LESBIANS PARTY
ON LESBOS
A lesbian tour group from Britain was welcomed in Sappho's home town on the Greek island of Lesbos in mid-September after organizers agreed to tone down some of their activities.
Among other changes, a "Wet Pussy Pool Party" was re-named.
Eressos Mayor Polydoros Abatzis had objected to brochures for the tour, saying they "cast our town in a vulgar light," and had threatened to ask a court to ban the tour.
"Everyone should enjoy the sexual life they want and all are welcome in Eressos," he told Britain's The Guardian. "But what is not acceptable is to insult the image of our entire community and for tour operators to plan trips here with profit as their only motive. It is unfair that Lesbos and lesbianism should always go together."
Tour organizer Rachel Woodgate commented: "Not all lesbians want that staying-in-a-muddy-tent-in-Cornwall experience. What we are offering wouldn't have raised an eyebrow in the gay men's resorts in Mykonos.
"It's outrageous talking about [ moral ] corruption," she said. "Greece invented the word homosexual. You go into any museum and it's filled with pictures of women with huge breasts and men buggering each other."
ILGA MEETINGS PLANNED
The International Lesbian and Gay Association has two regional conferences coming up.
The 22nd European Annual Conference is Oct. 4 to 8 in Bucharest, Romania. The 2nd Latin America and Caribbean Regional Conference is Nov. 12 to 14 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"Both of the conferences are very important," said ILGA Co- Secretary General Kursad Kahramanoglu. "The ... European annual conference will be charting the future work of ILGA ... in relation to the EU [ European Union ] and the Council of Europe."
The Brazil meeting, Kahramanoglu said, "will be a decisive meeting of LGBT activists ... to establish themselves as an important voice of human rights in the region. It is particularly significant that the conference is taking place in Brazil, as this country has the worst record of violence directed to LGBT people in the world."
For further information, e-mail ilga@ilga.org and k.k@unison.co.uk.
GAYS HAVEN'T
HURT AUSTRALIAN MILITARY
Australia let open gays into the military in 1992 and they haven't caused any problems.
That's the finding of a new study by Aaron Belkin of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Jason McNichol, a doctoral student in sociology at the University of California at Berkeley.
Prior to the lifting of the ban, Australian Defence Forces leaders argued that allowing homosexuals to serve openly would jeopardize recruitment, troop cohesion and combat effectiveness, spread AIDS and encourage predatory behavior.
Now, senior officials, commanders and military scholars admit that lifting the ban has contributed to greater equity and effective working relationships within the ranks, the report said.
Gay soldiers and commanders served successfully in recent active deployments in East Timor, the study found.
"The Pentagon claims that lifting the American gay ban would undermine the military," Belkin commented. "Data from the 23 nations that allow known gays to serve—including Australia, Israel and Britain—suggest that the lifting of a gay ban does not jeopardize military performance."
The report, "The Effects of Including Gay and Lesbian Soldiers in the Australian Defense Forces: Appraising the Evidence," is on the Web at www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu .
TORONTO POLICE RAID LESBIAN BATHHOUSE
Police raided a lesbian bathhouse event at Toronto's Club Baths Sept. 15.
Five male officers walked around the premises for an hour, took the names and addresses of a few of the 300 patrons, then left.
Police officials said afterward that bathhouse patrons were drinking alcohol in areas of the club that were not covered by the organizers' special-event liquor license, and that disorderly conduct charges may be filed.
Organizer Janet Rowe is angry.
"There are hundreds of special-occasion permits issued every day in this city, so we have to question why they would choose this particular one to investigate," she told the Toronto Star. "Our women report feeling intimidated, violated and humiliated by this experience."
B.C. COURT UPHOLDS BOOKS BAN
The highest court in the Canadian province of British Columbia ruled Sept. 20 that the Christian-dominated school board of the Vancouver suburb of Surrey had the right to ban three gay children's books from the kindergarten and first-grade curricula.
The B.C. Court of Appeal stated: "A religiously informed conscience should not be accorded any privilege, but neither should it be placed under a disability. [ Society ] cannot make religious unbelief a condition of participation in the setting of the moral agenda." The board's policy and the court ruling both allow the banned books— Asha's Mum's, Belinda's Bouquet, and One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads—to remain in the school library.
TRANSVESTITES MURDERED IN GUATEMALA
Between six and 10 transvestites are murdered each year in Guatemala, reports the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
The two most recent victims were Beverly Lineth and AIDS activist Astrid La Fontaine.
According to IGLHRC: "Astrid was a sex worker in Zone 1 of Guatemala City. She was attacked with gunshots while working on a street corner in the early hours of May 20, 2000. Her attacker and murderer stepped from a car nearby and shot her. Beverly Lineth was murdered in the early hours of July 5, 2000. Beverly was known to her companions as a calm, shy and highly ethical person. Her colleagues say that she had been a sex worker for only one year and a half."
Lineth was beaten beyond recognition, apparently with a pipe.
Local activists blame "paramilitary forces" for the attacks and say the police are of no help.
According to IGLHRC: "The National Civil Police ( PNC ) hound and harass transvestites, taking away the money they earn, arresting and abusing them, and, in some cases, raping them. The PNC offers this vulnerable group only terror, not protection.
"Obtaining justice for the victims will be difficult," IGLHRC added. "Those who file complaints do so in the face of a long history of impunity, in which paramilitary brutality and other criminal acts went unhindered by official inquiry or investigation. And the friends of the victims fear retaliation."
For more information, e-mail alejandra@iglhrc.org and iglhrc@iglhrc.org .
