UN EMPLOYEES CRY FOUL
Although the United Nations claims to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, the organization does not provide equal benefits to gay workers, the UN gay employees group complained Aug. 16.
GLOBE-UN ( Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees at the UN ) seeks access to spousal benefits in areas such as insurance, pensions, relocation expenses and visas.
"The 30-year partner of a lesbian staff member is not entitled to the survivor's benefits afforded under the pension scheme," GLOBE said. "The UN will not pay to travel a gay family to a staff member's new assignment, nor will the UN assist in securing a visa for a gay or a lesbian partner."
UN spokesman Kevin St. Louis, special assistant to the assistant secretary general, told Inter Press Service the UN cannot take the lead ahead of member nations in recognizing gay families.
But, he added, "As more nations come up with new laws, the United Nations will at least have to look at [ the issue ] ."
SOUTH AFRICAN COURT DELAYS DECISION ON IMMIGRATION
South Africa's Constitutional Court delayed judgment Aug. 17 on the question of granting permanent residency to foreign partners of gay South Africans.
The National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality had won a lower-court case in which the group claimed denying residency for gay lovers violates the constitution, which is one of only four in the world that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The ruling was appealed to the Constitutional Court by the Department of Home Affairs.
URALS GAYS WANT TO MARRY
The Chelyabinsk, Russia, gay group Freedom of Conscience called on the government to legalize gay marriage Aug. 19.
The group's leader, Vasily Barkov, 19, told the daily newspaper Kommersant that letting gays wed would raise public awareness of their problems and reduce anti-gay violence.
Chelyabinsk, with a population of more than 1 million, is located on the Miass River in the Asian part of the Southern Urals, 950 miles ( 1,500 km ) east of Moscow.
AIDS MEMORIAL PLANNED FOR MANCHESTER
Manchester, England's gay Mardi Gras festival will fund construction of a stainless-steel sculpture in Sackville Park as a memorial to people lost to AIDS.
It will be located on a podium covered in multi-colored tiles that can be sponsored and dedicated to the memory of a loved one, said the Manchester Evening News.
"I think people want a very dignified and tasteful HIV memorial," said Coun Pat Karney, chair of the planning committee. "There are a lot of people who know someone who has died from HIV or who is ill, so it will be an important place for them."
SINGAPORE AIDS LEADER DIES
Singapore's only openly HIV-positive AIDS activist died Aug. 21, the Sunday Times reported.
Paddy Chew, 39, had acknowledged he had the disease last December during the nation's first AIDS conference.
Although Chew was gay, government statistics show that HIV has been transmitted primarily via heterosexual sex with prostitutes.
Gay activists have criticized the government for failure to promote safe sex among men who have sex with men.
DOLPHIN TRIES TO RAPE NORWEGIAN SWIMMERS
The Oslo newspaper Verdens Gang and the wire service Agence France-Presse reported Aug. 17 that a male dolphin tried to rape two male Norwegian swimmers.
In separate incidents, the dolphin circled the men then suddenly tried to stick his penis between their legs and their swimming suits in a clear attempt at anal penetration, the reports said.
"At first I thought it was pushing me with its flipper but dolphins don't have flippers beneath their bellies," one of the swimmers told reporters.
