U.N. grants more gay groups official status
Sweden's leading national gay group, RFSL, and Canada's Coalition gaie et lesbienne du Québec are the latest GLBT organizations to achieve consultative status at the United Nations' Economic and Social Council ( ECOSOC ) .
The council welcomed the Canadian group July 20 in a 22-13 vote with 13 abstentions and six countries not present. The vote for the Swedish group was 22-12 with 12 abstentions and eight nations missing.
The United States voted in favor of both groups. Other supportive nations included Albania, Bolivia, Czech Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Lithuania, Mexico, Romania, and a number of predictably gay-friendly countries. Opposition came from Algeria, Belarus, Benin, China, Guinea, Indonesia, Iraq, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Somalia and Sudan.
Consultative status allows organizations to access U.N. meetings, deliver oral and written reports, contact country representatives and organize events.
Last year, three gay groups received the status: the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians, the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany, and the European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association. Other queer groups with the status include the U.S.-based International Wages Due Lesbians and Australia's Coalition of Activist Lesbians.
Nearly 2,900 organizations have ECOSOC consultative status.
( RFSL used to stand for Riksförbundet för sexuellt likaberättigande [ National Federation for Sexual Equality ] . The group now calls itself simply RFSL, but also changed its long-form name to National Federation for Homosexuals', Bisexuals' and Transpersons' Rights [ Riksförbundet för homosexuellas, bisexuellas och transpersoners rättigheter ] . The Québécois group's name is not translated in English-language Quebec media. )
Mexico City grants
gay prisoners
conjugal visits
At the recommendation of the National Human Rights Commission, prisons in Mexico City have granted gay inmates access to conjugal visits.
The commission welcomed the change in policy, calling it 'an important step in terms of nondiscrimination regarding sexual preference.'
A gay prisoner at the Santa Martha Acatitlá facility had filed a complaint with the commission after being denied a sexual visit with his partner.
Georgian rally canceled over gay rumors
The Council of Europe's second annual 'All Different, All Equal' rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, was canceled in late July after local media incorrectly reported it was a gay-pride parade, which provoked outrage in religious and other circles.
Similar pro-diversity rallies have been held since 1995 in many of the Council of Europe's 47 member nations.
'This was a demonstration targeted at youth for intercultural and interreligious dialogue, where children could have shown their views on mutual respect and love with their songs, pictures and creativity,' local organizer Paata Gachechiladze told The Messenger, a Georgian English-language newspaper.
The confusion started after the local Alia newspaper ran a story headlined 'Pederasts are Getting Ready for a Parade in Tbilisi.' Other media then repeated the story without doing their own research.
Gachechiladze called the Alia report a total fabrication, commenting, 'The filthy gossip of one journalist caused such a big mess.'
La Cage aux Folles
star dies
French actor Michel Serrault, who played gay nightclub owner Albin Mougeotte in 'La Cage aux Folles,' died July 29 of cancer in Honfleur, France. He was 79.
In a statement, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Serrault a 'monument of the world of theater, cinema and television.'
Serrault, who was straight, appeared in 130 other films and won three César awards, France's version of Oscars.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
