ROMANIA REPEALS HOMOSEXUALITY BAN
Romania's government legalized homosexuality June 22 via an "emergency ordinance."
The nation has been told it cannot join the European Union as long as gays are criminalized.
The emergency measure will remain in effect for one year, during which it must be ratified by both chambers of parliament in order not to expire. Parliament previously has refused to legalize gays.
The statute that was suspended, Article 200, states: "Same-sex relations taking place in public or resulting in a public scandal shall be punished by one to five years imprisonment. Enticing or seducing a person to practice same-sex relations as well as propaganda, association or other forms of proselytizing with the same aim shall be punished by one to five years imprisonment."
One day after the government's move, police raided Bucharest's only gay-friendly discotheque, Casablanca, according to the gay organization Accept. "Some 12 police officers and police soldiers, and several cameramen and journalists from two national TV stations, entered the disco, the owner's office and the pool-table area," said Accept Information Officer Bogdan Honciuc.
"A male customer was insulted by the police officers, searched and videotaped, and his mate ... was called his 'sugar daddy.' ... The man ... said that he had been questioned by the police officers about 'how he [ has sex ] ' and 'if he is paid for the job.'
"Accept considers that the police action was abusive and intimidating with regard to the LGBT community, especially since it took place one day after the government had adopted the emergency ordinance to repeal Article 200 from the Penal Code," Honciuc said.
BELGIAN GOV. OKS GAY MARRIAGE
Belgium's government has approved a bill opening regular marriage to gays and sent it to parliament for a vote.
Although several nations have gay-partnership laws under which same-sex couples receive up to 99 percent of the rights and obligations of marriage, only one country, The Netherlands, currently lets gays marry under the same laws as straights.
"Mentalities have evolved, there is no longer any reason not to open marriage to people of the same sex," the government said. "The starting point of this bill is equality of treatment in marriage for homosexual and heterosexual couples."
However, the bill does not include equal treatment in the area of adoption rights, which will remain available only to opposite-sex couples.
Unlike The Netherlands' marriage law, which applies to anyone who has lived in The Netherlands for four months, Belgium's law will only allow same-sex weddings among people whose home country recognizes same-sex marriages.
AMNESTY:
GAYS TORTURED
Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people the world over are "tortured, ill-treated, sexually assaulted, forcibly subjected to medical or psychiatric treatment [ and ] forced to flee their home countries in terror" because of their sexual orientation, Amnesty International said June 22.
The group's report documents cases from 30 countries. Gay sex is illegal in at least 70 nations and in 17 U.S. states and territories, Amnesty said.
"Despite being a widespread occurrence across continents and cultures, the torture and ill-treatment suffered by LGBT people is surrounded by a conspiracy of silence," the report said. "Generalized tolerance of abuses against LGBT people, fear of retaliation, and reluctance by the victims to gain exposure, are some of the factors contributing to this silence. Incidents of sexual-identity-based ill-treatment remain largely unreported and under investigated, and those responsible are seldom brought to justice."
Some governments actively fuel homophobic violence through inflammatory statements and institutionalized discrimination, the group confirmed. "Many more share responsibility for it through lack of action."
See www.amnesty.org .
The U.S. states/territories which ban gay sex are Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia, Amnesty said.
ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS MARCH TOGETHER
About 150 Israelis and Palestinians marched together as one contingent in Tel Aviv's gay-pride parade June 22.
They were protesting Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Many more Palestinians reportedly wanted to march with the group but were prevented from entering Israeli territory by security forces.
"We don't feel that today is a good day for a colorful festival," marcher Dalit Baum told the AP. "Gay pride should not just be a carnival but a day of solidarity. We can't oppress the Palestinians and hope to celebrate here."
Thousand joined the parade on Ibn Gvirol and Hamelech streets. Mayor Ron Huldai also attended. A three-hour concert followed in Park Hayarkon.
"We demand that the state give us the natural rights that other couples have to establish legal partnerships" Etai Pinkas, head of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association, told the Jerusalem Post.
The association sponsored the parade together with the Tel Aviv-Jaffa city government.
BANK SNUBS ANTI-GAYS
Canada's largest bank, Royal Bank, has refused to open an account for a group of anti-gays fighting to keep Montreal from winning the bid to host the 2006 Gay Games.
"They were refused," bank spokesman Raymond Chouinard told the Montreal Gazette. "We don't want to look like we're being supportive of such a group. ... We're a private corporation and we do not have to open an account every time a person or organization asks for one."
The "No Committee 2006" says it plans to sue the bank for discrimination.
WORLD PRIDE ROUNDUP
Swiss President Moritz Leuenberger attended gay pride in Zurich June 23 and promised to introduced a gay partnership measure. "It is nothing but normal to honor Christopher Street Day with my presence," Leuenberger said. He may have been the first sitting head of a national government to attend a gay-pride celebration.
About 2,000 people marched in Edinburgh, Scotland's gay-pride parade June 23, including two members of the Scottish Parliament.
The first gay-pride parade in Aguascalientes, Mexico, attracted about 100 people June 16. They marched through the city center and rallied at City Hall. There were pride parades this year in six other Mexican cities — Mexico City, Guadalajara, Veracruz, Tijuana, Culiacan and Monterrey.
Around 25,000 women took to the streets of Toronto June 24 for the city's fifth Dyke March.
About 1,500 people marched in Caracas, Venezuela's first gay-pride parade July 1. A few onlookers seemed disgusted but the majority appeared supportive. The parade ended with a singing of the national anthem.
About 3,000 people marched in Dublin, Ireland, June 30.
SYPHILIS OUTBREAK
Health authorities in Dublin, Ireland, are offering syphilis testing at gay bars and bathhouses in hopes of stopping an outbreak of the disease.
Seventy-three cases have been reported in the past year among gay and bisexual men. There also have been syphilis outbreaks in Paris; Antwerp, Belgium; and Manchester, England.
