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Diary pichot
| Gambia's President Vows to Kill Gays |
Gambia's president on Thursday announced that gays, lesbians, and "criminals" have 24 hours to leave the country or face death. President Yahya Jammeh has said previously that he is seeking a crackdown even harsher than that in Iran, according to Afrol News.
"Foreigners are cordially welcomed in The Gambia, but not bad elements," he said at a rally outside Banjul, Gambia's capital.
He also ordered landlords and hotel owners to evict gays before a mass search is conducted by security forces.
In response, Peter Tatchell of British gay rights group OutRage! said the threats are no surprise.
"The Gambian leader, Yahya Jammeh, has a long history of homophobia and has promoted crackpot cures for HIV," Tatchell said in a press release. "He'll have to kill an awful lot of Gambians and foreign aid workers and tourists to get rid of gays and lesbians."
A government ousting of gays violates the African Union's Charter on Human Rights and could spur a withdrawal of international aid for Gambia.
pichot, 26.05.2008 15:27 [Comments (1)]
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| California is rewriting its marriage forms for gays |
So, what will the California marriage license look like in the new era of same-sex marriages? Will it list "Partner A" and "Partner B"? "Intended No. 1" and "Intended No. 2"? Or will it contain just blank spaces for the betrothed?
The court decision last week that legalized gay marriage in California has created a semantic puzzle with scant time to solve it. With the ruling tentatively set to take effect June 16, state bureaucrats must rapidly rewrite, print and distribute a marriage license application.
The current one-page form uses "bride" and "groom" four times each, and also requires the signatures of an "unmarried man" and an "unmarried woman," wording that is obviously out of step with the California Supreme Court ruling opening the way for gay marriages.
Thousands of same-sex couples are expected to flock to the state next month to wed. But typically it takes the state months to churn out new forms.
Kate Kendell, executive director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said she is not particularly worried.
"This is where you don't want the perfect to be the enemy of the good," she said. "If people can marry and those marriages are legally recognized in compliance with the court ruling ... the t's crossed and i's dotted on the form are the least of our concerns."
The person with the final word is Mark Horton, director of the state Public Health Department, which oversees the Office of Vital Records.
"It's too early for us to give specifics," said Linette Scott, a deputy director at the department. "We are going to be in compliance with the court order."
In Massachusetts, the only other state to legalize gay marriage, "bride" and "groom" were dropped from its marriage certificate in favor of "Party A" and "Party B." Those individuals then check a box to indicate male or female. In Vermont, which issues certificates of civil union for gays, couples also are identified as "Party A" and "Party B."
Simply scratching out "bride" and "groom" on the current California form could be problematic. The form reads: "Make no erasures, whiteouts or other alterations."
Tom McClusky, a vice president at the conservative Family Research Council, said the state should maintain two marriage forms, one of which preserves "bride" and "groom."
"If the definition is seen to be so fluid, where do you stop?" he asked. "I can imagine the discussion in a couple of years of how many people should be included. Why is it wrong for two men and a woman to get married? I don't want to see the top of THAT wedding cake."
The wording on the license is just one of many unanswered questions left in the wake of the ruling that struck down laws against gay marriage in the nation's most populous state. There are questions about its effective date. And it could be a fleeting victory for gays, since religious and social conservatives hope to put a constitutional amendment on the state ballot in November that would undo the ruling.
On Thursday, a conservative group, the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, asked the California Supreme Court to put the decision to allow gay marriages on hold until after the election.
Unlike Massachusetts, California has no residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license. That means the state could become a magnet for gays nationwide eager to tie the knot.
"There will be all kinds of chaos and confusion if there are thousands of marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples before November" and voters then pass the amendment banning gay marriage, said Glen Lavy, senior counsel for the organization.
For now, things are moving ahead, if haltingly.
In Los Angeles County, home to nearly 10 million people, officials are considering opening more satellite offices to issue marriage licenses, recruiting more volunteer commissioners to conduct ceremonies and ensuring enough police to handle the crowds.
