augusta 1999 » Ja ttf M tj2 1
tWTïïFInews
A U S TR A LIA
IN D IA
he world’s only openly gay justice of a court
of final appeal broke his silence July 2 dur
ing a conference on recognition of same-sex
partnerships.
Australian High Court Justice Michael Kirby
came out in April by listing his male partner of
30 years in the 1999 edition of Who’s Who in
Australia , but had refused further comment.
Now, in a 30-page speech to legal scholars,
Kirby said, among much else: “People are not
fools. Once they recognize the overwhelming
commonalities of shared human experience, the
alienation and demand for adherence to shame
crumbles.... Once they know friends or family
members are gay, the hatred tends to melt. In
the wake of the changing social attitudes
inevitably come changing laws: statutes made by
parliaments as well as the common law made by
judges.”
n July 2, 15 gay men and lesbians staged a
Friendship Walk in Calcutta, visiting the
offices of various nongovernmental and commu
nity-based organizations to teach them about
the significance of the Stonewall Riots.
The walk— the nation’s first pride event—
was organized
by
LGBT
India, an um
brella group
of homosexu
al organiza
tions.
“Our goal
was clearly
not to create
any tensions in the already fragmented society
that we live in,” said LGBT India’s Owais Khan.
“It was rather to provide a healing touch to the
wider Indian community by integrating Indians
through love.”
Gay leader Ashok Row Kavi commented:
“Between 30 and 50 million men and women
with same-sex attraction cannot be wished away
or denied their right of freedom to love each
other. Calcutta had been chosen because it was
a city where revolutions started. What [the state
of West] Bengal thinks and does today, the rest
of India takes up tomorrow.”
T
D EN M A R K
he Ministry of Culture has funded a Guide
to Gay and Lesbian Denmark ’99, produced
by the Danish National Association of Gays and
Lesbians.
Among the English-language publication’s
more colorful passages: “If you come to Den
mark secretly hoping to be raped and ravaged by
a raucous band of longhaired, broad-shouldered
Viking queers, forget it. Danish gays are pretty
much a neatly coifed, reserved group fairly indis
tinguishable from their straight countrymen.”
The authors go on to explain: “That’s
because Denmark is very tolerant of homosexu
als, making the need for a separate political or
cultural identity mostly unnecessary. In Den
mark, gay men have most of the same rights as
other citizens, including the right to marry in a
civil ceremony. That said, there is still lots of
fun, e.g. parties, cruising and sex, to be had for
the passing tourist. There are clubs, bars, parks,
cinemas and toilets— as described in other sec
tions of this periodical—catering to every taste
and desire.”
T
G ER M A N Y
I
n a recent letter to a fellow Cabinet member,
Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping said gays
are unfit to hold leadership positions in the
army.
“Homosexuality justifies considerable doubts
about suitability and excludes soldiers from posts
entailing leadership, training and education,”
Scharping wrote to Environment Minister Jur
gen Trittin.
The letter was leaked to the media.
Trittin has championed the case of Lt. Win-
fried Stecher, 29, who has filed a federal court
case alleging he was not promoted because of his
sexual orientation.
O
M O N G O LIA
he country has its first gay organization,
Tavilan (“destiny" in English).
The group formed in response to police
harassment and “improper sentencing proce
dures that violated civilian rights,” organizers
said.
The 22 members have opened a small office
in downtown Ulan Bator from which they plan
to create a social network, communicate with
foreign gay groups and educate the general pub
lic. So far, they are offering a weekly social and
weekend basketball and volleyball games, and
they participated in the Run/Walk for AIDS.
Mongolia, with a population of 2.5 million,
is in central Asia between Russia on the north
and China on the south. It is slightly larger than
Alaska.
T
SO U TH A FR IC A
O
n July 5, about 300 demonstrators picket
ed the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg in
protest against Vice President A1 Gore’s alleged
efforts to limit the nation’s access to cheap
AIDS drugs.
They carried signs reading “Gore greed kills”
and “Stop U.S. bullying of poor countries.”
Citing international law, South Africa
enacted its own law in 1997— which Gore and
some 40 drug makers have opposed— that lets
the nation produce generic versions of AIDS
medicines and makes it possible to buy them
from countries where they are sold cheaply.
“The American government is simply acting
as a mouthpiece for the large pharmaceutical
corporations," said Moma Cornell, one of the
protesters. “They’re scared [that] Americans
who pay so much for their medicines will turn
around and say, ‘Hey, it’s cheaper over there.’ ”
Gore has said he does not oppose South
Africa’s efforts to make or import cheap AIDS
drugs but that the country must not violate
patent rights or international trade agreements
in the process.
SW ITZER LA N D
he government has initiated a complex
process that should result in recognition of
same-sex couples next year.
The most likely outcome will be a Scandina-
vian-style registered-partnership law that grants
most of the rights of matrimony.
On June 21, the Legal Commission of the
National Council expressed support for regis
tered partnership by an 18-3 vote and rejected
the notion of same-sex marriage by a 14-5 vote.
T
U N ITE D K IN G D O M
n the aftermath of the bombing of London’s
Admiral Duncan gay pub, Scotland Yard is
creating a unit to
monitor and investi
gate attacks on gay
men, lesbians, bisexu
als and trans people.
Metropolitan
police officers are
working with gay and
lesbian leaders to
launch the project,
which also aims to
improve
relations
between the cops and
queers.
Meanwhile, the
Admiral
Duncan
reopened July 2, nine
weeks to the minute
after it was nail-
bombed.
Three people died
and 86 were injured
in the April 30 blast,
which police blamed
on a 23-year-old engi
neer named David
Copeland.
At a brief ceremony, gay singer Boy George
said: “Tonight is about so many things. It is
about sadness and remembrance, but it is also
about moving on. The opening of the Admiral
I
Duncan in just nine weeks sends out a powerful
message to the small but very dangerous minor
ity that wishes to terrorize and destroy London’s
gay and ethnic communities.”
The reconstructed pub features a sculpted
light with three flickering candles and 86 twin
kling bulbs. A plaque reads: “The Admiral Dun
can will always remember our friends who were
killed or seriously injured on April 30, 1999, at
6:37 p.m.”
egendary English outlaw Robin Hood was
likely gay, scholars said July 11.
After studying 14th-century ballads that are
the
earliest
known
accounts of Hood’s deeds,
Cardiff University litera
ture professor Stephen
Knight said he deter
mined that Hood’s true
love, Maid Marian, was
fabricated
by
16th-
century authors to hetero-
sexualize the hero who
stole from the rich and
gave to the poor.
His real love was prob
ably Little John, Knight
said.
Cambridge University
medieval history professor
Barry Dobson agreed,
telling reporters: “In the 12th century, homo
sexuality was accepted, but in the 13th the
church became much less tolerant and such
people were driven underground.”
One of the ballads, translated from Middle
English, reads: “When Robin Hood was about
twenty years old... / He happen’d to meet Little
John / A jolly brisk blade, right fit for the trade, /
For he was a lusty young man.”
L
-c*-
ritish gay singer Sir Elton John, 52, had
heart surgery July 9 at Wellington Hospital
in north London.
He was fitted with a pacemaker after falling
ill on July 3 and learning he had an irregular
heartbeat.
“It came as a bit of a shock, but the operation
was a simple procedure,” John said. “The only
thing I really regret is canceling my shows.”
He added: “Thank God for the British med
ical system, because I went through every test
known to man to find out exactly what was
wrong. Initially I thought 1 had sunstroke.... I
will resume a normal lifestyle after a couple of
months rest. Life will get back to normal.”
B
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