The Brazilian government has recognized a lesbian couple for immigration purposes, activists reported Aug. 27.
The French/Brazilian couple met in France and "married" there under France's civil-unions law, which grants nearly all rights and obligations of marriage. The Brazilian woman was then granted French residency.
The couple then decided to move to Brazil and, after prolonged wrangling, their relationship was recognized by a 17-judge panel based on the principle of international reciprocity, the activists reported.
"This is important for us because it brings to light that reciprocity laws are important," said Marta Donayre who works with the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights.
CHINESE ACTIVIST ARRESTED
China's most well-known AIDS activist has been arrested and jailed, charged with revealing state secrets.
AIDS Action Project head Wan Yanhai faces prosecution for widely e-mailing a leaked government report on thousands of farmers in Henan province who were infected with HIV after selling their blood to unsanitary, government-sanctioned blood collectors in the late 1980s to mid 1990s.
Wan has said up to 2 million people may have been infected in similar circumstances.
"What my husband did is good for his country, his people and AIDS prevention in China," Wan's wife, Ivy Su, said Sept. 5. "He is a very intelligent, rational scholar. I believe that in the fight against AIDS, the government is not enough. NGOs [ non-governmental organizations ] and volunteers and community-level work cannot be ignored."
MICHAEL WITHDRAWS FROM BBC
DOCUMENTARY
George Michael pulled out of a British Broadcasting Corporation documentary after learning producers planned to revisit his 1998 arrest for masturbating with a cop in a Los Angeles park toilet.
The filmmakers planned to follow Michael and lover Kenny Goss for four months, chronicling their lives in the wake of Michael's controversial new record, Shoot The Dog.
Among much else, the record and video portray George W. Bush as an imbecile and British Prime Minister Tony Blair as Bush's obedient dog. A different scene shows them as boyfriends.
Michael was strongly denounced in some U.S. media outlets because of the record's content, and vowed to stay abroad for a time out of fear he would be physically attacked in America.
ACTIVISTS
TARGET COKE
South Africa's Pan-African HIV/AIDS Treatment Access Movement has targeted Coca Cola, demanding that what it calls Africa's largest employer provide anti-HIV drugs to all infected employees, Business Day reported Aug. 26.
The group has set Oct. 17 as a "global day of action" against the corporation.
Some other South African companies, including mining giants Anglo American, Anglo Gold and De Beers, reportedly do provide the drugs.
Coke "has enjoyed a rapidly growing market, decades of escalating profit and low labor costs in Africa [ but ] refuses to pay for HIV treatment for the bulk of its workers," the movement said.
Coke reportedly provides AIDS drugs to administrative staff but not to lower-level employees.
MARDI GRAS
ASSETS FOR SALE
The assets of Sydney, Australia's famous Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebration have been put up for sale.
Included are floats, costumes, props, equipment and the organization's trademark.
The group's bankruptcy administrator says members of the organization's board of directors may end up personally responsible for its hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.
POLICE DETAIN FILM CREW IN BOLIVIA
Twelve members of a film crew from the La Paz, Bolivia, lesbian organization Mujeres Creando, were beaten and arrested by police Aug. 15, charged with "obscene acts" and "obscene performances."
Nine of the arrestees were male actors who were performing nude during the 11:30 a.m. shoot on a public street.
The crew was working on an installment of a TV series about sexuality. Bystanders were forced to disperse with tear-gas.
"Police officers who disrupted the filming violated the participants' right to freedom of expression, protected by the Bolivian Constitution ( Article 7b ) and by international human-rights instruments Bolivia has ratified, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights," said the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
IGLHRC urges activists to e-mail protest letters to minijust@caoba.entelnet.bo; carbon-copy to creando@ceibo.entelnet.bo.
BRIT ACTIVISTS DENOUNCE
JANET JACKSON
The British gay group OutRage! wants an apology from pop-music star Janet Jackson and is urging gays to boycott her records.
They are upset that she has recorded a duet, "Feel It Boy," with Jamaica's Beenie Man, whose other records have overtly advocated murdering homosexuals.
LANG, ARTHUR SIGN ON TO GAY GAMES
Singer k.d. lang and actress Bea Arthur ( TV's Maude ) will appear at the opening ceremonies of the Gay Games Nov. 2 in Sydney, Australia.
"I've waited a long time to participate in the Gay Games," lang said in a statement.
More than 12,000 people from 70 countries have signed up to participate.