Just out • july 1.2ÛQ5
jiijHRiinews
AMERICAS
C anada L egalizes
S ame -S ex M arriage
Canada’s House of Commons voted June 28
to approve legislation allowing gay couples to
marry. The vote was 158-133. The hill received
its first reading in the Senate on June 29 and is
expected to pass. Supported by most members of
the Liberal party, the Bloc Québécois and the
New Democratic Party, the vote makes Canada
the third country in the world, after the Nether
lands and Belgium, to officially recognize same-
sex marriage.
The vote came at a price for Paul Martin’s
minority government. Joe Comuzzi, the minis
ter responsible for Northern Ontario, resigned
from the Cabinet so he could vote against the
bill. Conservative leader Stephen Harper says if
his party forms the next government, the law
will be revisited.
Gay marriage is currently authorized in eight
provinces and one territory; it remains in legal
limbo in two additional jurisdictions. •
♦
G uadalajara G ay R adio
P rogram D umped
Guadalajara University in Mexico has ter
minated the Guadalajara Gay Radio program
that aired on the campus radio station,
Reporters Without Borders said June 13.
“It is hard to imagine a radio program still
being censored for such archaic reasons as sexu
al discrimination in the 21st century,” the press
freedom organization said. “This type of.. .viola
tion is a dangerous step backwards.”
Guadalajara University Radio director Car
los Ramirez Powell told program host Miguel
Galán that higher-ups ordered him to ax the
show as part of a politically motivated overhaul
of the station’s programming.
A rgentine A ctor D enied
U.S.
V isa
Prominent Argentine actor and comedian
Fernando Peña was denied his visa renewal by
the U.S. Consulate in Buenos Aires because he
is HIV-positive, Immigration Equality reported
June 22.
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Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (left), Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez
de la Vega (right) and members of Spain's Parliament cheer the vote to legalize same-sex marriage.
“Our parliamentarians have said that the
Canadian thing to do is to end discrimination
and to extend full citizenship to lesbian and gay
people,” said Alex Munter, spokesman for
Canadians for Equal Marriage. “We call on the
Senate of Canada to give speedy passage to this
legislation.”
F ormer S occer S tar C omes O ut
A former Uruguayan soccer star, who ajpo
played for teams in Venezuela, Guatemala and
El Salvador, came out of the closet in the June
issue of Gay BarceLma magazine.
“It is only now that being gay is ‘in fashion,’ ”
Wilson Oliver Elias told the magazine. “We are
on the TV soaps, publicity ads, in all media.
Society has begun to understand that gays are
normal, regular people.”
Oliver said his mother is OK with his sexu
ality but his father isn’t.
“One day my mother, as I came home from
one of my trips as a player, said to me, ‘You
know, someone came and told me you were gay.’
And I said, ‘Well, Mom, and what did you say in
return?’ And, amazingly, she said, ‘Well, if it’s
not a daughter-in-law it’ll be a son-in-law!’
That’s when I found my mother accepted me,
something that gave me a great deal of peace.
But with my father it’s different; we don’t talk to
him. He is part of a rigid society and a culture
where machismo is exacerbated. ”
Oliver now lives in Barcelona with his
partner.
Peña had a U.S. travel visa most of his life,
using it to visit relatives and to perform at
events such as the Latin American MTV Video
Music Awards.
The United States bans nearly all opemy
HIV-positive visitors because immigration law
classifies HIV as a “communicable disease of
public health significance.” In certain instances,
brief waivers of the ban are granted.
“The United States should be the world
leader in fighting the HIV epidemic; instead, we
continue to perpetuate stigma and misinforma
tion about how HIV is transmitted,” said Victo
ria Neilson, Immigration Equality’s legal direc
tor. “Not only are the laws discriminatory, they
are also ineffective in terms of prevention.”
A nglicans G ive A mericans ,
C anadians the B oot
The Anglican Consultative Council on
June 21 told the U.S. Episcopal Church and the
Anglican Church of Canada to leave the coun
cil because they’re too gay-friendly. The vote
was 30-28.
The U.S. church installed an openly gay
bishop—Gene Robinson in New Hampshire—
and the Canadian church has allowed blessings
of same-sex unions, in British Columbia.
The Consultative Council is the worldwide
Anglican Communion’s central administrative
body. The punishment will remain in effect
until 2008.
The issue of the acceptability of gay sex