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No Equality in the Australian Military Namibian Gays Open Office |
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Compiled by GayToday
Brazil Embraces Gay Couples
The government of Brazil issued a decree June 8 granting same-sex
couples spousal rights in the areas of pensions, social-security
benefits and income taxation.
"This decision is historic and unprecedented [in] all of Latin America," said Toni Reis, director of the gay group Dignidade. The move came as a gay "civil partnership" bill remains stalled in Congress. The bill's sponsor, Congresswoman Marta Suplicy, said the decree "increases the chances that my bill can be approved after the [October] elections." Brazil is both more and less gay-friendly than other nations in the region. On the one hand, 77 municipalities ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and 54 percent of the population supports the idea of a gay partnership law. But the nation also has the highest recorded rate of anti-gay murders in Latin America. No Equality in the Australian Military
"The military will say, 'We want you to travel from one end of the country to the other,'" said Rodney Croome of the Australian Council of Lesbian and Gay Rights. "Gay and lesbian personnel will have to go to extraordinary lengths to move their partners and sometimes it causes great stress and even breakdown of relationships." Australia's ban on gays in the military was lifted in 1992. Namibian Gays Open Office
The gay and lesbian community of Namibia has opened an office in
Windhoek, the Panafrican News Agency reported June 1.
The National Society for Human Rights will attempt to persuade anti-gays to be more "tolerant," a spokeswoman said. "We have to start in schools," said the group's Rianne Selle. Activist Sam Nakata added: "Top government officials who are lashing out against the gay and lesbian community should not forget their promise to uphold the constitution because human rights do not divide gays and lesbians from other people who are regarded as straight. As long as you do it in privacy, why should someone worry?" In May 1999, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Jeremiah Nambinga said: "Homosexuality is evil. Homosexuality is anti-social and should not only be condemned but should also be legislated against. Homosexuals are patients of psychological and biological deviations." In November 1998, Home Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo told parliament: "Gay rights can never qualify as human rights. ... They should be classified as human wrongs which must rank as sin against society and God. I earnestly call upon homosexuals in Namibia to repent their wrongs." President Sam Nujoma has said, "Homosexuals must be condemned and rejected in our society." |
