by Rex Wockner - SGN Contributing Writer

Moscow Gay bar raided
The Moscow Gay bar Body & Soul was raided August 7 by police, prosecutors, anti-drug officers and the prefect of Moscow's Northern Administrative District, Oleg Mitvol.

They were accompanied by journalists, photographers and a TV news team, said GayRussia.ru.

Mitvol reportedly has said that such clubs "lead to moral degradation" and "should be closed."

GayRussia said two people were arrested during the raid for unknown reasons.

Gay activists will picket Mitvol's office on August 24.

Fewer UK Gays, Lesbians tie the knot in 2008
Same-sex couples formed 7,169 civil partnerships - 3,824 male and 3,345 female - in the United Kingdom in 2008, a decline of 18 percent compared with 2007, the Office for National Statistics reports.

There were 180 civil-partnership dissolutions in 2008 - 64 between males and 116 between females.

The number of civil partnerships fell by 18 percent in England, 4 percent in Wales, 24 percent in Scotland and 23 percent in Northern Ireland.

The London borough of Westminster and the Brighton and Hove unitary authority saw the largest numbers of civil-partnership registrations in 2008.

More couples tied the knot between April and September than in other months, the agency said.

A total of 33,956 partnerships were formed between December 2005, when the Civil Partnership Act came into force, and the end of 2008.

Civil partnerships grant the same rights and obligations as a marriage.

Many Israelis think homosexuality is perverse
A Haaretz-Dialog poll has found that 46 percent of Israelis "see homosexuality as a perversion."

Forty-two percent don't see it that way and 12 percent don't know what they think, the Haaretz newspaper reported August 6.

Ultra-Orthodox respondents were most likely to label homosexuality a perversion (71 percent) and secular people were least likely to do so (24 percent).

On August 1, a gunman opened fire at a youth meeting in the Tel Aviv clubhouse of the Israeli Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association.

Two people were killed - Liz Troubishi, 16, and Nir Katz, 26 - and 15 were injured. The shooter, who wore black clothes and a mask, remains at large.

On August 8, some 70,000 people and President Shimon Peres gathered in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square in response to the shootings.

"This heinous murder of youth and teenagers is an act that a civilized nation cannot tolerate," Peres said in a statement released by the Israeli Consulate General in New York. "Murder and hate are two of the most appalling crimes against society. I call the police to do its utmost to catch this vile murderer. I call all the citizens of Israel to denounce this crime."

Openly Gay Knesset Member Nitzan Horowitz blamed the attack on public figures who have denounced Gay people, according to the consulate.

"We will not step back into the dark closet, we shall not be terrorized," Horowitz said. "Years of incitement from politicians, rabbis and public officials have materialized into this tragedy. We shall not forgive nor forget them."

Polish woman punished for anti-Gay slurs
A Polish court has ordered a woman to pay her Gay neighbor $5,200 for repeatedly calling him a "fag" ("pedal") in public, local media reported.

The verbal assaults injured Ryszard Giersz's dignity and privacy, the court determined.

Giersz, his partner and the woman live in the small northwestern town of Wolin.

The Polish organization Campaign Against Homophobia said the case was the first of its kind for Poland.

Argentine attorney general supports same-sex marriage
Argentine Attorney General Esteban Righi recommended August 8 that Congress consider legalizing same-sex marriage, saying the nation can't ignore Gay people's "reality."

Righi's determination came in a brief filed with the Supreme Court in the case of two women - María Rachid and Claudia Castro - who have sued for the right to marry each other.

Righi suggested that Congress could legalize same-sex marriage following "public discussion with the participation of all sectors," local media said.

Gays march for marriage in Dublin
Some 5,000 people marched from Dublin City Hall to the Justice Department on August 9 demanding that the Irish government abandon a proposed civil-partnership bill and instead legalize same-sex marriage.

Activists say the partner bill, which is expected to be in effect by the end of the year, formalizes second-class status for Gay couples.

Civil partnerships would differ from marriages in areas that include inheritance, taxation and children's rights, Gay activists have said.

Croatia condemned for homophobic textbooks
The European Committee of Social Rights, which monitors compliance with the Council of Europe's European Social Charter, ruled August 11 that Croatia's sex-education curriculum discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.

The committee said parts of the curriculum "stigmatize homosexuals and are based upon negative, distorted, reprehensible and degrading stereotypes."

The case against Croatia was filed in 2007 by the London-based International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights, the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, and Zagreb's Center for Education, Counseling and Research.

The complaint said the state-sponsored sex-education program TeenStar teaches that condoms do not prevent HIV and STDs, that Gay relationships are "deviant," and that stay-at-home mothers make for better families.

"This is an extremely important decision because it is the first time that an international human rights body has addressed a complaint on the issue of sex education in schools and articulated detailed standards on countries' obligation to provide accurate and science-based sex education," said Christina Zampas, regional manager and senior legal adviser for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights.

With assistance from Bill Kelley

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