NEWS ARROUND LGBT / 2005

30. Dezember 2005

USA

eine in den 1970ern eingerichtete "schutzstation" für schwule gefangene wurde im knast rikers island geschlossen. die begründung für die einführung war das schwule oder transgender menschen die von anderen gefangenen diskriminiert werden/ könnten und oder mißhandelt werden dort geschützt leben können. jetzt gab die knastleitung bekannt, daß die gefangenen dort nicht sicher seien da sie mit sogenannten gefährlichen gefangenen leben müßten. statt dessen sollen die menschen zukünftig 23 stunden isoliert werden. 18 bürgerrechts- und gay gruppen fordern die rücknahme der neuen anordnung.

Jail for gay or transgender prisoners to close on Rikers Island

NEW YORK — One of the nation's few jail dormitories specifically for gay or transgender prisoners is closing on Rikers Island, prompting complaints from some activists who say it is a needed safe haven.The unit stopped accepting new inmates last month at the direction of Department of Correction Commissioner Martin Horn. With only 56 inmates left in the unit Thursday, it could be shut entirely within the next few weeks, the department said. Plans call for the specialized unit to be replaced with a new protective custody system that would be available to prisoners who feel threatened, regardless of their sexual orientation.

The change has alarmed members of some civil liberties and gay rights groups that note the new housing would likely be more restrictive than the old unit."People should not be punished for wanting to be safe," said D. Horowitz, a legal fellow at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project.The unit, reserved for prisoners in pretrial detention, opened on the city's island prison complex in the late 1970s to assuage complaints about abusive treatment of homosexuals. It has space for 146 prisoners but was holding 126 when it began emptying on Nov. 28.Correction Department spokesman Tom Antenen said the unit, which held only a fraction of the gay inmates at Rikers, was being done away with as part of a broader restructuring of the jail's prisoner classification system.

Jail administrators have no intention of ignoring Rikers inmates who say they feel threatened because of their sexuality, Antenen said."If that is the case, and they need to be protected from the general population, then we will endeavor to provide the best possible security," he said. That could include a "23-hour lockdown" or it might involve moving them to a different city facility.Eighteen groups sent a letter to Horn on Thursday asking him to reconsider, including the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Specialized housing units for gay prisoners are rare in the United States, although jails in a few other places do have them, officials said. The Federal Bureau of Prisons does not maintain such units anywhere in the country, nor do state prisons in New York.Transgender activist Mariah Lopez said she knows firsthand the difference between the specialized unit and regular housing at Rikers, having been imprisoned in both on prostitution charges. Outside of the protective unit, Lopez said she was subject to taunts and physical abuse, while inside guards and prisoners alike are "generally more sensitized" to issues of gender identity. "I can't conceive a Rikers Island without gay housing," Lopez said.

[  seattletimes.nwsource.com

Rikers Jail for Gay Prisoners Closing

A jail dormitory that had been set aside specifically for gay prisoners is closing on Rikers Island. The unit opened in the 1970s for gay or transgender inmates who felt vulnerable to discrimination or assault by other prisoners. Correction department officials say the housing was actually less safe for vulnerable inmates because it mixed them with prisoners considered more dangerous. The new system will have one level for inmates deemed predatory and another for those who say they need protective custody. Those requesting protection could be held in isolation for 23 hours a day. Carrie Davis of the Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender community center takes issue with the new system. To punish the people who are the victims of this violence doesn't make any sense. We should be punishing the people who perpetuate the violence. Eighteen civil liberties and gay advocacy groups have sent a letter to the department of corrections commissioner to see if he will reconsider the new system. A spokesman for the department says the letter will be reviewed by its legal department. For WNYC, I'm Rebecca Golden.

[  wnyc.org

DECEMBER 2005

USA

Stonewalled

Police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the U.S.

1. Introduction

In August 2002, Kelly McAllister, a white transgender woman, was arrested in Sacramento, California. Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies ordered McAllister from her truck and when she refused, she was pulled from the truck and thrown to the ground. Then, the deputies allegedly began beating her. McAllister reports that the deputies pepper-sprayed her, hog-tied her with handcuffs on her wrists and ankles, and dragged her across the hot pavement. Still hog-tied, McAllister was then placed in the back seat of the Sheriff’s patrol car. McAllister made multiple requests to use the restroom, which deputies refused, responding by stating, "That’s why we have the plastic seats in the back of the police car." McAllister was left in the back seat until she defecated in her clothing. While being held in detention at the Sacramento County Main Jail, officers placed McAllister in a bare basement holding cell. When McAllister complained about the freezing conditions, guards reportedly threatened to strip her naked and strap her into the "restraint chair"(1) as a punitive measure. Later, guards placed McAllister in a cell with a male inmate. McAllister reports that he repeatedly struck, choked and bit her, and proceeded to rape her. McAllister sought medical treatment for injuries received from the rape, including a bleeding anus. After a medical examination, she was transported back to the main jail where she was again reportedly subjected to threats of further attacks by male inmates and taunted by the Sheriff’s staff with accusations that she enjoyed being the victim of a sexual assault.(2) Reportedly, McAllister attempted to commit suicide twice. The Sheriff's Department opened an investigation into the alleged rape, and the inmate accepted a plea for "unlawful intercourse in jail" and was sentenced to three months in jail. Despite having filed a full report with the Sheriff's Department, no Sheriff’s Deputy has been disciplined for the incidents surrounding McAllister’s incarceration.(3)[...]

[  Stonewalled : Police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the U.S. as pdf

[  Stonewalled : Police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the U.S. as html

22. Dezember 2005

GUATEMALA

eine transgender frau wurde erschossen und eine schwer verletzt, nachdem männer, die laut zeugenaussagen polizisten waren, den frauen in den kopf geschossen haben. in diesem jahr gab es sieben morde an transgender frauen.

Two Transgender Sex Workers Shot in Guatemala, One Fatally, by Men Believed to Be Police, Says Amnesty International Organization Mobilizes Membership to Call for Investigations and Protection One transgender woman in Guatemala was killed and another remains in serious condition after both were shot in the head by men whom witnesses believe were police, Amnesty International said today. "This is, sadly, only the latest in a string of murders of transgender people in Guatemala," said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). "Once again, not only have police and government authorities failed to protect transgender people, but they also may be directly complicit in their deaths." According to a local organization, there have been seven homicides of transgender sex workers in Guatemala City this year.

The incident occurred in the early hours of December 17th in Guatemala City, at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and 11th Street, when four men on motorbikes ordered two women to stop at an intersection, and then shot them. The women, Sulma (legal name Kevin Robles) and Paulina (legal name Juan Pablo Méndez Cartagena) were both transgender sex workers. Paulina was hit twice in the head; she died minutes later. Sulma was hit three times but survived, and is in serious but stable condition in a hospital. She can only speak with difficulty, as one of the bullets reportedly smashed all her front teeth.

Amnesty International is concerned that as Sulma witnessed the killing of Paulina, the attackers are likely to attempt to silence her. Authorities have not responded to requests to protect her. Several other transgender sex workers witnessed the shooting, but are reportedly too scared to give testimony, fearing police reprisals. Police have reportedly been patrolling the streets near the shooting, in an apparent effort to intimidate the witnesses.

Since 1999 Sulma has been a member of, and worked as a volunteer for, the Guatemala City-based Organización de Apoyo a una Sexualidad Integral frente al SIDA, or Integral Sexuality AIDS Support Organization (OASIS), which works on the prevention of HIV/AIDS and provides support to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people. Paulina had worked as a paid staff member for OASIS since 2004.

Amnesty International today mobilized its membership to contact Guatemalan authorities, calling for them to take immediate measures to protect Sulma in accordance with her own wishes, and to carry out a full, prompt and impartial investigation into the attack against Sulma and Paulina, with the results made public and those responsible brought to justice. The organization also called for authorities to take immediate measures to end the intimidation of sex workers and LGBT people, and of those working with OASIS.

"The Guatemalan authorities need to hear that they have a responsibility to protect the basic human rights of all their citizens, including their LGBT citizens, and that their lack of responsiveness will not be tolerated," said Michael Heflin, director of OUTFront, AIUSA's program on LGBT human rights.

Amnesty International said that the LGBT community in Guatemala regularly faces attacks and threats; transgender sex workers have been particularly vulnerable to attack since October 1997, when Luis Palencia (known as María Conchita), an active member of OASIS, was shot dead. Police officers are often allegedly involved in attacks, raising fears of a clandestine policy of "social cleansing" within the police force, intended to drive sex workers off the streets.

[  amnestyusa.org

[  Urgent Action con Amnesty International deutsch

[  Pedition an den Innenminister Guatemalas

[  Pedition / espanol

21. December 2005

BRD

Transsexuellengesetz verfassungswidrig

Das veraltete Transsexuellen-Gesetz ist vom obersten deutschen Gericht teilweise kassiert worden.

Als "schallende Ohrfeige für den Gesetzgeber" bezeichnete Jörg van Essen, parlamentarischer Geschäftsführer der FDP-Bundestagsfraktion, die Entscheidung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts. Karlsruhe hatte Teile des Transsexuellengesetzes (TSG) für verfassungswidrig erklärt. Tatsächlich haben die Liberalen die alte rot-grüne Bundesregierung mit Druckmitteln wie parlamentarischen Anfragen aufgefordert, das antiquierte Transsexuellengesetz aus dem Jahre 1981 anzupassen. Doch das von Otto Schily geführte Innenministerium blieb sieben Jahre lang unttätig. Und auch im schwarz-roten Koalitionsvertrag wird das TSG mit keiner Silbe erwähnt.

Jetzt muss die Regierung aber handeln: Das Bundesverfassungsgericht hat einen Teil des TSG für ungültig erklärt. In den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten haben die Richter das mit heißer Nadel gestrickte und nie wirklich ausgebesserte Gesetz schon mehrfach beanstandet. Geklagt hatte im aktuellen Fall eine lesbische Transsexuelle, die einen weiblichen Vornamen angenommen hatte und nun eine Frau heiraten wollte. Dem Gesetz nach war die Transsexuelle noch ein Mann - die Ehe war erlaubt, allerdings musste sie dafür wieder ihren alten männlichen Vornamen führen. Diese Regelung, den Namen abgeben zu müssen, ist verfassungswidrig und darf nicht mehr angewandt werden, stellte Karlsruhe nun fest.

Das TSG ist sehr kompliziert: Ein Transsexueller kann seinen Vornamen ändern, wenn zwei gerichtlich bestellte Gutachter die Transsexualität bestätigt haben. Offiziell gehört er dann aber weiterhin seinem alten Geschlecht an - so wird auch im Pass der neue Vorname eingetragen, aber das Geschlecht nicht verändert ("Kleine Lösung"). Das kann bei Auslandsreisen zu Problemen führen. Erst bei einem vollständigen "geschlechtsverändernden operativen Eingriff" erkennt der Staat das neue Geschlecht an ("Große Lösung"). Allerdings sind die Rechte bei der "Kleinen Lösung" eingeschränkt, da man sie ursprünglich nur als Übergang angesehen hatte. Um den Anschein einer Homo-Ehe zu verhindern, hatte der Gesetzgeber vor Einführung der Eingetragenen Partnerschaft die Regelung mit der Namensrückänderung ins Gesetz eingefügt.

Nach Ansicht des Bundesverfassungsgerichts ist das allerdings für den Betroffenen "nicht zumutbar". "Die dem Transsexuellengesetz zugrundeliegenden Annahmen über die Transsexualität haben sich inzwischen in wesentlichen Punkten als wissenschaftlich nicht mehr haltbar erwiesen", so das Gericht in einer Pressemitteilung. Das Gericht spielt auf Studien an, die besagen, dass Transsexuelle nicht quasi zwangsweise zu einer Komplett-Operation getrieben werden sollten, um endlich als Frau beziehungsweise als Mann anerkannt zu werden. Denn nicht jeder will sich den Strapazen einer Operation unterziehen.

Transsexuelle, die die "Kleine Lösung" wählen, können also in Zukunft heiraten oder eine Eingetragene Partnerschaft eingehen - und dabei ihren bevorzugten Namen behalten. Derzeit ist es jedoch so, dass heterosexuell empfindende Transsexuelle die "Homo-Ehe" schließen müssen, da sie ihrem alten Geschlecht zugerechnet werden; homosexuelle Transsexuelle dürfen sich jedoch Ehe-Partner nennen und erhalten weiterführende Rechte wie das Ehegattensplitting. Das Verfassungsrichter schlagen zur Lösung des Problems vor, das Transsexuellengesetz zu ändern. Der Lesben- und Schwulenverband (LSVD) hat jedoch eine noch einfachere Lösung im Visier: Er erklärt, das Dilemma werde am einfachsten behoben, wenn die Ehe wie in Holland, Belgien und Spanien einfach für alle geöffnet werde.

[  tvandrea2004.de

[   Beschluss vom 6. Dezember 2005 – 1 BvL 3/03 –

20. Dezember 2005

UK

nach 33 tagen hat eine frau aus zimbawne ihren hungerstreik im bedfordshire abschiebelager abgebrochen, da ihr ein gerichtsverfahren jetzt zugesagt wurde. ihr körperlicher zustand ist so bedenklich, das sie zur zeit im krankenhaus ist.

