WORLD ROUNDUP - 3631 - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News

CROSS-DRESSER WINS MAJOR ART PRIZE Cross-dressing artist Grayson Perry, 43, won Britain's most prestigious contemporary-art prize, the Turner Prize, Dec. 7. Perry decorates ceramic vases with disturbing depictions of pedophilia and violence against children, among other themes. Dressed in drag as 'Claire,' Perry collected his $35,000 prize at the Tate Gallery from artist Sir Peter Blake, The New York Times reported.ITALY RESTRICTS FERTILITY TREATMENT Italy's Senate Dec. 12 banned fertility treatment, egg donation, sperm donation and surrogacy for everyone except heterosexual couples of childbearing age who live together. The senators also banned freezing of embryos and simultaneous creation of more than three embryos, and mandated that all three must be implanted. The vote was 169-92. The measure passed the Chamber of Deputies earlier. POLISH CARDINAL IS GROSSED OUT The head of the Roman Catholic church in Poland, Cardinal J�"zef Glemp, is grossed out by gays, he said Oct. 21. 'It is something very depressing for me, as it is something incompatible with human nature,' he told reporters. 'I just can't stand men kissing. Maybe I'm old-fashioned.' MPs from Poland's ruling party have proposed legislation recognizing same-sex partnerships, which the church opposes.BRITAIN TO INCREASE PENALTIES FOR GAY HATE CRIMES A measure set to take effect next year in the United Kingdom will increase penalties for crimes committed due to anti-gay animosity. Three anti-gay hate crimes are recorded daily in London and 38 percent of UK gays and lesbians say they've been victimized.ISRAELI POLICE TO ESTABLISH GAY LIAISONS The Israel Police will appoint a gay liaison in every district following a meeting with gay activists who are angry about police harassment in cruisy parks. Members of the Association of Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender in Israel met with Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishki and Tel Aviv District Commander Yossi Sedbon Oct. 29 to discuss several incidents where cops beat up cruisers in Independence and Electricity parks. The harassment ended after a team of gay people armed with video cameras and rainbow flags began patrolling Independence Park and, on one occasion, chased gay-bashing officers out of the park.PANAMANIANS STAGE FILM FEST The Association of New Men and Women of Panama staged the nation's first GLBT film festival Oct. 28 to Nov. 2, screening six movies three times each to around 200 people per showing. The films were Go Fish ( USA ) ; Urbania ( USA ) ; The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert ( Australia ) ; Don't Tell Anyone ( Peru/Spain ) ; Krámpack ( Spain ) ; and Burnt Money ( Argentina/Spain/France/Uruguay ) . The event was held at an out-of-the-way theater on the campus of the University of Panama. 'We consider this festival to have been a huge success,' said correspondent Javier Rodríguez. 'At the very least, it will be a yearly event.'FAGG'S COFFEE AD NOT OFFENSIVE New Zealand's Advertising Standards Complaints Board has dismissed complaints against a billboard for Fagg's coffee that called it 'the great straight coffee' and said it is 'not as Ponsonby as the name suggests.' Ponsonby is Auckland's gay district. The board said the ad did not cause serious or widespread offense. A spokesman for Fagg's said the ad is not contrasting 'straight' with 'gay' but rather 'straight' with 'pretentious.' 'The tagline for Fagg's, 'the great straight coffee', is simply that—we are a straightforward, straight-up-and-down coffee—a coffee consumers know they can trust for its quality but also for its simplicity and down-to-earth approach,' Marketing Manager James Ford told GayNZ.com . 'The Ponsonby headline is also a reflection of the above logic,' he said. 'Ponsonby is well-known as being the cafe capital of NZ but is also known for being sometimes a bit pretentious—we are suggesting that Fagg's coffee is certainly of a quality that you would expect to get at a Ponsonby cafe, yet you can enjoy it in a more relaxed setting—at home or somewhere other than Ponsonby.' NZGay.com writer Chris Banks commented: 'But Ponsonby is well-known among people, coffee drinkers or not, to have very gay connotations. Linking Ponsonby with a coffee called Fagg's, and then labeling it a 'straight' coffee ... are we expected to believe this is all just some strange coincidence?'SOME WELSH GAYS AFRAID TO COME OUT Twenty percent of gays and lesbians in Wales are afraid to come out at work, a survey by Stonewall Cymru and Cardiff University has found. And 25 percent say they've been fired for being gay. A third of those questioned said they'd been bullied or physically attacked for being gay, and a quarter reported harassment or discrimination at the hands of police. The survey was completed by 364 people.CDC: THAI GAYS HOLD HIV RECORD Seventeen of every 100 gay men in Thailand are HIV-positive, a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found. The agency said that's the highest gay HIV rate in the world. But some Thai AIDS experts believe the CDC study was flawed because it tested men who frequent gay bathhouses and cruisy parks, who may have a higher infection rate.SEX OFFENDERS DELISTED Britain is removing more than 300 people from its sex-offender registry because they were convicted of crimes that will no longer exist come next May—buggery and gross indecency between men. The crimes will disappear when the sex-offenses bill now moving through Parliament reaches the statute book, said The Guardian.

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