MOSCOW WILL NOT ALLOW GAY PARADE
There will be no gay-pride parade in Moscow, Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said July 23.
"The city government will not allow holding this march ... because such demonstrations outrage the majority of the capital's population, are in effect propaganda of dissipation, and force upon society unacceptable norms of behavior," Luzhkov's press office said.
" [ Homosexuality ] goes against the traditional moral values of most Russians, as well as the canons of the main religious confessions in the city," the statement said.
MEXICAN OFFICIAL: SHOOT PEOPLE WITH AIDS
The head of the government's Human Rights Commission in Mexico's Yucatan state says people with AIDS should be shot if they break out of quarantine facilities.
"AIDS patients should be quarantined, and if an infected person crosses an established security line, he should be shot dead," Omar Ancona said July 18.
"It's better if they die. They should be on an island where they can't infect others."
AIDS activists called for Ancona's firing.
"These are homicidal and potentially genocidal statements," said Georgina Gutierrez of the National Front of Persons Affected with AIDS.
Mexico is composed of 31 states and a federal district.
CANADIANS POLL PRO-GAY
Seventy-six percent of Canadians say gays deserve the same rights as other people, a new Leger Marketing survey has found.
But only 53 percent think gays should be allowed to adopt children.
Gays got the best numbers in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces where 86 percent support equality. The worst numbers were in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 67 percent.
Overall, 65 percent said gay couples should have equal tax benefits and 75 percent approve of gay marriage.
Four and a half percent of those polled acknowledged homosexual feelings and 2.6 percent said they'd had gay sex.
One thousand five hundred seven people were questioned. The poll is considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points 19 times out of 20, according to the Canadian Press wire service.
BRITISH COLUMBIA DROPS OUT OF MARRIAGE CASE
The new Liberal government in the Canadian province of British Columbia has dropped out as a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking legalization of same-sex marriage.
The former New Democratic Party government launched the case against federal law a year ago. It was later combined with two other same-sex marriage lawsuits, which will proceed to trial.
"Why pick this fight with the feds?," B.C. Attorney General Geoff Plant told the Vancouver Sun. "It's not an urgent priority for us in federal-provincial relations. In fact, it's not even on the priority list."
The suit argues that Canada's ban on gay marriage violates the nation's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada's bill of rights.
FINLAND TO REGISTER GAY COUPLES
Finland is planning to join the list of nations where gay couples can register their partnership and receive many of the rights and obligations of matrimony.
Parliament will take up the issue in August and a vote is expected in 2002.
The proposed legislation will not allow homosexual couples to adopt children together.
Registered gay couples have nearly all rights of marriage in Denmark, France, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the U.S. state of Vermont. The Netherlands lets gays marry under the same laws as heterosexual couples. Court rulings have given gay couples many marriage rights in Canada and Hungary.
GERMAN PARTNER LAW CLEARED
Germany's gay partnership law will take effect Aug. 1 as scheduled.
The Federal Constitutional Court July 18 rejected a request for an injunction by the states of Bavaria and Saxony which claimed the law violates constitutional protections of marriage and the family.
The law grants registered gay couples marriage rights in areas such as inheritance, health insurance, immigration, name changes and alimony.
Justice ministers from the two states responded to the ruling by threatening to delay implementation of the law or ignore the court ruling altogether. Gay activists said they will file a lawsuit if the registration mechanism becomes available in those states "even a day late."
Registered gay couples have nearly all rights of marriage in Denmark, France, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the U.S. state of Vermont. The Netherlands lets gays marry under the same laws as heterosexual couples. Court rulings have given gay couples many marriage rights in Canada and Hungary.
ARCHBISHOP: LET GAY PRIESTS HAVE LOVERS
The man widely expected to succeed George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury ( leader of Britain's Anglican church ) says it's wrong for the church to accept gay couples as parishioners while prohibiting gay priests from having a partner.
Archbishop of Wales the Most Reverend Rowan Williams said: "If the church's mind is that homosexual behavior is intrinsically sinful, then it is intrinsically sinful for everyone. It is that unwillingness to come clean that can't last. It is a contradiction."
PORTUGUESE GAYS CHEERED AT PARADE
The gay entry in Porto, Portugal's July 22 Elektro Parade was well-received and attracted the most press attention.
The procession featured 21 trucks wired for music. The flamboyant Boys 'R' Us truck evoked mostly smiles from spectators, portugalgay.pt said.
UPCOMING ILGA CONFERENCES
The International Lesbian & Gay Association is holding its Global Gay Summit in the U.S. this year...Aug. 24 to Sept. 3 in Oakland, Calif.
Delegates are expected to attend from more than 50 nations.
There will be day-long pre-conferences on men's issues, women's issues, religion, and "racism and globalization [ and ] its impact on the GLBT community."
The summit itself offers tracks on lesbian health, interorganizational cooperation, and issues in developing countries, along with workshops on AIDS, aging, classism and globalization, and transgender issues.
The summit coincides with the East Bay Pride festivities, which culminate with a Mardi Gras celebration Sept. 2.
To register, visit the Web site www.ebpride.org/home.html, phone 1 ( 510 ) 663-3980 or e-mail ilgaoakland2001@aol.com .
ILGA-Europe is staging its regional conference Oct. 24-28 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
"The highlight of the conference will be a one-day special session devoted to the question of the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships, in celebration of the new Dutch marriage laws," organizers said.
On April 1, The Netherlands became the first nation to let same-sex couples marry under the same laws as opposite-sex couples.
For more information, visit www.ilgaeurope2001.org
HALF OF AUSSIES DISAPPROVE OF GAY SEX
Forty-eight percent of Australians think gay sex is "always wrong," a new Australian Social Monitor survey has found. The figure is down from 64 percent in 1986.
The survey found that older people, religious people and men are more anti-gay than younger people, atheists and women.
Only 28 percent of Australians think gay sex is "not wrong at all."
UK BANS SANDALS ADS
An ad for the Caribbean resort chain Sandals has been banned from British television because it does not mention the company's ban on same-sex couples. The Independent Television Commission called the ad "misleading."
Advertisers on British TV are required to make clear any significant limitations on what they are offering for sale.
SLOVENIANS MARCH
About 300 people marched in Ljubljana, Slovenia's first gay-pride parade July 6, passing by a downtown bar that recently allegedly denied two gays entrance based on their sexual orientation.
They carried signs reading, "We want marriage," "Silence=Death," "Slovenia ...A Vatican banana republic," and "Politics bugger us."
The marchers stopped in front of City Hall and chanted the mayor's name, rallied at Preseren Square, the center of downtown, and wrapped up with a party at the Metelkova culture complex.
