juiy2.2OM • JllSt
lürmn news
rights and obligations in such areas as adoption,
pensions, inheritance, taxation, financial sup
port, court testimony and social welfare benefits.
A second piece of legislation that does
require Bundesrat approval is needed to address
som’e of these areas. That bill will be introduced
this fall, Zypries said.
Germany’s partnership law came into force
three years ago, but only about 5,000 same-sex
couples have taken advantage of it.
“The problem with the same-sex life partner
ships is that it brings only obligations and virtu
ally no rights. It has not been popular,” activist
Michael Schmidt told Britain’s The Guardian.
CHILE
Activists attend a vigil for slain Jamaican gay leader Brian Williamson
THAILAND
hailand’s Culture Ministry has told televi
sion stations to reduce their portrayals of gay
behavior, Bangkok’s The Nation reported June
The ministry’s deputy permanent secretary
for culture, Kia Somtrakul, said several televi
sion programs have gotten so gay, they risk cross
ing the line to obscenity. "Many parents told me
that they are worried that their children would
have sexually deviant behavior after viewing
such behaviors on TV,” he said.
T
homophobic nations, a fact that was noted in
the report on Williamson’s murder in The
Jamaica Observer.
5. “Jamaica has an international reputation for
being highly intolerant of homosexuals and has,
in the past, fallen under pressure from the inter
national community, especially Britain,” the
daily newspaper said. “Some local artists have
been banned from performing in other countries
because of their strong anti-homosexual lyrics.”
SWEDEN
SOMALIA
n Iranian transsexual woman denied asylum
in Sweden committed suicide in Stockholm,
he group Queer Somalia says the biggest prob
Aftonbladet reported June 3. Fatemeh had been sen
lem for Somali gays is fear of being murdered.
tenced to 50 lashes for homosexuality and feared
Islamic law is applied haphazardly in the nation,
for her life if she were forced to return home.
which continues to lack a central government.
But the Swedish Migration Board rejected
“My people don’t understand what a homosex
her application for asylum, and the decision was
ual is," activist Faro told the African gay Web site
upheld by the Aliens Appeals Board. Gay
Behind the Mask. “They only know that through
their religious law, the solution is to kill. There is organizations demonstrated outside the offices
of the two boards June 2.
no law to protect or help queers in Somalia, and
Queer Somalia cannot be public or make demands
on the government because there is no govern
ment with whom we can talk. The situation for
queer people in Somalia is very dangerous.”
Faro also said Somali gays seem to have a
higher suicide rate than the general population,
in part because of extremely homophobic fami
ly situations.
T
JAMAICA
amaica’s best-known gay activist was mur
dered June 9 in Kingston. Brian Williamson,
59, was found lying in a pool of blood in his bed
room with multiple knife wounds.
“The condition of his body...and his visibil
German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries is
ity as a gay man lead us to suspect this is a hate-
pushing for equal rights for same-sex couples
related crime,” the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians,
All-Sexuals and Gays said in a statement.
GERMANY
Police say the murder was more likely related
ermany
’
s
government
has proposed legisla
to robbery, pointing out that Williamson’s room
tion to equalize the rights of registered
was ransacked and that his safe was missing.
same-sex partners with those of married people,
They are looking for two men who were seen at
Deutsche Welle reported June 5.
the residence shortly before the crime.
Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said the first
Williamson’s roommate, Desmond Cham
of two bills will go to the Bundestag, the lower
bers, said of one of the suspects: “I have seen
house of Parliament, this summer and will be
him here about six times [and] anything him
crafted
to not require consent from the Bun
want, Brian give him. Brian give him money,
Brian give him food and help him to purchase desrat, the upper house, where it probably would
be rejected.
[newspaper] to sell on the road.”
“Lesbian and gay couples are a social reality
The head of Amnesty International USA’s
in Germany,” Zypries told the daily Berliner
gay rights program, Michael Heflin, comment
Zeitung. “That is why we also want to grant
ed, “Brian Williamson was a courageous individ
them, to the extent it complies with the consti
ual prepared to speak out for one of the most
tution and its unique protections of marriage
marginalized and persecuted communities in
and family, the same rights as married couples.”
Jamaica: the gay and lesbian community."
Registered same-sex couples lack spousal
Jamaica is considered one of the world’s most
J
he Chilean Supreme Court denied a
woman custody of her three daughters
June 2 because she’s a lesbian, Human Rights
Watch reported.
Karen Atala, a judge from the town of Los
Andes, had been awarded custody of her chil
dren by an appeal court. Her former husband
contested the decision, arguing the court wrong
fully put her rights before those of her kids.
In a 3-2 decision, the Supreme Court panel
agreed, saying the children’s emotional and sexual
development could be harmed by the absence of a
father in the home and “his replacement by anoth
er person of the female gender.” It also expressed
concern that Atala’s kids could suffer discrimina
tion and rejection since “their exceptional family
situation is significantly different from that of their
classmates and neighborhood peers.”
The justices also criticized the lower court for
"a serious fault or abuse” because it chose not to
uphold “the preferential right of the children to
live and grow up in a normally structured and
socially reputable family, according to the proper
traditional model.” No further appeal is possible.
ISRAEL
erusalem’s third Gay Pride parade attracted
thousands June 3, Haaretz reported. Two
anti-gay demonstra
tors were arrested for
throwing eggs.
Dozens of armed
police officers escort
ed the march from the
Ben Yehuda pedestri
an mall to Liberty Bell
Park, via King George
and Keren Hayesod
streets. A “happen
ing” and party fol
Uri Lupolianski
lowed in the park.
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski later told
reporters he tried to prevent the parade but
lacked the power to do so.
“If I had the legal means for stopping a
parade that harms the city and its residents,
1 would prevent the parade,” he said. “I tried to
do so, but it was made clear to me that I don’t
have the authority.
“This parade is not only ugly, it’s also a
provocation,” the mayor said. “Even people dis
tant from Jerusalem must grasp that this is a
sacred city for the Jewish people and the world
as a whole. This isn’t Paris, and it isn’t London.
I’m not talking about what a person does pri
vately in his home—a parade in public is some
thing else.... If somebody has some sort of
deviant trait, it doesn’t mean that he has to
raise its banner in public."
Lupolianski likened the parade to Jews march
ing with pork in the middle of an Arab neighbor
hood. "They came just to arouse anger, to fight
and bring about disgusting things,” he said. jH
J
Compiled by R ex WOCKNER, who has reported
for the gay press since 1985. He has a bachelor's
degree in journalism from Drake University and
started his career as a radio reporter.
A
.CROWN,
M emorial C enter ♦ C remation a B urial
K-------------------- '■----------- Z--------------
Family Owned and Operated
On-Site Crematory
Lowest Cost
We re Here to Help!
8974 SW Tualatin Sherwood Road
Tualatin, OR 97062
(503) 885-7800
www.ANewTradition.com
1