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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2004)
22 • January 23. 2004 X« *rt h w i s i \< \ o r i liw e s t h i \ i ir I h w f s l N o i l h w i si N.« i r t h w c s i replaces the terms ‘husband,’ ‘wife’ and ‘de facto’ with ‘partner’ throughout Tasmania law.” In addition, many of the spousal entitlements and responsibilities flow automatically to people in such relationships, even if they choose not to for mally register with the state. Activists will contin ue to push for legalization of full marriage for same- sex couples, but Croome said, “In the absence of gay marriage, registration is the clearest way for society and government to show they acknowl edge and approve of same-sex relationships.” CANADA ou could call it Queer Try for the Straight Guy. Police recruits in Edmonton, Alberta, are being sent for strolls on busy city streets hold ing hands with another recruit of the same gen der to better understand the experiences of gay people, The Edmonton Journal reported Jan. 2. “One guy said the avenue seemed to close in on him,” said Constable Steve Camp, who works with the department’s hate-and-bias-crimes initia tive. “He felt a heightened awareness of security— very aware of the people around him. He felt intimidated. A group of construction workers was working on a wall, and they shut down their work to see this, when these guys walked by. I think that’s when the intimidation hit. Another guy said he felt angry because one man gave him a dirty look and then said something to his wife. They can intellectualize the process, b u t.. .what we tried to accomplish here [is] to give them the emotion al response that a lot of people they’re going to be dealing with as police officers are going to have.” Y Aussie activist Rodney Croome (center) congratulates newly registered couples Rebecca Wealands and Lee H yland (left) and Jason Kemp and M ark W hite (right) Jan. 2 in H obart, Tasmania W estoyer H eights Offering general internal medicine and excelling in sexual health care Serving the community fo r 1 7 y ea n Wade Pipes Wallflower 2330 NW Flanders Suite 207 Wesfouer Terraces 503 226-6678 - Waiting to Dance. Traditional classic at the end of a private road next to Hillside meadow. Views mountain, city and river. Decks, balcony & level yard in a well proportioned 3 plus bedroom New England style home. $749,000. 701 NW Culpepper Terrace The Volkmer Team D an V o lk m rr , B u r d r a n B a r t lr m , K ish ra O tt 5 0 3 - 497-5158 www.danvolkmer.com O Windermere Cronin & Captan Realty Group, Inc. — ______ As seen in Vogue, Allure, S hape and F am ily C ircle M agazine A U S TR A L IA asmania became the first Australian state to offer a broad range of spousal rights to same-sex couples Jan. 1. In a span of 15 years, the state has gone from being seemingly Australia’s most homophobic to possibly its most gay-friendly, in no small part due to the work of the Tasmanian Gay and Les bian Rights Group. Michael Carnes and Bob Lavis were the first couple to register their relationship Jan. 2, acquiring marriage rights in areas such as health care, parenting, adoption, kinship and super annuation. Rebecca Wealands and Lee Hyland and Jason Kemp and Mark White also tied the knot. “W hat these changes do is send absolute alarm bells to all those who have been discriminatory in the past that those days are well and truly gone,” Carnes told The Australian. “Tasmania now has it all— the natural beauty, the fantastic people and now reforms that show we are no longer a back water, but a wonderful, open society." The Relationships Act also covers nonsexual relationships as well as sexual relationships where the parties do not live together. It “creates a sta tus of ‘significant relationship’ applicable to unmarried adult couples, including same-sex cou ples, and creates a status of ‘caring relationship’ between two adults, one or both of whom provide personal care and domestic support to the other," state Attorney General Judy Jackson said. Rodney Croome of the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group boasted: “As well as being the first registration scheme in Australia for same-sex couples, the Tasmanian partnership reg istry is the first in the world for other types of sig nificant personal relationships like older compan ions and [caregivers] and the people they care for. The act gives a wide range of personal unions, including same-sex relationships, equal status to married couples in virtually all Tasmanian laws. It T S IN G A P O R E ingapore is considering decriminalization of oral sex, but only for opposite-sex couples. T he move follows the arrest and jailing of a 27-year-old policeman for receiving fellatio from a 15-year-old girl. Ho Peng Kee, senior minister of state for law and home affairs, said Penal Code Section 377 may be revised w ithin three months to permit heterosexual oral sex between people 16 and older. Current law criminalizes “whoever voluntar ily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animals.” The punishment is up to life in prison. A nother law, Penal Code Section 377A, specifically bans sex between men. It states, “Any male person who, in public or private, commits or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any gross indecency with anoth er male person, shall be punished with imprison m ent for a term which may extend to two years.” Ho said that law, too, is being looked at, but gave no details. M eanwhile, Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Jan. 6 that the nation might lift its ban on gay activist groups. The remark came during a speech to the local Harvard Club. S "\/r skin solution for m en an d w om en the only FDA approved non-ourgical, non-invaoive treatm ent fo r • Body contouring • Reduction o f appearance o f cellulite • Improvement in appearance o f oca r tiooue and bur no Call tor a tree consultation 503-228-0274 w w w . velvet -sk in .com 1920 NW Johnson St, Suite 108 Portland, OR 97209 1 — Singapore might legalize gay activist groups, according to Deputy Prime M inister Lee H sien Loong
