 |
|
|
We're On-a-Roll Across the Globe |
|
By Rex Wockner
International News Report
Gays and lesbians are on-a-roll across the globe, aided in no
small part by the growth of the Internet. In 1999, small groups
of gay activists in the most isolated and poorest of nations knew
what was happening worldwide and used this information to
organize and fight locally.
The Internet also comes to the rescue when gay movements in even the most off-the-beaten-path countries face a sudden emergency and need international aid. Cyberspace, is also crucial, of course, to keeping activists in developed nations on top of each other's advances and setbacks. This gay information explosion, this queer superhighway, is unquestionably at the heart of the increasingly internationalized gay and lesbian movement. Now, more than ever, it's possible to say, "They did this in Holland four years ago and the sky didn't fall," and to back up your assertions with facts, figures and original documentation. The value of this kind of ammunition cannot be underestimated. Here, then, the highlights of 1999 across the gay globe. Open Closets
Former British Defence Secretary Michael Portillo acknowledged he had gay relationships in college. British Member of Parliament Ron Davies said he is bisexual. Teen heartthrob singer Stephen Gately of the Irish band Boyzone said he is gay. BBC Breakfast News TV co-anchorman John Nicolson came out.
Openly gay John Hyde was elected mayor of the Perth, Australia, inner-city municipality Town of Vincent. Open transsexual Leigh Varis-Beswick was elected to the town council of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, West Australia. A member of the Canadian province of Manitoba's legislature, New Democrat Jim Tondeau, said he's gay.
Laws Five nations now ban discrimination based on sexual orientation via their constitutions: Canada, Ecuador, Fiji, South Africa and Switzerland. Chile repealed its ban on gay sex. Sweden's parliament banned discrimination based on sexual orientation in the job market.
The Canadian province of Alberta OK'd gay adoption. Mexico City's Legislative Assembly banned discrimination against gays. Partnership France enacted a registered-partnership law that gives same-sex couples nearly every right of matrimony. There are similar laws in Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
The Legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario amended 67
laws to give gay and lesbian couples every right accorded common-
law opposite-sex couples.
The National Assembly of Quebec gave gay/lesbian couples the same rights as common-law heterosexual couples. The Australian state of New South Wales gave gay/lesbian couples spousal rights in matters of property, inheritance, alimony and medical decisions. Namibia's high court ruled that gay couples have the same rights as heterosexual couples. Hamburg, Germany, set up a registry for gay and lesbian couples. Former Danish health minister Torben Lund married his boyfriend at Copenhagen city hall. In an apparent first, two Japanese men got "married" at a Shinto shrine. Several dozen Bulgarian gays published an ad in the daily newspaper "24 Tchassa" demanding legalization of same-sex marriage. The Chelyabinsk, Russia, gay group Freedom of Conscience demanded the government legalize gay marriage. Crime and Nastiness
A British Shari'ah Court sentenced Corpus Christi author Terrence McNally to death via an Islamic fatwa. Former Zimbabwean President Canaan Banana was sentenced to prison on 11 counts of forcing himself sexually on his male aides, bodyguards, cook and gardener. The president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, ordered the arrest of all the nation's homosexuals. Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi called homosexuality a "scourge." Orthodox Christians threatened staff and destroyed posters at Bucharest, Romania's Nottara Theater in protest against the gay- themed play Angels In America. Protesters threw rocks and tomatoes at Swedish photographer Elisabeth Ohlson because her "Ecce Homo" exhibit depicts Jesus and the apostles in drag and as leathermen, and shows a nude, largely endowed Jesus being baptized. Hundreds of New Zealanders, including scores of public officials, were outed when an online gay newsletter was transmitted with their e-mail addresses visible instead of hidden by blind- carbon-copy. Organizing
Indian lesbians formed an organization to respond to the
ransacking of theaters showing the lesbian-themed film Fire.Gays in India formed a national network called LGBT India. Jerusalem's first gay/lesbian center opened. Mongolia's first gay organization, Talivan, formed. Fiji's first gay group, the Sexual Minorities Project, opened for business. Murmansk, Russia's first gay organization, The Circle, was officially registered with the government. Gays and lesbians in Belarus staged their first pride celebrations. The Bank of Scotland ended a partnership with U.S. televangelist Pat Robertson following gay protests. Cambodia's first gay bar opened. AIDS Venezuela's Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of Health to provide all AIDS-related drugs to all HIV-positive Venezuelans and foreign residents of the country. About 300 demonstrators picketed the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa, in protest against Vice President Al Gore's efforts to restrict the nation's access to cheaper AIDS drugs. Gay South African High Court Judge Edwin Cameron revealed that he has AIDS. |
Tennis pro Amelie Mauresmo came out of the closet in 1999 
Robin Hood cruising Sherwood Forest 
Mark Tewksbury 
London police look over the scene of a bomb blast at a gay bar in Soho 
© 1997-99 BEI