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Guatemalan Transvestites are Murdered ILGA Regional Conferences Planned |
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By Rex Wockner International News Report Lesbians Party on the Isle of Lesbos
"Everyone should enjoy the sexual life they want and all are welcome in Eressos," he told Britain's The Guardian. "But what is not acceptable is to insult the image of our entire community and for tour operators to plan trips here with profit as their only motive. It is unfair that Lesbos and lesbianism should always go together." Tour organizer Rachel Woodgate commented: "Not all lesbians want that staying-in-a-muddy-tent-in-Cornwall experience. What we are offering wouldn't have raised an eyebrow in the gay men's resorts in Mykonos. "It's outrageous talking about [moral] corruption," she said. "Greece invented the word homosexual. You go into any museum and it's filled with pictures of women with huge breasts and men buggering each other." Guatemalan Transvestites are Murdered
Lineth was beaten beyond recognition, apparently with a pipe. Local activists blame "paramilitary forces" for the attacks and say the police are of no help. According to IGLHRC: "The National Civil Police (PNC) hound and harass transvestites, taking away the money they earn, arresting and abusing them, and, in some cases, raping them. The PNC offers this vulnerable group only terror, not protection. "Obtaining justice for the victims will be difficult," IGLHRC added. "Those who file complaints do so in the face of a long history of impunity, in which paramilitary brutality and other criminal acts went unhindered by official inquiry or investigation. And the friends of the victims fear retaliation." For more information, e-mail alejandra@iglhrc.org and iglhrc@iglhrc.org. ILGA Regional Conferences Planned
The 22nd European Annual Conference is October 4 to 8 in Bucharest, Romania. The 2nd Latin America and Caribbean Regional Conference is November 12 to 14 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. "Both of the conferences are very important," said ILGA Co- Secretary General Kursad Kahramanoglu. "The ... European annual conference will be charting the future work of ILGA ... in relation to the EU [European Union] and the Council of Europe." The Brazil meeting, Kahramanoglu said, "will be a decisive meeting of LGBT activists ... to establish themselves as an important voice of human rights in the region. It is particularly significant that the conference is taking place in Brazil, as this country has the worst record of violence directed to LGBT people in the world." For further information, e-mail ilga@ilga.org and k.k@unison.co.uk.
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The city of Eressos on the mythical island of Lesbos 
The International Lesbian and Gay Association has two regional
conferences coming up.
