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HiTTiTFlnews
Jteautijul Faejzs
because Icelanders have embraced inclusivity.”
“Every bar is now a mixed bar,” the magazine
said. “The one gay-identified nightclub, Spot
light, sports the ubiquitous rainbow flag outside,
but the crowd inside is as mixed as the straight
club next door.”
oger Thibault and Theo Wouters never
knew they had so many friends.
MEXICO
More than 4,000 sexual minorities marched
ore than 200 people marched in Monter down their street May 27 in the Montreal sub
rey’s first Gay Pride parade May 26. They
urb of Pointe Claire to protest a homophobic
carried signs demanding respect, equal rights
neighbor who allegedly has spit at them, called
and an end to homophobia.
them names and whacked golf balls at them. A
court case is pending.
“I’m just floored,” Wouters told the Montreal
Gazette. “I feel that I can live again."
R
M
ESTONIA
Tparliament lowered the legal age for gay sex
I from 16 to 14, in line with the law for het
erosexual sex, June 6.
The move came as the body enacted a new
penal code for the nation by a vote of 51-1. It
will come into force in about a year, according
to Lilian Kotter of the Estonian Association for
Lesbians and Bisexual Women.
SWEDEN
Police close down a gay bar in Mexico City
“Being gay is not a perversion,” one sign
read. Others said: “We are not delinquents,”
“Police abuse and detentions must stop immedi
ately,” and “We demand legislative changes that
fight discrimination of all types.”
In front of the Catholic cathedral, the
marchers chanted, “The church is homophobic.”
The parade circled the Grand Plaza and ended
on the steps of City Hall, where participants sang
the national anthem and released hundreds of
multicolored balloons. A few spectators shouted
anti-gay insults, but the majority was supportive.
“We are demanding our rights like all other
citizens,” said Maria Aurora Mota, Oasis Center
for Sexual Diversity director. “We seek the right
to health and work. We want to make ourselves
visible to society. These events have been taking
place throughout the world, and now the
gay/homosexual movement of Monterrey is
strong enough to decide to organize this action.”
IQolice have closed down numerous Mexico
1 City gay bars and clubs in recent weeks,
including El Taller, Anyway, Factory, The
Doors, Blush, 14 and Bar Zoo.
The venues in the upscale Zona Rosa neigh
borhood have been accused of “irregularities” in
their operating permits. More than 300 gay
demonstrators blocked the street in
front of El Taller, perhaps Mexico
City’s most well-known gay bar,
May 22 and 23.
According to www.sergay.com.mx,
neighborhood government head Do
lores Padiema is responsible for the clo
sures. “(It is] part of a campaign in
which she intends to close down every
meeting place of the gay, lesbian, bisex
ual and transgender community,” the
Internet site said.
wedish gay couples married under the
nation’s registered partnership law do not
get spousal benefits when one of them goes to
work for the European Union bureaucracy in
Brussels, the European Court of Justice ruled
May 31. “The term ‘marriage’ means a union
between two persons of the opposite sex,” the
court declared.
Sweden’s partnership law grants registered
couples more than 99 percent of the rights and
obligations of marriage. In the Netherlands,
gay couples can marry under the same laws as
heterosexuals, which could present a greater
challenge to the EU should a Dutch couple
seek benefits.
“We consider this judgment to be wrong and
not acceptable,” said Jackie Lewis, co-chair of
the European Region of the International Les
bian and Gay Association. “It disregards the EU
Charter of Fundamental Rights adopted in Nice
in December 2000. Article 21 of the charter
prohibits discrimination on grounds of sexual
orientation. With its narrow interpretation, the
ECJ also sets a problematic precedent for same-
sex registered partners and spouses who want to
move freely within the European Union with
out losing the legal rights and protection they
enjoy in their home country.” JM
S
Compiled by REX WOCKNER, who has reported
for the gay press since 1985. He has a bachelor’s
degree in journalism from Drake University and
started his career as a radio reporter.
CANADA
ova Scotia has become the
first province to register gay
couples, granting them many rights
of marriage. The process costs $15
and takes place at the Office of Vital
Statistics.
Theo Wouters and Roger Thibault share a kiss
r
Marriage rights are granted in
while leading an anti-homophobia protest through
areas such as pensions, wills, medical
the streets of a Montreal suburb
decisions, joint property, alimony
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and child support, according to the
N
permanent Cosmetics
lips, eyeliner, areolas
eyebrows, traditional tattoo
free consultation
Toronto Star. Gay couples receive some marriage
rights in other provinces as well, but Nova Sco
tia is the first to set up a public registry.
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