LESBIAN Hunger-Striker Ends 33-Day Fast in UK

A Zimbabwean lesbian protesting against her detention without trial in a Bedfordshire asylum centre has ended her 33-day hunger strike.Thando, an asylum applicant, aged 29, had been protesting against her six-month incarceration in the notorious Yarls Wood asylum detention centre near Bedford.

“She is not a criminal. Thando was the victim of homophobic violence in her native Zimbabwe. She fled to the UK to escape beatings and arrest because of her sexuality,” said Kizza Musinguzi, African Affairs spokesperson of the lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender human rights group, OutRage!, which is backing Thando’s asylum claim.“Thando had been made very ill by her month-long hunger-strike. She was transferred to Bedford Hospital.“Having won the right to a bail hearing, Thando took the decision to end her hunger-strike,” Mr Musinguzi said.“Yarls Wood has been condemned by human rights campaigners for its repeated abuse of detainee’s rights.

“In early December, human rights campaigners persuaded an independent doctor, Frank Arnold, to examine Thando in Yarls Wood. He assessed her condition as very poor.Dr Arnorld recommended that she be taken to hospital immediately, in order that she could gradually be reintroduced to food and receive special nutritional supplements.“Yarls Wood initially refused to comply,” he revealed. “Eventually, Yarls Wood relented and she was hospitalised.“Thando has now received medical treatment and is slowly recovering. Last week, she was transferred from hospital back to Yarls Wood. But the asylum detention authorities are still not following medical advice and giving her the special vitamin supplements she needs to aid her recovery.“We are backing Thando’s bail application and her bid for asylum in the UK. It would be criminal to return her to the hell-hole that is Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe,” said Mr Musinguzi.

Thando – Background Briefing

by Kizza Musinguzi, African Affairs spokesperson OutRage!:

All through school Thando was interested in nursing and studied for her Red Cross certificates and became a trainee nurse.

Thando realised she was lesbian when she was 17. When her parents learned about her sexuality, they subjected her to severe beatings and turned her in to the police. Officers warned her to renounce her lesbianism, otherwise she would be arrested.

Fearful of further beatings and arrest, she escaped to South Africa in 1994. She had to cross the border illegally because she had no valid travel documents and South Africa often refuses Zimbabwean asylum seekers. Thando was twice arrested as an illegal refugee and put into South Africa’s notorious Lindela repatriation camp. Many Zimbabwean refugees are incarcerated there.South Africa does not normally accept Zimbabwean asylum seekers and often deports them back to Zimbabwe.

Conditions in the Lindela camp are appalling. The food is poor and many detainees get food poisoning. Some die. Women are crammed up to 30 to a room, even women who have children or are pregnant. The blankets are dirty and are not washed from one person to the next.Twice Thando got out from Lindela camp with the help of friends who bribed the guards. The second time she met a man and, in desperation, went to live with him.

After a year of staying with him, he found out she was a lesbian. The beatings started on a regular basis, sometimes daily. He forced her to go out and work as a prostitute. After a year of enduring these beatings, one day he attacked her with a broom stick and beat her so severely that her leg was damaged and she was taken to hospital. Thando still has problems with her leg and was taken from Yarls Wood to Bedford hospital three months ago for treatment on the leg.After the beatings, she managed to escape from her tormentor and went into hiding.Thando was afraid of being arrested by the South African police and put back in Lindela camp or, worse still, being arrested and deported back to Zimbabwe.

Fearful of such a fate, Thando was helped out by a friend's boyfriend, who paid for a ticket for her to come to the UK. Since she did not have a Zimbabwe passport, the only way she could get to the UK was on a false South African passport.Since leaving Zimbabwe, Thando’s father has died. Through the help of her sister, who explained Thando’s lesbianism, she is now reconciled with her mother, who sent Thando her Zimbabwean birth certificate to confirm her nationality (which was being disputed by the Home Office).Thando has been held at Yarl's Wood asylum detention centre for six months.

When she first arrived in the UK, she was refused entry. She did not know she had to ask for asylum immediately on arrival. She was returned to South Africa. Her friend got her another ticket two weeks later and this time she knew what to do. She asked for asylum on arrival. Since then, she has been held in Yarls Wood asylum detention centre.”

[  ukgaynews.org.uk

17. Dezember 2005:

CHINA

nur wenige minuten nach dem beginn wurde das erste schwul-lesbische festival in peking von der polizei ohne angabe von gründen abgebrochen.

POLICE break up Beijing's first gay festival

Police have broken up Beijing's first gay and lesbian festival only minutes after it started, the organisers said yesterday. More than 400 people were expected for the three-day event, but as soon as they started to gather at Factory 798 in the Dashanzi art complex police entered and told everyone to leave. "They didn't give us a reason," said Zhu Rikun, an organiser. "Hundreds of people were due to turn up this weekend. I don't know how we are going to let everyone know it has been banned." China has only in recent years abolished laws declaring homosexuality a sickness.

[  guardian.co.uk

5 December 2005

LATVIA

Media Release

Latvia cements homophobia in the constitution

  Today the Latvian parliament adopted a constitutional amendment in the third and final reading to define marriage as a union of a man and a woman to prevent any possibility for same-sex marriage.

The constitutional amendment was proposed earlier this year by the First Party of Latvia which stirred a hysterical homophobic campaign following the first lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride March last July in Riga. The constitution now explicitly defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman and the First Party openly stated their motivation for this amendment was to prevent Latvia from any legal recognition of same-sex partners.

Same-sex marriage is already explicitly banned in Latvia’s Civil Law since 1993. However the conservative politicians in Latvia put forward an argument that implementing the European Union’s (EU) anti-discrimination employment legislation might open an opportunity for same-sex partners to challenge the Civil Law’s ban on same-sex marriage and therefore the constitutional ban is needed.

Same-sex partners in Latvia are entirely ignored by the law and do not enjoy any of the rights and protections that married opposite sex partners do. Consequently they suffer discrimination and disadvantages in such areas as inheritance, property arrangement, tenancy, pensions, tax, and social security to name a few. In 1999, the Human Rights Committee of the Latvian Parliament rejected a proposal for registered partnership legislation for same-sex partners.

Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, said:

“We are appalled and seriously concerned with these homophobic developments in Latvia. As an EU member state, Latvia is acting contradictory to and disrespectfully to the principles of equality and non-discrimination agreed and confirmed by various EU treaties. Not only has Latvia now a discriminatory constitutional provision motivated solely by homophobia, but Latvia is still the only EU member state which did not ban sexual orientation discrimination in employment as required by the EU employment equality directive.

While Europe is moving towards being a continent of equal opportunities, inclusion and respect and while more countries provide protection against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and recognition of same-sex families, Latvia in contrast is moving towards discrimination, disrespect and marginalisation of LGBT people.

We call upon the European Union to scrutinise Latvia’s disregard and disrespect of EU principles and laws. We also call upon the Latvian authorities to comply with their European obligations and instead of institutionalising discrimination, to work towards ensuring respect and legal recognition of same-sex families.”

For more information please contact

Juris Lavrikovs at + 32 2 609 54 16 / + 32 496 708 375

Notes for editors:

(1) ILGA-Europe is the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association and works towards equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people at European level.

(2) Amended Article 110 of the Latvian Constitution now reads: “The State protects and support marriage – a union between a man and a woman, family, rights of parents and children. The State provides special protection to disabled children, those children left without parents’ and children who suffered from violence.”

(3) Article 35.2 of the Latvia’s Civil Law explicitly prohibits marriage between persons of the same gender.

(4) Same-sex partners are legally recognised in following European countries: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and UK. Legal recognition of same-sex partnerships is currently being proposed or debated also in Liechtenstein and Ireland. Details on our website: www.ilga-europe.org/europe/issues/marriage_and_partnership/same_sex_marriage_and_partnership_country_by_country

[  ilga-europe.org

1.Dezember 2005

CAMEROON

in einem knast in kamerun sind seit 7 monaten 11 männer wegen verdachts auf "sodomie" inhaftiert. die regierung hat angeordnet das eine ?medizinisch untersuchung? bei den männern feststellen soll ob sie schwul sind. festgenommen wurden die männer während einer razzia in einer schwulenbar in yaounde.

7 Months Behind Bars On 'Suspicion' Of Being Gay

(New York City) Human rights activists are demanding the immediate release of 11 men detained in a Cameroon jail for the last seven months on suspicion of ?sodomy? and awaiting a government-ordered ?medical examination? to determine if they are gay.

They were arrested during a raid on a gay bar in the capital of Yaounde. Four other men and two women arrested at the same time have been released. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and seven other human rights organizations have signed a letter to the Minister of Justice calling for the release of the 11 men. and denouncing the medical exams that were ordered by a government prosecutor.

"These examinations have no investigative value, are abusive, intrusive, and when conducted non-consensually and under incarcerated conditions, amount to cruel and inhuman treatment; as such, they constitute a serious violation of the human rights of the detainees," the letter states. "In countries where they have been administered, these examinations have caused grave physical and psychological suffering to their victims."

If they are convicted the men face 6 months to 5 years imprisonment. Physical examinations of the anal regions of men arrested for homosexuality are common in a number of countries including Egypt, Romania and Zimbabwe. These examinations rely on the false idea that anal sex leaves lasting lesions or tears around the anus. Often involving the insertion of instruments into the anus, they are profoundly humiliating to those forced to undergo them.

IGLHRC holds that Cameroon's sodomy legislation contradicts international conventions signed by Cameroon that guarantee all citizens freedom from discrimination, the right to privacy and the right to freedom of association and assembly.

The demand for the prisoners' release comes as gays come under increasing pressure in the developing world. Earlier this week the International Lesbian and Gay Association called on the United Nations to investigate reports gay men were being hanged in Iran. The exiled Iranian gay rights group, Homan, claims the Iranian government has executed at least 4,000 gays since 1979.

In the United Arab Emirates more than two dozen people described by the government as gay face imposed male hormone injections "to direct the men away from homosexual behavior", five years in jail and a lashing after being arrested at what police called "a mass homosexual wedding". As 365Gay.com reported on Monday, the UAE government has denied it would force the hormone treatments. The government says the treatments would be "optional" but international rights groups say that since they would mean reduced sentences there was little option involved. In Nigeria a number of men accused of gay sex acts have been sentenced to death by stoning.

[  365gay.com

1. Dezember 2005

SOUTH AFRICA

das gerichtsurteil aus südafrika nachdem das bestehende gesetz, das die ehe als gemeinschaft zwischen mann und frau definiert mit der verfassung nicht übereinstimmt. das gericht hat dem parlament eine frist von einem jahr gesetzt um dies zu ändern und die ehe zwischen homosexuellen zuzulassen.

MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS V. FOURIE

South Africa's highest court rules that same-sex couples can marry, finding that "[t]he common law definition of marriage is declared to be inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid to the extent that it does not permit same-sex couples to enjoy the status and the benefits coupled with responsibilities it accords to heterosexual couples," and gives the country's Parliament one year to remedy the constitutional defect.

[  findlaw.com

[  Special Coverage: Same-Sex Marriage

[  Marriage and the Law for Same-Sex Couples

December 2005

PALESTINE

über direland wurde die website von palästinensischen lesben verbreitet. die frauen brauchen dem schreiben nach geld. bisher werden sie mit etwas geld von der böll-stiftung unterstützt.

[  spendenaufruf unter: direland.typepad.com

[  website:aswatgroup.org

26.November 2005

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

26 männer die bei einer angeblichen homosexuellen massenheirat teinahmen, wurden in dubai verhaftet. Ihnen drohen jetzt bis zu 5 jahren knast, prügel , therapie und eventuell eine hormonbehandlung.

Gay newlyweds face penalties in Emirates

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- More than two dozen gay Arab men - arrested at what police called a mass homosexual wedding - could face government-ordered hormone treatments, five years in jail and a lashing, authorities said Saturday.

The Interior Ministry said police raided a hotel chalet earlier this month and arrested 22 men from the Emirates as they celebrated the wedding ceremony, one of a string of recent group arrests of homosexuals here. The men are likely to be tried under Muslim law on charges related to adultery and prostitution, said Interior Ministry spokesman Issam Azouri. Outward homosexual behavior is banned in the United Arab Emirates, and the gay group wedding has alarmed leaders of this once-isolated Muslim country as it grapples with a sweeping influx of Western residents and culture.

The Arabian peninsula, nevertheless, has a long tradition of openly homosexual wedding singers and dancers. "Lately people have been talking about (homosexuality), but it has been here for a long time," said Nadia Buhannad, a Dubai psychologist. "It becomes shocking only when it is your own son." Police acting on a tip raided the hotel in Ghantout, a desert region on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway, and found a dozen men dressed as female brides and a dozen others in male Arab dress, apparently preparing for a ceremony that would join them as husbands and wives, Azouri said. "It was a real party with balloons and champagne," he said.

The 26 men arrested include those from the Emirates as well as an Indian disc jockey and three men from neighboring Arab states. One of the arrested was to perform the wedding ceremony. Azouri said some of the group told police they worked as prostitutes. Others had been arrested before. Last year, police made mass arrests at an apparent gay wedding in the conservative emirate of Sharjah and at the Khor Fakkan beach resort in Fujairah emirate, a police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Two dozen men arrested in Sharjah were given symbolic lashings - meant to humiliate, not inflict pain - and then released from jail, said prominent Emirati lawyer Abdul Hamid al-Kumaiti. "There are so many others like these guys," al-Kumaiti said. "The police and rulers need to do more than just lash them and let them go." Azouri described the arrests in Ghantout as a "delicate" matter made public for the first time - more than a week after the event - because the country's tribal leadership wants to demonstrate it will not tolerate open homosexuality.

