Aug. 7, 2002
All publications Front Page Nightspots Blacklines En La Vida Out! Resource Guide Current WCT Issue	world roundup BY REX WOCKNER CANADA APPEALS MARRIAGE RULING Canada's Justice Ministry will appeal the Ontario Superior Court ruling that the federal ban on same-sex marriage violates the nation's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "There is no consensus, either from the courts or among Canadians, on whether or how the laws require change," said Justice Minister Martin Cauchon. "The government believes it is the responsible course to seek further clarity on these issues." The July 12 ruling came in the case of two couples who were married at the gay Metropolitan Community Church via the process of reading banns...asking in church on three Sundays if anyone objects to the marriage, which is a legal way to marry in Ontario. They were given ordinary marriage certificates by MCC pastor Brent Hawkes but provincial officials later refused to register the documents. The court's ruling will become law on July 12, 2004, if the federal Parliament has not legalized same-sex marriage by then. The only country where same-sex couples can marry under the exact same laws as opposite-sex couples is The Netherlands, though numerous nations, mostly in Western Europe, have gay-partnership laws that grant registered same-sex couples up to 99 percent of the rights and obligations of marriage.   Lesbian Mom kills son after sperm donor dispute The Australia Sun-Herald reports that, after a court battle between a lesbian mother and the gay sperm donor father of her two-year-old son, the mother has apparently killed herself and the boy. "The 40-year-old woman lost her fight to restrict the sperm donor father's access to the boy in the Family Court four months ago. She had argued that she and her lesbian partner were all the parents the boy needed and that the man had no right even to call himself a father. The court case caused a furore but Family Court Judge Paul Guest ruled it was in the boy's best interests for the man to have regular contact with him," the Sun-Herald reported. See http://www.familycourt.gov.au/   NEW ANGLICAN HEAD VERY PRO-GAY The newly appointed head of the Church of England is very gay-friendly. New Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams "for over 20 years ... has eloquently advocated that Christianity and homosexuality should be viewed as wholly consistent with each other," Rev. Richard Kirker, general secretary of the UK's Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, told the BBC. "His close personal friendships with gay people over 30 years marks him out as the first archbishop of Canterbury who is entirely at ease, publicly and privately, with a section of society that the church has often either tried, at best, to ignore or patronize and at worst to openly discriminate against," Kirker said. "Under his leadership homophobia will be challenged and intolerance rooted out." Web searches produce several denunciations by conservative Anglicans and Episcopalians of Williams' "liberal," "left-wing," "pro-homosexual" positions. "We do have problems with his radical agenda ... so we are arranging an early meeting hopefully to clarify some of these fundamental concerns," Frank Naggs, a member of the church's evangelical caucus, told the Guardian. Bruce Mason, spokesman for the conservative American Anglican Council, told the AP, "Some of his past views on issues of human sexuality are things we don't support."   TORY MP COMES OUT Leading British Conservative Member of Parliament Alan Duncan told London's The Times that he is gay July 29, the first time a Tory MP has come out while still in Parliament. "Living in disguise as a politician in the modern world simply isn't an option," Duncan told the newspaper. "I think the only realistic way to behave these days, particularly if you are a politician, is to be absolutely honest and upfront, however inconvenient that may be at first."   SRI LANKAN TRANNY FILM BANNED Sri Lanka's government censors have ordered filmmaker Ashoka Handagama to delete scenes from his new movie Thani Thatuwen Piyambanna (Flying with One Wing) if he wants it to be screened in Sri Lanka. The movie is based on the true story of a transvestite who was jailed without charges last year when the parents of her female partner discovered she was not biologically male. Handagama has refused to alter the film and says he will pursue the matter in court.   80 MARCH IN NEWFOUNDLAND About 80 people marched in the gay-pride parade in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, July 22. Organizers blamed the low turnout on cold weather. "You can almost be sure that every time we have this it's going to be a cold day," said Derrick Bishop of the organizing committee. "There were no feathers and fishnets to be seen," noted the local newspaper, The Telegram. The parade wrapped up a week of pride events.   