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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
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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
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