December 19. 2003 • J u s t o u t 2 5
I'lU H n in e w s
David Ian Harrad faced deportation to En«-
land when his latest tourist visit expired. He and
partner Antonio Martins dos Reis asked a court
in Curitiba, 240 miles south of Sait Paulo, to
hkxrk the deportation, arguing they are in a
common law marriage.
Federal Judge Ana Carolina Morozowski
agreed, writing, “Although they are of the same
sex, the authors of the petition live in a stare of
matrimony, a fact which extends to Mr. Harrad
the right of permanent residence.” She based
her mling tin the Brazil Constitution, which
prohibits “any form of discrimination, including
discrimination as to sexual preference," she said.
SOUTH AFRICA
he Miss Gay South Africa pageant proceed
ed as planned Nov. 29 despite several bomb
threats, Durban's The Daily News reported.
A 10 p.m. search by the Bomb Disposal Unit
found no explosives. Christians for Tmth pick
eted the pageant.
The sold-out event tcxik place at the Kismet
Hotel in Pietermaritzburg, co-capital of the
KwaZulu-Natal province. Monique Perez heat
out 22 other contestants to capture the crown.
I
FINLAND
penly lesbian Finnish author Pirkko Saisio has
won the nation’s top annual hœk prize, Fin
landia, for her novel The Red Book About Separation.
She donated her $31,584 prize to the
National Organization for Sexual Equality. In
the novel— part three of a semiautobiographical
trilogy— Saisio describes coming out at a time
when homosexuality was illegal in Finland.
O
Archbishop Yong Ping Chung severed ties
with the U.S. Episcopal Church because the
Diocese of New Hampshire consecrated an
openly gay bishop
INTERNATIONAL
nglicans in nine Southeast Asian nations
cut ties Dec. 4 with the U.S. Episcopal
Church because the Diocese of New Hampshire
recently consecrated an openly gay man, Gene
Robinson, as bishop.
Archbishop Yong Ping Chung, Anglican pri
mate of Southeast Asia, said New Hampshire
exhibited “a flagrant disregard of the fundamen
tal teachings of the Bible and doctrines of the
church.” He also declared same-sex unions
unnatural and an abomination to God.
Yong’s authority covers Brunei, CamkxJia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
Anglican churches in several African
nations also have cut or reduced ties with the
U.S. church or the New Hampshire diocese.
The Russian Orthodox Church also has termi
nated relations with U.S. Episcopalians because
of Robinson’s consecration.
A
FRANCE
rance’s marriage-like Civil Solidarity Pacts
proved popular in the first half of 2003—
15,000 couples signed up. Last year a total of
25,000 couples tied the knot.
The pacts, which confer most marriage rights
and obligations, are available to same- and
opposite-sex couples. France enacted the part
nership law in late 1999.
F
N o rt hw est
N o rt hw est
N o rth w est
N o rth w est
N o rth w est
AUSTRALIA
A ustralia’s Northern Territory, where Dar-
¿ 1 win is ltxated, voted Nov. 25 to lower the
age of consent for male-male sex from 18 to 16.
Parliamentary debate tin the issue lasted
until 3 a.m. It was the last Australian state or
territory with unequal ages of consent for
straight and gay sex, although in Queensland,
where Brisbane is located, gays and straights
cannot engage in anal sex until age 18, while
other sexual acts are legal at 16.
R U S S IA
; ays are not banned from the Russian mili-
1 tary, officials said Nov. 27, according to an
Interfax wire service report.
“There is no such medical diagnosis as homo
sexuality.... A classification of diseases adopted
by the World Health Organization does not indi
cate such a disease,” Maj. Gen. Valery Kulikov,
chairman of the Defense Ministry’s central med
ical board, told a press conference in Moscow.
"The new regulations on military medical exam
inations are based on international standards, and
therefore homosexuals are treated on general
grounds in terms of their fitness for military serv
ice. If they are physically and mentally healthy,
they will he recognized as fit and will serve.”
Kulikov suggested, however, that gays in the
military not "advertise their sexual orientation.”
He warned, “They are not liked there and will
just get beaten up."
C
CANADA
conservative member of Parliament was
fired as the Canadian Alliance party’s fam
ily issues critic Nov. 27 after saying odd things
about homosexuals. Canadian Alliance leaders
said Larry Spencer’s comments did not reflect
party beliefs.
In an interview, he had told The Vancouver
Sun: “I do believe it was a mistake to have legalized
[gay sex]. If somekxiy brought a hill in the House
to [recriminalize gay sex], I’d certainly vote for it.”
He added that even people who have been
gay for a long time, such as Canadian MP Svend
Robinson, can turn straight.
“I believe he could,” said Spencer, who rep
resents a district in the province of
Saskatchewan. “I believe he would struggle with
it.... The mind or the conscience that we have
can he sharpened against right or wrong. It can
he desensitized to think that whatever wrong
that’s around us is nothing hut natural, and we
begin to accept that.
“I just wish that there was some way that soci-
ety could stand up and say, ‘This is not right.’ [If]
anykxly that used Colgate texithpaste, their life
expectancy was lowered by 10, 15 years, what do
you think would hap
pen to Colgate t(X)th-
paste? It would he
outlawed. Well, we
know that’s what
happens to men liv
ing a gay lifestyle.”
Spencer claimed
there is a gay conspir
acy to seduce chil
dren into the so-
called homosexual
Member of Parliament
lifestyle: "A t some of
Larry Spencer wants to
those [gay] conven
recriminalize gay sex in
tions in [the 1960s] it
Canada
was discussed what
some of those approaches would he, and...for
this group o f people to express themselves sexu
ally, they’re going to have to do the reemiting
an d ...it’s going to come by seduction.” jH
A
Com plied by R ex W i X: kner , who has reported for
the gay press since 1985. H e has a bachelor's degree
in journalism from Drake University and started his
career as a radio reporter.
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