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February 9, 2007
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Rex Wockner

International News
MOSCOW MAYOR SAYS GAY PRIDE IS 'SATANIC' Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said Jan. 29 that Gay pride parades are "satanic." "Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the Gay parade, which can be described in no other way than as satanic," Luzhkov said. "We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future." He continued: "Some European nations bless single-sex marriages and introduce sexual guides in schools. Such things are a deadly moral poison for children." Last year's pride ban, supported by the courts, led organizers to replace the planned parade with attempts to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and stage a rally across from City Hall. Participants in both small events were violently attacked by neofascists, skinheads, Christians and riot police. Organizers again have vowed to march this year, on May 27. Luzhkov's new comments came on the day pride organizers filed suit in the European Court of Human Rights over last year's ban. They seek the right to march and $26,000 in compensation. "Not a single European legal expert we have spoken with doubts in the success of our application to the court," said organizer Nikolai Alekseev. "After that, not a single official, including the Moscow mayor, will be able to deprive us of our legal right to freedom of public expression." COAHUILA CIVIL-UNION LAW TAKES EFFECT The groundbreaking civil-union law in the Mexican state of Coahuila took effect Feb. 1. A Lesbian couple, Karina Almaguer and Karla López, who traveled from the nearby state of Tamaulipas to the Coahuilan capital of Saltillo, reportedly were the first to tie the knot. Officials said Coahuila civil unions are available to couples from anywhere in Mexico. The state Congress passed the law Jan. 11 in a 20-13 vote. It was signed by Gov. Humberto Moreira the same day. The statute allows same-sex couples to register their union with a justice of the peace and extends spousal rights in such areas as property, health insurance and pensions. Heterosexual and nonsexual couples can register as well. Mexico City's Legislative Assembly passed the nation's first civil-union law last November but it does not take effect until March 16. The federal district's statute allows Gay and straight couples -- as well as two friends, roommates or extended family members -- to register their relationship and receive spousal rights in areas such as inheritance, pensions, property, co-parenting and medical decisions. Couples must present identification, proof of residence, birth certificates and witnesses; pay a fee of about $3.90; then return in 10 business days, with the witnesses, for the ceremony. During the interim, the city's Justice Department confirms that both partners are unmarried and not already in a civil union. In other Mexican news, Gay federal legislator David Sánchez Camacho is planning to introduce a proposed constitutional amendment and other legislation to extend civil-rights protections to transsexuals and assure they can change their name and gender in official documents. The proposed amendment says "every person has the right to the recognition and free exercise of their gender identity and their gender expression." To pass, the amendment must receive a yes vote from two-thirds of the members of both houses of the federal Congress and two-thirds of the members of the legislature in at least 16 of Mexico's 31 states. PORTUGUESE GAY COUPLES GAIN MORE RIGHTS Same-sex couples in Portugal acquired some additional rights at the end of 2006. Public employees who live with a partner for at least two years now can extend their health coverage and certain other benefits to their partners. And the nation's "de facto union" law now covers immigration. According to correspondent João Paulo from the Web portal PortugalGay.PT, a Portuguese citizen who lives with a foreign same-sex partner for at least three years, whether in Portugal or abroad, can sponsor the partner for Portuguese citizenship. A declaration from a judge is required to confirm the legitimacy of the relationship. FRENCH MP FINED FOR ANTIGAY REMARK French Member of Parliament Christian Vanneste was fined about $3,900 Jan. 25 for having called homosexuality "inferior" and "dangerous for humanity if it was pushed to the limit." A court in Douai imposed the fine under a two-year-old law that bans antiGay language. Vanneste, a member of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party, also must pay about $13,500 in costs and damages to the plaintiffs, three Gay organizations. Vanneste previously vowed to appeal any guilty verdict to the European Court of Human Rights. CANADIAN GAY NEWSPAPERS STOLEN Somebody has been stealing all copies of the Ottawa, Canada, Gay newspaper Capital Xtra! from more than 30 newspaper boxes in the downtown