22 J u s t Mat » march 1.2002
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Confidentially.
EGYPT
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TH IS WAY OUT
AT 6
PM E V E R Y T U E S D A Y .
ore than 6,000 Frenchmen, including
many celebrities, signed an open let
ter to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
protesting his government’s crackdown on
gays. T he correspondence was handed over
to the Egyptian Embassy on Feb. 8 in Paris
by composer Jean-Michel Jarre, just ahead
of the leader’s arrival in the city.
Among the celebrity signers were actress
Catherine Deneuve, former Manchester
United ftxithall star Eric Cantona and direc
tor Frederic Mitterrand, nephew of the late
President François Mitterrand, according to
Agence France-Presse. Egyptian authorities
have been on the rampage against gays for
several months, and more than 40 men have
been sent to prison for up to five years.
Most recently, a court in Boulak-al-
Dakrour near Cairo convicted four men
Feb. 3 of consensual homosexual behavior
(“the habitual practice of debauchery”) and
C ath e rin e D eneuve (right, w ith fellow qu eer icon
jailed them for three years.
David B ow ie in 1 9 8 3 ’s T h e H u n g e r) has com e to
During a Feb. 9 meeting with Mubarak,
the defense o f persecuted Egyptians
French President Jacques Chirac expressed
officials they were smoking crack and having sex
“concern” about the crackdown and asked him
whether releasing the men from prison would he
in the toilet. They were not charged with a
crime, because no drugs were found, hut were
possible. "In the name o f the defense of freedoms
deported hack to England.
and the avowal of all forms of discrimination, the
president expressed his deep emotion and worry,”
his press secretary said.
ritain is set to repeal several laws targeting
Meanwhile, the International Gay and Lesbian
gay men, the independent reported.
Human Rights G un mission has denounced the
Statutes will he dumped banning “gross inde
governments of the United States and the Euro
cency” between men, “soliciting for an immoral
pean Union nations for ignoring the crackdown.
purpose" and “buggery." Oscar Wilde was prose
“As the arrests and draconian convictions of alleged
cuted under the gross indecency
homosexuals in Egypt intensify,
statute, which prohibits men from,
IGLH RC [calls upon| the Bush
among other things, kissing each
administration and the European
other in public.
Union to pressure Egypt’s govern
ment to end the campaign of perse
P O LA N D
cution and to release the men now in
prison,” the group said.
he government unveiled gay
partnership
legislation
CANADA
Feh. 14- “We must adapt our law to
the...European Union, where it is
^ ay couples now have to file
illegal to discriminate against peo
2 joint tax returns if they’ve lived
ple of different sexual orientations,"
and slept together for at least a year.
said Parliament member Joanna
T he Modernization of Benefits
Sosnowska, the hill’s author.
and Obligations A ct was passed in
O
scar
Wilde
2000 and came into full effect for
Gay advocate M arcin La-
the 2001 tax year. According to
komski called the proposal a “first
step in the right direction.” But fellow activist
Xtra!, couples who fail to declare their relation
ship can he reassessed and ordered to pay hack
Slawek Starosta said he doubts the hill will
taxes and benefits along with interest.
make it through Parliament.
A spokesman for the nation’s C atholic hier
archy called
the
measure “an attack
against...marriage and the family.” Poland is 90
oronto’s Glad Day Btxtkshop has lost its
percent Roman C atholic and hopes to join the
challenge to the province of O ntario’s
mandatory film review process.
15-member European U nion in 2003.
T h e gay-themed store argued that the
Meanwhile, Warsaw has seen an explosion
$2.65-per-m inute fee for approving movies
o f commercial gay life in recent months, with
effectively bans sm aller projects whose
five new clubs opening. T h e city also has two
importers cannot justify the expense based on
older establishments.
anticipated video sales. Owner John Scythes
called the requirement an unconstitutional
S W E D EN
violation of freedom of expression.
he government has introduced legislation
extending adoption rights to gay couples.
But Ontario G xirt of Justice Judge Bruce
Registered gay couples already have nearly
Young convicted Glad Day of selling a video lack-
ing an Ontario Film Review Board approval stick-
every other marriage right in Sweden. “Many chil-
er, saying it had no right to challenge a process it dren are already growing up in homosexual fami-
had refused to participate in. The store could he
lies, and this is about their rights," Social Derruv
fined up to $62,800.
cratic Parliament member Marianne Carlstrom
Scythes plans to appeal. “We thought the
told a press conference.
judge would at least kx>k at the fee structure,’ he
T he proposal should see a parliamentary vote
told Xtra!
before July and become law next year. Sweden’s
gay registered partnership law came into force
U N ITE D K IN G D O M
Jan. 1, 1995, following in the footsteps of Lien-
n American Airlines flight from London to
mark in 1989 and Norway in 1993.
New York City was escorted to the airport
by U .S. military fighter jets Feh. 8 after passen
R O M A N IA
gers became alarmed by two men who went to
fter years of pressure from the European
the bathrixtm together four or five times.
U nion, Romania fully legalized gay sex
Feh. 2. It also enacted a law banning diserrati-
T he suspects, who were not named, later told
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