"We never find ourselves in a circumstance when things get implemented so quickly," said Steven Weir, president of the California Association of Clerks and Elected Officials. "We already have people calling and making inquiries. Many are anxious to get a license immediately, and some are extremely agitated they can't be accommodated right now."
pichot, 26.05.2008 15:22 [Comments (0)]
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| 2 Pro-Gay Laws Signed In Maryland |
(Annapolis, Maryland) Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has signed two bills that will benefit same-sex couples in the state.
The first gives domestic partners - gay or straight - medical and funeral decision-making rights. The second exempts domestic partners from paying property transfer taxes when one person dies.
Under the medical legislation couples would have to show "mutual interdependence". That could be done by showing they jointly own property or have joint checking accounts.
During public hearings on the bill some same-sex couples told lawmakers about being denied the right to make funeral arrangements for partners because they are not legally married, others said hospitals had denied them a say in the treatment of partners who were incapable of making their own decisions.
The bill was the most tepid of four that had been filed in the legislature this year. The other two never made it to a vote.
A bill to allow same-sex marriage was filed in the legislature in January. (story) Called the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act it would have allowed civil marriages for gay couples while permitting churches opposed to same-sex marriage to refuse to perform weddings.
Another bill would have allowed civil unions. It had wider support in the legislature and with Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) but was never able to advance.
In February a third bill was filed. That one would have ended all civil marriage in the state and replace it with domestic partnerships for all couples, opposite or same-sex. (story)
The medical decision-making legislation was seen as an attempt to head off support for the other three - especially the marriage.
Last September Maryland's highest court upheld a state law barring same-sex unions. (story)
In a split ruling the majority opinion said that while the court agrees that marriage is a fundamental right, there is no fundamental right to marry someone of the same sex. The court ruled that defining marriage should be up to the legislature.
The removal of the inheritance tax on property ends discrimination against unmarried couples. Previously, when one partner died, the tax imposed on the survivor often meant that person could no longer afford to hold on to the property.
Earlier this month O'Malley signed one of the nation's most sweeping laws against bullying, aimed at protecting all students, including those who are LGBT.
The new law requires state and county school boards to develop policies that ban bullying. It mandates counseling to offered to both the victim and the bully. And it extends not only to school property but also electronic devices, including cell phones, computers or pagers.
pichot, 26.05.2008 15:21 [Comments (0)]
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| Eatery offers $5,000 reward in gay attack |
FORT LAUDERDALE - The owner of the popular restaurant where a gay man was verbally and physically assaulted in a possible hate crime has put up a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the attacker.
Butch Samp, owner of The Floridian 24-hour restaurant at 1410 E. Las Olas Blvd., put the reward up Wednesday out of his own pocket to encourage police tips in the attack on Melbourne Brunner, 37. Brunner was eating with his partner at the diner early Saturday morning when a man began shouting anti-gay slurs at the Fort Lauderdale man.
When Brunner tried to leave, police say the man blocked him from leaving in his car and punched him in the face. Brunner fell to the ground and hit his head. Doctors said that injuries to his face and eyes were not permanent.
Police are looking for a 2002 or similar year, sage green, four-door Toyota Tacoma pickup truck with a bed cover and roll bar. A police report of the incident listed the assailant as 5-foot-10, about 165 pounds with a closely shaved head.
Fort Lauderdale police are investigating the attack on Brunner and the Friday morning murder of Simmie Williams Jr., 17, as hate crimes. Williams was shot that morning in the 1000 block of Sistrunk Boulevard after an argument with two men. The cases are believed to be unrelated. Both remain unsolved.
Police are asking anyone with information about the attacks to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
pichot, 28.02.2008 12:54 [Comments (0)]
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| Elton John Party Raises $5.1M for Charity |
The 16th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards viewing party raised $5.1 million in Los Angeles Sunday night, the foundation announced Monday.
The Oscar night gala, which was held at the Pacific Design Center and co-sponsored by Chopard and VH1, was one of the evening’s best attended parties, organizers said.
Guests included Marion Cotillard, Tom Wilkinson, Amy Adams, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi, Sean Penn, Patricia Clarkson, Calista Flockhart and Harrison Ford, Josh Groban, Faye Dunaway, Sean Combs, Seal and Heidi Klum, Prince, Kate Beckinsale, Billy Joel, Courtney Love, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Petra Nemcova, Jeremy Piven, Roberto Cavalli, Minnie Driver, Simon Cowell and Herbie Hancock.
