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.
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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