24 Ju st out •
AUSTRALIA
T
10541 SE Cherry Blossom Dr., Portland (by Mall 205)
KAREN M. 6WEIGERT, MD
Phone
50 3 274-9936
O b ste trics and Gynecology
Fâx
he state of Western Australia is requiring
nightclubs that stay open past 1 a.m. to
install security cameras and keep tapes of their
customers’ faces for 14 days, which has upset
some gay bar owners who fear patrons will worry
about being outed.
Police say the new law will help them solve
crimes. Tim Brown, who owns Connections in
the state capital of Perth, thinks customers who
are not fully out of the closet will shy away from
his club for fear of being taped.
“We haven’t had any problems with violence
at Connections, and our record shows that,” he
told the West Australian newspaper. “We are
concerned for the privacy of the people who
come to the club. We didn’t even let people take
photos until about five years ago.”
Connections and 15 other clubs have asked
to be exempted from the law, which goes into
effect March 1.
503 274-2660
and “Homosexuality as a Sign of Degeneration
and Herald of the End of the World.”
The National Human Rights Office has
denounced the contest as “discriminatory,”
“offensive” and “humiliating” but not illegal.
GERMANY
D
aimler Chrysler is suing the Germ an
Web site Vaneo.de, which sells cosm et
ics to gays. The corporation, which produces
the Mercedes Vaneo van, says the site is detri
mental to its image. Bavarian businessman
Alfred Stoeckel, the site’s owner, says he owns
the legal rights to “Vaneo.de.”
NORWAY
F
inance Minister Per-Kristian Foss wed his
boyfriend Jan. 4 under a registered partner
ship law granting more than 99 percent of the
rights and obligations of marriage.
UNITED KINGDOM
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asketball star Randy Duck, a
guard for the Brighton Bears, is
talking to his lawyers after someone
impersonating him posted a sex ad on
a gay Web site, the Brighton Evening
Argus reported.
“This is really serious, and it is seri
ously false,” the 27-year-old said. “I did
not put this advert on the Web. 1 don’t
even know the Web site. I think it’s
pretty sad someone doesn’t have a life
and spends their time doing this.”
SOUTH AFRICA
S
ame-sex partners of members of the
South African National Defense
Force are set to receive all spousal bene
fits following publication of new defini
tions of “marital status” and “spouse” in
the Government Gazette, Q Online
reported Jan. 11.
The changes bring the forces into
line with the nation’s post-apartheid
constitution, which bans discrimina
tion based on sexual orientation. For
military purposes, “spouse” now is
defined as “a partner (the partnership
being either heterosexual or homosexu
al) in a permanent life partnership, if
such partnership was attested before a
Notary Public.”
British basketball babe Randy Duck has denied post
ing a sex ad on a gay Web site
LATVIA
L
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for appointment call
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Cronin & Caplan Realty Group, Inc.
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503 - 497-5255
stranski @ windermere.com
atvian Catholic Archbishop Janis Pujats
outraged gays Jan. 10 with a Web site com
mentary saying: “Vampires and kleptomaniacs
[like homosexuals) are also strange orienta
tions. But we aren’t required to adopt a law
about their special status.”
Meanwhile, Protestant Archbishop Janis
Vanags told the newspaper Rigas Balss: “Now
homosexuals are recognized as a minority. In
principle after them pedophiles may also be
recognized as a minority.”
The clerics’ statements reportedly will be
included in their planned submissions to the
ongoing “ ‘Latvia W ithout Hom osexuality”
essay contest organized by a publishing house,
news agencies said.
Suggested themes in
clude “ Isn’t It High
Time We Eliminated
Homosexuality
“ H om osexu ality— A
Norm or Satanism V\
“Does Latvia Need to
Join the European
U nion T h at Blas
phemes the Holy Spir
it
by
Permitting
Janis Pujats
Sam e-Sex Marriages T’
He is the first member o f the national
government to enter into a same-sex union.
Foss, a Conservative, and Jan Erik Knarbakk
tied the knot at the Norwegian Embassy in
Stockholm .
They have refused requests for interviews. “It
is a private matter,” Foss told the Dagens Naer -
ingsliv newspaper.
The wedding might be one for world history
books as well. “We think that this is the first
time that a Cabinet minister anywhere has
entered a [gay registered] partnership,” said
Ragnhild Samuelsberg of the Norwegian Min
istry for Family and Children’s Affairs.
ISRAEL
O
penly gay U .S. Rep. Barney Frank and
his partner made an appearance in mid-
January at Jem salem Open House, the city’s
gay community center. The Massachusetts
Democrat was in town on official business,
meeting with the president and prime minis
ter of Israel and the president of the Palestin
ian Authority.
“Frank praised the work being done at the
Open House in promoting LG B T rights, par
ticularly efforts towards including gay and les
bian persons of all religious and ethnic back
ground," the center said. “He strongly urged
the Open House to actively pursue the politi
cal struggle for human rights and cited the gay-