Also attending the event, which included dinner, a musical performance by Elton John and a live auction, were Natasha Henstridge, Larry King, Eric McCormack, Jason Lewis, Jonny Lee Miller, Brett Ratner, Jason Retiman, Rupert Murdoch, Jennifer Coolidge, Russell Simmons, Cheryl Tiegs, John Waters and Ziyi Zhang.
John and his partner David Furnish were the gala’s hosts.
Established in 1992, the non-profit foundation said it has raised more than $125 million to support HIV/AIDS prevention and service programs in 55 countries around the globe.
pichot, 27.02.2008 10:57 [Comments (0)]
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| Lawyers propose legal clinic for gay, transgender clients |
Baltimore, Maryland (AP) -- A group of Maryland lawyers hopes to start a legal clinic that would serve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Marylanders -- underserved groups that advocates say have special legal problems.
When the proposed FreeState Law Project opens this fall, it would be the first of its kind in the state and one of a few in the country, organizers said.
"We found that there were very few pro bono legal services programs in the entire country," said Lisa Kershner, a Bethesda attorney who is heading the effort with Baltimore attorney Nevett Steele.
Advocacy groups address specific policy issues such as same-sex marriage or legal problems related to AIDS/HIV. But Kershner said the only center offering direct legal services to individuals on the scale envisioned was Philadelphia-based Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, which opened in 1996. The nonprofit group received 600 to 700 calls for assistance last year, the majority dealing with employment and family issues, said Stacey Sobel, executive director of the group.
Organizers of the Maryland clinic said some of the legal service needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people rise out of their inability to marry.
"The law is different when applied to them, so that makes even routine types of legal problems or questions more complicated," Kershner said.
"There's a tremendous number of folks who have problems," Steele added. "Partners who are breaking up, and there is no law like there is with heterosexual partners."
Advocacy groups say transgender youth also have unique legal needs.
"There's a large population in the city of homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth who have been sort of abandoned by their families, especially the transgender youth," said Aaron Merki, 24, a third-year student at the University of Maryland School of Law, one of the organizers of the project.
The FreeState Law Project hopes to raise about $250,000 to open in September. It has raised about $30,000 and is forming an advisory board.
The group is now operating out of the Public Justice Center in Baltimore.
pichot, 18.02.2008 10:31 [Comments (0)]
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| Man Charged with Unprotected Sex |
An HIV-positive Missouri man has been charged with having unprotected sex with a woman in St. Charles County without warning her she might get AIDS.
Michael Bergman was jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Investigators say Bergman may have had sex with five people, both men and women, since learning he was HIV positive. They are trying to trace his partners.
Bergman allegedly told the woman he believed she was already infected with AIDS — “I don’t want to lose you, I love you and I figured we could be sick together.”
If the woman turns out to be HIV positive, Bergman could face more serious charges. He was charged with recklessly risking another person being infected with HIV, which carries a prison term of 5 to 15 years.
pichot, 18.02.2008 10:29 [Comments (0)]
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| School Shuts Down Site Oveer Porn Links |
A Florida middle school shut down its Web site Friday after learning that one of the links went directly to a gay pornography site.
The principal of Gulf Middle School in New Port Richey said he had no idea how the link appeared on the school site.
“Obviously, we’re going to investigate this,” Principal Stan Trapp said. “I’m hoping that there will be some legal recourse. It’s outrageous.”
The link was noticed a day after state and local law enforcement began an investigation into how a friend with links to pornography allegedly arrived on the MySpace page of the school’s resource officer, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Friday.
Bonnie Lang, president of the Florida chapter of Kids Come First, an Internet safety organization, said the appearance of pornography links on the school’s site was more troubling to her than the resource officer’s page, the newspaper reported.
“You can’t control what’s on somebody else’s page,” Lang said. “They can control what gets on their page … The school board’s responsibility is to maintain their page.”
pichot, 28.01.2008 21:44 [Comments (0)]
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| Gay Moderate Italian PM Prodi Resigns |
(Rome) Italian Premier Romano Prodi has submitted his government's resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano after losing a confidence vote in Parliament.
Napolitano could call a snap election or name a caretaker government.
