• auQust 20.2004
20
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Colleen Weed
Office 503»297»9900
Cell 503»780»1561
W estover H eights
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Offering general internal
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Serving I be community for 22 years
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VETERINARY
HOSPITAL
GERMANY
record 5,000 people participated in the Athletes came from 17 countries for the queer
gay and lesbian EuroGames from July 29 EuroGames in Munich, Germany
to Aug. 1 in Munich.
The event featured more than 200 competi
the alteration after legislation permitting such
tive events in 26 sports including, for the first
changes took effect July 16.
time, “wheelchair dancing.” More traditional
Under the law, people diagnosed by two doctors
competitions included swimming, wresting, soc
as having a psychological makeup that is at odds
cer, fencing and rowing.
with their biological sex can revise their registra
The venue for the games was the 1972 Sum
tion if they are at least 20 years old, unmarried and
mer Olympics site. Athletes came from 17 coun childless and no longer have working reproductive
tries, mostly in Western Europe, but participants
organs. Around 8,000 Japanese have “gender iden
also came from Bulgaria, Hungary and Turkey.
tity disorder,” said a spokesperson for the organiza
Some 20,000 spectators attended the games,
tion Gid.jp, which broke the news of the case.
which are staged hy the European Gay and Les
bian Sport Federation. German Justice Minister
JAMAICA
Brigitte Zypries spoke at the opening ceremonies.
amaican dancehall music star Beenie Man
issued an apology Aug. 2 for his violent lyrics
-5-
advocating the murder of gay men. But the
he leader of Germany’s Free Democrats
British gay group OutRage!—his main neme
political party came out July 24 in an inter sis—denounced the move as “insincere."
view with Der Spiegel.
“It has come to my attention that certain
Guido Westerwelle also
lyrics and recordings I have made in the past may
told the magazine that
have caused distress and outrage among people
i whose identities and lifestyles are different from
gay couples should have
full adoption rights and
my own," Beenie Man said. “While my lyrics are
the same tax breaks as
very personal, I do not write them with the
married couples.
intent of purposefully hurting or maligning oth
The government is
ers, and I offer my sincerest apologies to those
planning to extend addi Guido Westerwelle
who might have been offended, threatened or
tional marriage rights this
hurt by my songs. As a human being, I renounce
year to same-sex couples who register under the
violence towards other human beings in every
nation’s 3-year-old partnership law. The statute
way and pledge henceforth to uphold these val
withholds rights in areas such as adoption, pen
ues as I move forward in my career as an artist.”
sions, inheritance, taxation, financial support,
Those lyrics include “I’m dreaming of a new
court testimony and social welfare benefits.
Jamaica, come to execute all the queers” and
“1 cannot change whether my life pleases the
“Hang queer women with a long piece of rope.”
people or not—whether my life [as a gay man J
OutRage! pooh-poohed the statement.
brings [vote] increases in large cities or whether
“Beenie Man’s so-called apology is so vague
it possibly causes rejection in rural regions,"
that it does not even mention what he is apolo
Westerwelle told Der Spiegel.
gizing for,” the group said. “It contains no explic
The government reported July 28 that 6,000
it regret for his incitements to murder gay people
same-sex couples have made use of the partner and no specific affirmation of his respect for
ship law since it was enacted in 2001.
homosexuals.... He is opportunistically issuing
this statement to save his career from collapse.”
A
T
CRAIG QUIRK DVM
STEPHEN KOCHIS DVM
809 SE Powell Blvd
232-3105
UNITED KINGDOM
he British Broadcasting Corp, upheld a
complaint July 28 against one of its rughy
commentators who called an altercation
between two players a “gay slap.”
A total of 10 viewers complained about
announcer Brian Mixrre’s remark made during
February’s Scotland vs. England match. The
BBC said the phrase violated guidelines con
cerned with “hurtful or inaccurate stereotypes.”
J
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Suite 207
he government of Hong Kong will survey
the population to gauge its support for a
host of gay rights measures, The South China
Morning Post reported July 27.
On the agenda are an anti-discrimination law,
recognition of same-sex relationships and matters
related to taxation, education and health. “I don’t
think the Hong Kong SAR [special administrative
region of China] government will try to impose
something like this on the community without at
least 50 percent support," said Stephen Fisher,
deputy secretary of the Home Affairs Bureau.
Gay activists said they are confident that at
least half of the population supports equality. In
an editorial, the Morning Post endorsed the pro
posed changes.
“The absence of laws protecting the gay
community from discrimination sits uneasily
with Hong Kong’s claim to he a world city,” it
said. “It undermines our community’s claim to
he fair-minded, tolerant and diverse.”
I
¡I
JAPAN
n a first, a Japanese postoperative transsexual
was allowed to change her gender in the gov
ernment’s “family register" July 30. The Naha
Family Court in Okinawa Prefecture approved
CHILE
bout 64 percent of Chileans believe gay cou
ples sh<xild have access to legal civil unions,
a Fundación Chile 21 poll has found. But 65 per-
A