On Friday, as newspapers reported the arrests, the minister of justice and Islamic affairs, Mohammed bin Nukhaira Al Dhahiri, called on parents to be vigilant for "deviant" behavior in their children. "There will be no room for homosexual ... acts in the UAE," Al Dhahiri was quoted as saying in the Dubai-based Khaleej Times newspaper.

The arrested men have been questioned by police and were undergoing psychological evaluations Saturday. Azouri said the Interior Ministry's department of social support would try to direct the men away from homosexual behavior - using methods including male hormone treatments, if the men are found to be deficient. "Because they've put society at risk they will be given the necessary treatment, from male hormone injections to psychological therapies," he said. "It wasn't just a homosexual act. Now we're dealing with a kind of marriage. There was a ritual involved."

Foreigners arrested will be deported after serving any sentences imposed in court, he said. Azouri said government psychologists were grappling to learn the causes behind an apparent increase in homosexual behavior in the Emirates. The booming economy has lured hundreds of thousands of Western residents and millions of tourists. Azouri said authorities want to be seen to be taking action at a time when complaints of gay behavior were emerging from the country's schools and myriad shopping malls. Most cases of homosexual behavior are taboo and violate Emirati laws based on Islamic sharia. Azouri suggested that other countries with laws based on religion, including Christianity and Judaism, would also ban gay behavior and marriage.

"It's not about freedom of opinion, it's about respecting religion which forbids this type of behavior," he said.

[  seattlepi.nwsource.com

22. November 2005

POLAND

zwei berichte zu der verbotenen gay pride in poznan. Als dann eine unangemeldete demo statt fand,wurde diese erst von rechten , neonazis und fußballhools angegriffen und dann von der polizei, die 68 demonstrantinnen verhaftete.

Warsaw - The organisers of a gay pride march in Poznan, western Poland, on Tuesday filed a suit against the city's mayor for having banned the event and allegedly violating their constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and expression. Instead of the march, several hundred homosexual rights activists went ahead with an illegal rally in Poznan city centre which drew vehement protest by Catholic nationalist right-wing political groups and football supporters.

Opponents were reported to have chanted hate slogans including "We'll do with you what Hitler did with the Jews" and "Gays to the gas chambers", referring to the mass killing of European Jews by Nazi Germany under dictator Adolf Hitler during the Second World War.

The public propagation of anti-Semitic or fascist beliefs is illegal in Poland and punishable by prison terms. Gay pride activists have said they also intend to take legal action against those responsible for the slogans. Police used force to remove the protesters, who behaved peacefully. Some 68 activists were detained and are facing fines and prison sentences for participating in what officials describe as an "illegal" gathering. Rally organisers, however, have accused police clad in full riot gear of brutality, and intend to take legal action. Police, however, accuse gay activists of libelling police officers, calling them "Zomo" (reviled communist-era riot police) and "Gestapo".

Poland's left-wing Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) opposition has accused authorities of violating the constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental human rights of freedom of expression and assembly by first banning the march and then using force against peaceful demonstrators. But Poland's new right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ludwik Dorn brushed aside the criticism saying police did not break the law by using force to disband an illegal demonstration.

Several human rights groups including Amnesty International and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights also criticised the city's ban on the event as a human rights violation. Mayor of the central Polish city of Poznan, Ryszard Grobelny, banned the "Equality Parade" for gay rights on the grounds it posed a security hazard.

The official said he feared the event could provoke violent protests and damage to private and public property. The Poznan regional governor's office upheld Grobleny's decision. The ban was also requested by local Poznan Roman Catholic clergy and right-wing politicians, members of the Law and Justice (PiS) party which won September's parliamentary elections and the Catholic nationalist League of Polish Families (LPR). Warsaw's former mayor Lech Kaczynski imposed a similar ban on a gay pride march in the Polish capital this June.

However, several thousand Polish homosexuals and supporters, including senior parliamentarians from Poland and across Europe, went ahead with the march.

Last month the European Commission vowed to keep a close eye on respect for the rights of sexual minorities in European Union newcomer Poland after Kaczynski was elected the country's president. While Kaczynski banned the gay pride parade, he allowed a march through the city by a far-right Polish youth organisation protesting against gay rights. The group, the All-Poland Youth organisation, is the youth-wing of the LPR party. Polish gays and lesbians warned of a surge in anti-homosexual violence and hate rhetoric in the wake of Kaczynski's gay pride ban and the so-called "Normal March" by the All Poland Youth. - Sapa-dpa

[  int.iol.co.za

RIOT police stop gay march in Poland

21. november 2005

Riot police in Poznan, Poland detained and interrogated 65 demonstrators during Saturday's March of Equality, organized by gay activists. "They were dragging us around on the street," a demonstrator told the Warsaw Independent news agency. "I was put in a police car, driven to a police station and charged with taking part in an illegal gathering," the marcher said.

The demonstrators face fines of up to 5,000 zlotys (U.S. $1,500) or up to one month in prison. "Police units headed for the demonstrators. The policemen brutally pulled sitting demonstrators from the group and dragged them along the sidewalk," reported the Campaign against Homophobia, a nongovernmental organization. The Polish News Agency reported that about a dozen counterdemonstrators threw eggs at the marchers. Some shouted, "We are going to do with you what Hitler did with the Jews."

Poznan's mayor, Ryszard Grobelny, had banned the march, citing security reasons. But this is not the first time Pride parades have been banned for security reasons. Poland's new president, Lech Kaczynski, the former mayor of Warsaw, imposed a similar ban on a gay pride march last June, arguing that such events promote the spread of homosexuality. But activists were surprised by the ban of their march by Poznan's mayor, since Grobelny is a member of the liberal Civic Platform party. They believe he was pressured by the Catholic Church. Jessica Stern, the LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), told the PlanetOut Network her organization is "extremely concerned."

"This is the 20th anniversary of when the military said it would register LGBT people, only to infiltrate and attempt to destroy their community," she explained. "To have this happen on the 20th anniversary of something so horribly horrific is very frightening for the LGBT community." Patricia Prendiville, executive director of the International Lesbian Gay Association-Europe, said, "It is time for the European organizations and states to send their firm message to the Polish authorities that such behavior is not tolerable, and contradicts European agreement and values."

Poland has already been put on notice by the European Union (E.U.). The European Commission has warned Poland that under the E.U. Treaty of Nice, all member states must abide by E.U. rules, which protect minorities. If Poland continues to mistreat its LGBT citizens, the E.U. has threatened to suspend the country's voting rights.

[  planetout.com

23. Oktober 2005

IRELAND

22 jahre nach ihrer geschlechtsumwandlung soll eine frau , die sich weigerte eine geldstrafe zu bezahlen, in den männerknast. Zwar ist in ihren ausweispapieren name und geschlecht geändert, aber auf ihrer geburtsurkunde steht der alte männername.

Transsexual insists on going to women's jail

'It's a matter of principle,' says woman after court treats her as still being a man Denise Martin is fighting for the right to go to jail - as long as it's a women's prison. Martin, one of Ireland's first transsexuals who had a full sex-change operation 22 years ago, faces a prison sentence next month after refusing to pay a fine over a breach of the peace offence in her home town of Larne. The slender, 45-year-old bleached blonde could find herself in the all-male top-security Maghaberry jail outside Belfast.

'It's a matter of principle,' she said in between sips of latte inside a hotel overlooking a windswept North Antrim coast on Friday.

'At my first hearing in Larne last month the court referred to me as "Mr Martin" or "he", because on my birth certificate I'm still Douglas Martin. But as you can see by looking at me, I haven't been Douglas for over 20 years.

'On my British passport it states that I'm Denise, and that's who I have been for all these years. But if the next court appearance in Ballymena treats me like a man, then I'm in danger of going to an all-male prison.' What began as a 'cat fight' between Denise and a middle-aged transvestite in Larne last April may end up in the European Court of Human Rights. If Martin refuses to pay the fine at her next court appearance on 7 November, she risks a custodial sentence.

'My solicitor told me I would have 28 days to appeal, and in that period I would go to a higher court to see if they can change my status to that of a woman. I don't believe I did anything wrong, but I won't pay and am prepared to go to jail, as long as it's a woman's jail. 'If they refuse, I have instructed my solicitor to fight this all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. I didn't go through years of psychiatric counselling, a painful operation and the entire trauma through my life to let the courts deny who I am today.

'I don't care if they fine me £30 or £3,000, I won't pay and I won't rest until they recognise me as Denise.' The transsexual who says she is a normal heterosexual woman has other reasons to challenge the court's definition of her sexuality.

'My partner, who prefers to maintain his privacy, and I want to get married next year. I'm fighting this case partly for him as well. The law, or at least the courts, still sees me as a man and I don't want my partner being branded as someone who has married a man. He met me as a fully functioning woman, not as Douglas but as Denise. This fight is as important for him as it is for me.'

After the court cases and the marriage, the couple are planning to move to London. Asked how her family felt about her going public, Martin said: 'Obviously back in the early days there was a lot of hurt and confusion. But they have finally accepted me as Denise, and they know because I am a very cocksure person that I speak my mind and don't let people walk all over me.'

Aside from challenging the legal system, Martin will soon pose a dilemma for her local Anglican church where she wants to marry. 'I'm a very religious person,' she says, fiddling with a holy medal on a chain around her neck, 'It's extremely important for me to have my marriage blessed in the church as well as recognised in law.' Martin claims that she was born as a woman trapped inside a man's body: 'I didn't have a sex change, I had a sex realignment. All the surgeons did was to correct my anatomy. 'I have been on a long, painful journey to arrive at the woman I am today. It's for that reason mainly that I will not allow the law to ignore who I now am.'

A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission said it would be monitoring Martin's case and would be happy to speak with her if and when her challenge reaches the European court. Sexual minorities in socially conservative Northern Ireland have used the European courts before to challenge domestic law. In the early 1980s gay rights activist Jeff Dudgeon won his case in Europe against the British government over the criminalisation of homosexuality in the north of Ireland.

[  observer.guardian.co.uk

22. Oktober 2005

USA

matthew limon wurde 2000 , damals war er 18 , wegen "sodomy" - er hatte oralen sex mit einem 14 jährigen jungen der auf beidseitigem einnehmen beruhte ( consensual) - zu 17 jahren knast verurteilt. Wäre er oder der junge eine frau gewesen, wäre die höchststrafe 15 monate gewesen. Festgelegt ist dies in dem "romeo und julia"-gesetz in kansas , das verurteilungsrichtlinien für ältere jugendliche die mit jüngeren sex haben festlegt. Jetzt hat der kansas supreme court entschieden , das diese sich nur auf heterosexuelle menschen beziehende anordnung gegen den gleichheitsgrundsatz der verfassung steht und das homosexuelle beziehungen ebenfalls darunter fallen.

Kansas court rules against homophobic law

The Kansas attorney general said he won't appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a state Supreme Court ruling overturning an anti-gay clause in state law. The court ruled Friday that Kansas "Romeo and Juliet" statute, which guide's sentencing for older teenagers who have sex with younger ones, must be inclusive of homosexuals. The New York Times reports the ruling means Matthew R. Limon will be set free. Limon was convicted of sodomy for having consensual oral sex with a 14-year-old boy in 2000. He had just turned 18 and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

If he or the boy were a female, Limon would have faced a maximum of 15 months because of the "Romeo and Juliet" statute. The Kansas Supreme Court decided the clause, as applied to only heterosexuals, violated the equal protection clause. That was based on a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas ruling a Texas law against gay adult sex unconstitutional. Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline said the state high court ruling would lead to incest and "other less-than-desirable couplings" but said he probably won't appeal.

[  sciencedaily.com

10. Oktober 2005

LEBANON

das erste magazin für homosexuelle arabische menschen, barra ( out) , erscheint ab jetzt vierteljährlich . barra wird von der libanesischen organisation helem herausgegeben. Helem ist die erste arabische organisation die öffentlich für die rechte von homosexuellen arbeitet.

Helem publishes region's first magazin for gay Arabs

Barra provides open forum to address issues faced by homosexuals in middle east BEIRUT: Not only has Lebanon managed to establish Helem, the first Arab non-governmental organization openly fighting for the rights of homosexuals, but it is also now publishing Barra (Arabic for Out), the region's first magazine for gay Arabs.

Published quarterly by Helem, Barra, according to one of its writers, is "a free space for all gays and lesbians in the region to express their feelings of social oppression and stigma." Currently releasing its second issue, Barra incorporates several features and news articles written by Helem activists or independent homosexual writers from all over the region. Helem's coordinator Georges Azzi said his group tries to raise awareness by speaking at colleges. "There are increasingly more gay-friendly bars, also, for instance the International Day Against Homophobia (last May) was observed for the first time in Lebanon," Azzi said, "with Helem marking the occasion with a gathering of about 200 people, straight and gay, at a seaside hotel in Beirut. "It also organized a screening of 'I exist,' a documentary on homosexuals of Middle Eastern decent living in the United States, and distributed buttons and pamphlets with the slogan, 'You drink coffee, I prefer tea. Does that mean one of us is abnormal?'"