Napolitano has long said he doesn't want to hold another national election until Parliament reforms Italy's electoral system, which is widely blamed for contributing to the country's chronic political instability. Decades of revolving-door politics have produced 61 governments since World War II.
An election could bring in a right-of-center government headed by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who currently is leading in public opinion polls.
Prodi was sunk Thursday when the Senate voted 161-156 to sink his 20-month-old center-left coalition. The crisis began when the small but key Christian Democrat party which is aligned with the Vatican pulled out of the coalition - in large part due to Prodi's support for same-sex civil partnerships.
The Senate vote ended a fiery session which was rife with homophobic epithets from conservatives. One senator was spat on, fainted and was carried out on a stretcher.
Last fall a proposed bill to grant civil partnerships for gay couples was shelved in a last ditch effort to keep the support of the Christian Democrats, but recently some coalition members said they would introduce the measure anyway.
With the defeat of the government the bill is dead, along with other legislation that had not been passed by both houses.
The civil partnership bill would have allowed same-sex couples to sign a civil registry and then share pensions, health insurance, enter into contracts, and permit them to be considered the same as married couples for public housing.
Prodi has been a supporter of moderate rights for same-sex couples since 2005 when he met with gay activists, but he opposes gay marriage.
Five LGBT candidates were elected to the Italian parliament last year - all members of the center-left - including Vladimir Luxuria, the first transsexual to win national election in Italy.
Berlusconi the billionaire media magnate who lost to Prodi in 2006 is eager to return to office, and called Friday for swift new elections.
He is a frequent guest at the Vatican and is a staunch opponent of LGBT rights, especially same-sex unions.
In 2006, shortly after Prodi's government was sworn in members of Berlusconi's opposition coalition demanded that Luxuria not be allowed to use the women's lavatory in Parliament. They called for a third washroom to be constructed and that the Rome politician be required to use only it.
pichot, 27.01.2008 15:35 [Comments (0)]
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| Gay Activists Blast Radio Host Who Mocked Ledger's Death |
A U.S. radio host who mocked Heath Ledger's death live on air a few hours after his passing has been slammed by gay activists. During his Tuesday show, Fox News Radio presenter John Gibson played an audio clip from the movie Brokeback Mountain in which Jake Gyllenhaal's character says to Ledger's, "I wish I knew how to quit you." Gibson then told his listeners, "Well, he found out how to quit you." Later in the broadcast, Gibson played another Brokeback Mountain clip, this time of Ledger's character saying, "We're dead." The host then mockingly repeated, "We're dead," before playing the clip again. Gibson, who is on record as criticizing Brokeback Mountain as a "gay agenda movie," went on to label Ledger a "weirdo" who had "a serious drug problem" and speculated as to reasons why the actor may have taken his own life. Ledger, who was found dead in his New York apartment on Tuesday, is not thought to have committed suicide, according to authorities and his family. Rashad Robinson, a spokesman for The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), says, "Gibson's remarks are vulgar and disgusting. It's sickening that Gibson would exploit Heath Ledger's tragic death to promote such hurtful intolerance. And to do so at a time when family and friends are grieving shows a level of insensitivity that is beyond the pale." On his Wednesday show, Gibson refused to apologize for his comments, explaining they were just "a little Brokeback Mountain joke" and there is "no point in passing up a good joke."
pichot, 25.01.2008 20:15 [Comments (0)]
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| Subject Of LGBT Bias Complaint Becomes Gay Bar |
(Scottsdale, Arizona) The room was crowded, the music was high energy and the liquor flowed for the opening Friday night of Scottsdale's newest gay club.
The debut of Club Forbidden ordinarily would not have attracted statewide media attention except that this was the same club and owner that only months ago were the subject of an investigation by the Attorney General's office for discrimination against transsexuals.
"It was time for a change," said owner Tom Anderson.
Last month Anderson settled a discrimination complaint filed by Michele de LaFreniere, a trans woman who had been ejected last year for using the women's bathroom when the club was known as Anderson's Fifth Estate.
LaFreniere, who happens be the chair Scottsdale's Human Relations Commission, said at the time she was told by Anderson "I don't want your business or your kind here."
Anderson did not dispute that he barred transsexual women from using the women's washroom. He claimed that female patrons were "freaking out" and threatening to take their business elsewhere.