INTERNET FLING LEADS TO MURDER A 19-year-old man in Vietnam who discovered that the girl he had been flirting with online was really a 14-year-old boy killed the youth July 14. Tran Quoc Dung was arrested for stabbing Nguyen Bui Linh outside an Internet cafe in Vinh City in Nghe An province, said Agence France-Presse.   PLAYERS UPSET OVER WEB SITE The Australian Football League is upset over a Web site for gay fans that posted allegedly doctored nude and semi-nude photos of some players, the Herald Sun reported July 17. One reported victim, Port Adelaide team captain Matthew Primus, says a full-frontal-nude shot is not actually him. "We are quite shocked that this can happen," said Primus' manager, Scott Christainsen. "I'll certainly be talking to our legal representatives." The site also shows footballer Justin Murphy, when he played for the Geelong team, in a compromising position with fake genitals superimposed, the Herald Sun said. There are numerous photos of other AFL players. The Web site is housed by MSN. A report in The Australian newspaper said a second group of players is upset that shirtless photos of them appear on the site. Most of the pictures appear to be from swimming sessions or were lifted from AFL beefcake calendars, the newspaper said.   MILITARY GIVES HIV-POSITIVES THE BOOT The Australian Defence Force acknowledged July 19 that it has dismissed eight soldiers since 1995 for testing HIV-positive, the Herald Sun reported. The Full Court of the Federal Court approved such dismissals in 1998, saying the blood of HIV-positive soldiers can be dangerous to other soldiers. Military applicants who test positive are automatically rejected, a spokeswoman told the newspaper. People already serving are only tested if they seem to be at risk for HIV or show signs of AIDS, when they donate blood, when they return from deployment in HIV high-risk areas, or when they are going to a country where immigration laws require HIV testing. However, all pilots are automatically tested yearly, the Herald Sun report said.   SOUTH AFRICAN COURT GRANTS SPOUSAL RIGHTS A full bench of South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled July 25 that gay couples must receive the same workplace benefits as married couples. The ruling, which came in a case filed by a lesbian judge whose partner was denied spousal benefits, cited the nation's Constitution, which bans all discrimination based on sexual orientation. Another lawsuit is pending that activists predict will open up ordinary marriage to South African same-sex couples. The only country where gay couples can marry under the exact same laws as opposite-sex couples is The Netherlands, though several nations, mostly in Western Europe, have gay-partnership laws that grant registered same-sex couples up to 99 percent of the rights and obligations of marriage.   SPERM-DONOR BABIES TURN OUT FINE New research in Belgium reveals that children born to lesbian couples with help from a sperm donor are just as well-adjusted as children born to married heterosexual couples via copulation. Researchers at the Dutch-Speaking Brussels Free University studied 41 kids whose lesbian mothers got pregnant with donated sperm. "No differences were found between youngsters raised in lesbian families and those raised in heterosexual families with regard to the quality of their interaction with parents and their psychological well-being," the scientists reported. The results were presented in Vienna at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.   HUNGARIANS CELEBRATE PRIDE Gays and lesbians in Budapest, Hungary, celebrated their pride in late June and early July with art events, lectures, a film festival, a large dance party and a parade that attracted thousands of marchers and thousands of viewers. Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky officially kicked off the celebration June 27 and, in a pre-parade address on June 29, Alliance of Free Democrats Member of Parliament Piter Gusztos called for full legal equality for Hungarian gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people.   GERMANY FUNDS GAY FOUNDATION The German parliament created The Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation June 27 to fight anti-gay discrimination and memorialize gays persecuted by the Nazis. Hirschfeld is believed to have been Germany's...if not the world's...first gay activist. He founded the gay Scientific Humanitarian Committee in 1897. The federal government will fund the foundation with 3.75 million euros (US$3.75 million) annually for the next five years. Opposition MPs from the Christian Democrat-Christian Social Union voted against the funding.
Back to Archived Front Page / Lambda Welcome Index / Nightspots / Blacklines / En La Vida / Out! Resource Guide / Current WCT Issue Copyright © 2002 Lambda Publications Inc. All rights reserved. Lambda produces Windy City Radio, and publishes Windy City Times, The Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community, Nightspots, Out Resource Guide, Blacklines and En La Vida. 1115 W. Belmont 2D, Chicago, IL 60657; PH (773) 871-7610; FAX (773) 871-7609. Web at www.windycitytimes.com E-mail feedback to outlines@suba.com!