Gay Today: World

Israeli Painter Wants Gays Eliminated

New Brunswick Mayor Takes the Low Road Then Repents

By Rex Wockner
International News Report

Israeli Painter Wants Gays Eliminated

Well-known Israeli painter Uri Lifshitz, 62, told the Haaretz newspaper October 16 that gays should be eliminated along with other "useless" people such as the handicapped, the aged and the unemployed.

"Those who are incapable of taking care of their needs should die of hunger because they are useless," Lifshitz said. "Why should I help those who are incapable of raising their children yet continue to procreate? ... Homosexuals disgust me because they ... cannot have children."
lifshitzholo.gif - 23.41 K Israeli painter Uri Lifshitz favors the extermination of gays and the handicapped.

Gays and lesbian groups responded with pickets and demonstrations.

New Brunswick Mayor Takes the Low Road Then Repents

bwoodside.jpg - 16.57 K Brad Woodside Forced by the provincial Human Rights Commission to declare Gay Pride Weekend, Mayor Brad Woodside of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, did so October 13, but he pushed the microphone away from his mouth and mumbled so that no one in the city council chambers could hear him.

"I read the proclamation," Woodside said afterward. "Not loud enough for them to hear me up there, but I read it. This isn't an 'I won/You won.' They were sitting there ... a bunch of them and all smiling, like this is a big victory for us. This is not a victory for anybody. The sooner they understand that, the better off they are going to be."

Woodside's actions were denounced by Fredericton Lesbians and Gays as "a childish trick" and criticized even by some of his supporters. A week later, Woodside repented, calling his conduct "inappropriate, unprofessional and without class." About 100 gays packed into the council chambers cheered wildly as Woodside finally read the proclamation aloud.