may 7.2Q04<
ou t 23
r n i M i 'i n e i v s
CANADA
C anada’s national gay
penly gay Member of
lobby group, Egale, expressed
Parliament Svend Rob
distress at the news.
inson announced April 15
“We are all deeply sad
that he will take a medical
dened to hear about the
leave ffom politics after hè
ordeal that Svend Robinson
stole a $50,000 diamond ring
is now going through,” exec
ffom a sale he attended.
utive
director
G illes
Robinson, who has repre
Marchildon said. “Svend has
sented. a Vancouver, British
been a bold and effective
Columbia-area district for 25
champion of equality and a
years, was not apprehended
role model for countless les
at the time of the theft. He
bian, gay, bi and trans peo
went to the police and con
ple. He has made C anada a
fessed four days later.
better place for all those who
Openly gay Canadian Member of
The following day, Feder
are different. Despite the dif
Parliament Svend Robinson says he
al Auction Services said it
ficulties he is now facing, he
stole jewelry’ in a “ moment of utter
had provided video evidence
continues to demonstrate his
irrationality”
of the crime to the Royal
personal integrity in the way
Canadian Mounted Police before he turned
he is handling this matter.”
himself in.
“For some time now, I have been suffering
ffom severe stress and emotional pain,” Robin
andanna-wearing lesbians stormed the
son told reporters. “I have experienced great
national convention of the Concerned
inner turmoil. The reasons for this are of course
Christian Coalition on April 17 in Calgary,
intensely personal, and I am not prepared to
Alberta. Seven women and one man burst into
discuss them, but among others relate to the
the conclave at the Coast Plaza Hotel, scream
cumulative pressures of dealing with the emo ing, “Right-wing bigots go away, Gay Militia is
tional consequences of a nearly fatal hiking
here to stay.”
accident [in 1997].
According to The Calgary Sun, conven-
“This accumulated stress culminated last Fri-
tion attendees held hands and prayed as the
day in my engaging in an act that was totally
protesters unfurled a banner reading, “Libera-
inexplicable and unthinkable. While attending
tion: Queer Invasion.” Police are reviewing
a public jewelry sale, I pocketed a piece of jew- tapes o f the intrusion and might charge mili-
elry.... Something just snapped in this moment tia members with mischief or with disturbing
of utter irrationality.
a peaceful assembly, Calgary Constable Doug
“Immediately upon leaving the premises I Jones said.
realized that 1 must return the jewelry. Too afraid
to go back and unable to contact the owners by
❖
telephone... I spent a weekend of great anguish,
enizens of Vancouver’s famed gay nude
determined to return the jewelry at the first
beach, Wreck Beach, are upset about Uni-
opportunity. On Tuesday morning, I attempted
versity of British Columbia’s plans to build 20-
to contact the owners, and not being able to do
story dormitories nearby,
so directly, I went to the police and gave them a
They say their privacy will be invaded by
full account of what I had done and returned the dorm dwellers with binoculars and Web cams,
jewelry to them .... I await the decision of A university spokesman said the school will take
Crown Counsel and will not seek to in any way sunbathers’ worries into consideration when
avoid full responsibility for my actions should designing the buildings,
charges be laid in these circumstances.
“I have sought and am receiving profession-
<-
al medical help to understand and deal with T n a first, a Canadian gay military man has
these issues...and I look forward to full healing 1 publicly married his partner, The Kingston
and recovery,” said Robinson, 52. “A s you can (Ontario) Whig-Standard reported April 6.
imagine this has been a nightmare. I cannot
Navy Officer Cadet Jason Stewart, 19, mar-
believe that it has happened, but I am human ried Joey Schwehr, 20, April 3 in Toronto. The
and I have failed.”
couple will live together in married quarters at
Federal Auction Services said April 16 Canadian Forces Base Kingston,
that it will not press the authorities to lay
Stewart is a first-year cadet at Royal Military
charges and “accepts Mr. Robinson’s apology,” College. The two men met just four months ago.
which was offered in a letter that was not
“Our first date was at the Second Cup down-
made public.
town, and we sat there for hours just talking and
O
B
D
FRANCE
' ‘T he mayor of Bègles, a suburb of Bordeaux,
A plans to perform a same-sex marriage in
June. There’s nothing in French law to prohibit
the marriage, and gays should have full equal
rights, Noel Mamère says.
