JAPANESE COUNCIL SNUBS GAYS
The Japanese Justice Ministry's Council of Human Rights Promotion has given gays short shrift in proposals designed to update the nation's human-rights protection mechanisms, says OCCUR, Tokyo's Association for the Lesbian and Gay Movement
The council has proposed an independent National Human Rights Commission to tackle human-rights problems and protect vulnerable groups of people. The proposal says the HRC will take action against human-rights violations based on race, disability, health, sex, beliefs, social status and birth. Elsewhere in the document, the council added that "sexual orientation, etc." will be investigated to determine if it should be included on the list.
"We appreciate the council for including the words 'sexual orientation, etc.' in their report, but we are very concerned about the results of the council investigation," said OCCUR's Masaki Inaba. "If, after their investigation, the council decides that positive action should not be taken by HRC against the violation of human rights based on 'sexual orientation, etc.,' this will mean that LGBTIs will not be able to receive any support or assistance from the new HRC."
( The 'I' attached to 'LGBT' is probably a reference to "intersexed" people whose genitalia is not solely male or female. )
OCCUR is asking activists in other nations to fax the Justice Ministry urging that LGBTIs be included as a regular target group of the proposed HRC. Fax the letter to Staff for Public Comments, The Council for Human Rights Promotion, Human Rights Division, Ministry of Justice of Japan, 1-1-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 100-8977, Japan. The fax number is 011-81-3-3592-7084. Fax or e-mail a copy to OCCUR at 011-81-3-3229-7880, occur@kt.rim.or.jp.
ISRAELI SAILORS PUNISHED FOR NUDE PHOTOS
A group of male Israeli sailors has been punished for taking nude photos of themselves on their patrol boat during a military outing.
One of the photos appeared in the daily newspaper Maariv.
One sailor was imprisoned for two weeks and the others were confined to quarters for two weeks.
INDIAN LESBIANS CELEBRATE
Pune, India's Organised Lesbian Alliance for Visibility and Acceptance ( OLAVA ) celebrated its first birthday Nov. 21 with a "Come out, wherever you are" party.
More than 100 women attended.
"Olava" translates as "moist" in the local Marathi language.
"Olava suggests the warmth and tenderness two women are capable of sharing in a relationship," spokeswoman Chatura told expressindia.com . "We opted for Marathi since we want our group to reach out to every section of society and not just the urban elite middle class."
NEW ZEALAND
GIVES GAY COUPLES SPOUSAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
New Zealand's Parliament voted Nov. 22 to give gay couples the same spousal property rights as married and common-law straight couples.
According to the New Zealand Press Association wire service, the legislation significantly rewrites the Matrimonial Property Act, extending its provisions to include same-sex and de-facto couples and giving the courts greater discretion in how they divide property between partners in a relationship split.
Opposition MPs denounced the legislation, saying it will force people into a legal relationship against their will. The law will apply to any two people who live together as a couple for at least three years.
AUSSIE STATE MOVES ON GAY EQUALITY
The government of the Australian state of Victoria, where Melbourne is, introduced laws to Parliament Nov. 23 that will give gay partners the same rights as common-law heterosexual couples in areas such as medical treatment, superannuation, property transfers and wills.
The definition of "spouse" will be rewritten in at least 45 laws.
"Human rights necessarily involve a respect for the equal dignity of all persons without discrimination," said state Attorney General Rob Hulls. "Lesbians, gay men, intersex and transgender people have historically been denied their human rights. This bill is an important step in addressing that historical injustice."
"Superannuation" is a system of compulsory salary contributions made by employers and employees to long-term investment schemes run by finance companies. The funds are accessible at retirement and can be transferred to an heir upon death.
NEW GAY MAGAZINE FOR MEXICO CITY
Mexico City has a new gay monthly magazine called Q-Eros.
It is published by Azul Editores, which also owns the popular Boys & Toys magazine, and edited by Francisco Javier Lagunes Gaitan, director of the gay group Human Action for the Community.
The magazine costs 10 pesos, which is about $1.05 U.S. Twenty thousand copies are printed.
A typical Mexican salary is around $20 a day.
ROMANIANS REJECT GAYS AS NEIGHBORS
Ninety percent of Romanians do not want gays as neighbors, according to a CURS polling institute report.
The same percentage rejects alcoholics and convicted criminals. About 75 percent don't want to live next door to Gypsies ( who, in general, prefer to be called "Roma" ) or people who carry HIV.
A third don't want to be around Jews or Hungarians.
CANADIAN
GAYS JOIN
BAREBACKING TREND
Canadian gay men apparently are having more unsafe sex.
The number of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men jumped by over 30 percent from 1996 to 1999, Health Canada says.
Before 1996, there had been a steady drop in new HIV infections among gay men.
"Part of it is the optimism about the new treatments and people just thinking it's not such a worry anymore. And part is I think some fatigue about always practicing safe sex," Chris Archibald, Health Canada's chief of HIV/AIDS epidemiology and surveillance, told the Canadian Press wire service.
"Lastly, I think, perhaps the younger groups of gay men haven't seen the death rates and high infection rates that the older gay men have seen and just don't think it's such a problem," he said.
GAY PRIDE
BRINGS BUCKS
The 186,000 gay tourists among the 600,000 attendees at Montreal's gay-pride parade injected C$40 million ( US$26 million ) into the local economy, a new Crop survey has found.
"We always knew Montreal would become an important gay destination because of its spirit of openness, progressive laws and one of the biggest gay villages in North America," said Tourism Montreal manager Jean-Francois Perrier. "We knew we had something good and that people just had to see it."
The Montreal pride parade is the best-attended event in the province of Quebec.