Amnesty International is protesting the jailing of Romanian Mariana Cetiner for allegedly attempting to seduce another woman in violation of Penal Code Article 200.

"Amnesty International considers individuals imprisoned solely because of their homosexuality, including the practice of consensual homosexual acts between adults in private, to be prisoners of conscience," the group said.

Article 200, as amended in October 1996, bans gay sex between consenting adults "if the act was committed in public or has produced public scandal." It is also illegal "to entice or seduce a person to practice same-sex acts, as well as to form propaganda associations, or to engage in other forms of proselytizing with the same aim." The penalty is one to five years in prison.

Amnesty suggests protests to Romanian embassies.

The mayor of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Brad Woodside, says he's received over 1,000 letters about his refusal to issue a gay- pride-week proclamation and most have been supportive.

"The vast majority of these people support my position and I would say at least a quarter of them have offered money," Woodside said.

He'll need the money to pay a probable fine from the provincial Human Rights Commission. Identical cases in Hamilton, Ontario, and London, Ontario, resulted in fines of $5,000 and $10,000 respectively, levied personally against the mayors.

The commission already found that Woodside probably engaged in illegal discrimination based on sexual orientation and gave him until Jan. 1 to resolve the issue with pride organizers. If he fails to do so, the case advances to a board of inquiry for a final determination.

Fredericton Lesbian and Gays spokesman Claude Olivier called the latest developments "discouraging."

"It sounds like the mayor is saying that it's all right to ignore human-rights legislation if you can find supporters to pay the fine," he said.

Rex Wockner's weekly International News dating back to mid-1994 is fully searchable at http://www.wockner.com

Rex Wockner's weekly International News in its original format is archived at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/wockner.html