Police ban ILGA conference
Police in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, forced the cancellation of the fourth Asian regional conference of ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, the group said March 26.
Officials refused to issue a permit for the three-day event in order to protect "public order" and prevent a "social crisis" after dozens of Muslim groups expressed anger over the gathering.
On March 25, hundreds of Muslim university students rallied at the Surabaya City Council building in opposition to the conference.
A spokesman called on police to "ban and stop any homosexual-related activity in Surabaya," according to the Antara news agency.
The chairman of Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights, Ifdhal Kasim, denounced the ban, telling the Jakarta Post, "Holding a conference is a form of freedom of speech, which is guaranteed by the Constitution."
"There should be affirmative action for the minorities," he said. "There is no regulation banning LGBTs from convening in the country."
More than 150 activists from 16 nations were scheduled to attend the March 26-28 conclave hosted by the Indonesian LGBT organization Gaya Nusantara.
Participants who already had arrived in Surabaya decided to go ahead and hold informal talks anyway.
But on March 26, large groups of Muslim fundamentalists invaded the conferees' hotels intent on chasing the homosexuals away. The conference participants were subsequently evacuated and transferred to safer places.
The Mercure Surabaya hotel said it would refund ILGA's deposits.
Previous ILGA-Asia confabs have been held in Mumbai, India; Cebu, Philippines; and Chiang Mai, Thailand.
ILGA is a federation of hundreds of LGBT and related organizations from every part of the world.
Malawi gay couple to face full trial
The gay couple in Blantyre, Malawi, who were jailed in December after they staged a public engagement ceremony will face a full trial, a judge decided March 22.
Following their court appearance, Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were returned to prison to await the April trial. They face up to 14 years behind bars if found guilty of illegal carnal knowledge and acts of gross indecency with another male person.
"This ruling is the most recent in a line of deeply troubling decisions and actions by the Malawian authorities in this case, including the decision to deny bail to Steven and Tiwonge, claiming that their continued incarceration is for their own safety," said Chivuli Ukwimi of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission's Southern Africa Program.
"The arrests, prolonged and arbitrary pre-trial detention, and the subsequent mistreatment of Tiwonge and Steven while incarcerated -- including being subjected to forced anal examinations to 'confirm' sodomy charges -- violate their rights under the Malawian constitution," IGLHRC said.
In London on March 22, African and British activists protested the couple's arrest and incarceration outside the headquarters of the Commonwealth.
"I urge my president and government to intervene to release Steven and Tiwonge," said gay Malawian Edi Phiri. "These two men don't deserve the way they are suffering in jail. The delay in the trial and the postponed verdict is a sign that the government and judiciary are split."
Protest co-organizer Peter Tatchell said Monjeza and Chimbalanga are encouraging international protests.
"This protest was organized in response to an appeal for help from the jailed men," the veteran gay activist said. "From their prison cell in Malawi, Steven and Tiwonge sent a message to me in London urging international pressure to secure their release."
Sixty-seven British members of Parliament have signed a House of Commons early-day motion condemning Monjeza's and Chimbalanga's arrests and prosecution.
Amnesty International has adopted the couple as prisoners of conscience.
Skinheads attack Bulgarian gay rally
Six skinheads were arrested in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, on March 20 after they attacked gay and lesbian activists who were protesting a City Council decision to ban public displays of homosexuality.
The protesters, from the youth group LGBT in Action, had traveled to the city from Sofia, the capital. When the skinheads attacked, police officers, led by the police chief, knocked them to the ground and arrested them, according to the Sofia News Agency.
The skinheads reportedly yelled, "Go to Uganda, freaks."
LGBT in Action has filed a challenge to the new local law with the national anti-discrimination commission.
Dutch gay group plans to sue U.S. general
The Dutch foundation Pink Army said March 22 it will sue retired U.S. general and former NATO commander John Sheehan in federal court in California for slander and defamation.
Appearing before a congressional committee looking at the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy March 18, Sheehan said the Dutch military failed to stop the 1995 genocide in Bosnia because, among other things, the presence of openly gay Dutch soldiers weakened the force.
Pink Army said it plans a class-action suit and wants Sheehan to retract the statement, apologize at a press conference and in international newspapers, and attend sensitivity training.
"Sheehan's comment dishonors and cheapens the sacrifice that brave gay men and women have made in military service to the Netherlands," said Pink Army founder Peter Schouten. "They are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice every day and this should not be smeared with such a lie."
U.S. legal observers say there is little chance of success for such a lawsuit.
Hungarian court upholds gay partnership law
Hungary's Constitutional Court upheld the nation's same-sex registered-partnership law March 23.
Conservative forces -- including the Christian Democratic People's Party, the Society for Christian Physicians in Hungary, the Pro Life Forum, and representatives of Faith Church -- had argued in nine petitions that the law undermined marriage, discriminated against straight people, violated morality and harmed children, among other things.
The court disagreed on all points.
The law grants registered partners most of the rights of marriage, with the exception of access to adoption and assisted reproduction, and the right to take a spouse's last name.
UN to target gay sex bans
UNAIDS, a grouping of 10 United Nations agencies, will launch a new campaign to repeal laws that criminalize gay sex in 85 of the world's approximately 194 nations.
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said countries that criminalize homosexuality can see HIV transmission levels 10 times higher than nations that do not, in part because criminalization discourages people from seeking medical care.
Anti-lesbian Spanish judge will stay suspended
Spain's Constitutional Court has refused an appeal from a judge in Murcia who was banned from office for 10 years by the Supreme Court after he refused to let a lesbian adopt her partner's child. Judge Ferrín Calamita also must pay the woman 6,000 euros ( $8,040 ) .
Assistance: Bill Kelley
