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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 1998)
15 Don’t Buy a C a r from Some Straight Guy! A U S T R A LIA eventy gay men and lesbians who attended Mass wearing rainbow sashes at Melbourne’s Roman Catholic Cathedral were refused com munion Nov. 29. Priests withheld wafers from those who made it to the front of the church and blocked others from getting to the front. T he protesters plan to continue their chal lenge to the church’s ban on giving the Eucharist to noncelibate gay men and lesbians. "T h e official line is homosexuality is ordained to be intrinsically, morally evil, which is a polite way of saying we’re disgusting per verts, and that leads to a culture of fear and loathing and to significant levels of suicide among young gay people,” said protester David Barker. S G ER M A N Y n Nov. 29, the residents of Quellendorf voted 482-235 to oust Mayor Norbert Lin der, who has stated publicly he plans to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Linder, 40, was elected to a seven-year term in 1996 but shocked many villagers this past summer when he began wearing women’s clothes and calling him self M ichaela. He recently started taking female hormones and plans to undergo gender reassignment surgery in the year 2000. According to a Nov. 29 Associated Press report, transsexuals from Germany and France converged on the village of 1,048 inhabitants right before the vote to show support for the mayor, who appealed for tolerance. “1 think society as a whole has some catching up to do,” Linder told reporters. T he vote was denounced by Linder’s party, the Democratic Socialists, as “degrading dis crimination.” O P H IL IP P IN E S 74-year-old gay man in Manila is seeking reparations from Japan for being kept as a sex slave during World War II. Walter Dempster says he and five of his drag- queen friends were kidnapped, taken to a garri son in suburban Manila, and forced to service Japanese soldiers for several months. “We were mauled, punched, kicked, slapped, pinched with cigarette butts and hit with bayo nets until we bled,” Dempster told the M anila Standard newspaper. “Then we were pushed on the table face down where a long queue of Japanese soldiers waited their turn.” Dempster is receiving assistance in his court case from a Manila city councilor. A SOUTH A F R IC A imon Tseko Nkoli, South Africa’s most well- known gay activist, died Nov. 30 of com plications related to AIDS. Nkoli, 41, died at Johannesburg G en eral Hospital. In a jo in t state ment, the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of Witwatersrand and the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality— both of which Nkoli helped Simon Tseko Nkoli found— said: “We mourn the loss of an impor tant anti-apartheid activist, gay and lesbian rights activist and H1V/AIDS activist. Simon was a courageous person who dared to declare his sexual orientation and his HIV status at a time when few were prepared to do so. Through these acts he defied the notion that being gay is un-African. “As a founding member of both G LO W and the N CG LE, Simon played an important role in ensuring that equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons has been entrenched in the South African constitution as an unalien able right. Simon played an important role in putting lesbian and gay issues on the agenda of the African National Congress.” A t the time of his death, Nkoli was president of GLOW, a board member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, a member of the 1999 ILG A World Conference Organising Com m ittee and a member of the African National Congress. Nkoli was jailed for treason for three years in the mid-1980s. In a 1989 press interview, he explained: “It was because of my previous polit ical involvement. I was involved in anti apartheid organizations and demonstrated against unjust laws such as detention without trial, inferior education and the increasement of rent.” Nkoli is survived by his partner, Roderick Sharp. W EST ER N EU R O P E IDS-related deaths have dropped 84 per cent in Western Europe since 1995, according to a new study published in The Lancet. From March to September 1995, 25 percent of all A ID S patients died, whereas 4 percent died during the same period in 1998. Researchers credit the new combination antiviral drug treatments. T he study tracked 4,270 HIV patients at 50 medical facilities across the continent. You do have family in the car business Featuring the best deals on • Expeditions • Explorers • Rangers I FORD Christopher W ebster ir • Full Size Trucks • New Ford Cars • Used vehicles for every budget 955-4608 COLISEUM FORD N E B R O A D W A Y AT F I R S T Let Me Earn Your Business... When buying o r selling real estate, I represent your interests! E xp erien ced , Innovative, Up-to-Date Steve B u ch ert, Realtor Office: 228-9801 • Mobile: 970-3801 e-mail: bucherts@hasson.com A y o u flaue In e supei fiu/nanpow .er Z IM B A R W E 'ormer president Canaan Banana was found guilty Nov. 26 of sodomy and sexual assault against 11 of his bodyguards, cooks and garden ers between 1980 and 1987. Just before the verdict was announced, Banana fled to neighboring Botswana and requested political asylum. He had been free on bail. He faces a prison sentence of up to 22 years. During his trial, Banana, 62, said the charges were fabricated to destroy his character follow ing rumors he was planning a political come back that would challenge the rule of President Robert Mugabe. Banana was brought to trial after a police man shot to death a colleague who had taunted him as “Banana’s wife.” T he policeman, Jefta Dube, testified that Banana forced him into a three-year sexual relationship from 1984 through 1986. In the first assault, Dube said, he was drugged and woke up naked with a smiling Banana saying, "W e helped ourselves.” When Dube finally ended the relationship, Banana had him jailed, he said. Other victims described a scenario in which Banana would ask them to play cards, offer them a drink, put on music, insist on teaching them to dance, then kiss and fondle them while dancing. Following the verdict, Keith Goddard, direc tor of the group Gays and Lesbians of Zimbab we, commented: “I can’t see the logic in asking for political asylum from a gay-sex conviction in Botswana, which is almost as homophobic as Zimbabwe. But Banana’s case has always been more about abuse of power and rape than about consensual sex.” F ■ Com piled R ex WOCKNER io a os oro stress , co /w e rt it to stea m a n d re ta rti i t ' ta c/ ' to a die re it c a m e fr o m . 4 3 - 5 0 0 2 for more information about our spas and the exceptional level of service that accompanies each one. Life has rewards^ W e've got one of them. ^ Oregon HotSpring Spas S tfe Aas rew ards. '*v. ' Locations in Clackam as, Beaverton, Salem & Bend, www.orhotspringspas.cofn