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Tasmania has rescinded a ban on school-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