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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2003)
tabi uà/y 7 . 2ÛÜ3.* j M t M t | 2 3 nTTTÏÏFlnews U N ITED K IN G D O M ays in Derry, Northern Ireland, were 3 warned Jan. 10 to he cautious when leaving gay cluhs following a jump in anti-gay assaults and intimidation, the Derry Journal reported. “There has been a marked increase in the num ber of homophobic attacks in the city,” said David McCartney, Rainbow Project director. “Although we do not believe that the attacks are being per petrated by an organized gang, we are worried for the safety of the gay community walking through the Strand Road and Foyle Street late at night.” McCartney said the problem is exacerbated by the fact that victims of such crimes often are reluctant to report them to authorities. Police Service of Northern Ireland Sgt. Harry Faulkner assured the community that anti-gay attacks will “he investigated in a professional, sensitive and confidential manner.” ay men who were convicted of having sex 3 with 16- or 17-year-olds before Britain reduced the gay age of consent in 2000 will not he removed from the nation s Sex Offenders Register, Home Secretary David Blunkett has decided, according to the Jan. 10 issue of the Pink Paper. “We do not impose new legislation retro spectively,” a Home Office spokeswoman affirmed. “Having sex with a man under 18 was still judged to he a crime at that point in time. To declare an amnesty would have major impli cations for criminal records and recompense, not just in this case hut for other crimes.” O ne of Britain’s most promising pianists is being sent hack to Zimbabwe after his application for asylum was rejected hy the Home Office, The O bserver reported Jan. 5. Michael Brownlee Walker, who is gay and the great-grandson of one of Zimbabwe's earliest white settlers, fears he will he harassed or detained because of his name and because he has attended protests in Britain organized hy the Zimbabwean opposition group Movement for Democratic Change. His family’s property— along with that of other Zimbabwean whites— recently was confis cated, and his parents and brother fled the country. “I have no family there now,” he told The Observer. “They were all advised to evacuate because it was so dangerous. They had started to kill farmers, including people we knew." The 25-year-old also fears he will he victimized because of his sexuality. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said gays are “repugnant to my human conscience...immoral and repulsive.” Brownlee Walker said organized anti-gay violence is common in Zimbabwe, although news of such incidents rarely makes it into the international media. “Victimization of the gay community is uni versal and constant in Zimbabwe,” affirmed Peter Tatchell, a British gay activist and long time Mugabe foe. “No one is safe.” *:♦ ritish Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government I Is Jan. 7 announced its support for repeal of the infamous Section 28, which prohibits spending public money to promote homosexuality and bars schools from teaching the “acceptability of homo sexuality as a pretended family relationship.” Local Government Min ister Nick Raynsford told the House of Commons the 1998 law is “unnecessary and undesirable” and “gives considerable offense to many people whose lifestyle is stigmatized” by it. The Scottish Parliament re pealed the U.K.-wide law June 21, 2000. N ick Raynsford SW EDEN Swedish woman who had unprotected sex with three men without telling them she was HIV-positive was sent to jail for a year and fined $13,¿30 Jan. 4- None of the men caught HIV- Members of A C T UP/Paris threw red dye and paint-filled condoms at the Swedish Embassy in France to protest the sentence Jan. 15. “AIDS is a disease, not a weapon,” the demonstrators said. A V A T IC A N CITY ex-change operations do not alter a person’s gender, the Vatican has declared, according to a Jan. 14 report on CathNews.com. T he Vatican document— which first was sent secretly to papal representatives, then later to the president of each nation’s bishops conference— instructs bishops and priests to never change a C atholic’s gender on his or her baptismal record. Transsexuals never can get married, he ordained to the priesthood or enter a religious order based on their post-surgery gender, the church’s doctrinal congregation ruled.. S law change likely was related to the Council of Europe’s demand that countries hoping to join the 44-nation organization decriminalize homosexuality. CANADA high schooler in North Vancouver who was the victim of repeated anti-gay tor ment at the hands of his classmates did not suf fer discrimination based on sexual orientation