Malaysian police raid
gay sex party
Malaysian police raided a 'gay sex party' at a sauna in Penang Nov. 4 and arrested 37 men.
Officials said they confiscated new and used condoms, lube, gay magazines and porn videos.
The men could be charged with engaging in unnatural sex acts, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a fine or whipping.
'We will not tolerate the presence of such joints,' district police chief Azam Abdul Hamid told The Star newspaper.
Cambodian prime minister
disowns lesbian daughter
Speaking at a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Oct. 30 that he has disowned his adopted daughter because she is a lesbian.
'My daughter has married a woman,' he said. 'Now I just asked the court to cut her out of the family. We are concerned that she might one day cause us trouble ... and try to stake her claim for a share of our assets.
'I was disappointed,' Hun Sen said. 'I can educate an entire nation, but I cannot educate this adopted daughter. We sent her to study in the U.S., but she did a bad job. She returned home and took a wife.
'Sometimes, she brought her girl and slept together in my house. We are concerned that one day her girl will bring grenades or poisonous drugs to our house and we will all die, who knows?
'This is the first time that I declared publicly the internal affairs of my family, because lesbian cases happen in Cambodia with large range.'
Paradoxically, Hun Sen also said: 'I'd like to take this opportunity to appeal to parents and society not to discriminate against them [ gays ] and not to call them transvestites. Most of them are good people and are not doing alcohol, drugs or racing vehicles.'
Church of Sweden
will marry gays
As Sweden prepares to legalize full marriage for same-sex couples, the dominant Church of Sweden has decided it also will legally marry same-sex couples.
Faced with the choice, once the law passes, of offering legal marriages to both gays and straights or to no one at all, the Lutheran church's governing body voted 161-74 on Oct. 25 to stay in the marriage business.
Sweden has had a registered-partnership law that grants same-sex couples all the rights of marriage since 1994.
Anti-gay Brit
judge loses appeal
A family court judge in Sheffield, England, who resigned to avoid having to approve adoptions by gay couples, lost an appeal to get his job back Oct. 31.
Andrew McClintock, 63, had claimed discrimination based on his Christian beliefs.
But the Employment Appeal Tribunal said an earlier ruling that McClintock could not be excused from hearing same-sex cases was correct.
McClintock now plans to take the case to the Court of Appeal.
'For 18 years my Christian beliefs have been well known to both my fellow magistrates and to court officials and it was no surprise to them that when the Civil Partnerships Act enabled same-sex couples to adopt and become foster carers, I was simply seeking some form of recusal from cases where I would be forced to act contrary to my conscience,' he said in an Oct. 31 statement.
Austria, Ireland propose
civil-union laws
Austrian Justice Minister Maria Berger has unveiled her proposal for a registered-partnership law for same-sex couples, the Wiener Zeitung newspaper reported Oct. 26.
Under the plan, couples would provide a local registry office with proof of their relationship and receive many of the rights and obligations of marriage.
The Irish government also has announced plans to introduce civil-partnership legislation, for same-sex, opposite-sex and nonsexual couples ( such as a cohabiting brother and sister ) .
Details of the Irish proposal are expected to be announced by March of next year.
'It represents a recognition by government of the many forms of relationships in modern society, and an important step very particularly for homosexual couples, whose relationships have not previously been given legal recognition,' said Justice Minister Brian Lenihan.
Other nations that grant registered same-sex couples some or all rights and obligations of marriage under registered-partnership or civil-union laws include Andorra, the Czech Republic, Denmark ( and its administrative division Greenland ) , Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Full marriage is available to same-sex couples in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain and the state of Massachusetts.
In Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and the U.S., gay couples are granted partnership rights by city, state or provincial laws. The U.S. states with same-sex civil-union or domestic-partnership laws that extend all or nearly all state-level rights and obligations of marriage are California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire ( starting Jan. 1 ) , Oregon ( starting Jan. 1 ) and Vermont. Three other states—Maine, Hawaii and Washington—and the District of Columbia have laws that extend limited spousal rights to same-sex couples.
