i'iu in ijn e w s
dancehall singers whose lyrics promote murder
of «ays.
The council ordered the city’s chief execu
tive to write to the large record store chains Vir
gin Megastore, HMV and M VC and suggest
they pull such music from their shelves.
Councilors also will ask the city’s three mem
bers of Parliament to lobby the U.K. govern
ment to ban incitement to hatred against
queers.
“Th is unanimous vote by all parties in the
council is a significant victory in the long battle
against murder and hate music,” Green Coun
cilor Simon Williams said. “The sale of music
inciting the hanging, shutting and burning of
gay people is not an acceptable part of freedom
of expression.”
S izzla Is U nrepentant
Jamaican dancehall music star Sizzla, barred
from entering the United Kingdom because of
his anti-gay lyrics, will not apologize for them,
the British Broadcasting Corp.' reported
Nov. 25.
“They’ve got to
apologize
to God
because they break
G od’s law,” he told the
BBC’s 1 Xtra station.
“Why must I apologize
to corruption? How
can I do that? 1 sing
‘fire burn for homosex
uals’ and sometime in
some street I walk, I
see them and me no
touch them. If I don’t
like what you’re doing,
I don’t come there; if
you don’t like what I’m Sizzla: No friend of gays
doing or what 1 say,
you don’t come where I’m at."
Sizzla was banned from the United Kingdom
while police and government agencies examine
lyrics such as “fire fi di man dem web go ride
man behind,” which means “hum the man who
rides a man from behind.”
N orway R ejects
S ame -S ex M arriage
Norway’s
Parliament
rejected a hill Nov. 18 to
make the nation’s marriage
law gender-neutral.
Norway already offers
gay registered partnerships
that grant every right of
marriage except access to
adoption.
The hill was opposed by
Prime
Minister
Kjell
Magne Bondevik’s Christian Kjell Magne
Democratic Party and by Bondevik: Also
right-wing parliamentarians. no friend of gays
A SIA
C hina I ssues E stimate
of G ay P opulation
China has 5 million to 12.5 million gay
men— 2 percent to 4 percent of the male pop
ulation— the Ministry of Health said Dec. 2.
It estimated that about 1.35 percent of them
are infected with HIV, based on limited testing.
The statistics were a first for China.
According to People’s Daily, “ information
on gay people is being collected in each
province” via 42 “monitoring spots.”
The paper said that condoms are being
given away for free and that HIV prevention
information is being disseminated.
“The number of female homosexuals, also
called lesbians, is much less than that of
males,” according to a version of the story that
ran on the News Guangdong Web site.
Multnomah Antiques
F ilipino C ity B ans F eminine M en
The Philippines’ most Islamic city, Marawi
City, has banned men from going out in public
wearing female attire, makeup, earrings “or
other ornaments to express their inclinations
for femininity,” The Philippine Star reported
Dec. 4.
The City Council also banned skintight
blue jeans, tube tops and other skimpy attire.
Women must not “induce impure thoughts or
lustful desires.”
Mayor Omar Solitario Ali said the moves
are part of a “cleaning and cleansing” drive to
improve the city’s image.
“Since Marawi City is the only Islamic city
in the country and a part of the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao, we have to com
ply with the culture, religion and tradition of
the Muslims hut without going against the
country’s constitution,” he told the paper.
People who violate the rules will have paint
dumped on their heads by the muttawa, the
religious police.
Officials also banned video games
and prohibited karaoke bars from being
located near mosques or schmls.
A rmy M ajor I nvestigated
for S ex C rimes
A Philippine Army major, Ferdi
nand Ramos, has been placed on “tech
nical arrest” for allegedly forcing male
military trainees to fellate him and
each other and engage in other gay sex
acts, the Asian News Network reported
Nov. 22.
Ramos was chief of civil military
operations at Camp O ’Donnell in the
Tarlac province, a position from which
he has been suspended.
Investigators will determine if
Ramos violated Article of War 96, which deals
with conduct unbecoming an officer and a
gentleman.
The alleged actions came to light after a
trainee gave a videotape to a television inves
tigative reporting program. The show aired
parts of the tape in which Ramos apparently
forced a trainee to fellate him and made male
trainees have sex with each other.
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O ne -F ifth of A ustralian
L esbian C ouples H ave K ids
About 20 percent of Australian lesbian cou
ples have children living with them, according
to a study presented by the federal minister for
family arid community services.
The report, Diversity arui Change in Australian
Families, also found that 5 percent of gay male
couples have kids living with them, The Sydney
Morning Herald reported Nov. 24.
Research author David de Vaus of La Trohe
University suggested 28,144 lesbian couples and
41,535 male couples are living in Australia,
which has a population of 19,913,144. Single
gays and lesbians with children were not includ
ed in the study.
De Vaus also found that gay and lesbian cou
ples are more educated than their heterosexual
counterparts— with coupled gay men twice as
likely as coupled straight men to have a college
degree. Coupled homosexuals also make more
money than coupled straight people. About 30
percent of coupled gay men arc in the highest
income brackets, compared with 23 percent of
coupled straight men. About 23 percent of cou
pled lesbians are in the highest income brackets,
compared with 7 percent of coupled straight
women. j n
Compiled hy R ex Wtx:KNER, 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.
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