He also said he could not allow transsexuals to use the men's room because the transwomen were "at risk of getting beat up".
LaFreniere filed a complaint with the Attorney General's office which began an investigation.
LaFreniere and Anderson finally met face to face at meeting arranged by Equality Arizona after Anderson after the club owner agreed to turn one of the bar's bathrooms into a unisex facility.
"I have a better understanding of [LaFreniere's] position and she has a better understanding of mine," Anderson said following the meeting.
But it led to Anderson taking a hard look at Scottsdale's gay community and his own bottom line.
For 20 years Anderson's Fifth Estate had been a mainstay on the city's club list - specializing first in disco and then when that lost favor reinventing itself as a rock venue.
But as newer and swankier clubs opened Anderson's became stuck in a time warp and by the time LaFreniere filed her complaint the club by some accounts was on life support.
Scottsdale's gay community on the other hand was becoming more visible and with only one club in town, BS West, Anderson saw an opportunity.
"Times change," Anderson told the Arizona Republic, "and it's time to change."
The 5,500-square-foot club in the Old Town area has been redone with a fresh coat of paint, new couches and banquets, and a more extensive wine and martini list.
The dispute was one of several anti-LGBT incidents to hit Scottsdale over the past year.
In August a 22-year old man was attacked ago outside a Scottsdale bar. He was beaten and nearly lost an eye. His attackers yelled homophobic epithets at him during the attack he said.
The man also said that while he was at the hospital being treated he was belittled because of his sexuality by Scottsdale police officers.
A month earlier a gay man had his jaw cracked when he was attacked leaving a gay bar with a friend. Nicholas Gearing, 27, said at the time he felt police were not taking the assault seriously enough.
Last year a gang of men who attacked a gay couple outside a Scottsdale restaurant. One of the men needed more than a dozen stitches to close wounds on his head and face.
pichot, 21.01.2008 15:37 [Comments (0)]
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| Gay Service Causes Anglican Flap |
An Anglican communion service for gay clergy members was apparently performed in Britain without the knowledge of top church officials. The Times of London said Monday that the archbishop of Canterbury kept the service so secret he failed to inform the bishop of London. The archbishop, Rowan Williams, now faces the prospect of being found in violation of church regulations, which the newspaper said required that the London bishop give his permission for such a service to be conducted in his diocese. There has been no indication that the bishop of London will forward a complaint to the achbishop of York, who could order a hearing on Rowan’s possible removal.
pichot, 21.01.2008 15:36 [Comments (0)]
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| Drug-Resistant Staph Passed in Gay Sex |
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A drug-resistant strain of potentially deadly bacteria has moved beyond the borders of U.S. hospitals and is being transmitted among gay men during sex, researchers said Monday.
They said methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is beginning to appear outside hospitals in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.
Sexually active gay men in San Francisco are 13 times more likely to be infected than their heterosexual neighbors, the researchers reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
"Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable," said Binh Diep, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco who led the study. "That's why we're trying to spread the message of prevention."
According to chemical analyses, bacteria are spreading among the gay communities of San Francisco and Boston, the researchers said.
"We think that it's spread through sexual activity," Diep said.
This superbug can cause life-threatening and disfiguring infections and can often only be treated with expensive, intravenous antibiotics.
It killed about 19,000 Americans in 2005, most of them in hospitals, according to a report published in October in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
About 30 percent of all people carry ordinary staph chronically. It can be passed by touching other people or by depositing the bacteria on surfaces or objects.
The bacteria can cause deep-tissue infections if they enter the body through a wound in the skin.
Of those people who carry staph, most carry it in their noses but community-based MRSA also can live in and around the anus and is passed between sexual partners.
Incidence of MRSA is rising along with the resurgence of syphilis, rectal gonorrhea, and new HIV infections partly because of changes in beliefs about the severity of HIV and an increase in risky behaviors, such as illicit drug use and having sex that abrades the skin, Diep's team wrote.
"Your likelihood of contracting each of these diseases increases with the number of sexual partners that you have," Diep said. "The same can probably be said for MRSA."
Staph infections often look like raised red dots on the skin. Left untreated, the areas can swell and fill with pus.
