June 4 . 1999 • |m t out. 21
nîTîTïïïl news
A U S T R A L IA
ustralians elected their first transsexual
politician in early May.
Leigh Varis-Beswick, 49, won a seat on the
town council of the rugged West Australian
mining town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the Aus
tralian Associated Press reports.
Varis-Beswick works as a brothel madam and
is a former stripper and drag queen. She had sex-
reassignment surgery in 1986.
“1 don’t have any skeletons in my closet,
they’re all out,” she told AAP.
A
❖
he state of Western Australia has its first
openly gay mayor.
John Hyde nabbed 70 percent of the vote to
win the mayorship of Vincent, a Perth inner-
city municipality.
T
C A M B O D IA
C
ambodia has its first gay bar, reports Lon
don’s Gay Times.
The Tamarind, located behind the Royal
Palace in Phnom Penh, was opened earlier this
year by gay businessman Vichar Than Khieu.
According to the publication, the launch
party was attended by most of the contestants
from Cambodia’s first bodybuilding competi
tion, some government officials and several
high-ranking employees of international aid
organizations.
The magazine says Cambodia ‘‘is unbur
dened by the Western gay/straight separation....
Not getting married to someone of the opposite
sex is considered bizarre, but homoerotic behav
iour is totally acceptable.”
In approving the Miscellaneous Statutes
Amendment Act, legislators replaced the word
spouse with stepparent in the Child Welfare
Act— thereby sidestepping the opposite-sex def
inition of spouse.
Adoption decisions will now be made solely
on the basis of what is best for the child.
The local Concerned Christian Coalition is
not pleased. “It’s a huge, huge issue and the fact
they’re pushing it through in one day suggests
they’re trying to sweep it under the rug,”
spokesman Andrew Neufeld told the Calgary
Sun. “The debate has been held behind closed
doors.”
A
bill introduced in the Quebec National
Assembly May 6 seeks to grant same-sex
couples the benefits, rights and obligations of
common-law spouses.
Justice Minister Linda Goupil, who authored
the measure, says it deletes gender references
from 28 laws and 11
regulations in areas
such as inheritance,
family law, hospital
ization, taxes, auto
insurance, pensions,
workers compensa
tion, student aid and
legal aid.
The bill is expected to pass.
“The recognition of same-sex couples is the
object of a vast consensus, and reflects the social
values currently accepted by a large majority of
the population,” Goupil says. “Quebecers will
no doubt be proud of being part of a society
which once again demonstrates its openness, its
solidarity and its respect of minorities.”
FR AN CE
O
n May 11, the French Senate rejected a bill
that would have granted unmarried part
ners many of the rights and obligations of matri
mony.
The National Assembly had passed the mea
sure April 7 by a vote of 300-253.
CANADA
egislation allowing adoption by gay and les
bian couples was introduced in and passed
by the Legislative Assembly of the Canadian
province of Alberta May 13.
L
etropolitan Life insurance company is
running a provocative ad in the South
African glossy gay magazine OUTright.
M
IN TE R N A TIO N A L
T
he 19th International Lesbian and Gay
Association World Conference is sched
uled to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa,
from Sept. 19 to 25.
According to organizers, the confab, titled
Building Partnerships for Equality, is the “first
step in setting up a regional structure in Africa
and is a significant step in showing support for
LBGT organizations in Africa."
I LG A is a federation of some 400 gay and
lesbian groups from more than 80 nations.
For further information, including scholar
ship forms, contact Carrie Shelver of the
National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equali
ty by e-mailing to ilga@ncgle.org.za.
*$ *
T
he International Lesbian and Gay Youth
Organisation will stage its 15th annual
conference July 28 to Aug. 3 in Barcelona,
Spain.
This year’s theme is gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgendered youth and education.
The ad shows two men, who could pass as
accountants, standing and holding notebooks.
One man is looking at the other’s notebook,
which the latter is holding near his crotch.
The photo caption reads: “ ‘Nice endowment,’
said Steve, admiring Sco tt’s impressive pack-
»»
age.
"Education plays a great role in creating and
maintaining certain norms and rules in society,”
organizers say. “Unfortunately, queer issues have
always been a taboo in the regular school sys
tems. Our youth groups can help repair the
‘damage’ caused by this taboo, but at the same
time we should start discussing how we change
this attitude in the school system.”
For more information, send an e-mail to
iglyo@wxs.nl.
G ER M AN Y
- 2 -
fficials in Hamburg launched a registry for
same-sex couples May 6.
Only residents of the city may register.
Rights are granted in the areas of hospital visita
tion, public accommodations and housing.
The federal government has promised to
introduce a national registered partnership law
by the end of the year to grant same-sex couples
some of the rights and privileges of matrimony.
A recent Forsa Institute survey found that
Germans are divided on the topic of same-sex
marriage. O f 1,004 people questioned, 46 per
n May 4, European Parliament officials
canceled an exhibit of Swedish photogra
pher Elisabeth Ohlson’s controversial show Ecce
Homo, which, among other images, depicts Jesus
and the apostles in drag and shows a nude Jesus
being baptized.
Euro MP Pertti Paasio of Finland arranged
the showing but then agonized about his deci
sion and finally determined the photos would
shock or insult some MPs, Swedish media
reported.
The parliament is in Strasbourg, France.
O
SOUTH AFRICA
cent said they opposed the concept, while 45
percent said it was OK.
O
UNITED KINGDOM
T
he British Museum has paid $2.9 million
for a 1,900-year-old silver Roman drink
ing goblet decorated with gay sex scenes, the
Daily Telegraph reports.
The director of the museum’s Greek and
Roman department, Dyfri Williams, says the
5-inch-tall cup is the only known object of its
kind. Similar sex scenes have been found on
Roman glass and pottery but not on silver-
work.
Two pairs of lovers are depicted: a bearded
man making love to a prepubescent youth as
another youth peers around a door, and two
boys having sex.
“They {the Romans] were clearly very
interested in sex in a wide, uncomplicated
manner but they had no term for homosexu
als,” Williams says. "They had different sexual
hang-ups from us.”
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