NUJOMA ATTACKS AGAIN
Namibian President Sam Nujoma lashed out at gays and lesbians again Aug. 16 while addressing delegates to the Namibia Public Workers Union Congress.
"In Namibia we will not allow these lesbians and gays," he said. "We fought the liberation struggle without that. We do not need it in our country. We have whites who are Namibians, but they must remember they have no right to force their culture on anyone. If they are lesbian, they can do it at home, but not show it in public.
"I warn you as workers not to allow homosexuality," he continued. "Africa will be destroyed. ... Namibia only has a population of 1.8 million."
Nujoma said people who become gay do not have children and thereby retard population growth.
In previous outbursts, Nujoma has stated: "We will combat this with vigor...we will make sure that Namibia will get rid of lesbianism and homosexuality. ... Police are ordered to arrest you and deport you and imprison you. ... Those who are practicing homosexuality in Namibia are destroying the nation. Homosexuals must be condemned and rejected in our society. ... It is the devil at work."
TASMANIA
HARASSMENT
LEVELS HIGH
Forty-four percent of GLBT people in the Australian state of Tasmania have been verbally or physically harassed in the past 12 months because of their sexuality, a survey has found.
"A swath of surveys since the mid 1990s have shown the same result; almost half of LGBT Tasmanians experience hate-related harassment every year," said Rodney Croome of the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group. "The Tasmania Police and the State Education Department have gone to exceptional lengths to address anti-gay hate crime but it's not enough."
The new numbers come from the Tasmanian Council on AIDS, Hepatitis and Related Diseases' periodic community survey.
VIETNAMESE GAY NOVEL WINS PRIZE
A crime novel built around a gay love affair...A World Without Women by Bui Anh Tam...has won Vietnam's Peace and Safety literary prize.
The award is conferred jointly by the police department, the public-security ministry and the Vietnam Writers Association.
CANADIAN
TRIBUNAL SHUTS DOWN WEB SITE
Canada's Human Rights Tribunal ordered an anti-gay Web site shut down Aug. 21 for violating laws against hate.
The site claimed gays are sexual predators who support legalization of pedophilia, practice bestiality and strive to corrupt all of society.
A Vancouver gay man filed a complaint against the site in 1999, saying it violated his rights under the nation's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
ILGA ASIANS
PLAN GATHERING
The Asian region of the International Lesbian & Gay Association will stage its first regional conference in Mumbai, India, Oct. 11-13.
Registration and scholarship forms are available from graycat@eureka.lk.
ILGA is a networking organization made up of hundreds of gay groups from all corners of the globe. The association's last worldwide conference was in Oakland, Calif. The next global gathering will be in Manila next year.
LEBANESE
LESBIANS ARRESTED
A lesbian couple in Lebanon was arrested for practicing "unnatural sexual relations," the Lebanese Daily Star reported Aug. 23.
The two women were caught in what the report called "flagrante delicto" when police broke into their house to recover money and jewelry that one of the women's mothers had accused the couple of stealing.
Article 534 of Lebanon's penal code punishes sexual relations "contradicting the laws of nature" with up to a year in prison.
MARDI GRAS
RESCUED
Manchester, England's gay Mardi Gras parade and party, cancelled after police restricted the streets on which alcohol could be consumed, went ahead as previously scheduled on Aug. 24 after police backed down.
Gay leaders had accused the department of homophobia.
A revised "alcohol tolerance zone" included all of Canal Street, the heart of the Gay Village.
MP PARTNERS
GET BENEFITS
Domestic partners of gay and unmarried members of Britain's parliament are expected to receive free spousal travel vouchers between London and the MPs' home districts under new rules announced Aug. 16.
Plans to extend the first-class travel benefits were unveiled by the speaker of the House of Commons.
AUSSIE
SENATOR OUTED
A newly elected member of Australia's Senate, Penny Wong of South Australia, has been outed by the Adelaide Advertiser daily newspaper.
"In Labor circles, it is also well known Senator Wong is gay, a fact she would prefer to leave as a private matter," reporter Samantha Maiden wrote.
Wong had no immediate comment on the report. There are two openly gay men in Australia's parliament.
RASH OF DRUGGINGS IN JO'BURG
Gay bars in Johannesburg, South Africa, have seen a dramatic increase in patrons' drinks being spiked with the date-rape drug GHB in recent weeks, www.q.co.za reports.
The drug is also known locally as "G, Liquid X, Liquid E, GHB and Gamma-oh," the report said.
The Web site urged readers to never leave their drinks unattended, to drink only from containers they saw being opened, to keep an eye on friends, and to seek immediate medical assistance at the first signs of having been drugged.
