Gay Today: World

Manchester, England Wants Gay Tourists

South African Journalist
to Sue Blood Bank

By Rex Wockner
International News Report

Manchester, England Wants Gay Tourists

Manchester, England, has launched an ambitious campaign to attract gay American visitors.

With funding from the European Union and local bars, hotels and nightclubs, Marketing Manchester will run advertisements across the U.S. promoting the city as "an international centre for gay culture and lifestyle," the Manchester Evening News said.

"We have to look at Manchester's strengths," said campaign spokesperson Andrew Stokes. "It does have a thriving gay community. We've got the gay village, the fantastic Mardi Gras event and the Queer Up North festival. We have a really marketable gay product and it's good business sense. It's a valuable niche market and we are building on what we have."

The Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Tony Burns, added: "Any asset of the city of Manchester has to be exploited for the benefit of all its citizens. This is sensible business."

According to research conducted by the British Tourism Authority, the U.S. has 18 million gays and lesbians with a typical income 70 percent above the national average.

South African Journalist to Sue Blood Bank

The news editor of Radio KFM in Cape Town, South Africa, Andrew Barnes, has promised to sue before the International Court of Justice after the Western Province Blood Transfusion Service refused his donation because he is gay.

"Everyone is being urged to go [give blood] so I went to Picbel Arcade in Strand Street," Barnes told the Cape Argus newspaper. "I was asked to fill in a form, asking for medical history, any recent operations or current medication. Then there was a section on HIV and AIDS, asking about sexual history. One of the questions asked was whether, as a male applicant, you have ever had sex with another male. I circled 'yes' on the form."

Barnes was then informed by a nurse that his blood was unwanted.

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"I told her I was gay and was engaged to my partner," Barnes said. "I was shocked and asked her why my blood was not good enough. She replied that, according to the World Health Organization, gay men were a high-risk group with regard to the spreading of HIV. ... I've spoken to the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality and my complaint is with their national executive. I'll take it to the International Court of Justice in The Hague if I have to. All people sympathetic to gay rights should consider boycotting the call to donate blood until the rules have changed. Homosexual men are not the highest risk group [in South Africa]. I don't think they should have a blanket ban on gay men giving blood."

The blood services' medical director, Arthur Bird, acknowledged: "I accept totally that these type of questionnaires and safety margins that we have do cast a net. We accept that we sometimes sweep in safe donors unnecessarily. But that's the nature of the beast."