Monthly Archives: December 2005

UK gays start registering relationships under new Civil Partnership Act
Same-sex couples started tying the knot under the United Kingdom’s new Civil Partnership Act on Dec. 19.
The act grants registered couples all the rights and obligations of marriage.
“This landmark measure ends the situation where same-sex relationships were invisible in the eyes of the law, denied any recognition of their commitment,” said Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The act gives gay and lesbian couples who register their relationship the same safeguards over inheritance, insurance and employment and pension benefits as married couples. “No longer will same-sex couples who have decided to share their lives fear they will be denied a say over the partner’s medical treatment or find themselves denied a home if their partner dies,” Blair added.
Grainne Close and Shannon Sickels were the first couple to officially obtain partnership status as regular registrations began. A couple with one partner who was gravely ill were allowed to proceed before the Act’s official start date.
Close and Sickels, who is American, said vows at City Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as fundamentalist Christians and gay-rights supporters yelled at each other outside.
“This is about making a choice to have our civil rights acknowledged and respected and protected, and we could not be here without the hard work of many queer activists and many individuals from the queer community,” Sickels told reporters.
The ceremonies began in Scotland the next day and in England and Wales the day after that. Sir Elton John, 58, and longtime partner David Furnish, 43, were among the first to tie the knot. Their ceremony in the royal town of Windsor, was at the town hall where Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles got married.
Furnish’s father, Jack, called it “one of the happiest days of my life.” His mother, Gladys, said, “I’m very proud.”
A star-studded reception costing more than $1.7 million followed the ceremony.
John and Furnish made no remarks as they exited the hall.
Nearly 700 other same-sex couples registered Dec. 21.
Same-sex couples have access to marriage in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and Massachusetts. South Africa’s highest court recently legalized same-sex marriage but gave legislators one year to make the necessary legal adjustments.
Partnership or civil-union laws that grant registered same-sex couples some, most or all rights and obligations of marriage are in force in Andorra, the Australian state of Tasmania, the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. states of California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey and Vermont.

Czech Chamber of Deputies passes same-sex partnership registry bill
The Czech Republic’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, voted 86 to 54 in favor of a same-sex registered-partnership law Dec. 16.
Seven deputies abstained and 53 were not present for the vote.
The measure now moves to the Senate. If it passes there, it would advance to President Vaclav Klaus, whose signature would be required.
If the Senate rejects the bill, the deputies could override the Senate with an a majority of 101 votes in the 200-member chamber.
The legislation was favored by Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek’s Social Democrats and many Communists but opposed by the Christian Democrats, who are part of the three-party governing coalition.

Latvia adds constitutional measure to strengthen same-sex marriage ban
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga signed legislation amending the nation’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage Dec. 21.
The measure passed Parliament 65 to 6 with 9 abstentions on Dec. 15.
Latvia already had a law prohibiting gays from marrying but conservative politicians feared it might not stand up to challenges from the European Union.
The European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association denounced the amendment.
“As an EU member state, Latvia is acting contradictory to and disrespectfully to the principles of equality and non-discrimination agreed and confirmed by various EU treaties,” said the group’s executive director, Patricia Prendiville. “Not only has Latvia now a discriminatory constitutional provision motivated solely by homophobia, but Latvia is still the only EU member state which did not ban sexual orientation discrimination in employment as required by the EU employment equality directive.”

Polish court rules mayor violated law by banning gay pride parade
An administrative court in Poznan, Poland, ruled Dec. 14 that Poznan Mayor Ryszard Grobelny’s ban of November’s gay pride parade violated Polish and European law.
Grobelny had cited “security concerns” in blocking the march.
Local media reports did not say what penalty Grobelny might face for the infraction.
A few hundred people marched. They were harassed by members of the group All Polish Youth, who shouted “Let’s gas the fags” and “We’ll do to you what Hitler did with Jews.”
Police intervened near the end of the march, roughed up several marchers, and arrested and interrogated more than 65, who were later released.

Tel Aviv approves spending $900,000 for gay and lesbian community center
The city of Tel Aviv has approved spending $900,000 to establish an official gay and lesbian community center.
The initial outlay will be used to renovate a building to house the center.
The city also committed to spending $67,000 a year to fund the facility. The funding is structured so that future city administrations cannot cancel it.
The project was spearheaded by City Councilor Itai Pinkas, who told Ynetnews: “By building this center, Tel Aviv joins an honorable club of advanced cities like New York, Los Angeles and Paris. I thank the mayor, who was a full partner in the initiative and understood the community’s needs. … This municipal building is designated to serve as the place where the community members will find the core of their lives.”
The center will offer exhibitions, cultural events, concerts, workshops, classes, health services, HIV support groups, youth groups, legal aid, social services, a library, a kindergarten and other programs.

