Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

WORLD NEWS
by Rex Wockner
2001-03-07

This article shared 2084 times since Wed Mar 7, 2001
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


500,000 at Sydney mardi gras

Mardi Gras, Sydney's annual gay blowout, attracted some 500,000 people to Oxford Street March 3.

The famous parade was led off by 300 dykes on bikes and featured 175 floats and around 8,000 marchers.

This year's theme was gay and lesbian parenting. The lead float, Behind the Pink Picket Fence, carried pink flamingos holding wrapped babies in their beaks.

The parade and its satellite events inject the equivalent of more than U.S. $60 million into the local economy, according to tourism officials.

It is the highest-earning sporting or cultural event on the Aussie tourism calendar.

DUTCH WEDDINGS SET FOR APRIL 1

At midnight on April 1, several gay couples in Amsterdam will become the first same-sex couples in the world to legally marry under the regular marriage laws used by heterosexuals.

That's the day legislation passed by the Dutch parliament takes effect granting gays access to ordinary marriage.

Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen will officiate at the midnight ceremony in the Royal City Marriage Hall of The Grand Hotel, where Queen Beatrix was married.

Several nations have special partnership laws that give registered gay couples many or nearly all rights of matrimony, including Denmark ( and Greenland ) , France, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and, in the U.S., the state of Vermont. A few other nations, including Canada, grant gays many rights of marriage under common-law marriage statutes.

( This reporter will travel to Amsterdam for the April 1 events. )

AMNESTY DENOUNCES AUSTRIA

Amnesty International denounced Austria Feb. 26 for having a higher age of consent for male-male sex ( 18 ) than for male-female or female-female sex ( 14 ) .

The organization said the discrepancies violate Austria's obligations under international law to prohibit discrimination and arbitrary interference with the right to privacy.

Article 209 of the Austrian penal code states: "A man over 19 years of age who engages in same-sex lewdness with a person who has attained the age of 14 but not yet the age of 18 shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years."

The law is enforced routinely, including a recent case in which a 19-year-old man was arrested for having sex with his 16-year-old boyfriend.

CZECH PARTNER

LAW DRAFTED

The Czech government has drafted a new gay partnership law and will introduce it in Parliament before July.

Many rights of matrimony would be granted by the legislation, but not the right to adopt children.

LESBIAN WINS

'PENIS' CASE

Australian lesbian Sarah Johanson has won her lawsuit against a Sydney butcher shop that gave her a dog bone purposely carved to look like a penis.

She won the equivalent of U.S. $2,385 from Michael's Meats for sexual harassment. The shop also must pay $16,000 in court costs.

Johanson also had sought damages for depression counseling and stress.

"If they had apologized in the first place it would not have cost them all this money. I just wanted an apology," she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

DRUG COMPANIES TAKE SOUTH AFRICA TO COURT

More than 40 drug companies took the South African government to court March 5&emdash;including Boehringer-Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Roche.

They are fighting a law passed by the South African parliament which allows HIV drugs and other life-saving medicines to be imported from countries where they are produced generically rather than from countries where they are available only as patented brand-name drugs. The pharmaceutical companies claim the law infringes intellectual property rights.

Nearly five million South Africans carry HIV. Only a tiny minority can afford the patented drugs that have enabled richer countries to transform AIDS from a killer into a frequently manageable illness.

"These companies, with the support of some Western governments, are protecting their monopolies at the expense of millions of lives," said South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign. "This legal action shows that the pharmaceutical industry is more concerned with staving off competition and protecting their high profit margins than with genuinely increasing access to medicines.

"We believe that this lawsuit is legally flawed and morally reprehensible," the group said. "We call on the companies involved to drop the case and on Western governments to provide clear support to the South African government as it strives to tackle the urgent HIV/AIDS epidemic."

HONG KONG PHONE COMPANY LAUNCHES GAY ADS

Hong Kong's first mainstream ad campaign aimed at gays was launched by the Sunday phone company this month.

According to Singapore's The Straits Times, one ad shows three men in revealing dress with one kneeling beside the words "You can't miss this opportunity." The Chinese character for 'opportunity' is pronounced 'gay' in Cantonese and has come to mean 'homosexual' as well.

The ad also urges customers to be "happy together," which is the title of a gay movie by Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai.

"This is a very good way of testing how tolerant the public is of this kind of message, and recognizing that there is a gay community here," Jeffrey Yu Pui Man, chairman of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of Hong Kong, told the Times.

EMINEM WINS

IN LONDON

Following up on his three Grammy awards, rapper Eminem won the Best International Male Artist trophy at Britain's version of the Grammys, the Brit Awards, on Feb. 26.

Openly gay Elton John presented the prize.

About 20 gays protested outside in the rain accusing Eminem of being a homophobe.

Lyrics on Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP include: "You faggots can vanish to volcanic ash and re-appear in hell with a can of gas, and a match ... I'll knock you fuckin' faggots the fuck out ... I don't get fucked in mine like you two little flaming faggots ... Suck my fuckin' dick, you faggot ... My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge / That'll stab you in the head whether you're a fag or lez / Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-vest / Pants or dress &emdash; hate fags? The answer's 'yes' / Homophobic? Nah, you're just heterophobic."