Catalonia joins ILGA
The government of the Spanish region of Catalonia, where Barcelona is located, has joined the International Lesbian and Gay Association.
The secretary general of the Catalonian federation Gay-Lesbian Coordinator ( CGL ) , Antonio Guirado, said the move was 'unprecedented.'
'Since its foundation 21 years ago, the Gay-Lesbian Coordinator always has been an active member of ILGA and we are very proud to see that our government has taken a step that has only been taken previously by cities, such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Venice,' Guirado said. 'We invite other institutions and entities that want to contribute to extending human rights to follow this example.'
CGL Honorary President Jordi Petit added: 'After our winning legal equality [ in Spain ] with the rights to marriage and adoption for couples of the same sex, Catalonia's joining ILGA is a challenge to many countries where homosexuals and transsexuals still are subject to persecution and the death penalty.
'This is a historic, unprecedented institutional act of profound solidarity against intolerance that we enthusiastically applaud for its example to the world. It is especially necessary that nongovernmental organizations in developing nations open themselves to collaborating with the homosexual and transsexual movement, as our government has just done.'
ILGA is a 30-year-old federation of more than 600 GLBT organizations and associated members, such as city governments, from 90 countries. It has played a key role over the years in developments such as Amnesty International's decision to adopt persecuted homosexuals as prisoners of conscience and the World Health Organization's decision to remove homosexuality from its list of illnesses.
ILGA-Europe meets in
Vilnius, mayor blocks rally
The European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association was prevented by the mayor's office from publicly displaying a 30-meter rainbow flag during the group's 11th annual conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, Oct. 25-28.
Mayor Juozas Imbrasas also blocked an identical action in May when the display was planned as the centerpiece of the city's first gay pride celebration. He also banned the European Union's traveling 'anti-discrimination truck' from visiting the city at the same time.
City officials said the flag display could cause 'riots.'
More than 200 people attended the ILGA-Europe confab, which was otherwise unmolested by the city government.
'We are appalled that an EU member state repeatedly violates the right to a free and peaceful assembly,' said Deborah Lambillotte, co-chair of ILGA-Europe's executive board. 'LGBT people have the same right to express their views and concerns publicly and, as any other citizen of the European Union, to enjoy the rights guaranteed in the Lithuanian Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.'
Judge: Ireland must fix
trans people's birth certificates
Ireland must grant transsexuals amended birth certificates or face legal action in the European Court of Human Rights, Dublin High Court Justice Liam McKechnie ruled Oct. 19.
Postoperative transsexual dentist Lydia Foy, 60, who launched the court challenge in 1997, called the decision 'a wonderful breakthrough after such a long, long time.'
Foy said transsexuals need new birth certificates because when the document doesn't match one's current name or appearance, 'you can be outed and embarrassed' anytime a birth certificate is needed for paperwork requirements.
McKechnie said the state's refusal to issue Foy a new document had subjected her to 'stress, humiliation, embarrassment and loss of dignity,' and jeopardized her right to privacy.
Filipino transgender woman
denied documents change
The Philippine Supreme Court ruled Oct. 24 that a woman who had a sex-change operation cannot change her name and sex on her civil-registry record.
Rommel Jacinto Dantes Silverio wanted to change her name to Mely, identify her gender as female and marry her boyfriend.
The court said Silverio 'succeeded in altering his body and appearance through the intervention of modern surgery [ but ] no law authorizes the change of entry as to sex in the civil registry for that reason.'
For what it's worth, however, the court acknowledged 'that there are people whose preferences and orientation do not fit neatly into the commonly recognized parameters of social convention and that, at least for them, life is indeed an ordeal.'
Brit judge who opposes
gay adoption fights back
A family court judge in Sheffield, England, who resigned to avoid having to approve adoptions by gay couples, has launched an appeal to get his job back.
Andrew McClintock, 63, is claiming discrimination based on religious belief.
A lawyer for the government said United Kingdom law supports gay adoptions, and that a tribunal that refused to excuse McClintock from same-sex cases had acted correctly.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