The best way to avoid infection is by washing the hands or genitals with soap and water, Diep said.
pichot, 21.01.2008 15:33 [Comments (0)]
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| Supreme Court Rules in Gay Adoption Case |
DES MOINES - The Iowa Supreme Court says a district court erred by ruling it didn't have jurisdiction over custody issues involving a gay woman's adoption of her partner's children.
The case involves Heather Schott and Jamie Schott, who is the children's natural parent. After they ended their relationship, Heather Schott asked a district court to determine child custody, physical care and support for the children.
The court ruled an unmarried adult can't adopt without terminating the rights of both natural parents, and that since Jamie Schott's rights weren't terminated the adoptions weren't valid.
The Supreme Court says the adoptions are similar to stepparent adoptions and that the district court has jurisdiction. The high court sent the case back to district court.
pichot, 20.01.2008 14:51 [Comments (2)]
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| Maryland Majority Support Same-Sex Unions |
A majority of likely voters in Maryland support legalization of same-sex unions, a new poll indicated.
The telephone survey of 904 Maryland voters, conducted Jan. 6-9, found 19 percent support the legalization of gay marriage and an additional 39 percent said they support same-sex civil unions — bringing the total number of those supporting state-recognized same-sex relationships to nearly three out of five, The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday.
Meanwhile, 31 percent of respondents said they do not support either form of same-sex unions, and half of that amount said they support a constitutional amendment banning the practice. Eleven percent of those polled said they are undecided or declined to answer.
“This is a state that is much more open-minded to a legal arrangement between two people of the same sex, whether they call it marriage or civil unions,” said Steve Raabe, president of OpinionWorks, the Annapolis, Md., firm that conducted the poll. “It’s not a state characterized by a large evangelical constituency but rather a more liberal electorate.”
pichot, 20.01.2008 14:49 [Comments (0)]
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| Transgender Woman Fights For Free Name Change |
CHICAGO -- A transgender woman who wants to change her legal name is asking the Illinois Supreme Court to order Will County's chief judge to waive about $450 in court fees because of her low income.
The legal filing by 52-year-old Daunn Turner, of Lockport, contends that Will County Chief Judge Stephen White rejected the request by declaring the name change was something she wanted, not something that she needed. Turner claims White also declared he wouldn't spend the county's money on something like that.
Turner said she sought to change her name from "Donald" to reflect her identity.
pichot, 19.01.2008 14:58 [Comments (0)]
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| Gays to go on the march after spate of attacks |
A SPATE of brutal attacks on gay men in Oxford Street has sparked an internal investigation of the Surry Hills police command - and a controversial campaign to rally gays behind a street protest against homophobic violence.
The NSW Police Professional Standards Command, the branch that oversees internal investigations, has confirmed it will investigate the Surry Hills police complaints system after more than two years of allegations that officers have refused to record acts of anti-homosexual violence or investigate some bashings.
The gay activist and barrister David Buchanan, SC, said Oxford Street had become less safe in recent years, partly due to the rise of heterosexual clubs and watering holes on the strip.
"Oxford Street has changed, and the venues are encouraging a non-gay element," he said.
"Lots of people come into Oxford Street who ordinarily wouldn't be associated with the gay cultural precinct. There's no longer the friendly atmosphere that there used to be."
The bashing of Craig Gee, of Redfern, two months ago sparked outrage in the gay community, and a boil-over of tensions between the state's peak gay organisations, local police and Aboriginal groups after police reports described Mr Gee's attackers as Aboriginal.
Anger was also fuelled by the poster used to publicise the street protest, a "Reclaim the right … to be who you are" rally to be held on Australia Day in Harmony Park, next to Surry Hills police station.
The red, militaristic posters depict a phalanx of muscle men holding red flags on steel poles.
The images have been described as racist. The event's organiser withdrew the poster from public display last night.
Chris Lawrence, an Aboriginal Redfern resident who is gay, said the posters depicted "a sea of white gay men". He said coverage of gay bashings by a local gay and lesbian newspaper, the Sydney Star Observer, risked inspiring a racist backlash.
"Our concern is that the paper is beating the story up in a racial way and it risks reprisals against Aboriginal people who are homeless and frequent Oxford Street," he said. Mr Lawrence said he had never been abused for his sexuality in 16 years in Redfern. "The only abuse I've had is [for being Aboriginal] from a few white gay guys."
