Badpuppy Gay Today

Friday, 02 May 1997

NAMIBIAN PRESIDENT BASHES AGAIN

The President of Namibia attacked gays again April 26.

Speaking at the opening of the second SWAPO Youth League Congress in Oshakati, Sam Nujoma said homosexuality is foreign to Namibian culture.

"Homosexuals can comfortably do their business indoors as long as they do not disturb our civil society," he said, "by coming outdoors to do their business.

"They should not impeach on the human rights of others. The youth should be vigilant and guard against those foreigners who claim to know development and democracy better than us. Where were they when we sacrificed our lives during the bitter liberation struggle?"

Nujoma first attacked gays last December 5 at the opening of the SWAPO Women's Council Congress in Gobabis.

"Homosexuals must be condemned and rejected in our society," he said. "All necessary steps should be taken to combat all influences that are influencing us and our children in a negative way."

In neighboring Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe has defamed homosexuals regularly for the past two years, calling them "repugnant to my human conscience...immoral and repulsive."

He has declared gay sex "an abomination" and "sub-animal behavior" and urged citizens to "hand (gays) over to the police."

"I don't believe they have any rights at all," Mugabe stated in 1995.

In nearby Swaziland last month, Prime Minister Sibusis Dlamini labeled homosexuality an "abnormality and sickness" and said his government will not accept homosexuals unless society does so first.

ISRAELI EDUCATION MINISTER STANDS FIRM ON PROGRAM BAN

Israeli Education Minister Zevulun Hammer is standing firm on his decision to ban a program about gay youth from a series that runs on the educational TV channel, the daily newspaper Ha'Aretz reported.

In a written reply to a Supreme Court appeal of the matter, Zevulun stated: "The program 'Klafim P'tuchim' ignores a normative and moral approach that negates homosexual behavior and regards it as a moral flaw. The program also ignores collective values such as family and continuity, which are worthy of presentation in an educational program."

The appeal was launched by the gay group Society for the Protection of Personal Rights, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and KLaF: Israel's Lesbian Feminist Community.

The banned episode features gay, lesbian and bisexual youth relating their experiences and the reactions of their families and society to their sexuality.

Hammer killed the episode because it "deals with a subject under public dispute and is not balanced in terms of educational and pedagogic values."

The "potential harm" that could come from broadcasting the program is of an "exceptional severity," he said. " (The) program ignores social and educational values such as those of a family reproducing and taking part in the chain of generations."

Ministry of Education Central District Director Ruhama Katzir added: "There is doubt as to whether the target population can form critical thought to balance the phenomenon and understand the price of drifting into (homosexuality) without a balancing mediation...Unproven things are said that may be perceived by the young spectators as reality. Furthermore, the sympathetic characters influence the spectators emotions and may be an object of identification and encourage experimental participation."

SPPR urges letters from abroad to (1) MK Zevulun Hammer, Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, (2) Professor Oser Schild, Pedagogic Secretariat Chair, and (3) Ruhama Katzir, Central District Director, all at Ministry of Education, 34 Shivtei Yisrael Street, P.O. Box 292, Jerusalem 91911, Israel. Telephone 011-972-2-560-2222; Fax: 011-972-2-560-2223. Web: www.education.gov.il.

IGLA CONFAB SET FOR JUNE

The 18th conference of the International Lesbian and Gay Association is June 29 to July 5 in Cologne, Germany. For registration information, write lglf e.V., Kartaeuserwall 18, D-50678 Koeln, Germany. Phone/fax: 011-49-221-9318-8016. E-mail: lglf@aol.com. Web: www.macman.org/ilga.

ILGA is a federation of several hundred gay groups and individuals from more than 75 countries. It stages conferences, publishes a bulletin, issues action alerts and networks Western nations with the growing gay movements of the Third World and the former communist nations.

Recent IGLA initiatives have increased gay clout within the European Union, World Health Organization, Council of Europe and Amnesty International.