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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 2, 1999)
CANADA he House of Commons voted 216-55 on June 8 to define marriage as between a man and a woman. In an unusual move, the motion was sup ported by the Liberal government even though it was introduced by the opposition Reform Party. The vote came three weeks after the Cana dian Supreme Court K rewrote the definition | of the word spouse to 8 include same-sex cou- a pies. The 8-1 ruling & could lead to hun- 2 dreds of provincial i and federal laws being revised to delete het erosexist definitions of spouse. “This government has no intention of changing the definition of marriage or legislating same-sex marriage,” Jus tice Minister Anne McLellan said before the vote. “I fundamentally do not believe that it’s necessary to change the definition of marriage to accommodate the equality issues around same- sex partners that now face us as Canadians.” Reform Member of Parliament Gurman Gre- wal told the House: “T he term marriage is a cor nerstone of our public policy and ought not to be unilaterally changed by the courts, by bureau crats or by the cabinet behind closed doors.” Openly gay MPs Svend Robinson and Real Menard called the vote homophobic. “The Reform Party doesn’t believe in equal ity for gays and lesbians, period,” Robinson said. “We have no choice but to recognize it as discrim ination against gay persons,” said Menard. Meanwhile, results of an Angus Reid Group poll released June 9 show that 53 percent of Canadians believe gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to get married. The survey questioned 1,500 Canadians. T - 5 » L nder pressure from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the Toronto Transit Commission has printed gay advertisements on 700,000 transit transfers— six years after the group Toronto Area Gays and Lesbians bought the ad space. The ads promote counseling services. Transit officials refused to run the ads until now because they considered them controversial. FIN LA N D committee appointed by the minister of justice recommended the nation enact a registered partnership scheme for gay and les bian couples. O n June 1, the committee suggested regis tered couples receive all the rights and obliga tions of matrimony except access to adoption. Similar laws are in effect, with minor differ ences, in Denmark, Greenland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. A IN TERN ATIO N AL new organization called Euroslavia hopes to unite gays and lesbians from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Yugoslavia and Macedonia (the nations of the former Yugoslavia). The group wants to demonstrate that homo sexuality knows know borders, reports the Swedish gay newspaper QX. For more information, visit the Internet site euroslavia.ses.nu. A T N E T H E R LA N D S he lives of openly gay men and lesbians in the Dutch military have improved dramat ically in recent years, a new Defense Ministry study found. Only one in 10 gay soldiers feels he or she is shunned due to his or her sexuality—down from more than 60 percent in 1992. Eighty percent of military gays said their col leagues are aware of their sexual orientation. THAILAND hirty gay and transvestite actors and activists picketed the national govern ment’s media office June 10 in protest against a new directive to limit appearances by trans actors and characters on television programs. “The discriminatory order that you issued will make me and other transvestite actors like me lose our jobs and starve to death,” shouted actor and dancer Prakom Pimthong, according to Reuters. T he order was issued by government spokesman General Vichit Wuthihampol, who said citizens had been complaining to Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai via his Web site. Transvestites are common on Thai prime time soap operas and game shows, and the nation is considered to be relatively tolerant of gay and trans people. T TU R KEY ore than 100 people turned out for the Second Gathering of Turkish Gays and Lesbians in late April in the capital, Ankara. They came from Istanbul, Izmir, Denizli, Adana, Qorum, Mersin Korfezi, Polatli, Bolu, Kars, Nazilli, Aydin, Kayseri and Edime. 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UNITED KINGDOM ven though it terminated a planned joint venture with U.S. right-wing preacher Pat Robertson, the Bank of Scotland is still being punished by angry Scots. O n June 7, the Manufacturing Science and Finance Union dropped a multimillion-dollar plan to market the bank’s credit card to its 420,000 members. “Our basic philosophy as a union is to pro mote tolerance in society. We cannot remain associated with a financial institution that appears to take this principle so lightly,” said General Secretary Roger Lyons. The bank abandoned its plan to offer direct- banking services to viewers of Robertson’s 700 C lub television show and members of his Chris tian Coalition after Robertson said on the show that Scotland is a “dark land” where “homosex uals are riding high in the media." Gay men and lesbians had been the first group to attack the bank over its deal with Robertson. 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