Another inner-city gay resident, Andre Rispler, said the poster was over the top. "To me it reads as if it is fascist and militant … If I saw images likes this over and over again I'd be concerned."
The anger over anti-gay violence reached a new peak after the attack on Mr Gee. He said he was attacked after he and his partner, Shane Brennen, 32, left Arq nightclub near Taylor Square in early December.
At 1.30am, a few blocks from Oxford Street, the couple were attacked by two men. Mr Brennen said one yelled "Give us your money you f---ing faggot," before wrestling with him.
"I got away from him and when I turned and looked on the road that's where Craig was. He'd already been knocked out [and was] on the ground and the guy took Craig's wallet out. Then he rose his leg up and stomped on his face … he just slammed his foot down on Craig's face."
The attack left Mr Gee, 27, with a fractured jaw, an eye socket smashed into three pieces, and a broken right leg. He says he has nightmares, occasional blurred vision, headaches and is afraid to go anywhere alone.
While Mr Gee recovered in hospital, someone used his stolen phone to text and call his mother and two of his friends, leaving what he described as "sexual, gruesome, disgusting" messages.
Mr Gee said the attack had been reported to police but they had been slow to act. Police deny this charge.
The AIDS Council of NSW and the Star Observer have used Mr Gee's assault as a catalyst for a fresh campaign against what they say is a rise in homophobic violence.
The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics says there were 742 assaults in Surry Hills in the year to last September, but there are no figures that define specifically which were homophobic attacks.
The AIDS Council says the figures are unrepresentative, and that anecdotal evidence points toward a rise in homophobic violence over the past two years.
The crime manager for Surry Hills police, Inspector David Egan-Lee, said he had not received a single report of gay hate crime from an AIDS Council and City of Sydney-sponsored safe house established on Oxford Street in November, which records incidences of homophobic crime.
"There are people who are targeted because they are gay, but there are tenfold more people being targeted because of alcohol, not because they're gay," Inspector Egan-Lee said.
pichot, 19.01.2008 14:50 [Comments (0)]
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| Group Reaches Out To Gay Teens |
Vermont is widely considered to be an accepting place for gays and lesbians, but one group says there's more work to be done, especially when it comes to youth. Outright Vermont unveiled a new campaign Thursday to reach out to teens looking for help.
Vermont Youth StandOUT is the organization's latest effort to make sure gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning teens in the state feel they are not alone.
"Vermont happens to be, I think, the best state in the country, but that doesn't mean that in rural areas there aren't still challenges that youth face," says Christopher Neff, executive director of Outright Vermont.
The new effort includes online resources for teens, parents and educators. Outright will also partner with cafes and restaurants in rural parts of the state. Volunteers will spend the day hanging out and making themselves available to GLBTQ teens who might want to stop by.
"It's great just having people to talk to who actually like, you know, know what you're going through and know what you're feeling," says James Neiley, a 15-year-old gay teen who lives in Charlotte. "CVU there's maybe like two other gay guys that I know, maybe."
Neiley says it's hard growing up in a place where there are few other gay people. That's why Vermont Youth StandOUT is focusing on creating connections for teens, whether it's with other teens or with other people who might be able to offer guidance.
"I haven't even been out for a year so it's kind of been a new thing for me," says Chris Nial, a 19-year-old from South Burlington. Chris came out about nine months ago. "Seeing other people who have been out for a while and are comfortable for themselves is really great for me I think."
Outright says it understands not everyone is supportive of its mission. Chris Neff says it's not about politics though, but about protecting a particularly vulnerable part of the state's future. GLBTQ teens have much higher rates of suicide and are more often the target of bullying.
"We believe that all Vermonters understand that youth are our future and we need to support them and their diversity should be valued," says Neff.
At a time when Vermont is losing many of its youth to other states Outright hopes creating a safe, comfortable environment might entice more young people to stay.
pichot, 19.01.2008 14:48 [Comments (0)]
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| Europe’s First Gay Nursing Home Opens |
Berlin (dpa) - Europe's first gay nursing home has opened in Berlin, with out-and-proud gay Mayor Klaus Wowereit publicly supporting the ground-breaking project, which culminates years of planning and fund-raising.
