Amnesty International is urging activists to send letters and non-perishable food to Romanian Mariana Cetiner, who is serving a three-year prison sentence for asking another woman to have sex with her.

Amnesty believes the letters will focus Romanian authorities' attention on the case. President Emil Constantinescu recently promised foreign gay activists he will pardon all gays and lesbians jailed under the nation's anti-gay laws, but, according to Amnesty, the process has not yet begun.

"Homosexuality is the last remaining human rights problem we have to address in Romania, and we will address it," Constantinescu told the visiting activists.

Romanian law bans gay sex between consenting adults "if the act was committed in public or has produced public scandal." It is also illegal "to entice or seduce a person to practice same-sex acts, as well as to form propaganda associations, or to engage in other forms of proselytizing with the same aim." The penalty is one to five years in prison.

Write: Mariana Cetiner, Penitenciarul Aiud, Judetul Alba, Romania.

Appeals calling for the release of all Romanians jailed for consensual gay sex – and for repeal of the laws under which they were convicted – should be sent to:

President Constantinescu, Excelenti Sale, Presedintele Romaniei, Palatul Cotroceni, Bd. Geiuli 1, 76238 Bucuresti, Romania.

LIZA GETS KEYS TO ACAPULCO—WOWS AIDS BENEFIT CROWD

Singer and gay icon Liza Minnelli raised $300,000 for Acapulco Against AIDS (ACASIDA) February 5-7 via two dinners, a cocktail reception, a dance and a concert.

The events were co-sponsored by the secretary of tourism, the city government and the Hyatt Regency.

Minnelli was presented with the keys to the city and told residents she enjoys vacationing in Acapulco just as her mother, Judy Garland, did.

Rex Wockner's weekly international news reports dating back to May 1994 can be searched at http://www.wockner.com.

The reports in their original form are archived at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/wockner.html, which also archives Wockner's Quote Unquote column and some of his longer gay-press articles.