area. "Someone [is] so dedicated to making a point to our community that they invested the time to travel our entire downtown core and vacuum up every single paper," said Managing Editor Gareth Kirkby. "Someone really doesn't like us." Pink Triangle Press, which publishes the paper, is restocking the boxes as needed and has sought help from the city's Hate Crimes Unit. And Kirkby has urged readers to watch out for the culprit or culprits. "We want to nab this person or persons, charge them, and give them publicity that will leave even their priest blushing," he said. Kirkby also offered to let the vandal or vandals write a guest column in the paper. "We're not afraid of your opinion," he said. GAYS MAKE SPLASH AT WORLD SOCIAL FORUM African Gays and Lesbians made an unprecedented splash at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, in late January. "Never in Kenya's history has there been such an open and politically charged gathering of homosexual men and women," said the Sunday Nation newspaper. Among other activities, GLBT people from around the continent set up a "Q-Spot" tent to get their message out. According to the Nation, "'the love that dare not speak its name' ... shouted the news of its existence in Kenya, East Africa and the world as a whole using a public-address system in a tent set aside as a 'safe space.'" The tent's message, said the paper, was, "We are Queer, we are here and we are proud." But not all attendees were happy about the GLBT presence. A Ugandan Lesbian who addressed the forum's closing ceremonies was heckled by some members of the audience and, when she finished speaking, a group of what the Sunday Nation called "dreadlocked men" chanted "fire" at her as she left the stage. But an attendee from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Lawrence Mute, said the commission supports Gays and Lesbians and will fight on their behalf if they are fired or kicked out of schools because of their sexuality.
Quote / Unquote

"I'm 53 years old. I grew up in a small town in the rural South. I was raised in the Southern Baptist church. And so I have a belief system that arises from that. It's part of who I am. I can't make it disappear. ... Do I believe they [Gays] should have the right to marry? I'm just not there yet -- me, I'm not there yet." --Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards to ABC News, Dec. 31. "I guess I come from a more eclectic background [than my husband] and so it's [same-sex marriage] less problematic, I think, probably for me. But I think both sides of this argument understand the desire for equality and equal treatment. I don't think there is anybody who is for or against it who doesn't understand it and I don't think there's anybody who is for or against it who doesn't understand the trouble people have. ... [I]t just seems something that they've not been around. Of course, they haven't because we haven't had it in this country." --Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, to ABC News, Dec. 31. "I now believe that if Gay men and Lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces. Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job." --Retired Army Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993 to 1997, writing in The New York Times, Jan. 2. "It is amazing how many politicians claim they support equal rights and oppose discrimination against Gays, but then favor a ban on same-sex marriage, oppose allowing Gays to serve openly in the military, even oppose adoption by Gay couples. ... I don't know about you, but I am getting a little tired of people who say they are for Gay legal equality -- except when they are against it, or saying they are against discrimination -- except when they are for it, and then using all sort of verbal evasions to wriggle out of acknowledging how anti-Gay they are." --Syndicated Gay-press columnist Paul Varnell, Jan. 3. "Senator John Edwards ... described same-sex marriage as 'the single hardest social issue' for him and said he had had a lot of 'personal struggles' over the issue. Oh, John, John, we feel your pain! How hard it must be for you to grant others the same right you have to marry the person you love. Edwards said he favored civil rights for Gays but that it was a 'jump for me to get to Gay marriage -- I am not there yet.' ... Apparently a civil marriage is not a civil right. And he has the effrontery to teasingly imply that he might change his position ('I'm not there yet') but suggests no sorts of reasons or criteria he would use in reevaluating his position. Apparently it is all just a mucky ooze of subjective feelings." --Syndicated Gay-press columnist Paul Varnell, Jan. 3. "Equal treatment of Gay couples will be a hallmark of the 21st century, just as racial equality before the law was a sea change in 20th-century America. Someday we'll look back and wonder what all the fuss was about, the same way we now shake our heads at laws that once banned