GOVERNMENT PLANS GAY FORUM
Taipei, Taiwan's first gay forum has been scheduled for Sept. 3, sponsored by the city government, reported China Times.
The Taipei Homosexuality Forum will feature "noted homosexuals" from Taiwan and around the world, including American activists Michael Bronski and Nan Hunter, according to the city's Bureau of Civil Affairs.
In preparation for the event, the bureau has printed pamphlets for the general public explaining gay history and culture and that homosexuality is biologically based. It also has published a comprehensive guide to the island's gay groups and meeting places.
The bureau also will sponsor a gala, a design show and art shows at Warners Village Square near City Hall in conjunction with the forum.
GAY PRIEST
WINS BATTLE
Norway's Minister of Churches and Education, Trond Giske, has upheld the hiring of the nation's first openly non-celibate gay preacher by the Oslo Bishops Council of the state Lutheran church.
Giske said Jens Torstein Olsen was the "best qualified" person for the job.
Bishops who disagreed with Olsen's hiring had appealed to Giske, the formal employer of state church clergy, saying the appointment violated a 1997 decision by the church's national convention that preachers with same-sex lovers could not hold "consecrated" positions.
NORWEGIANS WOULD ACCEPT GAY KING
Fifty-nine percent of Norwegians would accept a gay king or queen, a Norsk Gallup poll has found.
Two-thirds would have no problem with a gay bishop in the state Lutheran church. Three-fourths wouldn't mind if the prime minister were gay.
Telephone pollsters questioned 993 people in early May.
CANADIAN COUPLE SUES TO MARRY
A gay couple in British Columbia, Canada, has filed a complaint against the provincial government with the Human Rights Commission because they can't get married.
Murray Warren and Peter Cook, who have lived together for 29 years, claim there is in fact no prohibition in Canadian law against same-sex marriage.
"Our rights to be treated equally as citizens in a democratic country and as a couple in a long-term, loving relationship are being denied because of our sexual orientation," Cook told reporters.
Provincial Attorney General Andrew Petter agrees.
"In a modern society there is no justification for denying same-sex couples the same option to form marital bonds as are afforded to opposite-sex couples," he said.
On July 20, Petter filed a petition with the B.C. Supreme Court requesting a determination on whether the federal common law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman is constitutional in light of a recent federal Supreme Court ruling that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.
BISEXUALS TO
RENDEZVOUS IN MANCHESTER
The Sixth International Bisexual Conference is scheduled for Aug. 24-28 in Manchester, England.
Among the speakers will be Fritz Klein who organizers described as "the father of modern bisexuality theory and research."
For more information, phone 011-44-794-609-2727 or visit http://come.to/bicon
AMNESTY CRITICIZES GUATEMALA
Guatemalan police are abusing transvestites, Amnesty International said July 18.
"There are strong indications that Guatemalan police have subjected transvestites to systematic abuse, including threats, harassment and rape, which is tantamount to 'social cleansing.'" said AI USA's Michael Heflin.
Heflin also called for full investigations into the recent murders of two transvestite sex workers in Guatemala City—"the latest in a string of [ such ] murders that apparently began in October 1997."
MONTREAL PRIDE WINS TOURISM AWARD
Montreal's gay-pride celebration, Divers/Cite, which attracted 500,000 people last year, has won a Tourisme Quebecois Grand Prize.
Fourteen awards were handed out in the Montreal region to four hotels, two restaurants, two tourist attractions, two tourist events, one outdoor-recreation activity and three tourist services.
The pride parade won in the category of "Tourist Event—Less than $1 Million Budget."
Officials said the parade is an "exceptional contribution toward promoting the image of the Montreal area as a tourist destination."
SOUTH AFRICAN
POLICE TARGET
ANTI-GAY CRIME
The South African Police Service and the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality are teaming up to combat crime against gays in Johannesburg's Zoo Lake and Amarentia Dam cruising areas.
Police will increase patrols at the locations and work with park officials to install new lighting. The NCGLE will launch a Pink Panther community-policing unit composed of gays, lesbians and men who have sex with men.
The gay paper Exit called the plans "one of the most positive examples of the spirit and freedom of the new South Africa."
NCGLE Director Carrie Shelver noted: "Ten years ago police arrested men for having sex with men. Now, in the new South Africa, the police have approached us to offer their protection. ... It is a significant step forward in the realization of lesbian and gay rights ... when law enforcers step forward to voice their concerns about the attacks on a particular community."
CYPRUS
EQUALIZES GAYS
Cyprus' parliament enacted legislation June 8 eliminating areas of discrimination against gay men in the criminal law.
According to the International Lesbian and Gay Association ( ILGA ) , lawmakers equalized the male age of consent ( by raising the age of consent for heterosexual males from 16 to 18 — women can have sex at 16 ) , eliminated the pejorative description of gay sex ( replacing "unnatural licentiousness" with "intercourse between men" ) , and deleted discriminatory provisions on privacy ( sex between more than two men had been classified as taking place "in public" ) .
Provisions banning "indecent behaviour or invitation or provocation or advertisement aimed at performing unnatural acts between males" were altered to apply only to actions directed at persons under 18.
The changes were a belated response to a 1993 victory at the European Court of Human Rights by gay activist Alecos Modinos who had challenged Cyprus' total ban on gay-male sex. In 1998, parliament repealed the outright ban but simultaneously created the discriminatory provisions described above.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe then ruled that the 1998 changes did not fully comply with the terms of the Euro Court's ruling. ( Under the European Convention on Human Rights, the Committee is empowered to ensure that actions taken by governments and parliaments in response to a judgment of the European Court fully rectify the human-rights violations identified in the judgment. )
In a press release, ILGA commented: "ILGA Europe ... welcomes the fact that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has insisted that the original legislative changes of 1998 were insufficient. There is little doubt that only a few years ago they would have been unlikely to insist on the additional changes. This is a further indication of the consensus among the governments of Europe that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the criminal law is unacceptable."
The Council of Europe was founded following World War II and works to strengthen democracy, human rights and the rule of law in its 41 member states. The European Convention on Human Rights is the most important of its many human-rights treaties. Violations of the convention are settled by the European Court of Human Rights. The Council is governed by the foreign ministers of its member states ( the Committee of Ministers ) and by representatives from national parliaments ( the Parliamentary Assembly ) . For more information, visit www.coe.fr.