because he’s not gay, the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled Jan. 6. A British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal had come to the oppo site conclusion, saying the school district dis criminated against him based on his perceived sexuality when it failed to stop students from harassing him at Handsworth Secondary School from 1993 to 1998. Principal Terry Shaw admitted that Azmi Juhran had been severely harassed but said it was impossible for 70 teachers to fully police 1,300 students. The attacks included one in which a homophobe set the student’s shirt on fire, according to The Vancouver Sun. A Us Your Ideas Alameda Baking Company 4 7 2 7 NE Fremont • &03~282~2253 C le arly N o t Just a Patio C o v e r IN T ER N A TIO N A L he second European Bisexual Confer ence will he in Dihlin, Ireland, from July 4 to 6, which is Pride weekend. T he gathering “will he a place to exchange information and experience in the areas of freedom of sexual preference and the position of bisexuality within soci eties across Europe and also aims to improve bisexual visibility at the European level,” organizers said. T C L E A R Y M ,E /S £ K P h e European Parliament has urged the 15 nations of the European Union to grant all spousal rights to nonmarried The city of Barcelona recently honored longtime cohabiting couples— gay and straight. Spanish gay activist Jordi Petit (right, with Amnesty T h e nonbinding amendment to a International Secretary General Pierre Sane) human rights report passed Jan. 17 hy a S P A IN narrow margin— 277-269 with 14 abstentions. ongtime Spanish gay activist and former An amendment supporting full marriage for International Lesbian and Gay Association same-sex couples failed. Secretary General Jordi Petit has received the city of Barcelona’s Medal of Honor. It was pre sented Jan. 22 hy Mayor Joan Clos. he European Court of Human Rights ruled “I am very honored, and I understand that Jan. 9 that nations cannot have different Barcelona is recognizing not only my persons1 ages of consent for gay and straight sc*. work hut all homosexual volunteerism,” Petit The decision came in three cases challenging said. “This medal is for the thousands of gays Article 209 of Austria’s penal code, which and lesbians who have fought for their rights allowed heterosexual and lesbian sex at age 14 and against AIDS these past 25 years.” hut prohibited gay male sex prior to age 19. Although Austria’s Constitutional Court struck GERM ANY down the law last year, the Euro ruling sets a T h he mayor of Bad Alexandershad refused precedent that also applies to the 43 other 8 to meet the J |an. c nations that make up the Council of Europe. same-sex couple from the “These judgments mean there is no longer first gay episode of the any excuse for those Council of Europe member usually heterosexual Blind states which still have discriminatory age-of- D ate television series. He consent laws— Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Ire had agreed to play host to land and Portugal,” said Nico Beger, spokesman a Blind D ate couple nine for the International Lesbian and Gay AsstKia- months ago. tion’s European regional branch. “We call on But when Markus them to honor their obligations under the Euro Stork, 31, and his date, pean Convention on Human Rights and repeal Patrick Schaefer, 25, Walter Lehner these laws immediately.” arrived in the Bavarian The Euro court said the Austrian measure spa town on the Blind D ate helicopter, Mayor breached Article 14 of the European Convention Walter Lehner balked, saying he had offered on Human Rights, which guarantees Council of to meet a “normal couple” and didn’t want Europe citizens freedom from discrimination. the town to get a gay reputation. Blind Date host Joerg Pilawa said he was shocked at A R M E N IA Lehner’s bigotry and urged gays to boycott he former Soviet republic of Armenia Bad Alexandersbad. jn legalized gays Jan. 9. The National Assem bly repealed criminal code Article 116, which C om piled by R ex WOCKNER, who has reported punished sex between males with up to five fo r the gay press since 1 9 8 5 . H e has a bachelor's years in prison. degree tn journalism from D rake University and At least 15 men had been jailed in recent started his career as a radio reporter. years for the crime of consensual adult sex. The L T T it ' * M y. Sexy Gifts Exciting Ideas and Unique A f f a r at us - ( o r n e r o f Sandy I K d . ft N E 6 4 tk 3 1 0 6 NE 6 4 tk Portland, O R 9 7 2 1 3 503 280 8080 Ï W r ite « * justM M M Welcomes letters to the editor Letters east b« by«i for verification purposes Anonymous letters and letters without sufficient contact information vrww.ju8tOUt.com wil not be published.
