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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 2004)
2 0 j U S t O U t * december 3. 2004 w ii news TAMARA J Whole Communication ,M Business Briefs/Seminars Hourly, VI Day, full Day Consultation Keynotes Breakfast, luiuheon. Dinner Speaker (om m unKQtion, Cuslom er/fm ployee Relations n.tom • 503.639.1629 L aw O f f ic e Jomara J HuffordWor of J a m es D. M c V ittie , PC Don't let voters tell you your rights. f t PROTECT your relationships with the proper legal assistance. I 5 0 3 .2 2 4 .6 6 1 1 TEL 806 sw B r o a d w a y , S t e . 8 0 0 P o r t la n d , O rego n 97205 J a m e s D. M c V i t t i e Attorney-at-law. I.ic. in OR & WA W W W .M C V IT T IE -L A W .C O M c o L o u ie u . BA N K ER □ FERNANDO RUIZ Multi-Million Dollar Producer RESIDENTIAL BROKERAGE REALTOR (760) 325-4500 BUSINESS (760) 831-2798 CELLUIAR (760) 325-4578 FAX (888) 453-3414 TQLL FREE 1555 S. Palm Canyon Drive Palm Springs, CA 92264 ps4good@aol.com RUG Gallery Wonderful H u r í , Wonder tiri t'nves ’ SE Grand KAREN M. SWEIGERT, MD (503) 282-4400 Ph one 5 0 3 2 7 4 -9 9 3 6 Obstétrica and Gynecology Donor Insemination Q/AofiÁt tfiM , PC 1040 N.W. 22nd, Suite 3 3 0 , Portland. OR 97210 Merchants! Call for our $79 special on ads in our 1 2 /1 7 issue. It's not too late to display your wares to holiday shoppers. Call our sales department at 503-236-1253. GET INVOLVED! N o w is the ti me to co me t o g e t h e r and do s o m e t h i n g ! Sisn up for this 6-week H I V prevention discussion group where men who love men can come together to talk about what is important to them I O p e n to gay, bi, trans, queer (or differently identified men who have sex with men) that live in Clackamas County! G roup starts in February 2 0 0 5 . G roup starts in February 2 0 0 5 . Call ( 5 0 3 ) 7 4 2 - 5 3 8 2 Cl ack a ma s C o u n t y Public H e a lt h for more information on location and incentives for p a rtic ip a te ! AFGHANISTAN An American working in Afghanistan who was jailed for engaging in gay sex in September has been released after it was determined he is straight and was framed. Vincent White, 52, a finance ministry advis er, spent a month in a rat-infested Kabul prison, accused of paying an 18-ycar-old Afghan man $49 for sex. While in custody, he was forced to mastur bate in front of policemen and doctors, he said. He was released after the Afghan man admitted he concocted the story while being tortured hy the police. Afghan prosecutors plan to investigate the incident to determine if W hite was targeted hy people upset over his role in vetoing certain government contracts that would have been lucrative for Western firms and Afghan offi cials, according to a report in Londons Sunday Telegraph. “Often in countries like this when contracts get dished out, everybody gets their palms greased, and it is a bonanza for all,” White said. “I wasn’t prepared to let that happen, and as a result 1 was framed.” ARGENTINA Argentina has its first gay radio station, broadcasting on the Web at ArgentinaGay- Radio.com.ar. The station broadcasts primarily music but also segments on health and gay rights issues and “a lot of joking around.” “We respect the gay tendencies in music, the preferences for Latin and electronic music,” sta tion co-founder Sergio Miranda told Diario- hoy.net. “Although if a listener requests folk music, it’ll happen.” AUSTRIA Austria’s Federal Constitutional Court refused Nov. 3 to recognize a married same-sex couple for purposes of immigration. American Lon Williams and an unnamed German man were married in the Netherlands, which grants same-sex couples full marriage rights. The German was then offered a job in Austria hut had to turn it down when Austria refused to recognize his husband as his spouse. The couple plans to appeal to the Federal Administrative Court and, if necessary, the European Court of Human Rights. The gay rights group Homosexual Initiative Vienna commented, “EU law unequivtx:ally provides for any third-country spouse to join his or her EU spouse exercising the right to free movement within EU territory.” The organization said Austria’s refusal to recognize the couple’s marriage violated Arti cle 21 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which bans discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation in areas that include free movement and family reunion. CANADA The premier of the Canadian province of Alberta, Ralph Klein, remains defiantly opposed to same-sex marriage even though it has been legalized in British Columbia, Man itoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Quebec and the Yukon Territory. That leaves only Alberta Premier Alberta, Newfoundland ^*e'n saYs and Labrador (which is n® *° 9ame' sex expected to move umons next), New Brunswick, the Northwest Territo ries, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island, which account for only 14 percent of Canada’s population. “We will fight, 1 guess, and use whatever legal means are at our disposal to make sure the solemnization of marriage remains between a man and a woman,” Klein said Nov. 9. The federal government has referred four questions on same-sex marriage to the Supreme Court of Canada, which is reviewing a draft law to legalize gay matrimony nationwide. EUROPEAN UNION The 26th European Conference of the Inter national Lesbian and Gay Association drew some 220 activists to Budapest from Oct. 27 to 31 to discuss “Coining Out to the EU.” The European Union increased in size this year from 15 nations to 25 nations. The activists were addressed hy Hungary’s minister of equal opportunities, Kinga Goncz, and hy Joop Verhtxim, a representative of the EU presidency. The 2005 confab will be in Paris, and the 2006 meeting will be in Sofia, Bulgaria. ♦t- The new nominee for European justice com missioner, Franco Frattini, is more gay-friendly than the previous nominee, who withdrew from consideration under fire for calling homosexual- U • M ity a sin. Frattini said during European Parliament hearings Nov. 15 and 16 that same-sex couples who are legally coupled in any one of the 25 nations of the European Union must be recog nized as a couple hy all of the nations. He said that this is stipulated hy the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. “The right of free dom of movement for individuals...is a basic right that must be guar anteed irrespective of the fact that some member states have or do not have legal rules Franco Frattini regarding same-sex couples,” Frattini said, “That is an obvious principle." Slovakia and Austria, among others, have balked at this requirement. Fourteen of the 25 EU nations do not have a mechanism for legal recognition of same-sex couples. ITALY Only 32 percent of Italians support same-sex marriage, and only 21 percent support gay adop tion, according to a Eurisko poll conducted for La Re()uhhlica newspaper, which published the results in its Nov. 7 issue. The poll also found that three-quarters of Italians are OK with unmarried couples living together and that 63 percent are fine with divorce. Italy’s Tuscany region banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity Nov. 10. It is reportedly the first Italian region to do so. The measure was passed hy the Tus cany Regional Council. The law “grant|sj to every person free expres sion and manifestation of the person’s sexual ori entation and of the person’s gender identity.” It also gives same-sex couples rights in the area of health care decisions and promises to promote cultural events “open to all lifestyles.” Violators will he fined up to $3,900. ISRAEL Israeli gays and lesbians will automatically inherit a deceased partner’s estate unless it was willed to someone else, following a ground breaking Nov. 1 3 mling hy the Nazareth Dis trict Court, The Jerusalem Post reported.