“This act is the continuation of a struggle I
have fought for a long time— for equal rights
and against all discrimination,” he told
Britain’s The Guardian. “Homosexuals in this
country, as in many others, suffer from a great
deal of discrimination. They are the last cate-
gory of French people who are banned from
getting married. There’s nothing extraordinary
about marrying two people of the same sex in
the European Union, because
Belgium, Sweden and the
Netherlands have done it
n unscientific poll con
already and the new Spanish
ducted by the Web site of
prime
minister...has already
the Toronto gay magazine fab
put it in his political program.”
found that only about one-third
of gay people care about having
Actually, Sweden does not
access to full marriage.
offer same-sex marriage but
rather gay registered partner
About 36 percent of respon
dents said gays should “settle for
ship that provides the same
marriage and nothing less,”
rights. France has offered gay
and straight couples m ar
while 47 percent said gays
should "go for something like
riage-like civil unions since
civil unions and develop our
1999, but they lack certain
own customs as long as we have
matrimonial rights in areas
the same rights as straight mar
such as adoption and eco
ried couples.” About 11 percent Bègles Mayor Noël Mamère
nomic benefits.
refuse “to buy into the hetero- says French laws don’t
Mamère, who also is a mem
sexist, oppressive institution of prohibit same-sex marriage
ber of France’s National
marriage,” and 7 percent wish
Assembly and vice president of
gays would “help lead a movement to abolish
the Urban Community of Bordeaux, plans to
the institution of marriage.”
marry the gay couple June 5
talking,” Schwehr told the Whig-Standard. “It
was instant. He told me that he loved me, and I
felt the same way toward him. Everything
seemed to connect, and we just hit it off. We
both felt really strongly for each other.
“It’s just one of those things that you know,”
Schwehr said. “You don’t want to let that person
go to find out five years from now that they were
the person you were supposed to be with for the
rest of your life.”
During the past 11 months, top courts in the
provinces of British Columbia, Ontario and
Quebec extended full marriage to same-sex cou-
pies. In response, the federal government is
planning to open up marriage nationwide.
A
SPAIN
rime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
promised to legalize same-sex marriage dur
ing an April 15 speech to Parliament.
“It is time to bring to an end, once and for
all, the intolerable discrimination still suffered
by many Spaniards exclusively by virtue of
their sexual preferences,” he said. “Homosexu
als and transsexuals deserve the same public
consideration as heterosexuals and have the
right to live freely the life that they themselves
have chosen. We will recognize, on an equal
basis, their right to marriage, with the conse
quent effects on labor rights, inheritance and
social security protection.”
Full marriage is offered to same-sex couples
only in Belgium, the Netherlands and the Cana
dian provinces of British Columbia, Ontario
and Quebec. It will become available May 17 in
Massachusetts. Several other nations offer same-
sex domestic partnerships or civil unions that
include up to 99 percent of the rights and oblig
ations of matrimony.
P
PORTUGAL
he commission reviewing Portugal’s C on
stitution approved adding a ban on dis
crimination based on sexual orientation
April 23. “Portugal is now one of the few coun
tries in the world that includes nondiscrimina
tion on the basis of sexual orientation in the
fundamental law of the nation,” said Joào Paulo,
editor of the Web site PortugalGay.pt.
Other nations that ban anti-gay discrimina
tion constitutionally include Canada, Ecuador,
South Africa, Switzerland and, possibly, Fiji. At
last report, Fiji’s government had announced it
wanted to repeal the protections because it had
no idea how they ended up in the 1997 consti
tution in the first place.
T
DAGESTAN
he Culture Ministry of Dagestan blocked a
concert by gay Russian pop singer Boris
Moiseyev in the capital city of Makhachkala,
T
Continued on Page 24
Celebrating the joy of marriage,
and the freedom of diversity
MCC is honored to provide sacred marriage services in
tin’s most historic of times just as we have for moro than
years.
Rev. Glenna Shepherd, Pastor
Metropolitan Community Church
2400 NE Broadway
503.281.8868
www.mccportland.com
Sunday Worship 9 & 11A
Children's Sunday School 11A