Dalal al-Bizri, a Cairo-based Lebanese sociologist, says homosexuals in the region are more reviled than drug addicts "because homosexuality is seen as being exported to the region by a country whose armies and fleets have attacked Arabs: the United States, so homosexuality is widely seen as a disease spread by the United States and Israel to corrupt Arabs and undermine their religious faith." She said that more Arabs were coming out as gays, or "at least coming to terms with their sexuality, even though in some countries they face laws that can land them in jail, and extremists who beat them up because of Islam's condemnation of homosexuality."

According to Azzi, Lebanon is the only Arab country where gays can find refuge and Helem is the "first Arab non-governmental organization openly fighting for their rights." Helem was set up last year despite a vaguely worded law punishing "unnatural sexual intercourse" with up to one year in jail.

"Lebanon, with its mixed population of Muslims and Christians, has a history of religious pluralism and exposure to the West.But elsewhere, homosexuals are on their own," Azzi said. Lebanon even has male belly dancers. One such dancer is a slim, 23-year-old bisexual who identifies himself with the stage name "Teddy." Teddy says his insistence on leading a "normal life" has come at a price: "People look at me as if I have descended from Mars." With elegant black pony tail, mascara coated eye lashes, plump lips and manicured nails, he stood out as the only man in makeup at a trendy Beirut coffee house. He said demand for his dancing is strong, though "Sometimes, at nightclubs, people spit at me or throw drinking glasses.

"I don't respond because I don't want to make an issue out of it," he explains. Oddly enough, he says life in some ways is harder for gays in Lebanon than other parts of the region because here boys and girls mix freely, so parents are more likely to notice those who don't. "It's easier in Saudi Arabia, where the sexes are segregated," said Teddy. "As long as boys and girls are separate, parents feel their children are safe." Asked where he would like to be 10 years from now, Teddy said: "I'd like to become the head of a union for the protection of gays in Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world, and a very famous lawyer in the sphere of human rights." "Once I have achieved that," he added, "I'd like to marry a woman and have 14 children," he said.

[  dailystar.com

12. oktober 2005

TURKEY

Turkish gays win first legal victory on road to EU

Turkish gays on Wednesday won their first victory since the start of European Union entry talks last week when prosecutors rejected an official demand to shut down a newly-formed homosexual association.

Ankara's deputy governor last month asked the courts to order the closure of the Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association, established on July 15, calling it immoral"Kaos GL Association will not be closed," the group said in a statement, adding that the prosecutor's office had informed their lawyer of his decision."This is a big step forward for homosexuals in achieving the equality and justice they deserve and in abolishing discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in all fields of social life," Kaos said in its statement.

Unlike many Muslim countries, homosexuality has never been illegal or criminalised in Turkey, but there are no laws to protect gay men and lesbians from discrimination and hostility.A clause offering such protection was originally inserted into penal code reforms passed last year as part of Turkey's EU bid, but was removed by Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, gay rights activists say.The Ankara governor's office said the association's title and purposes violated the Turkish Civil Code, which states that associations against law and morality cannot be established.

The governor's action sparked a letter campaign from international gay groups, which wrote to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan asking him to protect human rights as Ankara has pledged to do under international agreements.Kaos said Ankara prosecutor Kursat Kayral said in his ruling that the American Psychiatric Association did not rate homosexuality as a disorder and the words "gay" and "lesbian" were widely used in daily life and scientific research."At a time when Turkey is debating discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the prosecutor has ruled that being homosexual does not mean being immoral," said Kaos.

Turkey has made wide-ranging reforms aimed at bolstering human rights and individual freedoms as part of its EU bid. But the EU says the reforms must also be fully implemented.The EU has made no specific references to gay rights in its demands on Turkey.Most Turkish homosexuals keep their personal lives well hidden and there is hardly any gay "scene" outside cosmopolitan Istanbul.

[  swissinfo.org

30. September 2005

SPAIN

Verfassungsklage gegen Homo-Ehe in Spanien eingereicht Madrid. SDA/baz. Die konservative spanische Opposition hat vor dem Verfassungsgericht Klage gegen die Homo-Ehe eingereicht. Die Gleichstellung homosexueller und heterosexueller Ehen entstelle die Natur der Ehe als soziale und juristische Institution.

Die Homo-Ehe verstosse damit gegen die Verfassung, argumentiert die Volkspartei (PP). Sie legte am Freitag ihre Klageschrift vor dem Obersten spanischen Gericht vor. Ein Sprecher der regierenden Sozialisten kritisierte die Klage. «Das einzige, was hier verfassungswidrig ist, ist die Diskriminierung», sagte Pedro Zerolo. Er wies darauf hin, dass in Umfragen eine grosse Mehrheit der Spanier die Homo-Ehe billige. Gegen die Homo-Ehe laufen in Spanien die Konservativen Sturm. Sie werden dabei von der im Land einflussreichen Katholischen Kirche unterstützt. Spanien ist neben den Niederlanden, Belgien und Kanada das einzige Land, in dem homosexuelle Ehen den heretosexuellen rechtlich gleichgestellt sind. Seit Einführung der Homo-Ehe Anfang Juli wurden etwa 300 gleichgeschlechtliche Paare in Spanien getraut.

Bald in der Schweiz

Schweizer Schwule und Lesben müssen auf die registrierte Partnerschaft noch warten. Zwar hat das Stimmvolk das Partnerschaftsgesetz Anfang Juli angenommen, es tritt aber erst frühestens 2007 in Kraft. Auch danach sind homosexuelle Paare heterosexuellen Ehepaaren nicht vollkommen gleichgestellt. Sie können ihre Partnerschaft zwar standesamtlich registrieren lassen und werden damit zum Beispiel bei den Steuern und im Erbrecht Ehepaaren gleich gestellt. Sie dürfen aber keine Kinder adoptieren und erhalten keinen Zugang zur künstlichen Befruchtung.

[  baz.ch

29. September 2005

IRAN

Die persian gay and lesbian organisation plgo hat an aktivistinnen in nordamerika appelliert sie ihn ihrer kampagne gegen die repression durch die mullah -regierung zu unterstützen. Auf der website von doug ireland sind dazu einige artikel erschienen unter anderem auch der untenstehende folterbericht eines 22 jährigen iraners.

[  direland.typepad.com

IRANIAN GAYS URGENTLY APPEAL FOR HELP

The Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization (PGLO) has appealed to North American activists for help in mobilizing support for their campaign against the vicious, lethal, anti-gay crackdown taking place in the Islamic Republic of Iran. For the details, click on:

[  IRANIAN GAYS URGENTLY APPEAL FOR HELP

'next Time, They'll Kill Me' -- A Gay Iranian Torture Victim Speaks

21. september 2005,by Doug Ireland

Amir is a 22-year-old gay Iranian who was arrested by Iran’s morality police as part of a massive Internet entrapment campaign targeting gays. He was beaten and tortured while in custody, threatened with death, and lashed 100 times. He escaped from Iran in August, and is now in Turkey, where he awaits the granting of asylum by a gay-friendly country.

In a two hour telephone interview a few days ago from Turkey, Amir -- through a translator -- provided a terrifying, first-hand account of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s intense and extensive anti-gay crackdown, which swept up Amir and made him its victim. Here is Amir’s story:

Amir is from Shiraz, a city of more than a million people in southwestern Iran that the Shah tried to make “the Paris of Iran” in the 1960s and 1970s, attracting a not insignificant gay population and making Shiraz a favorite vacation spot for Iranian gays -- but after the 1979 revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini, Shiraz was targeted as a symbol of taaghoot (decadence). Amir’s father was killed by a gas attack in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1987, becoming -- in the Islamic Republic’s official parlance -- a “martyr,” whose surviving family thus had the right to special benefits and treatment from the state.

Amir, who grew up with his mother, an older brother and two sisters, says “I ’ve known I was gay since I was about 5 or 6 -- I always preferred to play with girls. I had my first sexual experience with a man when I was 13. But nobody in my family knew I was gay.” Amir’s first arrest for being gay occurred two years ago. “I was at a private gay party, about 25 young people there, all of us close friends. One of the kids, Ahmed Reza -- whose father was a colonel in the intelligence services, and who was known to the police to be gay -- snitched on us, and alerted the authorities this private party was going to happen. Ahmed waited until everyone was there, then called the Office for Promotion of Virtue and Prohibition of Vice, headed in Shiraz by Colonel Safaniya, who a few minutes later raided the party. The door opened, and the cops swarmed in, insulting us -- screaming ‘who’s the bottom? Who’s the top?’ and beating us, led by Colonel Javanmardi. When someone tried to stop them beating up the host of the party, they were hit with pepper spray. One of our party was a trans-sexual -- the cops slapped her face so hard they busted her eardrum and she wound up in hospital. Ahmed Reza, the gay snitch, was identifying everyone as the cops beat us up.

"The cops took sheets, ripped them up and blindfolded us, threw us into a van, and took us to a holding cell in Interior Ministry headquarters -- they knew us all by name,” Amir recounts. Iranians live in fear of the Interior Ministry, which has a reputation like that of the former Soviet KGB’s domestic bureau, and whose prisons strike fear in people’s hearts the way the infamous Lubianka once did. Amir says that, “I was the third person to be interrogated. The cops had seized videos taken at the party, in one of which I was reciting a poem. The cops told me to recite it again. ‘What poem?’ I said. They began beating me in the head and face. When I tried to deny I was gay, they took off my shoes and began beating the soles of my feet with cables, the pain was excruciating. I was still blindfolded. They had found dildos in the house where the party was -- they beat me with them, stuffed them in my mouth. When I told them my father was a martyr [of the Iran-Iraq war] they beat me up even more, and harder. They took away my card [entitling Amir to martyr’s benefits] and said they’d tell the local university, where I was studying computers.”

At the same time, Amir continues, “They went to my house, seized my computer, found online homoerotic pictures of guys in it, and showed them to my mother. That’s how mother found out I was gay. Eventually I was tried and fined 100,000 tomens [or about $120, a large sum in Iran]. At the time he fined me, the judge told me that ‘if we send you to a physician who vouches that your rectum has been penetrated in any way, you will be sentenced to death.’”

Most of the anti-gay crackdown, Amir says, is conducted by the basiji. The basiji are a sort of unofficial para-police under the authority of the hard-line Revolutionary Guards (called Pasdaran in Persian.) It is the basiji -- thugs recruited from the criminal classes and the lumpen unemployed -- who are assigned to be agents provocateurs, and are given the violent dirty work, so the regime can claim it wasn’t officially responsible. For example, during recent university strikes and demonstrations, it was the basiji who were charged with the defenestrations and the vicious beatings of rebellious students.

A year after his first arrest, an unrepentant Amir was in a Yahoo gay chat room on the web. “Someone came into the chat room and started messaging me, but I told him he wasn’t my type and gave him a description of the kind of guy I was looking to meet. A few minutes later, another guy started messaging me. We exchanged pix, and he sent me his web-page right away -- and he matched exactly all the descriptions I’d sent to the previous guy. It turned out later both guys were police agents, they had so many they could come up with one who matched the personal preferences of any gay guy in the chat rooms.”

“With this second guy, I was really excited, and we made a date for that afternoon at a phone booth near Bagh-e-Safa bridge. When I got there, we started to walk away to talk and get to know each other. But within 30 seconds, I felt a hand laid on my shoulder from behind -- it was an undercover agent in regular clothes, whose name turned out to be Ali Panahi. With two other basiji, he handcuffed me, forced me into a car, and took me back to the Intelligence Ministry headquarters, a very scary place. There I denied that I was gay, and denied that this had been a gay rendezvous -- but they showed me a printout from the chatroom of my messages and my pix.”

Then, says Amir, the torture began. “There was a metal chair in the middle of the room -- they put a gas flame under the chair, and made me sit on it as the metal seat got hotter and hotter. They threatened to send me to an army barracks where all the soldiers were going to rape me. There was a soft drink bottle sitting on a table -- Ali Panahi told one of the other basiji to take the bottle and shove it up my as, screaming, ‘This will teach you not to want any more cock!’ I was so afraid of sitting in that metal chair as it got hotter and hotter that I confessed. Then they brought out my file, and told me that I was a ‘famous faggot’ in Shiraz. They beat me up so badly that I passed out, and was thrown, unconscious, into a holding cell.

"When I came to, I saw there were several dozen other gay guys in the cell with me. One of them told me that, after they had taken him in, they beat him and forced him to set up dates with people through chat rooms -- and each one of those people had been arrested, those were the other people in that cell with me.”

“We were eventually all taken to court, and cross-examined. The judge sentenced four of us, including me, to public flogging. The news was printed all over the newspapers that a group of homosexuals had been arrested, with our names. I got 100 lashes -- I passed out before the 100 lashes were over. When I woke up, my arms and legs were so numb that I fell over when they picked me up from the platform on which I’d been lashed. They had told me that, if I screamed, they will beat me even harder -- so I was biting my arms so hard, to keep from screaming, that I left deep teeth wounds in my own arms.”

After this entrapment and public flogging, Amir’s life became unbearable -- he was rousted regularly at his home by the basiji and by agents of the Office for Promotion of Virtue and Prohibition of Vice [which represses “moral deviance” -- things like boys and girls walking around holding hands, women not wearing proper Islamic dress or wearing makeup, same-sex relations, and prostitution.

