French cabinet
minister comes out
France's junior minister for parliamentary relations came out in an interview with the Agence France-Presse wire service Jan. 23.
"Yes, I have a life," said Roger Karoutchi, 57. "I'm neither living a lie, nor flaunting anything. I discuss it naturally. I have a partner and I'm happy with him. As I'm happy, I see no reason why I should hide that."
Karoutchi's move preceded the publication of his memoirs, in which he will briefly discuss his sexual orientation.
Although Karoutchi, a conservative, is the first cabinet minister to come out, liberal Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë has been out since before taking office in 2001.
Turkish gay group
wins right to exist
The Turkish GLBT group Lambda Istanbul won an appeal of a court order that shut it down, Amnesty International USA reported Jan. 21.
The Supreme Court of Appeal overruled the decision of a local court, which had agreed with the Istanbul governor's office that Lambda's objectives violated Turkish moral and family values.
The case now returns to the local court for issuance of a ruling consistent with the Supreme Court decision.
Lambda welcomed the decision but said it was troubled by one sentence in the ruling, which says, " ( T ) he dissolution of the defendant association could still be demanded if it should act counter to its constitution, in the ways of encouraging or provoking gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and transvestite behavior or acting with the aim of spreading such sexual orientations."
The group said it will feel safe only when the Turkish constitution is amended to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, a long-standing goal of activists.
" ( The ) constitutional safeguard is a must to hinder any homophobic interpretations of those vague concepts in law such as 'general morals' or 'social values' by barristers, who suffer from the very same social prejudices as many others in society," Lambda said.
Italian man jailed in
Morocco on gay- and
porn-related charges
An Italian man was jailed in Marrakesh, Morocco, in mid-January on charges of homosexuality and taking and possessing pornographic images, the Assahra Al Maghribiya newspaper reported.
The man, identified only as "Gian Paolo," will be deported when he has served his sentence, the report said.
The newspaper said he confessed that he headed a network of Moroccan and foreign homosexuals and shared photos of "abnormal sexual situations" on the Internet, according to a translation provided by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
Study finds Iranians
acknowledge having
gay sex
A study by an Iranian academic has found that 24 percent of Iranian women and 16 percent of Iranian men acknowledge having had gay sex at least once.
Sociologist Parvaneh Abdul Maleki presented her data in Tehran at the recent Third Conference on Well-being in the Family, according to a report at ghatreh.com .
Maleki also reported that 26 percent of women and 73 percent of men admit masturbating, a sin for Muslims.
The news report called homosexuality and masturbation "sexual abnormalities that require multi-dimensional treatment ( via ) cultural, medical and education campaigns."
Speaking in New York City in 2007, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad famously said: "We in Iran ... don't have hamjensbaz ( a derogatory term for homosexuals ) like you have in your country. In our country, there is no such thing. In Iran ... absolutely such a thing does not exist as a phenomenon. I don't know who told you otherwise."
In September 2008, Ahmadinejad backtracked a bit, telling U.S. TV interviewer Larry King: "I said it's not the way it is here ( in the U.S. ) . We have actually a law regarding it and the law is enforced. ( Homosexuality ) is an act that is against human principles. ... It can cause psychological problems, social problems that affect the whole society. Remember that God's rules are to improve human life. In our religion, this act is forbidden and the Parliament has legislated about it."
Ahmadinejad added: "Of course, we do pay attention that in Iran nobody interferes in the private lives of individuals. ... In their own house, nobody ever interferes with people."
There have been persistent, though unconfirmed, reports for years that Iran hangs men for the crime of engaging in sodomy, but the only sodomy-related executions that have been publicized involved individuals who were accused of additional crimes as well, such as rape.
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has said it suspects that other charges often are tacked onto sodomy cases to prevent the public outrage that would accompany executions carried out solely for the crime of consensual adult gay sex. The group also has said it believes executions solely for gay sex are taking place out of the public eye.
"Our suspicions ( are ) that their current practice really is to rid society of lesbians and gay men," the organization said in 2007.
But Human Rights Watch has said it cannot fully document any executions in Iran in recent years carried out solely for the crime of consensual adult gay sex.
In a 2008 interview with the U.S. radio program Democracy Now!, Ahmadinejad said Iranians are not executed solely for engaging in homosexual acts.
"Those who kill someone else or engage in acts of rape could be punished by execution," he said. "Otherwise, homosexuals are not even known who they are to be hung. ... So, we don't have executions of homosexuals. Of course, we consider it an abhorrent act, but it is not punished through capital punishment."
Bahrain barbershop
busted for
male prostitution
Two Asian men were jailed for six months at hard labor in Bahrain in mid-January on charges they engaged in sex for pay with male customers of their barbershop, the Alwaqt newspaper reported.
The men will be deported after serving their sentences for debauchery and prostitution.
Agents of the Public Morality Police reportedly arrested the men after posing as customers seeking sexual liaisons.
The Alwaqt report was translated by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
Meanwhile, Bahrain's government reportedly blocked access to several gay-cruising Web sites, including Gaydar, in late January.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
