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Protesters demonstrate Jan. 6 at the Vatican
■ ■ W
THE NETHERLANDS
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I
"\ u tch gays are planning a mass wedding
y April 1, when the Netherlands becomes
the first nation in the world to allow gay cou
ples to marry under regular marriage laws.
Several countries have gay registered partner
ship laws that give couples almost all rights of
marriage, but the Netherlands is the first
nation to grant gays access to plain old mar
riage itself.
So far, 14 couples have confirmed partici
pation in the event, says Henk Krol, publisher
of De Gay Krant magazine and ch ief organizer
o f the ceremony. Couples from other
nations— gay or straight— cannot marry in the
Netherlands.
Marriagelike gay partnership laws have
been passed in Denmark, Greenland, France,
Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Vermont. A
few other nations, including Canada, grant
gays many rights of marriage under common-
law marriage statutes.
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UNITED KINGDOM
B
ritain’s Advertising Standards Authority
has opened an investigation into Queer-
company.com billboards showing an underwear-
chVl lesbian couple kissing on a bed with the
tagline “Thank God for Women."
T h e campaign, which also will include a
male version of the poster, is scheduled to
appear all around London and in subway cars.
It is thought to be Britain’s first mainstream
gay ad campaign.
T h e authority said
it has received 10
complaints.
“It is very sad that
people should co m
plain about a very ten
der, rom antic image
which is not porno
graphic,” a Queercompany spokesman told
the Guardian. “T h e A SA has rejected com
plaints against our adverts in the past, and we
expect the same reaction this tim e.”
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ritain forced legalization of gay sex in five of
its Caribbean territories Jan. 5 after the
islands’ parliaments refused to do so for almost
two years.
The order from the British Privy Council
decriminalized gay sex between consenting
adults in Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the
British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and the Turks
and Caicos Islands. Britain said the islands’
sodomy bans violated international human
rights agreements to which the United King
dom is a signatory.
B
i
Washington Square
503.620.2243
ik M M
Some religious leaders on the islands
denounced London’s move. “This is totally
unacceptable to the minds of the Christian
community here,” said Nicholas Sykes, Cayman
Islands Church of England chief pastor.
VATICAN
A
bout 20 U .S. homosexuals demonstrated
Jan. 3 to 7 outside the Holy Door of St.
Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. T h e members of
Soulforce and Dignity/USA said they were
protesting C a th o lic C hurch teaching on
homosexuality.
The church considers any sexual act that is
not open to the possibility of procreation to be a
mortal sin. (A mortal sin, which is more serious
than a venial sin, that has not been absolved in
confession prior to one’s death condemns one’s
soul to hell.)
The procreation stance also leads the church
to categorize birth control, masturbation and
oral sex as mortal sins. “I don’t think they love
God’s gay children like they love God’s straight
children,” Soulforce executive director Mel
W hite told reporters.
SPAIN
nonprofit agency to facilitate dating
between HIV-positive people opened
Dec. 26 in Barcelona. For $6 0 a year, Sero-
Pos promises members a minimum o f three
dates with HIV-positive people who match
their stated tastes.
"T h e virus doesn’t damage only the
immune system o f affected people but also
their self-esteem ,” founder W erner T honi
said. “They feel less attractive and consider
themselves a danger to others."
A
MONGOLIA
ongolia has its first gay help line, funded
by the National A ID S Foundation. The
money was provided based on results of a needs-
assessment study carried out by the Mongolian
gay organization Tavilan.
The hot line number is 011-976-9515-6075.
T h e group’s e-m ail address is tavilan_org
©hotmail.com.
M
SLOVAKIA
T
he respected weekly magazine Slovak
Spectator named Peter Kralik, head of a
national coalition o f gay groups known as
Difference, its man o f the year. T h e activist
told the publication, “I’m trying to help
change society so that more Slovaks can
come out and so that others accept the natur
al fact that homosexuals exist in Slovakia and
that we have always been here and will
always be here."