inter-racial marriage. ... The whole threat-to-marriage argument against Gay unions never made sense. Stable, monogamous relationships are an important building block of a strong society, and we ought to support them. Why shouldn't that premise apply to Gay couples? How can extending legal protections to them cause harm to anyone else?" --The San Jose [Calif.] Mercury News in a Jan. 8 editorial. "It's a decidedly American concept that in America, it's still perceived that being Gay is bad and that being Gay and out in Hollywood will hurt your career. That's a false concept that I don't believe. I don't buy into it. I'm not going to perpetuate it because it's not true. I dare you to name one person who came out and their career went to the ---- after. If anything, it will help. All the comings-out have helped." --Mario Lavendeira of PerezHilton.com fame to the Los Angeles Daily News, Jan. 6. "Coming out and being Gay may actually help some [actors] who don't have careers. At least it's something to promote and you have an audience to start with. You can get work at one of the Gay networks and have something to bring to the table instead of being another out-of-work actor in Los Angeles or New York." --Paul Colichman, creator and CEO of the here! TV pay channel, to the Los Angeles Daily News, Jan. 6. "[F]or so long, everyone was so worried about it [coming out]. 'Will it hurt my [Hollywood] career?' 'Is that all people are going to talk about?' 'Will the audience care?' The fact of the matter is, we are now at a place where it now doesn't matter. You can come out, acknowledge your sexuality and move on." --Actor Chad Allen (Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, End of the Spear) to the Los Angeles Daily News, Jan. 6. "I've marched on Washington three times: twice for reproductive freedom and once for Gay and Lesbian rights, and it was very empowering for me. The political side of this has been important to me for a very long time." --Actress Cybill Shepherd, now starring on The L Word, to Los Angeles' Lesbian News, January issue. "First of all, my brother is Gay. So I grew up with a Gay brother and nothing surprised me about the issues in the script. I know how it feels to be thought of as 'different' as a deaf person, and I also know my brother's experience. No one should tell us who we should be with or shouldn't be with. It's as simple as that. There should be no judgment, no attitude toward the community because we all live the same life. The only difference is who we choose to be with." --Actress Marlee Matlin, now starring on The L Word, to Los Angeles' Lesbian News, January issue. "I have come to realize, having played the part, the inequality is striking. It is actually shocking to me. I had no idea about the rights that are not afforded to Gays and Lesbians. I think that because I am playing a Gay woman, I started to take it really personally when I read stories about it to become aware of issues." --The L Word actress Jennifer Beals to Los Angeles' Lesbian News, January issue. "I bike everywhere. It can be kind of amusing, arriving on a bike in black tie -- but it's just so enormously efficient. You're never late to anything on your bike. It's the only exercise I really have. ... I can't exist in LA. I don't drive. ... I am always waiting for a friend to come pick me up. It's too frustrating. I am just too much of a control queen." --Village Voice columnist Michael Musto to PlanetOut.com, Jan. 6. "I've had a few [boyfriends] and had one earlier this year for about six months and it was pretty sweet. But the more he was looking for a life partner, the more frightened I became -- and it kinda destroyed the whole thing. I could have a more casual relationship, but he basically wanted a wife. You know, I am the last person for that. I've spent too many years developing my way of life -- and my hours." --Village Voice columnist Michael Musto to PlanetOut.com, Jan. 6. "I don't even want Kevin Spacey to come out anymore. He's not really a noteworthy celebrity anymore. So he really missed the boat. And as much as Jodie Foster has never come out and said, 'Hey, I am straight,' she has never come out and expressed her private issues. I would just love for her to take a stand. That would make a huge difference in the world." --Village Voice columnist Michael Musto to PlanetOut.com, Jan. 6. "It is urgent that pro-family citizens -- Republicans, Democrats and independents alike -- contact their U.S. Representative and Senators, as well as President Bush, to state their opposition to passage of all pro-homosexuality 'sexual orientation' bills in the new Congress. At the top of the 'Gay' wish-list is ENDA, which we are calling the 'ENDA-Our Freedom' Bill because it would use federal power to force businesses to support and subsidize homosexuality and gender confusion ('Transgender' lifestyles: think men in dresses, using female restrooms)." --From a Jan. 5 e-mail alert from "Americans For Truth."