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EUROPE
Franco's Gay Victims
May Be Compensated
Spanish Justice Minister Juan Fernando
Lopez Aguilar has proposed that gays who
were jailed, tortured or sent to mental
hospitals during the 1939-1975 rule of
dictator Francisco Franco he compensated
with a one-time payment of $15,777 and
a monthly pension of $1,052, Britain’s
The Independent reported Dec. 28.
Spanish Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar
Many Franco-era gays receive only a
proposed that Franco-era gays be compensated.
small retirement pension because the
regime branded them as criminals and prevented
since it came into force last July, local media
them from working, leaving them unable to pay
reported Jan. 2.
into the system.
The statute, which became law after the
Incarcerated gays were often “treated" with elec­ Chamber of Deputies overrode President Vaclav
tric shixks and forced to watch straight pornography.
Klaus’s veto, grants many of the rights and obliga­
Lower-class gays without “connections” were partic­
tions of marriage but withholds equality in the
ularly vulnerable to institutionalization. The abuse
areas of adoption, pensions, taxation and joint
didn’t stop until the late 1970s, and the men’s crim­ ownership of property.
inal records were not purged until 2001.
Activist Jiri Hromada of Gay Initiative told the
Nowadays, Spain is one of the world’s gay-
Mladd fronta DNES newspaper he was surprised
friendliest nations. Full same-sex marriage was
that so many couples already had tied the knot hut
legalized in 2005.
expects the number to increase dramatically as
“media attention, which is unpleasant for many,
Swiss Partnership Law
fades away.” He predicted that around 1,200
Takes Effect
couples will enter a civil union in 2007.
Switzerland’s same-sex civil union law came
into force Jan. 1, and the first couple tied the knot
George Michael Charged
a day later in the southern canton of Ticino, Swiss
with Unfit Driving
public radio reported.
Gay pop singer George Michael was scheduled
The men, ages 89 and 60, asked to remain
to appear in court Jan. 11 to face a charge of being
anonymous. They have been together for 30 years. j an unfit driver.
The law extends spousal rights in the areas of
Last October, he was found passed out in his
pensions, inheritance, taxes and immigration. It dix^s
car in a London intersection. He was arrested and
not grant rights to adoption or fertility treatment.
later charged with the driving offense and
Other countries with nationwide civil union laws
“cautioned” for marijuana possession.
include Andorra, Belgium, the Czech Republic,
Meanwhile, Michael has received $3.5 million
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland,
for a 75-minute performance at Moscow billionaire
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand,
Vladimir Potanin’s New Year’s Eve party, London’s
Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the United
Daily Mail reported. That’s about $46,000 a minute
Kingdom. Greenland, a self-governing overseas
and $269,000 for each of the 13 songs he sang.
administrative division of Denmark, also has a civil
An entourage of 40 musicians and crew members
union law. There are state or local partnership laws
accompanied Michael to the gig at a private estate
in parts of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and
outside Moscow. Around 250 people attended the
the United States.
lavish celebration.
Full marriage is available to same-sex couples in
Potanin is worth $8 billion and is believed to
Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and
he Russia’s ninth-richest citizen. He manages a
South Africa—as well as in the U.S. state of company that is the world’s largest producer of
Massachusetts.
palladium and platinum, the Daily Mail said.
200 Czech Couples Have Entered
Civil Unions *
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More than 200 same-sex couples have taken
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Gay activist Jiri Hromada estimates 1,200 gay
couples will enter into civil unions in the Czech
Republic this year.
AMERICAS
Court OKs Three Parents
for Canadian Child
The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled unani­
mously Jan. 2 that a lesbian couple’s 5-year-old
son has three parents: the biological mother and
father and the mother’s partner, who had request­
ed the determination.
The father, a family friend, donated sperm to
the unnamed, longtime couple and spends time
with the hoy twice a week. A lower court previous­
ly had dismissed the case, ruling that it lacked
jurisdiction, even though it supported the request.
But the appellate court declared: “Present social
conditions and attitudes have changed. Advances
in our appreciation of the value of other types of
relationships and in the science of reproductive
technology have created gaps [in the law).
"It is contrary to (the boy’s| best interests that
he is deprived of the legal recognition of the