Full lyrics to The Marshall Mathers LP at eminemworld.com/lyrics.html .


This article shared 2084 times since Wed Mar 7, 2001
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

The Jeff Awards announces the 50th anniversary awards for non-equity theater
2024-03-26
--From a press release - A complete list of recipients can also be found online in the Non-Equity and News and Events sections at www.jeffawards.org. (March 25, 2024 - Chicago) — Celebrating its 50th anniversary awarding recognition for Non-Equity theater, the ...


Gay News

'Rumors' performers create alternative drag playground
2024-03-24
At first glance, Dorian's Through The Record Shop (1939 W. North Ave.) looks like a brightly-lit shop with a handful of records on the wall, but there's a secret world behind those unassuming shelves. Visitors are ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Altercation, mpox research, Univ. of Fla., George Santos, tech battle
2024-03-08
Video footage uploaded to Facebook showed an altercation between a state trooper and two prominent Philadelphia LGBTQ+ leaders, the Washington Blade reported, republishing an article from Philadelphia Gay News. Celena ...


Gay News

Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez is set to slay at The Big Gay Cabaret
2024-03-05
Out and proud performer Jai Rodriguez is set to play at The Big Gay Cabaret this March for three days. Presented by RuPaul Drag Racer Ginger Minj, this monthly series highlights the wide world of cabaret ...


Gay News

NATIONAL School items, HIV/AIDS activist dies, Nex Benedict, inclusive parade
2024-03-01
In a new survey, the Pew Research Center asked public K-12 teachers, teens and the U.S. public about the ongoing scrutiny placed on classroom curricula, mainly regarding race and LGBTQ+ identities, ABC News noted. Among other ...


Gay News

Appeals court allows Ind. ban on gender-affirming care for minors
2024-03-01
On Feb. 27, a federal appeals court in Chicago allowed Indiana's ban on gender-affirming care to go into effect, removing a temporary injunction that U.S. District Court Judge James Patrick Hanlon issued last year, ABC News ...


Gay News

Oklahoma non-binary student dies after being assaulted
2024-02-21
Officials acknowledged there are unresolved questions about a 16-year-old non-binary Oklahoma student who died one day after a fight in a high school bathroom, NBC News noted. Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, ...


Gay News

GLAAD releases report on LGBTQ+ inclusion in video games
2024-02-19
LGBTQ+ media-advocacy organization GLAAD has released a report on queer inclusion in the world of video games. Among the key findings in "Gaming: The State of LGBTQ Inclusion in Video Games" is that 17%—nearly one in ...


Gay News

Democrat flips seat once held by George Santos
2024-02-14
On Feb. 13 in New York, Democrat Tom Suozzi won a special election to succeed the U.S. congressional seat formerly held by openly gay Republican George Santos, who was recently ousted. According to NBC News, Suozzi's ...


Gay News

$200,000+ raised at AIDS Foundation Chicago's World of Chocolate Fundraiser to fight HIV/AIDS
2024-02-13
--From a press release - (Chicago, IL) More than 950 guests gathered at Chicago's famed Union Station (500 W. Jackson) for Chicago's Sweetest Fundraiser, AIDS Foundation Chicago's (AFC), World of Chocolate on Friday, February 9. ...


Gay News

Carisa Hendrix mesmerizes as Lucy Darling in Teatro ZinZanni
2024-02-12
Since 2019, Teatro ZinZanni has gathered together amazing performers from all over the world to create an experience in Chicago under the Spiegeltent in the Cambria Hotel building, 32 W. Randolph St. Over the years, ticket ...


Gay News

Chicagoans indulge in a World of Chocolate
2024-02-11
AIDS Foundation of Chicago hosted its 2024 World of Chocolate celebration the evening of Feb. 9 at Union Station. Top chocolatiers from across the city allowed guests to sample numerous confections, hors d'oevres and libations for ...


Gay News

GLAAD remembers Cecilia Gentili, transgender Latina, actress, activist, health care activist, journalist
2024-02-06
--From a press release - (New York, NY - February 6, 2024) GLAAD, the world's largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, is responding to the death of transgender actress and advocate Cecilia Gentili and elevating voices of transgender and political leaders honoring ...


Gay News

Comcast NBCUniversal partners with News is Out, Word In Black on fellowship program highlighting Black, LGBTQ+ issues
2024-02-06
--From a press release - Digital Equity Local Voices Lab Fellows to be placed at 16 local publications to receive training and create content Philadelphia (Feb. 6, 2024) — News is Out [ https://newsisout.com ] , a queer media collaborative of ...


Gay News

SAVOR Chocolatier Uzma Sharif on being part of World of Chocolate
2024-02-03
AIDS Foundation Chicago will hold its annual World of Chocolate event on Friday, Feb. 9, at 6 p.m. at Union Station, 500 W. Jackson Blvd. Attendees will embark on a global tour of chocolate—but there will ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.