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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2001)
decamhflf 21, 3001 » ty and equal protection under the law and impedes A ID S prevention work. “Private, consensual adult sexual relation falls within the intimate associations protected from the state intrusions under Article 21 [of the constitution), the exercise of which lies at the core of individual autonomy and are key to development of ones personality,” Naz said. “There exists no compelling state interest to justify the curtailment of such an important element in the fundamental right to life and liberty. “The social effects [of the statute] drive gay men underground, with a devastating impact upon the AIDS prevention effort," the group added. “Once underground, they become extremely vulnerable to A ID S because it becomes difficult for them to negotiate safe sexu al behaviors. It also becomes difficult to identify and target this population for AIDS prevention efforts through education and medical services.” Section 377 punishes “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal” with up to life in prison. CANADA he province of Quebec will set up a civil unions procedure granting gay couples every right of marriage except access to adop tion, the government said Dec. 7. The plan will he submitted to the Que bec National Assem bly, where it is expect ed to pass. “We’re aiming to erase the discrimination that exists in our laws and guarantee that same- sex couples have the same rights as others,” provincial Justice Minister Paul Begin said. A recent poll found 76.5 percent of Que beckers support letting gays formalize their rela tionships. But some activists are not pleased with the proposal. “This is not true equality,” Rene Leboeuf told the Toronto Star. “The day that we have access to marriage and divorce like other people, that will he a true legal status." Leboeuf and his partner, Michael Hendricks, have sued Quebec for the right to marry under the ordinary marriage laws. The case is ongoing. Irene Demczuk of the Coalition for the Recognition of Same-Sex Couples of Quebec told the Canadian Press wire service: "If we don’t get parenting rights, we will he hack in courts. Parental recognition is not a minor thing.” T •9» oyal Canadian Mounted Police recruits are asked whether they are gay, the Ottawa Cit izen revealed Dec. 3. "This is a question that is black and white in the security interview,” Staff Sgt. Normand Nadeau admitted. “It’s there. It is common knowledge to everybody that has gone through the interview. This is a departmental policy. “Our members have to deal with trip-secret files on a regular basis and are made awàre of privileged information,” Nadeau told the news paper. “We want to make sure there is no com promise [because of blackmail]." Legal experts told the Citizen the question violates the Canadian Human Rights Act, which prohibits such inquiries during job inter views. It also might contravene the privacy and ffeedom-of-expression guarantees of the Canadi an Charter of Rights and Freedoms, lawyers said. “Certainly an individual’s sexual orienta tion should not be of any import to an employer one way or another,” said Catherine Barratt, Canadian Human Rights Com m is sion spokeswoman. R anada might be trying to pull a fast one on gay couples, and they have responded with a pair of class-action lawsuits seeking $400 mil lion in back pensions. When the nation extended pension benefits to surviving gay partners last year, officials declared only gays whose partners died after Jan. 1, 1998, would be eligible. The lawsuits— one covering all areas but British Columbia, which has somewhat different laws, and one covering British Columbia— claim the retroac tive date should be April 17, 1985, the day equality guarantees were enshrined in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "The Jan. 1, 1998, cutoff date was imposed on same-sex couples on a purely arbitrary basis and without any legal justification,” lawyer Douglas Elliott told a news conference. “All Canadians rely on the Canadian Pension Plan. Gays retire, too.” Co-counsel Patricia LeFebour added: “Work ing gays and lesbians have paid into the plan all their lives. The government does not discrimi nate when it collects the money; it only dis criminates in paying the benefit.” Lead plaintiff G eorge Hislop told re porters: “It seems the government wants to give itself immunity for past discrimination. Our government has effectively confiscated our pensions.” C S W ED EN O weden’s government presented a hill to O Parliament on Nov. 28 to criminalize agita tion against homosexuals. “This is to be effect ed by extending the penal provision for agita tion against a national or ethnic group to include threats or expressions of contempt alluding to sexual orientation,” the Ministry of Justice said. Serious agitation— such as “hate speech alluding to homosexuals”— would bring a six- month to four-year jail term. The laws should take effect between July 1, 2002, and Jan. 1, 2003, the government said. cW eslside' ¿fio risi T H A IL A N D i undreds of HIV-positive people demon strated ! Nov. 30 at Government House in Bangkok, demanding the Public Health M in istry provide anti-HIV drugs under the uni versal health care plan. Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan responded with a promise to pro vide anti-retro- viral treatment to 10,000 HIV positive people next year and to 150,000 by c , v , 2006. Generic Sudarat Kevuraphan versions of common anti-HIV medications will he produced cheaply by the Government Phar maceutical Organization. T h e International G ay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the Thai N et work of People Living with HIV/AIDS and the Thai N G O Coalition on A ID S are con tinuing their push for prompt treatment of all Thai A ID S sufferers by writing to the prime minister and the health minister. About 1 mil lion of Thailand’s 60 million residents are believed to he HIV-positive. H Compiled by R ex WOCKNER, who has reported for the gay press since 1985. 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