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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2004)
22 21.2004 riWiTiT| n e w s Julio and Fabio swim and play together. They trumpet and bow and regurgitate food for each other,-like any penguin couple, the report said. “They don’t actually bonk,” Deane told the paper. “But they’re totally out there." . PO LAN D / % nline hackers stole the membership list of K leading Polish gay organization Campaign Against Homophobia, The Gully reported April 19. The list contained names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses, which the thieves quickly posted on the Internet, resulting in a barrage of hate mail to members. Some news reports linked the theft to a neo-Nazi skin head organization, which denied responsibility. A u to m o tive M aintenance & R epair A T IT S B E S T ! ALL FOREIGN & DOMESTIC AUTOMOBILES QUALIFIED, HONEST, QUICK & FAIRLY PRICED SATISFIED CUSTOMERS TELL THEIR FRIENDS — TH E Y ALL COME BACK! (references on file) AUTO-M ARINE 4230 NE SUMNER ST. 503 282-0159 - See Eagle E_y* Optical PRESC RIPTIO N EY EW EA R GLASSES & CO N TACTS 2808 N E MLK Jr Blvd, Suite C Phone: 503.335.7173 602 SE 38th Ave. Portland, OR 97H4 5032313911 Wed - Sat PRUL MITCHELL M E X IC O A gay former police employee from Puerto U .S. soldiers force Iraqis to simulate gay sex inside the Abu Ghraib prison IRAQ P hotos of U.S. forces abusing prisoners of war at an Iraqi prison, published May 6 to 8 in The Washington Post and elsewhere, contain homophobic or homoerotic elements. Naked male prisoners are shown being led on leashes, shackled to bars, shackled to beds, tied up together front-to-back and piled on top of one another. A photo published May 8 at MSNBC.com shows a naked, hixxled male pris oner shoving his penis into the face of a naked, kneeling, hcxxled male prisoner and holding the man’s head tight against his groin. U.S. soldiers also reportedly saw male prison ers forced to kneel naked in front of other naked male prisoners as well as a male prisoner standing and masturbating over the open mouth of a kneel ing male detainee. President Bush said May 5 that the photos made him sick to his stomach and that "the wrongdoers will be brought to justice.” “The photos of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison are deplorable and show clear contempt for human dignity,” said Steve Ralls of Servicemem- bers Legal Defense Network, a military watchdog organization. “Several of the prisoners are placed in poses in a specific attempt to emasculate pris oners through the depiction of same-sex acts. It is disturbing that American soldiers believe sexual orientation to be an effective tool of humiliation." U N IT E D K IN G D O M B ritain’s new Sexual Offenses Act, which took effect May 1, treats gays and straights the same when it comes to sex crimes, for the first time. Two offenses that applied only to men who have sex with men— buggery and gross indecency— no longer exist. Men who had to register as sex offenders for having sex with teen-age males 16 and older before the age of consent was equalized can apply to be removed from the registry. Male group sex is no longer illegal. A new measure criminalizes gay or straight sex that takes place in public toilets, but it is only a “nuisance” crime. Violators will not have to register as sex offenders. “For years, outdated attitudes enshrined in law have fostered mistrust and made generations of gay men criminals,” Home Office minister Paul Goggins told London’s The Pink Paper. “The government has ended this unjust situation." C ''i onservative activists in the Church of Eng- ✓ land have demanded a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to protest the appointment of gay canon Jeffrey John as dean of St. Albans Cathedral, The Guardian reported April 24. Last year, John, who lives celibately with his lover, was appointed bishop o f Reading by the bishop of Oxford, but he was later forced by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the Church of England, to turn down the job after a prolonged outcry from Anglican evangelicals. Following the new appointment, the con servatives, calling themselves Anglican Main stream, accused Blair of moving the church “ in a more liberal direction.” They have urged their supporters to complain to Queen Eliza beth II, Blair, Williams, the bishop of St. Albans and the media. St. Albans is about 20 miles northwest of London. B ritain’s Radio Academy named gay singer George Michael radio’s most-played artist during the past 20 years and handed him an award April 28. “ 1 can’t believe it. I’ve only made six albums in 22 years, so I don’t know how this happened,” Michael said. “I’m the luckiest writer on earth.” Researchers surveyed more than 600 radio stations nationwide to reach their determina tion. Elton John took second place, followed by Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Bryan Adams, Madonna, Phil Collins, Cliff Richard, Mick Hucknall and Paul McCartney. N EW ZEA LA N D N ew Zealanders are divided on the notion of creating civil unions to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. According to the New Zealand Press Assent ation, a One News-Colmar Brunton poll of 1,000 people found that 46 percent of respon dents support the Civil Union Bill, 34 percent oppose it, and 16 percent think it should apply only to straight couples. The bill is expected to be introduced into Parliament in a few weeks. wo male king penguins at the Kelly Tarlton aquarium in Auckland have been lovers for 10 years, The New Zealand Herald reported April 22. Julio and Fabio have been together since they arrived from San Diego in 1994— and they are monogamous, despite king penguins’ penchant for sleeping around. They never so much as flirt with female pen guins. “They have eyes only for each other,” bird curator Rochelle Deane said. T / \ Vallarta was turned down tor asylum May 3 by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board because he is tixi butch. The board said Fernan do Enrique Rivera, 30, is not “visibly effemi nate” and likely could live unharassed in Mexi co City, which it claimed is more gay-friendly than Puerto Vallarta, according to Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper. “I know some gay refugees who put on lip stick and dressed effeminately for their hearings because they thought it would help their case. But that is not who I am," he told the paper. Rivera left Mexico four years ago after lcx:al cops repeatedly blackmailed him with threats of being outed, he said. He faces deportation unless a final appeal on humanitarian and compassion ate grounds succeeds. S O U TH A F R IC A S outh A frica’s KwaZulu-Natal province, where Durban is lcx:ated, is marketing itself to gay tourists, following Cape Town and West ern Cape province’s successes in that under taking, Business Day reported May 6. Tourism KwaZulu-Natal unveiled its new Pink Map during the nation’s main tourism trade show this month. “In six months the Zulu King dom will be an attractive destination to the inter national gay and lesbian traveler,” said Jayne Darkes, a spokeswoman for the new KwaZulu- Natal Gay and Lesbian Tourism Asstxriation, which Tourism KwaZulu-Natal helped found. GHANA C ^ hana’s commissioner for human rights and 1 administrative justice, Anna Bossman, says the government should consider decriminalizing gay sex, GhanaWeb.com reported May 6. “Engaging in these practices is not currently legal. It may be said that this is a form of discrim ination,” she said. “Why would you criminalize actions between two consenting adults? The more advanced sex:ieties just softened their laws on homosexuality. Our laws are lagging behind." However, decriminalization would be a hard sell, she predicted. "Most people, religious lead ers and even judges will probably say ‘no way,’ ” she said. The African nation’s criminal code states: “Whoever is guilty of unnatural carnal knowl edge— (a) of any person without his consent, is guilty of a*first-degree felony; or (b) of any per son with his consent, or of any animal, is guilty of a misdemeanor.” /- N IG E R IA N igerian gay rights groups made their “first ever" public appearance during an AIDS conference in Abuja, the U.N. Office for the Coor dination of Humanitarian Affairs reported May 7. “For most of Nigerians, (men who have sex with men] are not human beings— they simply don’t exist,” said Oludare Odumuye, president of the 8,000-member gay organization Alliance
