Amnesty demands protection for Bosnian gay festival
Amnesty International demanded Sept. 18 that authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina protect participants in the first Sarajevo Queer Festival, which was scheduled for Sept. 24 to 28.
'The authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina must guarantee a climate free of intimidation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people,' the group said. 'Gay rights activists will use this festival to take to the public their message for equality before the law and an end to discrimination.'
The arts and culture festival was scheduled to offer exhibitions, performances, movies and public discussions.
Amnesty said that 'in the run-up to the festival, certain parts of the media are unleashing a homophobic campaign which further cultivates deeply entrenched prejudices and may incite violence around the event.'
'Many publications, including the popular SAFF and Dnevni Avaz, have used derogatory language in relation to lesbian and gay people,' said Nicola Duckworth, the group's program director for Europe and Central Asia. 'They have called for the organizers of the festival to be lynched, stoned, doused with petrol or expelled from the country. Death threats have been issued on the Internet against individual gay rights activists. Appeals have also been made to the public to disrupt the festival.'
In addition, posters advocating 'Death to Gays' appeared around Sarajevo in early September, and the festival has been denounced by some imams, who object, among other things, to its coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
'We do not feel safe for ourselves or for our families,' one of the event's organizers told Amnesty. 'Some of us had to find new accommodation because our names and addresses were made publicly known. We are afraid to use public transport or go out alone.'
Amnesty International USA also weighed in on the matter Sept. 18. The director of the U.S. organization's LGBT Human Rights Program, Ariel Herrera, said, 'We are outraged that LGBT activists in Sarajevo now fear for their lives in a campaign to prevent them from standing up for their rights and organizing to end discrimination.'
The rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are protected by a number of international treaties to which Bosnia and Herzegovina is a party, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Irish hotel fined for canceling gay event
Ireland's Equality Tribunal ordered Galway's Eyre Square Hotel to pay 3,000 euros ( $4,276 ) to two gay men whose social event was cancelled in 2005 because the owner allegedly didn't want to host gay events, the Irish Times reported Sept. 16.
The money compensates Peter McGuffin and Enda Harte for being discriminated against in access to public accommodations based on their sexual orientation.
Although the hotel's manager eventually allowed the impending event to go ahead, the men's weekly event at another hotel under the same ownership, the Victoria Hotel, was cancelled permanently two weeks later.
The hotels' owner claimed the cancellations resulted from the events' unprofitability, but the tribunal determined the hotels' managers had said the problem was the events' gay nature.
The tribunal also suggested that posters advertising the Eyre Square event had been torn down by hotel employees.
5,000 march in Glasgow
About 5,000 people marched in the gay pride parade in Glasgow, Scotland, Aug. 30, walking from Blythswood Square to George Square.
The rainbow flag flew above the City Council chambers.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon addressed the crowd at the parade's end, saying that 'a successful Scotland is civilized, fair and inclusive and provides equal opportunity and choice for all its people.'
She said the government is committed to those goals.
Colombia city bans
men from backs
of motorcycles
In an effort to fight crime, the city government of Tuluá, Colombia, has banned men from riding on the seat of a motorcycle behind the driver.
The move upset gay groups, who said it also prevents gay male couples from traveling together.
Motorcycles and scooters are a common mode of transport in Colombia, but also are used by criminals to make a quick getaway after a mugging or shooting, with the perpetrator hopping on the seat behind the driver, said New York activist Andrés Duque, a native of Colombia.
After gay activists complained that the policy violates their rights to equality, free mobility and the freedom to develop their personality, the mayor's office said it would exempt gay men from the law if the office received a list of the names of local homosexuals.
Gay activists rejected that idea and will meet with the mayor's office to consider other solutions to the conundrum.
Tuluá, located in the Cauca Valley, has about 200,000 residents.
Romanians disapprove
of homosexuality
A new Gallup poll has found that 68 percent of Romanians think homosexuality is a 'bad choice' and 36 percent support punishing gays with restrictions on their rights, fines or jail time.
In addition, two-thirds of the 1,200 people surveyed don't want to have homosexuals as friends, neighbors or workmates. And 50 percent don't want to associate with people who have HIV.
The poll's margin of error was reported as plus or minus 2.8 percent.
Germany reports
68,000 same-sex couples
There are 68,000 same-sex couples in Germany, according to the latest annual microcensus.
Some 15,000 same-sex couples have entered an official registered partnership.
The new census number may be an undercount because respondents were allowed to leave that section of the form blank if they chose to, officials told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur news service.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
