MALTA PROTECTS GAYS
Under pressure from the European Union, which it is set to join, Malta banned anti-gay discrimination in the workplace Oct. 7.
A legal notice published in the Government Gazette stated: 'In determining whether any treatment is treatment that is justified in a democratic society, the Industrial Tribunal shall take into account the provisions of any directive and/or regulation issued by the institutions of the European Union relating to discrimination and particularly Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29th June 2000 and Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27th November 2000 prohibiting discrimination on the basis of religion or belief, disability, age, sexual orientation, race or ethnic origin.'
Gay activists welcomed the move but said they will be happier when the changes are written directly into labor law rather than merely published as subsidiary legislation.
Forty percent of Maltese gays and lesbians report workplace harassment based on their sexual orientation, according to the Malta Gay Rights Movement.
GAY WEDDING CHAPEL DESTROYED
The Russian Orthodox chapel in which the nation's first same-sex wedding was conducted has been demolished after local church leaders determined it had been desecrated.
The Chapel of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, in Nizhny Novgorod, was torn down after Father Vladimir Enert accepted $450 to marry Denis Gogolev, 27, and Mikhail Morozov, 23, on Sept. 1. Enert was defrocked over the incident.
Nizhny Novgorod, previously named Gorky, is 248 miles (400 km) east of Moscow. It is Russia's third-largest city.
ANGLICAN FAITHFUL OK GAY PRIESTS
A survey has found that 52 percent of people who belong to the Church of England think sexually active gays should be allowed to be priests. And 69 percent approve of gay priests if they're celibate.
The ICM Research survey for The Telegraph daily newspaper questioned 500 church members.
Earlier this year, the bishop of Oxford appointed a gay priest who lives celibately with his lover as bishop of Reading, England. But Jeffrey John was later forced to decline the job by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, following a prolonged outcry from church conservatives.
INDIAN GAYS FORM NETWORK
A national alliance of GLBT organizations has formed in India, The Times of India reported Oct. 18.
The India Network for Sexual Minorities is the nation's first such association. It has 15 members, said Ashok Row Kavi, India's best-known gay activist.
The invitation-only network seeks to overturn the ban on gay sex, eliminate police harassment of sexual minorities and improve gay people's medical care.
Hijras also are represented in the alliance, via the Dai Welfare Society. They are transgender and intersex people—mostly castrated males—who, while social outcasts, fulfill the societal role of blessing newborns and dancing at weddings.