ju s i
IWTïïTîl news
What Hakes Sense?
A U S TR A L IA
N EW ZEALAN D
judge who sits on Australia’s top court
A
came out last month by listing his partner
of 30 years in the 1999 edition of Who’s Who in
i ) olice in Christchurch arrested Christopher
I Ian Truscott April 28 for allegedly having
sex with men without revealing he is HIV-posi
Australia.
tive.
High Court Justice Michael Kirby made no
Detective Inspector John Doyle said Truscott
further comment on the issue. According to the had sexual encounters at North Hagley Park
book entry, he and Johan van Vloten have been and other locations where men meet for sex.
together since Feb. 11, 1969.
Police have identified a second man they
News reports called Kirby one of the coun plan to charge with the same crime, but he has
try’s most respected legal thinkers.
not been apprehended.
Rodney Croome of the Australian Council
for Lesbian and Gay Rights commented: “It’s
S O U TH A FR IC A
unprecedented that any judge in Australia
n April 20, openly gay High Court Judge
should be honest and open about his homosex
Edwin Cameron revealed he has AIDS.
uality while still in office. He’s a great humani
He made the statement in an application for
tarian, a very hard worker and respected by peo a seat on the nation’s highest court, the Consti
tutional Court.
ple from all sectors of the community.”
“I am living with AIDS,” said the 46-year-
old judge. “The choice to speak is available to
IN T E R N A T IO N A L
f rans activists will gather in Washington, me.. .because 1 have a job position that is secure;
D.C., May 25 to 27 to create Gender Free because I am surrounded by loved ones, friends
dom International, the first U.S. organization and colleagues who support me; and because 1
dedicated to promoting international trans have access to medical care. For millions of
South Africans living with HIV or AIDS these
human rights.
conditions do not exist. They have no jobs, or
their jobs would be at risk if they spoke about
their HIV. They not only lack community sup
port, but face grave personal danger if they do
so.”
U N ITE D K IN G D O M
ore than 2,000 people gathered in Lon
M
don’s Soho Square May 2 to remember
the three people killed in the April 30 bombing
at the Admiral Duncan gay bar.
Seventy people were injured in the blast,
many seriously.
“Nobody is going to bomb us back into the
closet,” said Angela Mason, director of the gay
and lesbian lobby group Stonewall.
O
S W ITZ E R LA N D
wiss voters approved a new constitution
S
April 18 that bans discrimination based on
sexual orientation via the phrase way of life,
The group has a specific mission: to work
with other international human rights groups to
leverage governmental reforms abroad by influ
encing U.S. foreign policy.
“Why should transgender activists in the
U.S. be concerned with conditions abroad?”
asks Sarah Fox, GFI’s president. “By most
accounts, transgendered people in the United
States live terrible lives, enjoying basic human
rights in only a few scattered regions. They are
undoubtedly the most viciously and relentlessly
persecuted minority in American society, living
their lives in fear and dealing with hate crimes,
denial of services, and employment discrimina
tion on a regular and frequent basis.”
Fox adds: “However, life for a trans person in
the U.S. is remarkably good compared to life for
many trans people abroad.”
For further information, send e-mail to
gfi@gender.org.
IS R A EL
ore than 100 protesters picketed the Israel
Prizes in Jerusalem April 21, alleging that
recipient Avraham Steinberg is homophobic
and racist.
According to demonstrators, Steinberg, who
is head of medical ethics at Hebrew University’s
Hadassah School of Medicine, has written that
homosexuality is criminally deviant and com
pared it to prostitution. Furthermore, Steinberg
reportedly condemned the use of condoms and
demanded that all gay people be tested for HIV.
Steinberg was honored for creative writing in
the Encycbpedia of Medical Halacha.
M
N A M IB IA
eputy Home Affairs Minister Jeremiah
Nambinga is seeking to criminalize gay sex
because he believes it’s evil.
Nambinga made his suggestion April 19 dur
ing a budget debate in the National Assembly.
“Homosexuality is evil, homosexuality is
anti-social and should not only he condemned
but should also be legislated against,” he urged.
“Homosexuals are patients of psychological and
biological deviations.’
D
ou t
reports the gay group Pink Cross.
Article 8, Paragraph 2 prohibits bias based
on race, gender, age, language, social standing,
way of life, religion, ideological or political con
viction, or handicap.
