN griculture Minister Nick Brown came out of the closet Nov. 7 to pre-empt plans by an ex-boyffiend to tell their story to the media. “I have been aware for some time that after I broke off the relationship the man has been in contact with the media.. .to [sell] his story about our relationship,” Brown told the media. He said he worried the man would make "false and unsubstantiated allegations” about the nature of their relationship, including claims that Brown paid him for sex. “I deny totally that I paid money for sex. I have never done so,” Brown said, adding, “I am saddened that he has tried to sell his story in this way. I have always wanted to keep my private life and my sexuality private.... I am sorry that I have had to speak publicly about this part of my life and that people very dear to me will find out about it in this way.” A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair commented, “Nick Brown has given a full account of this relationship to the prime minis ter and he is satisfied with that account.” Brown is the third British cabinet minister to come out or be outed in the past few weeks. Welsh Secretary Ron Davies, 52, resigned after being mugged Oct. 26 while cruising for gay sex on Londons Clapham Common. He went to the police after one of his assailants demanded money not to expose him as a closeted gay man. Then, during the media orgy that followed Davies’ misfortune, newspaper columnist Matthew Parris outed Trade Secretary Peter Mandelson on BBC 2’s Newsnight program. Culture Secretary Chris Smith, meanwhile, is openly gay. A Aromamerapy Experience the Pleasures o f 5 Million Scent Receptors KOREA eoul’s first queer film and video festival brought nearly 90 dramas, documentaries and animated films to the city Nov. 6 to 15. The festival was accompanied by forums and symposia on Korean and Asian gay and les bian cinema, and on the relationship between the media and homosexuality. Fifteen additional films were banned from the main festival by censors but were screened for film professionals, journalists and critics. Last year, the entire film festival was banned. S NAMIBIA ome Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo told Parliament Nov. 6 that the government will introduce legislation to ban gay sex. “Gay rights can never qualify as human rights,” Ekandjo said. “They are wrongly claimed because it is inimical to true Namibian culture, African culture and religion. They should be classified as human wrongs which must rank as sin against society and God.” The Namibian gay and lesbian group Rain bow Project responded, “We question Mr. Ekandjo’s morality in attempting to deny others their human rights.” H •O » ay and lesbian Australian youth face high If levels of abuse, especially at school, a new national study has found. O f 750 people between ages 14 and 21 who were surveyed, half had been verbally abused, a third had been treated unfairly, and 13 percent had been physically attacked because of their sexuality. The study was conducted by La Trobe U ni versity. The committee was spurred to action by complaints from the Methodist Church of Fiji and the Fiji Council of Churches, the newspa per said. Recycling# Refilling Renewing# Since 1979 EÇCENTIAL vfi) lotions & oils 710 NW 23rd Avenue % 2 4 8 -9748 3 6 3 8 SE Hawthorne Street & 2 3 6 -7 9 7 6 NETHERLANDS T “1 earn almost all of my annual income from skating in professional ice shows,” he said. “It is highly likely if these allegations were made pub lic that I would not be invited to return to a number of major ice shows. I have always been viewed as a role model for young skaters. 1 believe these allegations could do serious dam age to my reputation and ability to earn a liveli hood.” Justice Susan Lang rejected Orser’s request, saying, “One anticipates that in today’s society such a disclosure would not attract any public stigma let alone one sufficient to override the important principle of the public right of access to court documents.” CHINA olice in Shanghai pulled two drag perform ers offstage and arrested them Nov. 11, after shocked patrons of the Guoling Dance Hall realized the singers really were men and alerted the authorities. The club, which was celebrating its opening night, was shut down. According to the Xmmm Evening News, the dance hall was plunged into chaos when the performers "opened their red lips [and] the rough male sound came through the micro phone.” P FIJI T he island nation’s new constitution is only the second in the world to ban discrimina tion based on sexual orientation, but now, para doxically, officials want to ensure that this does not lead to legalization of same-sex marriage, the Fiji Times reported Oct. 31. Parliament’s Committee on Consequential Legislation plans to amend the new Bill of Rights to explicitly state that same-sex mar riages remain illegal, Attorney General Ratu Etuate Tavai told the newspaper. he Dutch air force launched an advertising campaign in mid-November in the news paper De G ay Krant. The ad shows an F I6 fighter plane with the caption: "There are more exciting places on earth than a dark room .... Imagine yourself in the cockpit of an F I6. You start it up and only moments later you have 15 million people beneath you.... Do you know a more exciting place than the F16’s cockpit? Please let us know.” A “dark room,” known in the United States as a “back room,” is a space in a gay bar set aside for sexual activity. UNITED STATES n a Nov. 15 appearance at the Peacejam Youth Conference in Denver, Colo., South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 67, com pared discrimination against gay men and les bians to apartheid, reports the Rocky Mountain I • Portland's best selection of gay men's books, magazines, videos, gifts and novelties • Best selection of gay calendars, including 1999 AIDS Benefit calen dars, Male Models of the North west, Colt Studios and more When asked by a conference attendee which injustice he most wants to reverse, Tutu said, “Will you give me two?" He then called on world leaders to forgive the debts of developing nations and said perse cution of gay people is as wrong as apartheid because sexual orientation is no more of a choice than race. "For me it’s a matter of human rights and a deeply theological issue,” he said. “1 believe they [gay men and lesbians] are as much God’s chil dren as anyone.... I can’t be part of a scheme for clobbering them.” ■ Compiled by RtX WOCKNER • Christmas cards for men (and women too) • Book club members receive dis count on their club's selection of the month • Orders and requests quickly answered at books@gaipied.com O p e n D a ily 11 am-8 pm (Fri. & Sat. till 9 pm, Sun. 7 pm) 2544 NE Broadway Portland, OR 97232 331-1125