But after the hangings of two gay teens in the city of Mashad in July of this year-- and the world-wide protests that followed those hangings -- Amir says that things got even worse for him and other Iranian gays. Amir was under continual surveillance, harassed, and threatened: “After the Mashad incident, the ‘visits’ from the authorities became an almost daily occurrence. They would come to my house and threaten me. They knew everything about everything I did, about everywhere I went. They would tell me exactly what I had done each and every time I had left the house. It had gotten to the point where I was starting to suspect my own friends of spying on me. On one of these visits, Ali Panahi --the one who’d arrested me the last time -- grabbed me by the hair and asked me if I’d suck his cock if he asked me to. One of my friends was raped by Ali Panahi, who fucked my friend in exchange for letting him go without a record.

"They would arrest me all the time, take me in for questioning in the middle of the day -- when I left the house, they’d hassle me, ask me if I was going to go looking for dick, and tell me not to leave my house and to keep off the streets.In one of these arrests, Colonel Javanmardi told me that if they catch me again that I would be put to death, ‘just like the boys in Mashad.’ He said it just like that, very simply, very explicitly. He didn’t mince his words. We all know that the boys who were hanged in Mashad were gay -- the rape charges against them were trumped up, just like the charges of theft and kidnapping against them. When you get arrested, you are forced by beatings, torture, and threats to confess to crimes you didn’t commit. It happens all the time, it happened to friends of mine.

"I could not get a job because of my case history. Since I was obviously gay I couldn’t get a job anywhere, and could not get a government job because of my record, Amir says. ” By the last time the cops came to his house, Amir had decided to try to leave the country: “I invented an excuse, and told them I had to go to Tehran to take my higher university entrance exams. I already had a passport from three years ago. In Tehran I borrowed a little money from a friend and came to Turkey by bus. At the border, I really lucked out -- I was terrified because I had a record, and not enough money to get out or pay a bribe.” But indolent border guards didn’t bother to check on him -- they just took his passport, stamped it, and let him leave. That, says Amir, was about a month ago.

When asked what message he wants to send to the world about what’s happening in Iran, and what he thinks about his own future, Amir pauses, then says: “The situation of gays in Iran is dreadful. We have no rights at all. They would beat me up and tell me to confess to things I hadn’t done, and I would do it. The gays and lesbians in Iran are under unbelievable pressure -- they need help, they need outside intervention. Things are really bad. Really bad! We are constantly harassed in public, walking down the street, going to the store, going home…anywhere and anywhere, everyone, everyone! One of my dear friends, Nima, commited suicide a month ago in Shiraz. He just couldn’t take it anymore. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. I’ve run out of money. I don’t know what to do. I just hope they don’t send me back to Iran. They’ll kill me there.”

My profound gratitude to Dr. Houman Sarshar for his generous translation and research assistance in the preparation of this article.

For background on the new wave of gay repression in Iran, see my previous articles: July 21 -- Iran Executes Two Gay Teenagers (Updated); August 11 -- Iran Sources Question Rape Charges in Teen Executions; August 12 -- Two New Gay Executions Scheduled in Iran, Says Iranian Exile Group; August 17 -- Iran's Deadly Anti-Gay Crackdown: With Two More Executions Scheduled, the Pace of Repression Steps Up.August 25 -- Iran's Anti-Gay Purge Grows: Reports of New Executions. September 8 -- Iran and the Death of Gay Activism.

[  zmag.org

23. September 2005

RUSSIA

weil er 1992 vom militär wegen einer "mentale funktionsstörung" abgelehnt / entlassen wurde, wurde einem homosexuellen mann ein job verweigert. Ein gericht in st. Petersburg hat jetzt in einem urteil die verwendung der papiere des militärs als illegal bezeichnet .

RUSSIAN gay man wins landmark ruling

A Russian man considered by the military to have a "mental disorder" because he is gay has won a court ruling that prevents potential employers from discriminating against him because of the flawed designation in his military record.

Advocates for LGBT rights in Russia hailed the ruling as a landmark. "The decision of the St. Petersburg court is a huge breakthrough in Russia for LGBT rights," commented Nikolai Alekseev, head of GayRussia.ru. "Never before have Russian courts decided cases in favor of gay litigants on gay rights." The man, identified as "Mr. VP," had applied to the Russian State Railways for a job as a guard but was deemed to be unfit for the job because of his "mental disorder," a diagnosis he received in 1992 during his time in the military. The St. Petersburg court ruled as unlawful the practice of using military data to restrict human rights and that the diagnosis of Mr. VP of "perverse psychopathy" was based exclusively on his homosexual orientation. Additionally, the court restated that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.

[  gay.com

22.September 2005

USA

Police mistreatment and abuse widespread in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities nationwide

New Amnesty International Study Finds LGBT People of Color and Youth
Most Likely to Suffer; Calls on Police to Improve Training and Accountability

“The police are not here to serve; they are here to get served…every night I’m taken into an alley and given the choice between having sex or going to jail.” -- Amnesty International interview with a Native American transgender woman, Los Angeles

(New York) – In the most comprehensive report of its kind to date, Amnesty International (AI) reveals that police mistreatment and abuse of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are widespread nationwide and go largely unchecked due to underreporting and unclear, under-enforced or non-existent policies and procedures.

“Across the country, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people endure the injustices of discrimination, entrapment and verbal abuse as well as brutal beatings and sexual assault at the hands of those responsible for protecting them – the police,” said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). “Some, including transgender individuals, people of color and the young suffer disproportionately, especially when poverty leaves them vulnerable to homelessness and exploitation and less likely to draw public outcry or official scrutiny. It is a sorry state of affairs when the police misuse their power to inflict suffering rather than prevent it.”

In its 150-plus page report, Stonewalled: police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States, AI focuses on four cities – Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Antonio – surveys the 50 largest police departments in the country, as well as Washington, D.C., about LGBT policies and practices, and includes information from several hundred interviews and testimonies. AI’s findings strongly indicate that there is a heightened pattern of misconduct and abuse of transgender individuals and all LGBT people of color, young people, immigrants, the homeless and sex workers by police. At times, the mere perception that someone is gay or lesbian provokes physical or verbal attacks.

The mistreatment and abuse documented in the report includes targeted and discriminatory enforcement of statutes against LGBT people, including so-called “quality of life” and morals regulations; profiling, particularly of transgender women as sex workers; verbal abuse; inappropriate pat-down and strip searches; failure to protect LGBT people in holding cells; inappropriate response or failure to respond to hate crimes or domestic abuse calls; sexual harassment and abuse, including rape; and physical abuse that at times amounts to torture and ill-treatment. Several examples include: Young gay men and advocates in Chicago told AIUSA of a police officer who, according to one man, will “remove his badge, gun and belt and then beat you unless you give him a blowjob, after which he’ll just leave you there.”

Police officers accused a Latina transgender woman in San Antonio of stealing. One officer reportedly said, “People like you make the world a bad place.” Three police officers and two detectives allegedly surrounded her while one officer searched her, exposing her pubic hair, buttocks and one of her breasts. She said, “I didn’t ask to be searched by a female officer. I’ve tried that before – they don’t care, to them we’re all men.” She was not charged with any crime. Officers refused to give her their badge numbers. She said, “I know to be respectful to police officers but I’m tired of the way they are treating us.” Police officers allegedly beat, hog-tied and dragged Kelly McAllister, a white transgender woman, across hot pavement upon her arrest in Sacramento, CA. She was placed in a Sacramento County Main Jail cell with a male inmate who struck, choked, bit and raped her. That inmate received a mere three-month sentence. No officer has been disciplined for the incidents surrounding Kelly’s incarceration.

Two lesbians of color reported that two men in Brooklyn, NY, followed, harassed and threatened them, saying, “I’m going to kill you, bitch. You’re not a man….I’m gonna put you in your place.” The verbal abuse escalated to physical abuse; the two women called 911. When police were told this was a homophobic crime, the officers reportedly left without further investigating the incident or taking a complaint, telling the ambulance attendants responding to the women's call to leave. One woman reportedly was bleeding from the head due to a blow from one of the men. Her companion stated, “It was ridiculous. There she was running down the street bleeding and chasing after the ambulance.”

A Native American transgender woman reported that two Los Angeles police officers handcuffed her and took her to an alleyway. One officer reportedly hit her across the face, saying "you f---ing whore, you f---ing faggot," then threw her down on the back of the patrol car, ripped off her miniskirt and her underwear and raped her, holding her down and grabbing her hair. The second officer is also alleged to have raped her. According to the woman, they threw her on the ground and said, "That's what you deserve," and left her there.

While it is impossible to obtain accurate statistics, the AI study showed that transgender people, particularly women and the young, suffer disproportionately. A large percentage of transgender people reportedly are unemployed or underemployed, leaving the population more vulnerable to homelessness or situations that leave them exposed to police scrutiny and abuse. Meanwhile, 72 percent of police departments responding to AI’s survey said they had no specific policy regarding interaction with transgender people.

AI welcomed the initiative taken by several police departments to improve their practices. The West Hollywood Station of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has a Gay and Lesbian Conference Committee that is open to the public and allows police to stay in touch with community concerns. The City of West Hollywood also established a Transgender Task Force that addresses policing issues. In Washington, D.C., the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) is staffed by four full-time officers and ten volunteers, and the head of the unit, Sgt. Brett Parson, reports directly to the police chief. GLLU is also involved with training efforts within the police department.

However, the AI report demonstrates that despite initiatives such as these, police departments nationwide need to do more to protect LGBT people – something that was reflected in responses to the AI survey of police policies and practices with regard to LGBT people. Of the 29 departments that responded to the survey, only 31 percent instruct their officers on how to strip search a transgender individual; two thirds (66%) of police departments reported providing training on hate crimes against LGBT individuals; and while most departments provide training regarding sexual assault (86%), about half (52%) do not include LGBT-specific issues.

“Police officers are hired to protect and serve all of their communities, not only the ones they deem worthy,” said Michael Heflin, Director of Amnesty International USA’s OUTfront program, which focuses on LGBT human rights. “Every human being, without exception, has the right to live free from discrimination and abuse, yet LGBT people nationwide are afraid to report hate crimes or other abuses to the police, who at times prove themselves to be the criminals. If we can’t count on law enforcement to set an example, hate crimes and discrimination will continue to flourish in a land that otherwise has made relative headway in the fight for LGBT rights.”

Under international law, everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, is guaranteed the fullest enjoyment of his or her civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. The United States is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the principal international treaty that lays out fundamental rights such as freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention and torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as the Convention Against Torture and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

For further information, please contact: Wende Gozan at +1 212 633 4247
or Ben Somberg at +1 212 633 4268

[  amnesty.org

21 September 2005

TURKEY

bevorstehendes verbot der lgbt gruppe kaos gl durch die regierung mit der begründung das die gruppe gegen "moralische gesetze" verstoße.

Turkish gay group faces closure

Authorities in Turkey are attempting to shut down one of the country’s few LGBT campaigning organisations, complaining that the group is against morality laws.The deputy governor of Ankara Selahattin Ekremoglu has refused to officially recognise Kaos GL and has called for legal action to be taken against the group, it claims.The move comes after Kaos approached Turkey’s Ministry of Interior for a non-governmental organisation (NGO) status.

It says it offers an invaluable support network to lesbian and gay people in the country, as well as a challenging force to ongoing discrimination in the country.But Ekremoglu reportedly says the group is in breach of “laws and morality laws” and may face immediate closure.The move will anger campaigners within Turkey and lead many outside of the country to question whether the country should be allowed to continue talks with the EU about joining the bloc.

Concerns over the country’s human rights records have already been raised by some campaigners, who want to see examples of real change before the country is allowed to join the EU membership.A spokesperson for Kaos told GAY.COM that the threat of legal action is the latest in a string of attacks on lesbian and gay people in the country.

“Although being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is legal in Turkey, discrimination and persecution are prevalent,” he said.“There is still massive discrimination in both the public and private sector.”However, he said talks about EU accession should continue.

“Despite these difficulties, the prospect of EU membership has had a tremendously positive impact to the daily lives of all Turkish people including the LGBT community,” he said.“It is hoped that the prospect of membership talks between Turkey and EU will continue to have a positive impact on the struggles of Turkish LGBT people.”The European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association called for the Turkish authorities to apologise and retract the decision as soon as possible.

“We are seriously concerned about the statement by the deputy governor of Ankara and the beginning of the process to close down the Turkish LGBT organisation,” Patricia Prendiville said.She warned that similar cases have been crushed in courts, which ruled that to bar gay groups was discriminatory.Kaos’ spokesperson said the case could well be the setting for the push for the future of democracy in Turkey.

“Turkey has always been somewhere between the West and the East. Its culture includes both Western and Eastern values and those values sometimes clash with each other,” he said.“Providing solutions to the problems of the Turkish LGBT community will be one of the litmus tests for the future of the democracy in Turkey, as well as inclusion in the European Union.

[  gay.com

15. September 2005

VATICAN

Vatican to Check U.S. Seminaries On Gay Presence

Investigators appointed by the Vatican have been instructed to review each of the 229 Roman Catholic seminaries in the United States for "evidence of homosexuality" and for faculty members who dissent from church teaching, according to a document prepared to guide the process.

