So. AFRICA PHARM. LAWSUIT DROPPED
by Rex Wockner
In a stunning victory for grassroots AIDS activists, 39 multinational pharmaceutical companies dropped their legal effort to prevent South Africa from importing or producing generic copies of patented AIDS drugs on April 19. The lawsuit had become a public-relations nightmare for the companies.
"We hope our experience has contributed in some way to the larger debate on access to affordable health care for developing countries and for the poor in wealthier nations," said South African Health Minister Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
However, even generic AIDS drugs sold at close to cost are believed to be too expensive for mass distribution in most African nations, including South Africa, officials cautioned.
Tshabalala-Msimang also said the drugs are too toxic and that it is nearly impossible to achieve patient compliance with complex drug regimens in a nation without a First World medical infrastructure.
GAYS PICKET MASS
About 40 gays picketed Easter Sunday mass and conducted a "die-in" in front of Melbourne, Australia's St. Patrick's Cathedral.
They chanted, "George Pell, Go to Hell." Pell is archbishop of the diocese.
"We're here today because over many, many years George Pell and the official rhetoric coming from the Catholic church condemns homosexuals as invalid human beings," protester Jonathan Wilkinson told The Age newspaper.
"A significant number of suicides by gay and lesbian people are due to a non-reconciliation of sexuality with the kind of religious beliefs, ... discriminatory social values and ... the awful rhetoric that discriminates against people for no other reason than their sexual orientation that is spewed forth by the kind of people like George Pell and the Catholic church."
The protesters also hung nooses on the fence surrounding the cathedral.
REPORTS: GUINNESS HAD A GAY SIDE
Actor Alec Guinness "had a homosexual side" and was arrested in 1946 for having gay sex in a public toilet, London's The Guardian reported April 16. Guinness died last August at age 86.
The paper said the incident never became public knowledge because Guinness didn't tell police his real name.
ACTIVIST MURDERED
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and gay bookstore owner Leung Wah was found murdered in Shenzhen, China, last November, local papers reported last week.
Hong Kong legislators and human-rights activists are rejecting the Shenzhen police's determination that the killing was a simple homicide and are calling for a new inquiry.
"He died mysteriously," said Leung Kwok-hung, head of Hong Kong's April Fifth Action Group.
GAY MARRIAGE BILL INTRODUCED IN SPAIN
The opposition Socialists introduced a bill in Spain's parliament to legalize gay marriage April 18.
Socialist parliamentary spokesman Javier Barrero said the 1978 Spanish constitution does not specify that one's spouse has to be of the opposite sex.
" [ Marriage ] is a right of everyone," he said.
The Netherlands on April 1 became the first nation to let gays marry under the ordinary marriage laws. Belgium has said it will follow suit. Several other European nations have registered-partnership laws for gays, which grant up to 99 percent of the rights of marriage. A few other nations recognize gay couples via common-law marriage statutes.
ILGA TO MEET IN U.S.
The International Lesbian and Gay Association's next world conference is scheduled for Aug. 26 to Sept. 1 in Oakland, Calif.
Attendees at the ILGA Global Gay Summit will "exchange information, build skills, network and strategize to find ways to end global discrimination of all kinds for peoples with same-gender sexual orientation and cross-gender identities," organizers said.
There will be day-long pre-conferences on men's issues, women's issues, religion, and "racism and globalization [ and ] its impact on the GLBT community."
The summit itself will offer tracks on lesbian health, interorganizational cooperation, and issues in developing countries, along with workshops on AIDS, aging, classism and globalization, and transgender issues.
The summit coincides with the East Bay Pride festivities, which will culminate with a Mardi Gras celebration Sept. 2.
To register or to help with scholarships for Third World attendees, visit
www.ilgaoakland2001.org/, phone 1 ( 510 ) 663-3980 or e-mail ilgaoakland2001@aol.com .
ILGA is a federation of more than 500 organizations, associations and individuals from more than 80 nations.
PATRIARCH BLASTS GAYS
The head of Romania's Orthodox church, Patriarch Teoctist, denounced gays in his Easter Sunday message.
"The fact that evil threatens to take over the world, and what is abnormal is increasingly being taken as normal, should be of concern to us all," he said. "Young people should struggle against violence, immorality, sins going against nature, alcoholism and the hell of drugs."
The church has fought plans to decriminalize homosexuality, a move Romania must make in order to achieve membership in the European Union.
Sheriff accountable in Teena's death
The Nebraska Supreme Court has held Sheriff Charles Laux accountable in the 1993 slaying of transgendered man Brandon Teena, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund reports.
The court found that Laux was verbally abusive to Teena and failed to protect him after he reported being raped by two acquaintances. Those acquaintances later tracked Teena down and shot him and several others.
The ruling handed down last week also finds that the trial court was wrong to reduce the damages awarded to Teena's mother, Joann Brandon, and that the sheriff's abusive treatment of Teena was "extreme and outrageous, beyond all possible bounds of decency, and is to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community."
For more information on the case, Joann Brandon v. County of Richardson, Nebraska, visit Lambda's Web site at lambdalegal.org .
May finishes term in Army
Openly gay state Rep. Steve May ( R-Ariz. ) finished his term of service in the U.S. Army April 14, ending a long and bitter battle over Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
The Army sought to discharge May under DADT after he came out on the floor of the Arizona House during a discussion of an anti-gay bill. Officials dropped the discharge action in January to let May finish out his Reserve duty.
Of leaving the service, May told the Arizona Republic, "It was tough. I'm never going to wear this uniform again. I'm not going to see my soldiers again."
Before becoming a reservist, May served in the U.S. Army's First Infantry Division ( from 1993-1995 ) as a Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Officer.