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  WINDY CITY TIMES

World News
Extended for the online edition of Windy City Times
by Rex Wockner
2011-06-22

This article shared 6292 times since Wed Jun 22, 2011
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French Parliament rejects same-sex marriage

France's National Assembly voted 293-222 against legalizing same-sex marriage June 14.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling Union for a People's Movement party opposed the measure.

In January, France's Constitutional Court upheld the ban on same-sex marriage but said Parliament could change the law if it wanted to.

The court ruled that gay and straight couples find themselves in a "different situation" that justifies differing treatment under family law.

Polls suggest that some 60 percent of French people support letting same-sex couples marry. The nation has offered civil unions for gay couples for more than a decade, but the unions lack some of the benefits of marriage.

ILGA-Europe condemns Croatian pride violence

Police in Split, Croatia, were both unwilling and unable to protect the June 11 gay pride parade, the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association charged June 14.

"ILGA-Europe is appalled by the inadequate actions of the Croatian police, which caused a situation when the participants of the Pride march were forced to march next to the violent crowd," the group said. "Due to such an inadequate police arrangement, the violent hooligans were free to shower the participants of the Pride march with petards, stones, ashtrays and other objects. A number of people were hit, including Linda Freimane, co-chair of ILGA-Europe's Executive Board."

The thousands of anti-gay protesters also hurled bottles, flares, tear gas, eggs, tomatoes, glass, bricks, shoes, paint, cigarette lighters and flowerpots at the 200 marchers.

And they shouted, "Kill the gays." Up to a dozen people were injured, including some reporters.

"It was a scary and horrifying experience," said Freimane. "When the shower of petards and stones began, the police did not push back the aggressive crowd and made us walk along the violent protesters and hooligans. There was definitely a feeling of uncertainty and disbelief that the police is allowing this to happen."

ILGA-Europe said it condemned "the indecisive and passive behavior of the Croatian police" and called for an official investigation.

"The European Union just concluded its accession talks with Croatia, which is expected to join the union in 2013," Freimane added. "However, the events at Split Pride raise many questions over this country's ability to ensure the very basic right of free and peaceful assembly of minority groups. ... ( R ) elevant EU institutions need to carefully examine this particular event and continue scrutinizing Croatia in how it ensures fundamental freedoms and human rights to all."

Argentine gays sue over blood-donation ban

Buenos Aires' Comunidad Homosexual Argentina filed suit June 14 to overturn a national ban on blood donation by gays, calling it discriminatory.

The group lodged its claim in the Buenos Aires Administrative Litigation Court, alleging that the ban violates the federal constitution, city law and international human-rights treaties.

CHA's Télam Cesar Cigliutti said the ban stigmatizes homosexuality by excluding those who acknowledge their homosexuality, or LGBTI identity, in a questionnaire donors must fill out.

He said what officials really need to know is whether a potential donor has HIV, hepatitis or syphilis, not whether he or she is gay.

The questionnaire should not ask about sexual orientation or sexual practices, Cigliutti said, though an inquiry about unprotected sex within the past six months might be permissible, he conceded.

Brazilian activists meet defense minister

The Brazilian LGBT Association ( ABGLT ) met with Defense Minister Nelson Jobim on June 14 to lobby him on gay and HIV issues.

ABGLT President Toni Reis said Jobim committed to drafting amendments to remove the words "pederasty" and "homosexual" from the Military Penal Code, and to working to get the amendments through the National Congress.

He also agreed to implement in the Armed Forces the recent federal Supreme Court ruling requiring that same-sex couples be permitted to register their unions and receive the rights of marriage.

Jobim also plans to set up a working group to review the military's policy of testing recruits for HIV.

Gays march in Ensenada, Mexico

LGBT people staged their fifth gay pride march June 11 in Ensenada, Mexico, a port city located 90 miles south of San Diego, California.

"There was a big contingent of participants, who were surprised and thrilled by what was happening," said Lorenzo Herrera, organizer of Tijuana's annual pride parade, who expressed dismay that some of Ensenada's gay bars didn't support the march.

Parents of gays marched with their kids, and one local club, Poker Face Baja Sport Bar, joined the procession with a float, Herrera said.

Gay people to picket Russian Embassy in London

LGBT people plan to protest at the Russian Embassy in London on July 1.

They will demand that Russia's voting rights at the Council of Europe be revoked.

Despite a European Court of Human Rights ruling this year that Moscow's yearly bans of gay pride violate the European Convention on Human Rights, the city prohibited the march again in May.

When a small group of people attempted to defy the ban, 18 of them were aggressively arrested, much the same as in previous years, when the activists also were beaten by anti-gay hooligans and assaulted by religious counterprotesters.

"Russia has shown itself to be unsuitable to have a say in the Council of Europe," said the organizers of the London demonstration. "Russia must issue a full apology to the protesters and take steps to prosecute those who are known to have taken part in violence against peaceful protesters. It must also commit to implementing full police protection for future Moscow Pride events. Until it has taken these steps, Russia should have its vote on the Council of Europe suspended."

Meanwhile, new Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said June 16 that gays can forget about marching in Moscow.

According to Moscow Pride, Sobyanin told reporters, "These are issues of morality."

Moscow Pride founder Nikolai Alekseev commented: "Gays are the last discriminated social group in Moscow when it turns to freedom of expression. We cannot go in the streets legally, we cannot register an organization, we are basically deprived of our civil and political rights and, after such declaration, there is nothing to even hope for."

Assistance: Bill Kelley


This article shared 6292 times since Wed Jun 22, 2011
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