The Vatican document, given to The New York Times yesterday by a priest, surfaces as Catholics await a Vatican ruling on whether homosexuals should be barred from the priesthood.In a possible indication of the ruling's contents, the American archbishop who is supervising the seminary review said last week that "anyone who has engaged in homosexual activity or has strong homosexual inclinations," should not be admitted to a seminary.

Edwin O'Brien, archbishop for the United States military, told The National Catholic Register that the restriction should apply even to those who have not been sexually active for a decade or more.American seminaries are under Vatican review as a result of the sexual abuse scandal that swept the priesthood in 2002. Church officials in the United States and Rome agreed that they wanted to take a closer look at how seminary candidates were screened for admission, and whether they were being prepared for lives of chastity and celibacy.

The issue of gay seminarians and priests has been in the spotlight because a study commissioned by the church found last year that about 80 percent of the young people victimized by priests were boys.Experts in human sexuality have cautioned that homosexuality and attraction to children are different, and that a disproportionate percentage of boys may have been abused because priests were more likely to have access to male targets - like altar boys or junior seminarians - than to girls.

But some church officials in the United States and in Rome, including some bishops and many conservatives, attributed the abuse to gay priests and called for an overhaul of the seminaries. Expectation for such a move rose this year with the election of Pope Benedict XVI, who has spoken of the need to "purify" the church.It is unknown how many Catholic priests are gay. Estimates range widely, from 10 percent to 60 percent.The catechism of the Catholic Church says people with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies must live in chastity because "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."

[  select.nytimes.com

Vatikan überprüft US-Priesterseminare auf Homosexuelle

Washington. SDA/baz. Der Vatikan überprüft nach einem Bericht der «New York Times» alle 229 katholischen Priesterseminare in den USA auf homosexuelle Mitglieder. Rom hat Ermittler ernannt. Eine weitere Aufgabe der Ermittler ist offenbar, Priester aufzuspüren, die von der Lehre der Kirche abweichen. Dies berichtete die «New York Times» am Donnerstag. Die «Times» zitierte Bischof Edwin O'Brien, der die Untersuchung leitet, mit den Worten, «alle, die in homosexuelle Aktivitäten involviert sind oder starke homosexuelle Neigungen haben», sollten nicht in die Seminare aufgenommen werden.

Die über 220 Seminare werden vom Vatikan seit einem Sexskandal, der die katholische Kirche der USA im Jahr 2002 erschüttert hatte, genau beobachtet. Mit der Untersuchung solle nun sicher gestellt werden, dass die Kandidaten auch wirklich für ein Leben im Zölibat geeignet seien.

[  baz.ch

10. September 2005

UK / SCOTLAND

in das bereits seit 1998 vorhandene hate crime gesetz werden zukünftig auch gewalttaten gegen lhomosexuelle aufgenommen.

Gay hate crimes to face tougher court penalties

CRIMES motivated by hatred of gay, lesbian or bisexual people are to receive stiffer penalties under a crackdown by ministers. New legislation is to be brought forward, under which such 'hate crimes' will be considered an aggravated offence.

For example, if it is proven that a gay man or a lesbian has been attacked because of their sexuality, the offender will receive a harsher penalty. The new law follows similar moves against sectarianism where longer sentences have been handed out to those committing a crime while showing prejudice towards religious groups such as Muslims and Catholics. Similarly, racially aggravated offences have been set in law since 1998. Gay campaigners last night hailed the new moves, claiming that they would send out a message that homophobia was unacceptable. But religious groups who believe homosexuality is a sin warned they faced being stigmatised by the new law. The plans are to be contained in a new Scottish Sentencing Bill unveiled by First Minister Jack McConnell last week.

They originate from studies conducted by a Working Group on Hate Crime which recommended that the new aggravated offence should be introduced to crack down on homophobic thugs. The moves follow police figures last year which showed that there had been a marked increase in the amount of homophobic crime in many of Scotland's regions. That has been mirrored by similar rises in London, where the Metropolitan Police has registered a 12% rise, and in Liverpool, where forces have noted a 49% rise in cases.

Across Britain as a whole, men are almost four times as likely to be attacked if they are homosexual. Tim Hopkins, spokesman for the Equality Network in Scotland, said: "This is a very real problem. The majority of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender [LGBT] people have been abused in public and a very significant minority have been attacked. "They are significantly more likely to be attacked than the population at large." Hopkins said the new aggravated offence, which has already been introduced in England, was overdue. "It will send a message that homophobic crime is unacceptable. It will encourage people to report their complaints to the police and also put in place a system which registers these crimes as homophobic attacks," he added. "There is nothing to be made illegal which wasn't already illegal. All this will just flag the crime up as motivated by homophobia."

However, religious groups are concerned that the introduction of the new law will mark the thin end of the wedge. John Deighan, parliamentary officer for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said: "The trouble with this is where is it going to end up? The working group did say that they didn't want to impinge on the right of free speech, but there is always a worry that this is where it will lead. "There has been intimidation of religious groups, who felt they had to keep quiet as a result. You get self-censorship developing. People are afraid to say what they believe in on homosexuality because they feel that they will be accused of homophobia."

Gay campaigners insist that there will be nothing to prevent religious groups from continuing to express their views on homosexuality. But the new laws are also likely to meet opposition from lawyers, who have warned that the addition of an aggravated offence simply makes it harder to convict offenders in court, as they have to prove not just the offence but also the motivation behind it. The moves are likely to spark a further row over perceived political correctness within the legal system, particularly if, as expected, the Scottish Executive adopts several other of the working group's recommendations. Alongside the new offence, the group urged ministers to run a campaign against prejudice of LGBT people, along the lines of its high-profile anti-racist campaigns

[  scotsman.com

8. September 2005

USA

der kalifornische governor schwarzenegger wird ein veto gegen das gesetz das gleichgeschlechtliche ehen erlaubt einlegen.

California gay weddings face veto

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has confirmed he will veto a bill endorsing gay marriages. State legislators voted on Tuesday to allow same-sex marriage in California, but the governor said the decision flew in the face of public opinion. Five years ago Californians backed a proposition opposing the recognition of gay marriages in other states. "We cannot have a system where the people vote and the legislature derails that vote," said the governor's office. "Out of respect for the will of the people, the governor will veto," said Mr Schwarzenegger's press secretary, Margita Thompson.

'Sold out'

Proposition 22, approved in a public vote in 2000, stated that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognised in California". The bill approved by the California Assembly states that marriage is a civil contract between "two persons". Gay rights activists accused the governor of playing to his Republican supporters, not the broad range of people who elected him to office. "Clearly he's pandering to an extreme right wing, which was not how he got elected," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, one of the bill's sponsors. "He sold us out."

Court battle

More than 3,400 gay couples got married in California after the city's new mayor decided to defy state law and allow gay weddings in 2004. But later in the year the state's Supreme Court ruled the mayor had exceeded his authority and nullified the unions.

In March this year a judge ruled that Californian state law had breached a constitutional right to equal treatment of all citizens, irrespective of sexuality. The issue is now expected to go back to the Supreme Court. Mr Schwarzenegger says he supports full legal protection for gay couples - but that the issue of gay marriage is best decided by the people or in the courts.

[  bbc.co.uk

5. September 2005

ITALY

die poliklinik in mailand hat einen 39 jährigen mann als blutspender abgelehnt weil er schwul ist. Dem mann wurde mitgeteilt auch wenn das gesetz ihn als blutspender zulasse sei es interne klinikpraxis homosexuelle abzulehnen. Die mailänder poliklinik ist eines der größten krankenhäuser italiens.

Hospital stops gay man giving blood

Italy's health minister has condemned a decision by one of the country's biggest hospitals to stop a gay man giving blood. A 39-year-old writer was turned away from the Policlinico hospital in Milan after telling staff he was gay. Paolo Pedote said he had been informed that, although Italian law allowed him to give blood, it was "internal policy" not to accept gay male donors. The health minister, Francesco Storace of the formerly neo-fascist National Alliance, called the decision "very serious and unacceptable". Announcing an inquiry, he said: "We intend to determine the administrative responsibility. But what has happened could also be grounds for a criminal investigation."

The director of the Policlinico's transfusion centre said he stood by his staff's decision. Paolo Rebulla said his department had "a fundamental duty to protect patients who receive blood". It was ready to take responsibility for its decisions which were based on "strongly prudential criteria". In an interview with the Milan-based daily Corriere della Sera, Professor Rebulla said the hospital's policy was to exclude adult males who had had sex with other men in the previous five years. He said "authoritative studies and a broad medical literature" showed they were more likely to be HIV-positive.

Prof Rebulla added: "In the case presently under discussion, there are [also] certain factors relating to the risk of the partner." He said tests carried out on donated blood had "margins of error, albeit very small". Until 2001, prospective donors in Italy were obliged to make a declaration on their "non homosexuality". A law introduced 10 years earlier had banned outright the giving of blood by anyone who had had "man to man sexual relations". But the rules were changed under a centre-left government to apply to high-risk behaviour rather than categories of people. Anyone who acknowledges having had more than three partners in the last 12 months is now excluded.

However, Prof Rebulla said the law continued to give doctors room for discretion. Gay rights groups said at the weekend that they had had several reports from other parts of Italy of hospitals implementing policies similar to the one adopted in Milan. The Arcigay association said: "The incident which took place at the Policlinico is merely the tip of an iceberg that rarely surfaces in the press. It is a widely spread phenomenon because of the homophobia of many health workers."

A centre-left MP said he had tabled a question for the health minister seeking assurances that the law would be applied in such a way as to "allow donors to fulfil their duty and obligations without any form of discrimination". But Mr Storace's predecessor, Girolamo Sirchia, deplored the controversy saying "the only priority for doctors is the care of the sick".

[  guardian.co.uk

3. September 2005

USA

die aclu hat vor dem bundesgericht in hawaii zusammen mit drei jugendlichen eine klage eingereicht. Die jugendlichen wurden in dem staatlichen jugendknast wegen ihrer sexuellen orientierung ( zwei homosexuelle jugendliche) bzw. wegen ihrer identität ( eine transsexuelle jugendliche) von wärtern mißhandelt

Lawsuit alleges gay bashing at state youth prison

A lawsuit alleges that guards and an administrator at the state's youth prison abused and harassed three youths because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii filed the lawsuit in federal court yesterday alleging the civil rights of the one transgender and two gay and lesbian teenage inmates. The lawsuit alleges that officials knew of the abuse at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility in Kailua but did nothing to stop it.

A-C-L-U legal director Lois Perrin says the three youths -- identified only by their initials -- contacted her separately starting in March. The lawsuit names the youth prison administrator and the directors of the state Office of Youth Services and Department of Human Services. The state officials declined to comment until they review the case. It follows a critical report released by the Justice Department last month that said poorly trained and unsupervised guards at the youth prison abused, exploited and used excessive force against the teenage inmates.

[  kpua.net

05. September 2005

NAMIBIA

Homophobia condemned
Namibia’s National Society For Human Rights (NSHR) Statement

PRESS RELEASE

MORE HOMOPHOBIA IS CONDMNED

As the principal human rights monitoring and advocacy in the country, Namibia’s National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) condemns the homophobic incitements and utterances by Deputy Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Theopolina Mushelenga over the weekend. Addressing a public Heroes’ Day commemoration rally at Omaalala village, some 700 kilometers northwest of Windhoek on Saturday, Ms. Mushelenga reportedly accused sexual minorities of having been responsible for, inter alia, the country’s HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Claiming that she fully agrees with former Namibian President Sam Nujoma’s homophobic utterances in the past, Ms. Mushelenga also accused lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of betraying the country’s struggle for freedom. She warned the youth not to allow what she called “prophets of same sex love” to mislead them, local media reports said.

Articles 8 and 10 of the Namibian Constitution (NC) guarantee the right of everyone to dignity, equality before law and non-discrimination. Furthermore, the UN Human Rights Committee interprets the human rights principles enumerated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to include the protection of the right of sexual minorities to equality before the law and non-discrimination as well as to liberty and security of the person.

In its just released annual Namibia Human Rights Report 2005 (seewww.nshr.org.na), NSHR noted that LGBT people continue to experience widespread discrimination, homophobia and related intolerance. Sexual minorities also continue to be prejudiced, excluded, stigmatized, assaulted, raped and even brutally murdered.

According to The Rainbow Project, the country’s LGBT organization, some 3 000 cases of violence directed against LGBT were recorded during the period under reporting by NSHR. Some 75 percent of LGBT people preferred to suffer in silence in order to hide their identity and save themselves from hate speech and crime.

While Article 21(1)(a) of the NC guarantees the right of to freedom of speech, opinion and expression, Article 21(2) expressly imposes reasonable restriction of exercise of such right.

“Hence, by accusing LGBT people of being the cause of the country’s deadly HIV-AIDS pandemic Deputy Minister Mushelenga went entirely overboard. Singling out these people for such dangerous incitement and holding them responsible for the country’s number one killer disease is not only manifestly false but also constitutes an intentional and reckless effort to expose sexual minorities to even more hate crimes. Aggrieved LGBT people have the right to challenge Ms. Mushelenga personally in a civil court of law for punitive damages for her reckless endangerment”, advised NSHR executive director Phil ya Nangoloh.

NSHR calls upon President Lucas Hifikepunye Pohamba (LHP) to distance himself and his Administration from Deputy Minister Mushelenga’s hate expressions.