Gay men and lesbians lobbied for inclusion
of the phrase sexual orientation, but had to settle
for way of life and an accompanying explanation
that gay men and lesbians are included in the
phrase’s purview.
A series of demonstrations followed the
bombing of a gay bar in London
Peter Tatchell of the gay direct action group
OutRage called on the government to pass leg
islation specially penalizing homophobic preju
dice.
On May 3, Prince Charles visited the blast
site and ate breakfast in a nearby gay cafe.
"The British never get put down by these
things,” he said. “I wanted to come along and
show a bit of concern and solidarity with the
community struck by this. A lot of help is being
given and we owe the police a great deal of grat
itude.”
A neo-Nazi organization called White
Wolves claimed responsibility for the blast in a
phone call to the British Broadcasting Corp.
The group is believed to be an offshoot of the
fascist organization Combat 18.
The White Wolves also claimed responsibil
ity for recent bombings that targeted blacks and
Bengalis and injured 46 people.
On May 2, however, police arrested David
Copeland, a 22-year-old engineer, and said he is
solely responsible for*all three explosions and is
not a member of any group. Copeland was taken
into custody at his home in Cove, southwest of
London, and charged with murder.
YU G O S LA V IA
he Campaign Against Homophobia will
T
continue its work despite the NATO
bombings and Serbia’s war on Kosovo, say group
Other countries that ban anti-gay bias via members.
In a media statement, Dusan Maljkovic,
their constitutions include Canada, Ecuador,
deputy executive coordinator, wrote that it’s
Fiji and South Africa.
important "to create a balance to the current
extreme national homogenization and growth of
U K R A IN E
he Our World Gay and Lesbian Center in discrimination of everyone who thinks/acts not
Lugansk was denied registration by the according to patriarchal stereotypes and macho
consciousness.”
national justice ministry on April 21.
Officials at the Lugansk Regional Depart
ment of Justice declared: “A purpose of the pub
lic organization’s activity—assistance for
improvement of the social and psychological
state of people of homosexual orientation and
simultaneous reduction of the social tension
towards this group of people in Ukrainian soci
ety—does not meet the requirements of the law
currently in force” regarding citizens’ associa
tions.
The law states a "public organization is an
association of citizens for satisfaction and pro
CAH is in the final stages of publishing an
tection of their lawful social, economic, cre
anthology
to showcase “lesbigay creativity in
ative, age-related, national, cultural, sport and
the fields of science, fine arts and philosophy.”
other common interests.”
Our World has filed an appeal of the denial
■ Compiled by R ex WoCKNER
with a local court.
T
In the parable of the prodi
gal son, the turning point of the
story comes when the profli
gate young man, having squan
dered his inheritance and starv
ing, realizes he must return
home and throw himself on the
mercy of his father. No amount
of effort on his own part will
bring him life. Jesus introduces
this moment of truth for him by
saying,“When he he came to his
senses....”
This story teaches that,
“when we come to our senses,”
no matter what our life choices
have been, we can always trust
in God’s love. But what if, unlike
the prodigal son, we go astray
not by choice but by circum
stance?
Growing up gay we learned
to think of ourselves as flawed.
Not fitting the cultural norm for
maleness, we faked it as best we
could. No matter that we may
have succeeded in convincing
others of our worth, we never
fully believed it ourselves. In a
very real way we failed to fully
claim the inheritance of our
created worth as gay boys. The
consequences for us are devas
tating and lifelong. Like the
prodigal son, we sometimes
search in vain for happiness only
to find ourselves starving spiri
tually.
In the parable, both the son
and his jealous brother are
shocked at the loving reception
given by the joyful father. Some
straight Christians, not unlike
the brother in the story, are
scandalized at the notion of
G od’s full blessing extending to
us. More importantly, many of
us, like the son, harbor a deep-
seated disbelief that we are
worthy of God’s love. It matters
little what platitudes we pro
claim about G od’s love; it’s what
we believe in our hearts that
determines our fate.
The spiritual journey is pri
marily a journey of the heart,
and prayer is the heart’s true
communication
with
God.
When we come to our senses
as gay men and turn with our
hearts to the God who created
and blessed us to be gay, we find
the love that heals our deepest
wound.
A message from the Anawim Community
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