Just out., April 01, 2005, Page 21, Image 21

april 1.2005 ’jU»t OUt 21
mrnrinews
these areas because of fear.”
Black gays can find it difficult to visit the bars
in Cape Town’s gay village because of the expense
of transportation, cover charges and drinks.
sex de facto partners will escape being treated
as couples for social welfare purposes for two
years as officials mull the problem. The extension
also is designed to allow de facto couples to
“reorganize their affairs,” the newspaper said.
AMERIC AS
N evis R ejects G ay C ruise S hip
The Caribbean island of Nevis—part of the
nation of St. Kitts and Nevis—barred a cruise
ship carrying 110 mostly U.S. gays from docking
March 23.
A police boat halted the Source
Events/Windjammer Barefoot Cruises ship and
took the captain to shore for a meeting with
port, police, customs and immigration officials,
after which the ship was ordered to sail on. Port
authority acting general manager Oral Brandy
told reporters that Nevis does not want homo­
sexuality “to be a part of our culture.”
Two days later, however, Nevis Tourism
i Minister Malcolm Guishard said the ship was
turned away not because the passengers were gay
but because they were naked, and Capt. Cor­
nelius Plantefaber could not promise they would
be clothed on land. Plantefaber reportedly
denied he made such a statement.
Gay cruises have stopped at St. Kitts in the
S ingapore W ill N ot
past.
A llow G ay C oncert
“We welcome all visitors,” government
Singapore’s Media Development Authority
spokesman Erasmus Williams told The Associat­
says it will not allow an April 3 concert by open­ ed Press. “We’ve had gay ships in St. Kitts in the
ly gay U.S. spiritual-pop duo Jason and deMarco.
past, and the visits have gone off without
“Alternative lifestyles are against the public
problems. I’m surprised that Nevis officials didn’t
interest,” the MDA said. “Based on the reports
let them in.”
about the duo’s performances in the United
Gay sex is illegal in St. Kitts and Nevis,
States and the duo’s Web site, the duo uses their
which has a population of about 42,000.
musical performance and their own example of
being a couple to celebrate and promote a gay
T heater C hain C aves U nder P ressure
lifestyle.”
Canada’s largest movie theater chain,
The couple were being brought to Singapore
Famous Players Media, will no longer nin “issue-
by the local gay Christian support group Safe­ driven advertising” after a boycott threat by the
haven, which says more than half of the tickets Canadian Family Action Coalition, the Ottawa
for the Action for AIDS charity concert have
gay newspaper Capital Xtra! reported.
been sold. But without an “arts and entertain­
The threat followed screening of $15,000
ment license” from the MDA, the concert can­ worth of ads favoring same-sex marriage, paid
not be staged.
for personally by the chain’s president, Salah
Safehaven is appealing the matter to the
Bachir. The ads were produced by Canadians for
minister for information, communications and
Equal Marriage.
the arts.
The family coalition is still not satisfied and
“The discrimination that goes on against gay
has demanded the chain run an equal number of
people is not just an issue that goes on in Singa­ free ads opposing same-sex marriage, Xtra! said.
pore, it happens everywhere,” Jason said
March 24. “Go to any city around the world, and
A lberta G ives U p
you will find it. We are very concerned about the
on O pposing S ame -S ex M arriage
intolerance against gay people that is expressed
The premier of the Canadian province of
and enforced by the government of Singapore,
Alberta, Ralph Klein, has abandoned his long-
and we are asking people to speak out.”
running fight against legalization of same-sex
marriage.
K orean T ranssexual
Eight of Canada’s 13 provinces and territo­
to S tar in TV S how
ries have legalized same-sex marriage, and the
A transsexual actress is set to play a transsex­ federal Parliament is expected to legalize it
ual character in a South Korean major network
nationwide this spring. Klein said March 17 that
television series, The Korea Times reported
the province has tried every tactic available to
March 21.
resist same-sex marriage and now “will have to
Model and entertainer Harisu will be a lead
abide by the law of the land,” The Edmonton Sun
character in the Munhwa Broadcasting Corpora­
reported.
Klein considered invoking the “notwith­
tion’s 12-part miniseries Trembling Heart, which
premieres April 2. She will play Park Man-ho, a
standing clause,” a rarely used section of Cana­
man who leaves his family for two years and
da’s Constitution that allows provinces or the
federal government to enact temporary laws
returns as a woman named Park Hye-un.
that contradict the federal Charter of Rights
anil Freedoms. Such temporary provincial laws,
N ew Z ealand R econsiders
however, cannot usurp federal power—and the
T reatment of D e F acto C ouples
definition of marriage is a federal matter.
When New Zealand’s Civil Union Act
Same-sex marriage is allowed in British
comes into force next month, the idea had been
to treat married, civil-unioned and de facto cou­ Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and
Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec,
ples the same under the law.
Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory. JF1
But now that’s changed because of concerns
that closeted same-sex de facto couples may not
•»
want their closet doors knocked down by the Compiled by R ex W cxj KNER, who has reported
government. De facto couples are couples who for the gay press since 1985. He has a bachelor’s
degree in journalism from Drake University and
have never married or entered a civil union but
started his career as a radio reporter.
live in a partnership nonetheless.
According to The New Zealand Herald, same-
ASIA/PACIFIC