FEBRUARY 2. 2007
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Gays and supporters returned to the Vatican since this 2002 protest to picket against Pope
Benedict XVI's opposition to gay rights. The protest marked nine years since Alfredo Ormando set
himself alight in St. Peter's Square to protest Catholic homophobia.
■^^»D avid W. O wens
P.C. & ASSOCIATES
*
Ormando, set himself alight in St. Peter’s Square to
protest Roman Catholic homophobia. Ormando
died 10 days later from his injuries.
The Vatican has expressed hostility to the
Italian government’s promise to introduce a civil
union bill into Parliament by the end of January.
The measure is expected to cover areas such as
health insurance, health care decisions, hospital
and prison visitation, inheritance, immigration,
transfer of leases and alimony.
Prime Minister Romano Prodi told local media
that such a law would be a “fundamental step
forward.”
AMERICAS
Mexican State Passes Civil Unions
The Mexican state of Coahuila, which borders
Texas, passed a civil union law for same-sex couples
Jan. 11.
The state Congress approved the measure 20-
13. It was introduced by the centrist Institutional
Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for more
than 70 years until the election of President
Vicente Fox in 2000.
Expressing support for the bill, Coahuila PR1
Gov. Humberto Moreira said “it would be discrim
inatory not to...respect the rights of every person
regardless of sexual affiliation.”
The law extends most of the rights of matrimo
ny to registered same-sex couples.
Coahuila is known for mining and ranching. Its
capital city is Saltillo.
The only other locale in Mexico with a same-
sex partnership law is Mexico City. That measure
passed the city’s Legislative Assembly 43-17 with
five abstentions last November. It grants spousal
rights in areas such as property, pensions, inheri
tance, medical decisions and co-parenting.
Heterosexual couples and nonsexual couples also
can register under the law.
Other Latin American localities with same-sex
civil union laws include Buenos Aires, Argentina;
the Argentine province of Rio Negro; and the
Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Mexican Gay Leader Murdered
The best-known gay activist in Matamoros,
Mexico, was found stabbed to death in his home
Jan. 15.
José Ernesto Leal López, 42, was killed just days
after staging a press conference calling for the state
of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas, to pass a same
sex partnership law similar to those passed in
Mexico City and in the border state of Coahuila.
Leal López also recently had demanded that
Matamoros police stop allegedly arresting residents
because of their homosexual orientation and charg
ing them $84 to be released.
But a police department spokesman said the
killing appeared to be solely “a crime of passion,"
noting that there were no signs of forced entry and
that there was bkxxl throughout the house.
The Hoy Tamaulipas Web site reported Jan. 19
that openly gay federal congressman David
Sanchez Camacho, who serves on a commission
concerned with “vulnerable groups,” had arrived in
Matamoros to challenge the “crime of passion”
theory.
“Enough with wanting to solve this crime by
saying it was passion and wanting to sweep it under
the carpet when we could be facing an anti-gay
hate crime," Sanchez Camacho said. “We’ve come
all the way to Tamaulipas to learn the realities of
life for people like us on this border.”
Matamoros is across the Rio Grande from
Brownsville, Texas.
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MIDEAST/AFRICA
Trouble for Scottsdale/Marrakech
Sister-City Plan
The Scottsdale Sister Cities Association in
Arizona has come under fire from gay activists over
a plan that would pair Scottsdale and Marrakech,
Morocco, as “sister cities.”
They say it’s contradictory for a city with an
official gay tourist outreach program to team up
with a country that punishes gay sex with up to
three years in prison.
“It wouldn’t have been our first pick,” said Amy
Kobeta, director of public affairs at the Arizona
Human Rights Fund and Foundation.
“It makes me curious about what guidelines
they used in selecting a sister city,” she told The
East Valley Tribune. “Our hope is that they would
kx>k at other areas of the world that are more tol
erant.”
/
According to Amnesty International, about 80
of rhe world’s 193 independent nations criminalize
gay sex. ©
R ex WOCKNER 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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