Chinese police close 1st Beijing gay cultural festival, cite permit
Police shut down the first Beijing Gay and Lesbian Culture Festival as it opened Dec. 16, saying organizers had failed to secure permission to hold the events.
The festival initially was scheduled for the Factory 798 arts complex in the Dashanzi area of Beijing. But on Dec. 14, the Public Security Bureau banned the organizers from that site. The organizing committee, some of whose members reported police surveillance, then moved the festival to the private On/Off bar, which police raided as the festival kicked off.
The officers reportedly ripped down signs and decorations, videotaped attendees and closed the bar for a week.
The festival was to feature three days of exhibitions, seminars, plays and movies.
Canada’s Supreme Court rules sex
clubs operate within decency laws
Two Montreal clubs that cater to group sex do not breach standards of decency, Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled.
Wednesday’s ruling, written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, said group sex among like-minded adults in private does not meet the test of indecency.
The decision might make it easier for “swinger” clubs or gay bath houses to operate without the threat of police intervention or arrest.
The ruling dealt with two Montreal cases in which swinger club operators were charged with keeping a bawdy house.
Canada’s criminal code defines a bawdy house as a location that is kept for prostitution or indecent acts.
James Kouri and Jean-Paul Labaye were both convicted, but the unsettled state of the law was demonstrated clearly when separate Court of Appeal rulings upheld Labaye’s conviction and overturned Kouri’s.
The high court threw out Labaye’s conviction and affirmed the Kouri decision.
“Entry to the club and participation in the activities were voluntary. No one was forced to do anything or watch anything. No one was paid for sex,” McLachlin wrote in reference to the Labaye case.
Belarus presidential campaign doubts authenticity of gay demonstration
Belarus’ state television network recently aired a report about gay support for presidential Alexander Milinkevich that his supporters claim was a ruse.
The report focused on a group of people who identified as gay arriving at the nation’s congress to profess their love for Milinkevich and to demand same-sex marriage rights. Gay marriage is unpopular in Belarus’ conservative society, a holdover from Soviet era days.
Milinkevich’s supporters claimed the demonstrators were provocateurs masquerading as gays, who staged the demonstration in order to embarass him.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition of December 30, 2005.

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Belgium’s lower house approves adoption rights for gay couples
The lower house of Parliament in Belgium, one of five countries where gay couples can get married, voted 77 to 62 on Dec. 2 to allow same-sex couples to adopt children.
The bill now moves to the Senate where it should see action in March.
“There are already a lot of children who live with homosexual couples,” Justice Committee Chairman Fons Borginon told the Reuters news agency. “We want them to have two parents with whom they have full, legal rights.”
In general, gay adoption in the European Union is more controversial and less available than in the United States.

Swedish Lutheran ministers rebel against plan to bless gay couples
More than 800 of the 5,000 active and retired ministers in Sweden’s state-funded Lutheran church have signed a declaration promising to resist the Church Assembly’s decision to offer blessings to same-sex couples who have registered their partnership.
The Church of Sweden Assembly voted 160 to 81 in favor of the policy Oct. 26.
“We are bound by the promises of faithfulness to Holy Scripture and to the confession of the church which we made at our ordination,” the 863 preachers declared. “We therefore totally reject this order.”
Sweden has offered registered partnerships which bestow nearly every right and obligation of marriage since 1995.

Sweden’s Supreme Court clears Pentecostal “‘hate speech’ pastor
A Pentecostal pastor who had been convicted of a hate crime for delivering an anti-gay sermon was cleared by Sweden’s Supreme Court Nov. 29.
Preaching in 2003, Ake Green, 64, called homosexuality “a deep cancerous tumor on the body of society” that leads to bestiality and pedophilia. A district court convicted Green of “agitation against a group” and sentenced him to a month in prison.
The Supreme Court upheld the Gota Court of Appeal’s reversal of the original decision, agreeing that Green’s homily was protected by freedom-of-speech and religion provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Canada’s human rights court orders Knights of Columbus to pay lesbians
The Human Rights Tribunal in Canada’s British Columbia ruled against the Knights of Columbus Nov. 28, saying it injured the dignity, feelings and self-respect of a lesbian couple by canceling their reservation to hold their wedding reception in the Knights of Columbus hall in the town of Port Coquitlam.
Deborah Chymyshyn and Tracey Smith were turned away once the organization’s leaders became aware of the nature of the event. They already had sent out their wedding invitations.
The group must pay the women the equivalent of $1,720 in U.S. money, plus expenses.
The tribunal said the group does have a general right, under religious-freedom guarantees, to refuse to rent their hall to gay people, but “that right is not absolute.” The organization should have met with the women, apologized for the cancellation, reimbursed them for their costs, and helped them find a new location, the tribunal said.
Not to have done so offended the women’s “inherent dignity” and amounted to “discrimination,” the judges said.

