i'iu m í 'm e te s
eluded that much of the recent syphilis trans
mission between men likely resulted from oral
sex rather than unprotected anal sex.
IT A L Y
atican officials are circulating a draft of
new church laws that would ban gays in
seminaries and the priesthood.
The document, prepared by the Congre
gation for Catholic Education and the C on
gregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has
been sent to theologians, canon lawyers and
others for comment. It says that because
Catholic teaching holds that gays are “objec
tively disordered,” it makes sense to keep
them out of the priesthood.
Catholic doctrine considers queer sex
“intrinsically evil,” “deviant” and “contrary to
the laws of nature.” Gay relationships are “a
deplorable distortion of what should he a
communion of love and life between a man
and a woman in a reciprocal gift open to life.”
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when you are!"
T
A kiss is just a kiss, a U .K . television watchdog agency
ruled after a smooch between two male cops on the
popular drama T h e B ill prompted dozens of complaints
•
A A A MORTGAGE
Æ k WS Advocates
9900 S.W. Wilshire Street • Portland, Oregon 97225
•
J A M A IC A
wo gay men were granted asylum in
Britain last month because its not safe
to he queer in Jamaica. The House of Lords Elephant Man is the reggae world’s Eminem
extended asylum law to cover “particular
social groups” in 1999.
hatred in those young people’s eyes was fright
The applicants presented evidence of
ening. Some of them looked like they would kill
threats, murders and machete attacks against
me if they had the chance.”
Jamaican gays as well as popular music lyrics urg
ing listeners to hum, heat and shoot “chi chi
men,” which is slang for “faggots.” Three of the
he Independent Television Commission
nations most successful groups, TO K, Capelton
ruled Oct. 14 that a gay kiss shown by the
and Elephant Man, have recorded such songs.
ITV1 network before the 9 p.m. starting time for
Gay sex is punished in Jamaica with up to 10
adult content was acceptable.
years in prison at hard labor.
About 170 viewers complained to the watch
dog agency about a kiss between two
male cops on the popular drama The
Bill, which airs at 8 p.m. In rejecting
the complaints, the commission said a
kiss is a kiss regardless of the gender of
the smoochers.
“The program code does not dis
tinguish between the sexual orienta
tion of characters hut asks that any
sexual behavior he appropriately lim
ited and inexplicit before 9 p.m.,”
the ruling stated. “Considering the
general portrayal of relationships in
this series, the ITC felt the scene was
not sexually explicit.”
Colleen Weed
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CONTEMPORARY
ORIGINALS
rsonists torched the Gay Men’s
Health Center in Edinburgh,
Scotland, Sept. 30.
Firefighters doused the flames
quickly, hut patient records and computers were
destroyed, and the facility suffered extensive
smoke and water damage. “The whole room
kxiks like a volcano has erupted,” said Bmce
Fraser, the center’s chief executive.
A
U N IT E D K I N G D O M
ctivists picketed London’s Music of Black
Origin Awards on Oct. 1 because Best Reg
gae Act nominees Capelton, Elephant Man and
TOK have recorded songs urging that gays he
shot, burned or beaten to death.
None of the three won. The protesters, from
IS R A E L
the group OutRage!, said they were attacked by
I ' el Aviv extended various spousal benefits
a “screaming, homophobic mob" of teen-age
!.. to gay couples Oct. 3, Ha'aretz reported.
reggae fans.
Same-sex pairs will have access to discounts and
benefits at cultural facilities, libraries, swimming
“Yelling ‘Kill the batty boy’ and ‘Kill chi chi
men’ [Jamaican for ‘faggots’], 25 mostly black ; pools and city events, the daily newspaper said.
teen-age music fans kicked, punched, spat on
‘The municipality will treat couples known
and hurled beer cans, coins and cigarette
to the public, including single-sex couples, as
lighters at gay human rights campaigner Peter
couples in every sense and will confer to them
Tatchell after he held up a placard with the
the same discounts and benefits in public serv
ices which are provided to married couples,” the
words ‘M OBO rewards anti-gay hate,’ ” Out-
Rage reported in a press release. Fearing for their
new regulations state. The benefits are available
safety, the protesters abandoned their demon
to couples who live together and submit an affi
stration and were escorted away by police.
davit of their relationship. JH
“The collective homophobic hysteria was
absolutely terrifying,” Tatchell said. “It was like
Com piled by R ex WOCKNER , who has reported
what white racists did to the black civil rights for the gay press since 1985. He has a bachelor’s
marchers in the Deep South during the 1960s.
degree in journalism from Drake University and
For a moment, I was in fear of my life. The
started his career as a radio reporter.
V
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