“Such unlawful and unconstitutional utterances, which came at the time of widespread media revelations of financial scams and other forms of corruption and mismanagement by high-ranking Government officials, only help to tarnish even further the otherwise positive image of the new Administration of President LHP” said NSHR spokesperson Dorkas Phillemon.

For further comment, please call Phil ya Nangoloh or Dorkas Phillemon at Tel: +264 61 236 183 or +264 61 253 447 (office hours) or Mobile: +264 811 299 886 (Phil) or e-mail: nshr@nshr.org.na or web: www.nshr.org.na

[  pambazuka.org

26. August 2005

FIJI

die urteile gegen zwei männer wegen sodomie wurden vom höchsten gericht geändert, die männer wurden freigelassen und die sodomiegesetze wurden als verfassungswidrig erklärt.

Fiji Court Overturns Sodomy Law - Gays Set Free

(Suva) Fiji's High Court overturned the convictions of two gay men on Friday, ruling that the South Pacific island's sodomy law was unconstitutional.The court released Thomas McCoskar, a 55-year-old Australian, and Dhirendra Nadan, a 23-year-old native man, telling McCoskar he was free to leave Fiji and return home. McCoskar, a retired university professor from Victoria state, and Nadan were convicted earlier this year and sentenced to two years in prison.In passing sentence the trial judge described gay sex as "something so disgusting that it would make any decent person vomit."They were on bail while their appeal was heard.

[  365gay.com

The convictions and sentences sparked an international outcry, particularly in Australia.

In his landmark ruling on Friday Justice Gerald Winter said that the sodomy law - a holdover from British colonial rule - was inconsistent with the Fijian constitution and therefore invalid."What the Constitution requires is that the law acknowledges difference, affirms dignity and allows equal respect to every citizen as they are," his ruling said.

"The State that embraces difference, dignity and equality does not encourage citizens without a sense of good or evil but rather creates a strong society built on tolerant relationships with a healthy regard for the rule of law."A country so founded will put sexual expression in private relationships into its proper perspective and allow citizens to define their own good moral sensibilities leaving the law to its duties of keeping sexual expression in check by protecting the vulnerable and penalizing the predator."McCosker said he would return home to Victoria on Saturday. He declined to comment after the ruling, but his co-defendant, Nadan, told reporters his prayers had been answered.

[  365gay.com

25. August 2005

CHINA

das höchste gericht hat entschieden das die bestehenden sodomygesetze verfassungswidrig und diskriminierend sind.

Sodomy is no longer criminal, court rules

In a landmark decision, the High Court ruled Wednesday that current laws on the age of consent discriminate against homosexuals.Justice Michael Hartmann acted in favor of William Leung, 20, who launched a Judicial Review against the government for what he considered unfair laws against gays.Hartmann said existing laws were ``demeaning of gay men,'' stereotype them as ``deviant,'' and interfere with their private lives on the assumption that homosexuality was ``morally reprehensible.''

Civil rights groups described the ruling as ``a historical moment for the Hong Kong gay community.'' Hartmann declared that four sections of the law covering homosexual acts, on the books since 1991, were unconstitutional.The Basic Law ``must allow for a remedy in appropriate circumstances to those who say that their fundamental rights have been undermined by primary legislation,'' he ruled.Hartmann said that Leung, should not have to face prosecution and life imprisonment before he can use the courts to challenge the constitutionality of laws that infringe upon his rights.Previously, sexual intimacy between two men below the age of 21 was a criminal offence even though sexual intimacy between heterosexuals and lesbians is allowed after the age of 16.

Group sex between gay men, even though in private and conducted by consenting adults, was also criminal, while such activities between heterosexuals and lesbians above 16 was allowed.An act of sodomy, submitted as the natural sexual expression of gay men, below the age of 21 was a criminal offence with possible life imprisonment if it was conducted between two men.During the trial in July, the government conceded that three of the four sections were in breach of the Bill of Rights and Article 25 of the Basic Law safeguarding equal rights because they unfairly distinguished between homosexuals and heterosexuals.

However, it maintained that the criminalization of sodomy between men under the age of 21 was not in breach of the constitution since sodomy between a man and a woman under 21 was equally a criminal offence.The judge added that the proposal not to make women criminally liable ``demonstrates a reliance on the stereotyped view that the female is per se submissive, the man always sexually the active partner.''The reason put forward by the government to make both partners of a homosexual act of sodomy below the age of 21 was the ``potential for blackmail.''Citing an Equal Opportunities report to Legco in 2001, Hartmann ruled this attitude exemplified ``stereotypical assumptions made of the homosexual community.''

Hartmann also declared that criminalizing sodomy for homosexuals below the age of 21 was indirectly discriminatory of gay men since it deprives them of their natural sexual expression.``Put plainly, heterosexual couples may have sexual intercourse under the age of 21, homosexual couples may not,'' he said.

Leung said that previously, he could not form physical homosexual relationships because of this ``criminal threat above my'' head.However, he said he was too young to think about gay marriage.Article 35 of the Basic Law states that ``all Hong Kong residents shall be equal before the law.''Law Yuk-lai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, said the ruling was long overdue. ``The Hong Kong government should have reviewed its legislation in 1994 when the United Nations Human Rights Committee declared that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was a violation of human rights,'' Law said.

Liz Whitelam, of Amnesty International, congratulated those who brought the case .But Choi Chi-sum, general secretary of the Hong Kong Alliance for Family, a conservative Christian and family values group, described the decision as regrettable.``This is about anal intercourse, not homosexuality,'' he said. ``Anal sex is a high risk activity and participants are much more likely to contact sexually transmitted diseases,'' Choi added.Choi warned that amending the law to make gay sex legal for those between the ages of 16 and 21 would encourage the activity.

[  thestandard.com.hk

12. August 2005

SPAIN

ein richter , der sich weigert eheschließungen bei homosexuellen paaren anzuerkennen,hat eine beschwerde beim obersten gericht eingereicht, weil diese ehen verfassungswidrig seien.

Spain judge challenges gay union

A Spanish judge has challenged the legality of gay marriage, saying same-sex marriages are against the country's constitution.

Francisco Garcia, from Gran Canaria, lodged the query at Spain's Constitutional Court.Mr Garcia has blocked three homosexual weddings since the new laws legalising such unions were introduced.Earlier this month a judge in the town of Denia also blocked two marriages and presented a court query.Both judges questioned whether the new marriage law was compatible with the constitution, which refers to marriage only between "a man and a woman."Mr Garcia's query said, "heterosexuality is the fundamental and identifying element of the institution of marriage," according to Spanish news agency, Efe.The predominantly Roman Catholic country was the third country in the world to legalise gay marriage, after the Netherlands and Belgium. Canada has since become the fourth.

[  news.bbc.co.uk

06. August 2005

USA

die aclu hat eine beschwerde gegen die wärter des los angeles cunty knastes eingereicht. Danach wurde eine gruppe homosexueller männer vor anderen menschen in einem flur einem strip-searching ausgesetzt und dabei mit sexuellen anspielungen beschimpft.

ACLU alleges harassment of gay inmates

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union charges guards at the Los Angeles County Jail strip-searched a group of gay inmates in a busy hallway.The Los Angeles Times reports the group has asked the Sheriff's Department to investigate the allegation.Under jail regulations, homosexual inmates are held separately from other prisoners in their own dormitories. The inmates involved in question were returning to their dormitory after a class when the alleged search took place.

The inmates complained they were searched in public and taunted with sexual slurs by sheriff's deputies."Such behavior by staff demonstrates a level of immaturity, lack of professionalism, and sadism, which tarnishes the reputation of the entire department," Ricardo Garcia and Jody Kent of the ACLU of Southern California said in a letter to the department.

[  sciencedaily.com

05. August 2005

USA

ein richter in los angeles hat entschieden, daß eine hiv- positive transgender frau aus honduras nicht abgeschoben werden kann, da dort ihr leben gefährdet ist.

U.S. judge: Transgender Honduran can stay

An immigration judge in Los Angeles ruled on Tuesday that an HIV-positive transgender woman from Honduras may remain indefinitely in the United States

According to the Associated Press (AP), Judge Jan D. Latimore agreed that the woman, Cristina Gomez Ordonez, would be in physical jeopardy should she be forced to return to the island. Moreover, her status as a transgender woman meant that she would likely be denied lifesaving HIV drugs.According to Michael O'Connor, staff attorney at the Los Angeles-based HIV & AIDS Legal Services Alliance, Ordonez was originally picked up on a prostitution charge last year, and sent to an immigration holding facility in Long Beach because of her lack of papers. O'Connor's group became involved in November of 2004, and represented Ordonez before the immigration authorities.

O'Connor said the odds were stacked against the 34-year-old Ordonez. "A lot of people don't understand transgender issues, and the same goes for HIV, so when you put these together and compound it by saying the client has an outstanding charge of prostitution, it's not exactly a slam dunk."But Latimore was convinced that Ordonez, who was severely beaten by her father, would face violence and lack of medical care if she were deported. Ordonez had missed a deadline to apply for asylum, but this week's decision to withhold deportation gave her the next-best option: the ability to stay in the United States, work and receive treatment for HIV.

Unlike individuals who are granted asylum, Ordonez cannot apply for U.S. citizenship in the future. She also runs the theoretical risk of being deported in the future, should conditions in Honduras improve. O'Connor said that possibility was "highly unlikely."The ruling could still be appealed to a higher court, but a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told the AP that no decision had been made.

[  gay.com

02. August 2005

UGANDA

Fears for safety of LGBT activists

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Public Statement
AI Index: AFR 59/003/2005

Amnesty International is concerned about the on-going intimidation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activists in Uganda. The latest incident follows steps taken by Ugandan law-makers in July 2005, who voted for a constitutional amendment to criminalize marriage between persons of the same sex.

Activist Victor Juliet Mukasa, Chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), fears for her safety after her house was raided on the night of 20 July 2005. Local government officials in a suburb of the capital city, Kampala, entered her house in her absence and seized documents and other material, apparently looking for “incriminating evidence” relating to the activities of SMUG. No search warrant was produced on demand. The organization advocates for the promotion and respect of all rights contained in the Uganda constitution and in international human rights treaties for lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, including the right not to be discriminated against.

Another lesbian activist, who was in Juliet’s house on the night of the raid, was arbitrarily arrested and detained by local government officials and then taken to the police station. She was subjected to humiliating and degrading treatment, in breach of her right to liberty, security and inviolability of person and to privacy. No charges were pressed against her and she was released, on the condition that she reported back to the police in the company of the chairperson of SMUG the following morning of 21 July.

Amnesty International is concerned that the above incidents add to a pattern of abuse of their right not to be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation, the right to freedom, security and inviolability of the human person, respect for private life, protection of privacy of the home and freedom of association and expression.

Amnesty International calls on the Ugandan government to respect and to ensure to all members of the LGBT community on its territory the following rights, as provided for under international human rights law:

(a) The right not to be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation;

(b) the right to liberty and security of person and the right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, as per Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Uganda is a state party;

(c) the right not to be subjected to degrading treatment or punishment, as per the provisions of Article 7 of the ICCPR;

(d) the right not to be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, home or correspondence, in line with Article 17 of the ICCPR;

(e) the right to freedom of expression and association, as per Articles 19 and 22 of the ICCPR.

With regards to the SMUG activists, including Victor Juliet Mukasa, Amnesty International further calls on the Ugandan authorities to fully implement the provisions of the 1998 UN Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Group and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Background

A climate of hostility and prejudice against members of the LGBT community persists in Uganda. On 5 July 2005, the Ugandan parliament voted for a constitutional amendment to the effect that “marriage is lawful only if entered into between a man and a woman”. The amendment further declared that it was “unlawful for same-sex couples to marry”.

Earlier in February 2005, the Ugandan Media Council banned the play “The Vagina Monologues” by the American playwright Eve Ensler, which several women’s organizations planned to stage to mark V-Day – a day of awareness-raising about violence against women. The council found that the play “prominently promotes and glorifies acts of unnatural sex…or homosexuality.”

In October 2004, a radio station was compelled to pay a fine for hosting a live talk show with sexual rights activists discussing discrimination against members of the LGBT community in Uganda and their need for HIV/AIDS services. The Broadcasting Council imposed a fine of approximately one thousand US dollars, claiming that the programme was “contrary to public morality” and breached existing laws.

Following this incident, security officials continued to harass the LGBT community, causing gay rights activists at one of the main universities to fear for their personal safety. 2005-08-04

[  pambazuka.org

30. July 2005

INDIA

zwei frauen haben in einer traditionellen hinduzeremonie geheiratet, obwohl dies gesetzlich verboten ist.

INDIAN Lesbian Couple Weds

Two teenage women have married in a traditional Hindu ceremony in India's West Singhbhum district - despite laws which forbid same-sex marriage.The women, identified in the local media as Nitima Biruwa and Laxmi Bari, were married in the village of Bharbaria with the blessings of their families.Press reports from the region say that the wedding was arranged by family members.

The reports quote the father of one of the women as saying that he had tried for months to break up the couple to no avail. He then decided that the best thing would be to allow them to marry.The women are still in school and say they intend to finish their studies.Last December the families of another lesbian couple who married illegally in a Hindu ceremony went to police in Amritsar to try to have the couple arrested under the country's sodomy law. A judge ruled the women could not be charged because lesbian sex was not mentioned in the sodomy provisions.