"The idea was first proposed at the Gay and Grey Forum in Cologne in 1995 and we began drafting plans in 2001, and it is truly amazing that it has taken all these years to become a reality," says Christian Hamm, a Berlin-based architect and nursing home board member.
"So we are even more pleased and proud that we have finally been able to open Europe's first full-service nursing facility for elderly gays and lesbians."
The newly built, four-storey nursing facility in the Pankow district of the German capital can accommodate 28 patients in state- of-the-art rooms with private bathrooms and enough space for some of their own furnishings.
Furnishings and decor are very important in a gay environment, says Hamm.
"When you're old," he says, "the last thing that you want to do is to have to hide. And you certainly don't want to give up your identity and live in some hostile environment, possibly sharing a room with someone who despises you."
Many gay Germans, who have lived openly as homosexuals well into middle age, are now worried that discrimination will have them retreating into secrecy if they enter retirement communities or nursing homes.
As independent adults, they have been able to pick their neighbours. As aged people needing care, their choices would be limited. And where many have been able to defy bias and so lead prosperous and rewarding lives, they wonder whether their strength in old age will allow them to continue doing so.
Now, as the first openly gay generation grows greyer and contemplates retirement, Hamm and his associates in Berlin have ambitious plans not only for the nursing home but also for an assisted-care retirement centre specifically for homosexuals, a place that will allow gays to grow old surrounded by other gays.
The nursing-care facility is just part of a 10-million-dollar old- age complex which will one day offer residents spacious apartments, a café and function room facilities.
In addition, the post-modern design by Christian Hamm envisions a health-care centre with physicians, therapists and a wellness gym is also incorporated into the plan.
"All in all, it is a sheltered accommodation complex in the centre of Berlin," says Marco Pulver, 46, a gay social worker in Berlin.
Potential residents are already signing up and have expressed delight at the prospect of living out their twilight years in a gay- friendly environment.
"I wouldn't like to be in a heterosexual environment all the time," one applicant says. "Elderly people like to talk about their children and their grandchildren, for instance. A large number of homosexuals do not have children and find it hard to join in. For us, talking about the grandkids is awkward."
In the mid 1990s it seemed homosexuality had been generally accepted in Germany. But surveys revealed that many social workers did have a problem with it, particularly in former East Germany, where homosexuality was discounted as a "symptom of decadent capitalist imperialism."
Researchers were shocked to find that directors of senior homes said things like: "There is no homosexuality here."
The turn came only after 2001, when the centre-left government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder enacted gay-union legislation which gave homosexual couples many of the same rights and privileges as married couples.
The idea for a gay old-age home came from Hamm, 45. A long-time gay activist, Hamm says the greying generation of older gays in Germany have find themselves alone.
"They have no children or grandchildren," he says, "and as they grow older they find themselves with no close relatives to support them when they are no longer to take care of themselves."
And they find themselves ostracized at most conventional old-age homes.
Mayor Wowereit, 54, who was elected in June 2001 after telling Berlin voters, "I'm gay and that's good," has actively supported the project and says it dovetails into his vision of Berlin.
"Berlin is a gay-friendly city, a city of tolerance," the mayor says. "And I represent our city with this message. Berlin has the biggest gay and lesbian scene in Germany and we welcome gays of all ages."
pichot, 18.01.2008 17:25 [Comments (0)]
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| 3 Men Sentenced to Hard Labor in Cameroon for Homosexuality |
Three men convicted of homosexuality — a crime in Cameroon — were sentenced to six months' hard labor, their lawyer said Wednesday.
Lazare Baeeg, Emmanuel Balep and Tony Dikongue were arrested last August and have already spent nearly six months in detention in the port city of Douala, lawyer Alice Nkom said.
In Cameroon and several other African nations, homosexuality is a crime. Convictions carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of up to $450.
Nkom said she would appeal the convictions and sentences.
"None of these people were caught in homosexual act, so the court cannot condemn them for something they never did," she said.
Nkom said all three "have already suffered innocently so they need to be released, since they have already spent nearly six months in prison cells without trial."
pichot, 18.01.2008 17:24 [Comments (0)]
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