MEXICAN MOVIE BREAKS RECORDS by Rex Wockner
A new Mexican movie with a gay subplot has broken box-office records for a domestically produced film.
"Y tu mama tambien" ( "And Your Mother Too" ) grossed $2.2 million its first week in cinemas.
Reuters said the film depicts "two foul-mouthed teen-agers having sex with an older woman, smoking pot, masturbating and engaging in a fleeting homosexual romp. ... Amid alcohol-soaked, lust-fueled comic turns, the journey takes on existential dimensions as it confronts questions of innocence, friendship and mortality in the context of Mexican society."
The film got a "C" rating which means no one under 18 can see it.
"Y tu mama tambien" is not yet screening in the U.S. and director Alfonso Cuaron fears he may have to tone it down to get an "R" rating rather than a more restrictive one.
"Don't get me wrong that censorship occurs only in Mexico," he told the wire service. "In the United States it's worse. I'll probably have to cut it to get it released."
TWO DOZEN MARCH IN HETERO PRIDE PARADE
Two dozen people marched from the provincial legislature to City Hall in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada's first Heterosexual Family Pride parade June 18, reported the National Post.
"It's important to speak up and teach people that they don't have to act on homosexual desires," said organizer Bill Whatcott.
Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco received flak for issuing a proclamation recognizing Heterosexual Family Pride Day. In the aftermath, city officials said proclamations will no longer be issued in language written by the individuals who request them but rather in standard city-authored bureaucratese.
FORMER CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER LEADS PRIDE PARADE
Former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark led the gay pride parade in Calgary, Alberta, as its grand marshal June 10.
His wife, Maureen, joined him in the back of a bright red BMW convertible.
"I'm not wearing a tie. Isn't that extraordinary?" Clark told a reporter.
REPORT: EDUCATION INCREASES UNSAFE SEX
The more gay men learn about safe sex the more they have unsafe sex, British researchers found.
Three hundred forty-three gay men who came down with a non-HIV sexually transmitted disease were sent to a 20-minute counseling session on safe sex. One hundred seventy-five of those 343 gay men also were sent to a day-long session on safe sex.
In the following 12 months, researchers said, 31 percent of the men who attended the day-long session came down with another STD while only 21 percent of those who attended only the 20-minute session caught another STD.
The results of the study, conducted by London's Royal Free and University College Medical School, appear in the current British Medical Journal.
BOTSWANA: FREE AIDS DRUGS FOR ALL
The African nation of Botswana, population 1.7 million, will give free AIDS drugs to everyone who needs them, President Festus Mogae said June 5.
About 36 percent of the adult population is HIV-positive.
"Pharmaceutical companies have offered us cheaper drugs," Mogae said.
Meanwhile, South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang says her country has no plans to hand out HIV drugs to the nation's nearly 5 million people with HIV.
" [ The drugs ] are not a cure for AIDS," she said June 5.
AMNESTY WORRIED ABOUT EGYPTIAN ARRESTEES
Amnesty International said June 8 that it is "gravely concerned" about the ongoing detention of 54 Egyptian men suspected of engaging in gay sex.
On June 6 and 7, the men were brought before the public prosecutor in Cairo to face accusations of "immoral behavior" and "contempt of religion." Evidence was presented on police examinations that were carried out to determine if the men have had anal sex.
The men have been held at Tora Prison since May 11 when they were arrested in a raid on a discotheque frequented by gays.
"Amnesty International believes that the majority, if not all, of these men are detained purely on the grounds of their alleged sexual orientation," the organization said. "If people are detained solely on account of their sexual orientation, Amnesty International would consider them prisoners of conscience and call for their immediate and unconditional release."
NOVA SCOTIA REGISTERS GAY COUPLES
Nova Scotia has become the first Canadian province to register gay couples, granting them many rights of marriage.
The process costs $15 and takes place at the Office of Vital Statistics.
Marriage rights are granted in areas such as pensions, wills, medical decisions, joint property, alimony and child support, according to the Toronto Star.
Gay couples receive some marriage rights in other Canadian provinces as well, but Nova Scotia is the first to set up a public registry.