George Michael, Dallas partner plan civil partnership in United Kingdom
George Michael and longtime partner Kenny Goss, of Dallas, will say vows under the United Kingdom’s new Civil Partnership Act, which took effect this month.
“I’m not very romantic about it, to be honest,” Michael told reporters. “I think Kenny probably would be if I let him, but it’s just not me. … We want to do it, just in case. You never know, I could get hit by a bus and the poor man could have nothing.”
The Partnership Act became law Dec. 5 and normal registrations begin Dec. 21 the day the first couples who filled out paperwork will have completed the mandatory waiting period between announcing their intentions and tying the knot.
Registered partners will receive all the rights and obligations of marriage.

Australian Capital Territory plans to recognize gay couples’ unions
The government of the Australian Capital Territory will introduce civil-union legislation in March to recognize and protect same-sex couples.
A spokesman said the law would grant gay couples all the rights and responsibilities of matrimony.
At present, Tasmania is the only Australian state or territory with similar
legislation.

Danish ambassador reveals he slept with partner on first date
Denmark’s openly gay ambassador to Israel, Carsten Damsgaard, told the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that he slept with his partner of more than 12 years, Esben Karmark, the night they met.
“I saw a very attractive man, we started to talk, and we knew immediately that that was that,” Damsgaard said Nov. 30. “Our internal worlds were identical. We read the same books. We saw the same films. We spoke in a similar way. I was 37. I had had earlier relationships, so I could compare, but he was only 25, and in any case he had something adult [about him], and he saw he was like me.
“We went to bed on the first night, which I didn’t always do, and I don’t recommend that everyone have sex on the first night, but in our case it was the correct thing to do. Since then, essentially, we haven’t been apart.”
Damsgaard said he and Karmark are happy in Israel, citing “the unmediated warmth, the temperament, the climate, the sea, the smells, the fruits and vegetables.”
“The young men here also seem excellent,” he said. “It is true that Israel is a place where everyone interferes with your private space, but this does not really bother me. I come from a very restrained culture, and I am not seeking to duplicate it everywhere I go.
“Tel Aviv is a very cosmopolitan city with great nightlife, terrific restaurants, beautiful people,” Damsgaard added. “A regular party town. It’s more of an international city than many places in Europe. It’s the most exciting place I’ve ever been.”

Gay Italian clergy respond to new Vatican eligibility rules for priests
A group of gay Italian clergy have expressed their dismay about the new Vatican policy statement banning candidates with “deep-seated” homosexual feelings from the priesthood, according to the Associated Press.
The clergy responded to the policy in an open letter posted on the Web site of the Italian Catholic news agency, Adista. Last month, the news agency leaked the Vatican instruction a week before its scheduled release by the Holy See.
The letter was signed by 39 priests, 26 diocesans and 13 other members of religious orders, according to Adista. But the names of the individuals were not posted on the Web site.
“We don’t have more problems living chastely than heterosexuals do, because homosexuality is not a synonym of incontinence, nor of uncontrollable urges,” the letter read.
“We are not sick with sex and our homosexual tendency has not damaged our psychic health.”
The letter also noted that the authors were Catholic priests with homosexual tendencies who had been good priests.
“We consider our homosexuality to be wealth, because it helps us to share the marginalization and suffering of many people.”

Brazilian city to require separate facilities for transgender residents
The Nova Iguacu City Council has passed an ordinance requiring nightclubs, shopping malls, movie theaters and large restaurants to provide a third type of bathroom for transgender people, according to the Associated Press.
“A lot of lawmakers didn’t want to deal with this issue, but it’s a serious problem in society,” said Carlos Eduardo Moreira, a council member who sponsored the bill. “It’s a way to put an end to prejudice.”
Moreira said he got the idea when a dozen transgender people showed up for a samba show.
“It was a real problem,” Moreira said. “The women didn’t feel comfortable having them in the ladies’ room, and the men didn’t want them in their bathroom either.”
Moreira said there are about 28,000 transgender people living in Nova Iguacu, a city of about 800,000 on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
Business owners complained about the expense of adding extra bathrooms.
The issue has divided gay groups. Some said it could segregate gay people while others said it would address a real problem and open discussion about civil rights.

Mapplethorpe exhibition in Cuba may signal era of increasing tolerance
An exhibition in Havana of male nude photographs by deceased gay American artist Robert Mapplethorpe suggests a new tolerance is surfacing.
The “Sacred and Profane” exhibition at a gallery consists of 48 images spanning the artist’s career. However, it does not include what is considered to be his most provocative images.
“I never thought I would have this experience in Cuba, to see Mapplethorpe’s work firsthand,” said Ricardo Rodriguez, a 35-year-old photographer who visited the exhibition.
The surprise stems from the fact that Mapplethorpe was American, gay and controversial even in Cuba.

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