In March 2004, two gay men were attacked by their own relatives after they came out and exchanged vows. LGBT rights groups in India are trying to get the sodomy law overturned but concede it is likely to be a long time before India permits same-sex marriage.

[  365gay.com

25. July 2005

AUSTRALIA

eine 13 jährige hat von einem gericht die erlaubnis bekommen die erste stufe einer geschlechts-veränderungsbehandlung ( mit medikamenten) zu machen.

AUSTRALIAN court allows gender change drugs for teen

SYDNEY - A 13-year-old who believes she is a girl born into a boy's body has won permission to undergo the first stage of gender-changing treatment, with at least four other NSW adolescents hoping to secure similar rights. The 13-year-old was granted permission to undergo controversial puberty-blocking treatment by the NSW Family Court three weeks ago, in an application supported by family members.

The child's psychiatrist, Dr Louise Newman, said they sought the court's permission to use the hormones to delay pubertal changes because they would prove distressing and unacceptable to the child. Lawyer Rachael Wallbank, herself a transsexual, said she presented the Family Court with evidence that puberty-blockers were reversible and could save the child from self-harm or suicide.

"All the medical evidence, all the lived experience of people with transsexualism like myself however, and all of the post-treatment studies of children indicate that the earlier the children with transsexualism receive this treatment, the better their lives are, the happier they are, the more they can actually live out a useful and fulfilling life," she told ABC's Four Corners in a program due to screen tomorrow night. Ms Wallbank will soon return to court seeking a precedent-setting order that could remove the requirement for children to get Family Court approval for sex-change treatment.

This could clear the way for the four other teens to begin treatment without a legal battle. "In my view, once a court hears more complete evidence about transsexualism ... then the court will be more comfortable about allowing the treatment of transsexualism in childhood to follow ... a medical course rather than imposing on parents of these children the additional financial and mental burden of having to take the child through a legal process to enable that child to receive the treatment it needs," she said. The NSW court's recent decision follows the Family Court ruling last year that will allow Melbourne 13-year-old Alex, who was born a girl but identifies as a boy, to change gender, beginning with testosterone treatment at age 16.

Professor Garry Warne, of Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital, believes a compromise has to be reached on such treatments whereby the courts agree to certain guidelines. He believes puberty blockers shouldn't be given to children aged under 16 years, despite advocates saying they can be used from age 12 or 13.

"They're worried about making the wrong decision and they're worried about it coming back to bite them later on," Prof Warne said.The NSW children's bids to change sex are revealed as part of the Four Corners report on new research into what determines gender, with science now suggesting gender is dictated not just by chromosomes but by "brain sex" -- a hard-wiring of the brain before birth.As many as 40,000 Australians don't have standard sex chromosomes.

[  nzherald.co.nz

25. July 2005

USA

jerry falwell hat auf einer konferenz von exodus international, eine der größten religiösen gruppen die die meinung vertreten das homosexuelle menschen ihre sexuelle orientierung ändern können,gefordert kinder mit gewalt in die camps zur umerziehung zubringen.

Ex-gay' conference draws 1,000

Speaking at a conference of Exodus International, the largest religious group promoting the idea that gays can can change their sexual orientation, Rev. Jerry Falwell endorsed forcing gay kids into counseling designed to change their sexual orientation.

Falwell compared allowing a child to identify as gay with allowing children to play on the interstate and dismissed psychologists? claims that consent is fundamental to a healthy counseling relationship and that parents should not force their gay kids into therapy.

Exodus International?s 30th annual Freedom Conference took place last week at the Baptist Ridgecrest conference center near Asheville, North Carolina.Around a thousand people participated in the weeklong program that featured workshops on spiritual warfare, fulfilling traditional gender roles and organizing as a political movement.

This years conference had a higher than usual profile because one of Exodus member ministries, Love in Action, is under investigation by the Tennessee Department of Health for violations of state law. Love in Action advertised therapeutic counseling to treat homosexuality as well as drug, alcohol and porn addiction.Concerns about safety and professionalism at Love in Action were raised after a 16-year-old Tennessee teen blogged that his parents were forcing him into an unconventional program intended to turn him straight.

[  southernvoice.com

[  website der gruppe / exodus-internationl.org

24. July 2005

LATVIA

Hass-Slogans, Eier und Tränengas

Rigas erste "Gay Pride"-Parade wird von Intoleranz in Staat und Gesellschaft überschattet Von einem Großaufgebot an Polizei beschützt und von tausenden Gegendemonstranten und Schaulustigen gestört und begafft fand am Samstag in Lettlands Hauptstadt Riga die erste "Gay Pride"- Parade im Baltikum statt. Kopenhagen · 24. Juli · Es waren nicht viele der heimischen Homosexuellen, die sich angesichts des gehässigen Vorspiels zu "Rigas Praids" auf die Straße wagten. "Mehrere Dutzend" marschierten schließlich laut offiziellen Angaben unter Bannern und Regenbogenfahnen durch die Altstadt, wurden von der Polizei allerdings auf eine Alternativroute verwiesen, da die vorgesehene Strecke von Protestierern blockiert war. Die Mehrzahl der Teilnehmer war aus Skandinavien und Russland nach Riga gekommen; viele äußerten sich schockiert über den unfreundlichen Empfang.

In einer vorausgegangenen Kundgebung hatten mehrere Redner Regierung und Gesellschaft Intoleranz vorgeworfen und darauf verwiesen, dass Lettland unter der (vom Parlament schon ratifizierten) neuen EU-Verfassung zum Kampf gegen die Diskriminierung sexueller Minderheiten verpflichtet sei.

Die Parade in Riga war die erste in Osteuropa, die mit Billigung der Behörden stattfand. In Moldawien, Rumänien und zuletzt Polen waren ähnliche Aktionen verboten worden; in Warschau hatten im Juni 2500 Aktivisten dem Bann getrotzt und waren dennoch marschiert. Auch in Lettland war die Kundgebung heftig umstritten. Stadtdirektor Eriks Skapars zog die von ihm zunächst erteilte Genehmigung auf Druck von Ministerpräsident Aigars Kalvitis wieder zurück. Dieser hatte Sicherheitsbedenken vorgeschützt: rechtsradikale Gruppen könnten mit Gegenaktionen die Ordnung stören.

Seine wahren Motive enthüllte der Premier in einem TV-Interview, als er eine "Parade sexueller Minderheiten im Herz von Riga, direkt am Dom" nicht annehmbar nannte: "Wir sind ein auf christlichen Werten gegründeter Staat", betonte Kalvitis.Skapars fügte sich und untersagte die Parade wegen der "Gefahr von Massenunruhen". Ein Sprecher der Stadtverwaltung verwies auf "rassistische Attacken gegen Ausländer", die sich zuletzt in Riga häuften und bezeichnete die Toleranz gegenüber sexuellen Minderheiten als "sehr niedrig".

Nach Protesten der Veranstalter hob das Verwaltungsgericht jedoch am Tag vor der geplanten Parade das Verbot unter Hinweis auf die Bürgerrechte wieder auf. Radikal nationalistische Gruppen, aber auch bekannte Politiker, Künstler und Kirchenleute riefen zu Gegenaktionen auf.Der christdemokratische Verkehrsminister Ainars Slepers forderte den Rücktritt von Skapars, weil dieser die "Perversen-Parade" zunächst gebilligt hatte, und Leopolds Ozolins von den (in Lettland weit rechts stehenden) Grünen sah in der Billigung von "Rigas Praids" den Beweis dafür, "dass wir zu tolerant und passiv sind, um die rapide Ausbreitung dieses perversen Kults zu stoppen".

In diesem Klima marschierten schließlich 50 bis 60 Schwule und Lesben durch Riga, während die Gegendemonstranten Hass-Slogans riefen, mit Eiern und Tränengas warfen und versuchten, die Parade durch Sitzblockaden zu stoppen. Sechs Unruhestifter wurden festgenommen.

[  fr-aktuell.de

Protests disrupt Latvia gay march

Latvian police have arrested protesters after they shouted insults and threw eggs at people taking part in the Baltic state's first gay pride march.The few dozen marchers were outnumbered by hundreds of protesters who blocked the narrow streets of the capital.

Police were forced to alter the march route and to form a chain around the parade participants to protect them. The march had sparked outrage in Latvia and only went ahead after a court overturned a council ban on the event. Officials said that six of the protesters had been detained for their part in disrupting the march.Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis had opposed the event, saying Riga should "not promote things like that".

"For sexual minorities to parade in the very heart of Riga, next to the Doma church, is unacceptable," he told LNT television on Wednesday.One of those who took part in Saturday's march, 61-year-old Lars-Peter Sjouberg, from Sweden, said he had been shocked by the offensive remarks made by protesters."Protesters here were really aggressive [...] but it won't stop me from helping my Latvian friends fight for their rights."

[  bbc.co.uk

[   Gay Pride March to go ahead, as Court overrules the ban / 22 July 2005 / ilga-europe

UK

20. July 2005

ein homosexueller moslemischer palästinenser hat sein asylverfahren gewonnen.

Muslim gay wins asylum appeal

A FAILED asylum seeker was given a new chance to stay in Britain today because he is a Muslim homosexual.

Three appeal judges ruled that as a gay, the Palestinian would face persecution if he returned to his home in the Lebanon.The 34-year-old man, identified only as HC, left the refugee camp near Sidon where he was born in 1998 after the video shop where he worked was blown up.He was told by another resident of Camp 100 that he had caused the explosion because he knew HC was gay.

Lord Justice Keene, giving the ruling of the court, said the man had told him homosexuality was against the Muslim religion and he must leave.These facts had been accepted by an adjudicator after the Palestinian's claim for asylum was refused in 2003 but his appeal had been dismissed, said the judge.

Dr Alan George, a specialist in Middle Eastern political and economic affairs, gave written evidence that homosexuality is condemned by Muslims both in Lebanese and Palestinian society and that gays were subject to abuse and serious discrimination.Lord Justice Keene said the adjudicator had not dealt with the "substantial" evidence which pointed to the acute problems faced by a man who was both a Palestinian refugee and a homosexual.The appeal court quashed the findings of an Immigration Appeal Tribunal and referred the case to the new Asylum and Immigration Tribunal for a fresh decision.

[  manchesteronline.co.uk

12. July 2005

UGANDA

ein zusatz zur verfassung erklärt das die ehe nur zwischen männer und frauen legal ist und die gleichgeschlechtliche ehe illegal ist.

UGANDA: Same-Sex Marriage Ban Deepens Repression

(New York, July 12, 2005)-In voting for a constitutional amendment to criminalize marriage between persons of the same sex, Uganda's parliament has struck a gratuitous blow for prejudice and against basic human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. On July 5, by a vote of 111 to 17 with three abstentions, the Ugandan parliament approved a proposed constitutional amendment stating that "marriage is lawful only if entered into between a man and a woman," and that "it is unlawful for same-sex couples to marry." The amendment must still pass a third reading in parliament, which is expected later in the month. A parliamentary spokesman said that specific criminal penalties will be enacted later when the Ugandan penal code is revised.

"Uganda already imposes draconian prison sentences on people who engage in homosexual conduct," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "New criminal penalties against people who dare to marry can only have one purpose: to codify prejudice against same-sex couples."

Same-sex sexual relations are criminalized in Uganda under a sodomy law inherited from British colonial rule. Punishments were substantially strengthened in 1990. Section 140 of the Penal Code criminalizes "carnal knowledge against the order of nature" with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Section 141 punishes "attempts" at carnal knowledge with a maximum of seven years' imprisonment. Section 143 punishes acts of "gross indecency" with up to five years in prison. Both in Britain and Uganda, these terms were long understood to describe consensual homosexual conduct.

The proposed constitutional change follows months of state-promoted controversy about homosexuality in Uganda. In October, the country's information minister, James Nsaba Buturo, ordered police to investigate and "take appropriate action against" a gay association allegedly organized at Uganda's Makerere University. In February, the Media Council-a state censorship board-banned a staging of the play, "The Vagina Monologues," by the U.S. author Eve Ensler, because it "promotes illegal acts of unnatural sexual acts, homosexuality and prostitution."

State-sponsored media have called for stronger measures against homosexual conduct. On July 6, a writer in the government-owned New Vision urged the government to crack down on homosexuality, saying, "The police should visit the holes mentioned in the press, spy on the perverts, arrest and prosecute them. Relevant government departments must outlaw or restrict websites, magazines, newspapers and television channels promoting immorality-including homosexuality, lesbianism, pornography, etc."

"Basic freedoms of expression, association and respect for private life are at stake in Uganda," said Long. "Members of parliament should reject both this amendment and the campaign to stigmatize and silence people because of their sexual orientation."

In 1994, the United Nations Human Rights Committee found, in the case of Toonen v. Australia, that discrimination based on sexual orientation is barred by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Uganda is a party. The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has held that arrests for consensual homosexual conduct are, by definition, human rights violations.

In March, a Human Rights Watch report on"abstinence-until-marriage" HIV-prevention programs in Uganda documented instances of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the country's HIV/AIDS policy. The report found that abstinence-until-marriage programs were jeopardizing Uganda's successful fight against HIV/AIDS by denying young people information about any method of HIV-prevention other than sexual abstinence until marriage. These programs intrinsically discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, since gays and lesbians are not allowed to marry in most jurisdictions.

[  alertnet.org