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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 2006)
¿Q.JUSt|OUt MAY5.ZQW world Your Clark County Connection Call us today for the top 3 reasons why you should move to Vancouver Ronae Christensen Wanda Halvorson CREEKSIDE MORTGAGE, INC CENTURY 21 COMPLETE Mortgage Loan Officer M the cathedral.... This is not acceptable. Latvia is a state based on Christian values.” Kalvitis later moderated his views, saying: “There were attempts to link my statements with expressions of homophobic views and hate in the society. This is not true.... I hope that in the future in such situations the necessary compromise will be found by choosing appropriate time and place beforehand." Kalvitis added that “Latvia is a democratic country that wishes and is able to ensure human rights of every person living here.... It is worth not ing that not long before the parade, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted decisions preventing discrimina tion of sexual minorities in [the] labor market.” Toll free: 1-866-601-4905 Office: 360-910-4791 email: Wandah@pacifier.com 1-800-920-5420 (360) 567-3762 email: Ronae@creeksidem.com (jet a Free Pre-Qualificalion before you buy! Providing you with the Mortgage loan that meets your needs I Apply Online: www.CreeksideM.com A full time Realtor in Clark County fur 11 yr*. Serving both buyers & sellers with: * 100% loyalty &. commitment * Up to the minute market knowledge * Readily available - call me today □J Dutch Grant Gay Immigrants a Reprieve Vladimir Luxuria has become Europe's first openly transgender member of Parliament. EUROPE Transgender Elected to Italian Parliament A transgender person was elected April 11 to Italy’s Parliament. Vladimir Luxuria is helieved to be the first openly transgender individual elected to any. European parliament. “This is...a sign that the European electorate is becoming more open-minded and embracing the diversity of humankind,” said Riccardo Gottardi, co-chairman of the European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association. “We hope the newly elected Italian politicians will ful fill their pre-election promises and will introduce Italy into [the] family of European nations legally recognizing same-sex families.” A gay man, Franco Grillini, and a lesbian, Titti De Simone, were re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies, and a bisexual, Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, was elected for the first time. Another gay man, Gianpaolo Silvestri, was elected to the Senate. Latvians Will Attempt Second Pride Parade GARY HANSEN YOUR CANDIDATE FOR DISTRICT 2 MULTNOMAH COUNTY COMMISSIONER “I am proud of my strong record on LGBT Issues. In my previous service on the county commission, I helped lead the effort that resulted in Multnomah County becoming Oregon's second government to provide domestic partner benefits. Let’s continue this work - vote Gary Hansen for District 2 County Commissioner - and be sure to return your ballot by May 16." * Gary Hansen www.hansen4county.com Despite last year’s disaster, gays and lesbians in the Latvian capital of Riga will stage a second Pride parade July 22. Sweden’s National Federation for Sexual Equality is supporting the effort with a $4,250 donation. The 2005 parade of about 150 marchers was completely trashed by about 1,000 anti-gay protest ers who hurled insults, bottles and rotten eggs; blocked the streets; and forced the procession to be rerouted. They chanted “No sodomy” and “Gays fuck the nation.” In the end, police formed a human chain around the marchers to keep them safe. “Last year’s experience demonstrated that the first Pride was not organized at its best; the society was not properly informed and educated why such an event was necessary in Latvia,” said the new organizers, a queer alliance called Mosaic. “This year a wider and more professional circle of people are involve^, there is much greater cooperation with other human rights organizations, and there is a timely and thorough work with the media.” Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis denounced last year’s march as “a parade of sexual minorities [tak ing] place in the middle of our capital city next to Under pressure from Parliament and activists, the Netherlands’ immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, has extended a moratorium on expulsion of gay Iranian asylum-seekers for an additional six months. Despite many reports of anti-gay abuses by Iranian officials, Verdonk is not convinced Iranian gays face serious persecution in their homeland. During the moratorium, the Foreign Ministry will launch a new effort to assess Iran’s gay climate. The deportation ban was implemented last year after reports of executions in Iran for homosexual conduct. The Etemad newspaper reported that two men were sentenced to death by the Tehran Criminal Court after the wife of one of them found a video of the two having sex. The Tehran daily Kayhan cov ered the hanging of two. men—Mokhtar N., 24, and Ali A., 25—in Shahid Bahonar Square in the town of Gorgan for what it said was the crime of sodomy. “Men and women suspected of homosexual conduct in Iran face the threat of execution,” affirmed Scott Long of Human Rights Watch’s gay rights program. “We have documented brutal flog gings imposed by courts as punishment, and torture and ill treatment, including sexual abuse, in police custody.” Article 111 of the Code of Islamic Punishments, Iran’s criminal code, states that sexual intercourse between men “is punishable by death.” Articles 121 and 122 punish nonpenetrative sex between men with 100 lashes and with death on the fourth con viction. Article 123 allows for 90 lashes “if two men who are not related by blood lie naked under the same cover without any necessity.” Articles 127 through 134 punish sexual intercourse between women with 100 lashes and with death if the offense is repeated three times. MIDEAST/AFRICA Iraqi Gays Say They're Being Killed Iraq has seen an increase in homophobic killings since the U.S. invasion, the British Broadcasting Corp, reported April 17. Frightened gay people told the network the murders are connected to the growing influence of anti-gay religious figures and the increasing lawless ness of militias. Seyed Kashmiri, a spokesman for Iraq’s most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, suggested some of the killings are appropriate. “Homosexuals and lesbians are not killed for practicing their inclinations for the first time,” he said. “There are certain conditions drawn out by
