Austrian far-right leader leaves gay bar, dies in car crash
Jörg Haider, governor of Austria's Carinthia province and a leader among far-right European politicians, crashed his car and died after leaving a gay bar in the city of Klagenfurt Oct. 11.
Police said his blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit for driving.
Haider, 58, was married with children, though rumors had swirled for years that he was secretly gay. He had been outed by gay activists and newspapers that included Britain's The Guardian, Germany's Die Tageszeitung and Austria's Der Standard.
Britain's Telegraph said Haider's 'charismatic populism was instrumental in moving anti-immigrant politics from Europe's fringes towards the mainstream and breaking the grip on government of established centrist parties which he said had lost touch with the people.'
From 2000 to 2002, the Freedom Party, which Haider briefly headed during that period, was half of a governing coalition in Austria.
Critics viewed Haider as an ultranationalist, extremist, racist xenophobe. In 1995, the U.S. Anti-Defamation League accused him of making 'numerous statements utilizing Holocaust terminology or legitimizing Nazi policy and activities.'
Haider routinely disparaged the European Union, of which Austria is a member.
Polish gay march
OK'd, then banned
Officials in Krakow, Poland, OK'd an Oct. 31 gay march, then turned around and banned it after Polish President Lech Kaczynski announced plans to attend a celebration of the anniversary of Krakow's independence the same day.
Gay groups planned to march to the grave of King Wladyslaw III, who they claim was gay, on the anniversary of his death.
City officials had said they were fine with the two events occurring simultaneously but, after Kaczynski's announcement, they banned all other street events and demonstrations for the day and said the king's grave would be closed.
'It is hard to say ( if ) Kaczynski ( is ) in Krakow to ban our march or just to be part of Krakow's event,' said activist Lukasz Palucki. 'Information about our meeting was in the biggest Polish media so I am sure he knew about our march.'
In 2007, gay pride organizers in Warsaw won a European Court of Human Rights case against Kaczynski, who, as mayor of Warsaw, banned the 2005 pride parade.
Kaczynski has said that if homosexuality 'were to be promoted on a grand scale, the human race would disappear' and that he opposes 'propagating gay orientation.'
Head of British
army addresses
gay conference
The head of Britain's army, Gen. Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff, made history by addressing a gay conference in London Oct. 9, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
In remarks to the Fourth Joint Conference on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Matters, Dannatt said that respecting GLBT officers and soldiers is 'a command responsibility' that is mandatory to ensure 'operational effectiveness.'
'We have made real progress in our understanding of equality and diversity in the military context, and there is a desire to achieve more yet,' he said. 'Respect for others is not an optional extra, it is a command responsibility and an essential part of leadership, teamwork and operational effectiveness.'
Britain's armed forces lifted their gay ban in 2000 on orders from the European Court of Human Rights.
Finnish newspaper
editor claims
anti-gay firing
The incoming editor of the Finnish provincial newspaper Lapin Kansa says she was fired before starting work because management found out she is in a registered same-sex partnership.
Johanna Korhonen also says she was offered 100,000 euros ( US$133,000 ) to keep quiet about the situation.
However, Alma Media CEO Kai Telanne said the company terminated Korhonen because she failed to reveal that her partner is involved in politics.
Reports said Korhonen's spouse was running for a seat on the City Council in Vantaa, a city of 190,000 people near Helsinki.
Korhonen countered that the political issue was irrelevant if the couple was moving hundreds of miles to the Lapland capital of Rovaniemi for Korhonen's new job.
Finnish President Tarja Halonen said she was shocked by Korhonen's firing.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
