SAUDI GAYS
BEHEADED
Six men were executed in Saudi Arabia in mid-July for crimes related to homosexuality.
Three men were beheaded in Abha July 11 for engaging in sodomy, transvestism and "homosexual marriage," and for allegedly raping youths after drugging them with sleeping pills.
An Islamic court found Attiya bin Ubaid Attiya, Rajeh bin Ibrahim Issa and Rajhi bin Hamad bin Ali guilty of "committing the extreme obscenity of homosexuality and imitating women." They were decapitated with a sword.
On July 14, three men from neighboring Yemen were beheaded in Jizan on charges of homosexuality, transvestism, same-sex marriage and luring boys into sexual activity. Abdullah Jabli, Yehya Faraj and Faraj Hajuri also were decapitated with a sword.
Saudi Arabia also applies the death penalty for murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery, drug trafficking and repeated drug offenses. Adulterers are stoned. People who drink alcohol are flogged.
CHINESE
CLUB RAIDED
Police raided the gay health spa Junjie Men's Beauty and Health Center ( also known as Heroes' Gym ) in Guangzhou, China, July 7 and arrested 37 men for prostitution.
But a police spokesman said the raid was not anti-gay in nature.
"The men were not taken in because of their homosexuality, which is a voluntary mutual relationship, but because the center charged from 200 yuan ( $24 ) to 500 yuan for their services," he said.
Police said the spa opened in February and had hundreds of card-carrying members.
Guangzhou is a thriving provincial capital near Hong Kong.
NEW MEXICAN
PRESIDENT MAY
BE OK FOR GAYS
Mexico's new president, Vincente Fox, may be friendlier toward gays than the reputation of his National Action Party ( PAN ) would suggest.
Fox captured the presidency in the July 2 elections, ending 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party ( PRI ) .
Although the PAN historically has been considered conservative and Catholic—and PAN governors and mayors have been known to launch crackdowns on transvestites and gay bars—Fox has positioned himself as a moderate on social issues, including gay rights.
During the presidential campaign, Fox dropped a TV attack ad against PRI opponent Francisco Labastida after it was denounced as anti-gay. Using a slang word for someone of undefined sexuality, the ad showed Labastida hoisting a male colleague by the thighs and showed male strippers at a rally for another PRI candidate, the Associated Press reported.
After dropping the ad, the PAN ran newspaper ads stating that the party "is not against the gay community in any way. ... In a Fox administration, there will be freedom for people to live without masks," it said.
"Fox and the right had to back down and apologize to the gay community," said author Carlos Monsivais. "It's incredible to hear the word 'homophobia' being used even by the right."
Speaking in Zacatecas in early June, Fox promised to be tolerant on social issues and specified that he was not going to ban miniskirts ( something PAN officials once did in Guadalajara ) or condoms and that he would not discriminate against anyone based on their sexual orientation.
In another appearance, he promised: "I commit myself to maintain the lay character of the Mexican state and public education. I commit myself to maintain the liberty, diversity and pluralism of Mexican society and never to use the power of the state to impose lifestyles, religious beliefs or codes of personal behavior. To respect the liberty of creation, of culture and of expression of all the groups who form Mexican society."
Tijuana gay activist Alejandro Garcia says it seems like there is old-school PAN and new-school PAN.
"When the PAN has won mayorships in cities, they always inaugurated a series of raids against sex workers, transvestites and gay cruising areas," Garcia said. "They did that here in Tijuana in 1992, but the gay community responded and talked to the government and the raids stopped. The same scenario played out in Chihuahua, Veracruz and Monterrey.
"But I think the PAN has changed," Garcia said. "I think its founders were more conservative and they're gone now. There are new Panistas who are more tolerant. Fox has declared that he is center-left—which is hardly possible since the party has been center-right—but the party has clearly improved because of more tolerant activists in its ranks."
Garcia doesn't expect significant change for the nation's gays under the Fox administration but, he said, "It's good for democracy in Mexico that the PRI lost the presidency of the republic—and control of the Senate too."
Other activists are less optimistic.
"It is going to be worse for gays and lesbians," said Cesar Velazquez, co-director of the Mexico City Pride Committee. "We are really afraid because in sections of the country where the PAN has come into power, there has been a lot of repression, including against gays and lesbians.
"I don't trust the PAN," Velazquez said. "Yes, they say they won't discriminate, but the precedents are there. We don't believe anything the PAN says. They are synonymous with the ultra-right and with repression. Right is right. They want to control people."
Jaime Marquez, an upper-middle-class gay man in Guadalajara who is not an activist, commented: "I don't like the guy. He's from the PAN and this party doesn't like gay people. Here in Jalisco state, the PAN is in power and a lot of gay people with businesses are not very happy with the party because they try to shut them down and stuff.
"A lot of people are happy Fox won just because it's another party," Marquez said, "but to me he seems phony. He says one thing on TV and then in the newspaper he says something different. But who knows? When he was governor of Guanajuato, he improved the economy there by pushing exports. That's the only good thing I know of him. I'm waiting to see what good he might do for the country."
PARTNER LAW
INTRODUCED
IN GERMANY
Germany's government presented a comprehensive gay-partnership bill July 5.
Under the proposal, same-sex couples would marry in a registry office and acquire spousal rights in areas such as taxation, inheritance, immigration, social security, child custody, health insurance and name changes. More than 100 other laws would be changed to accommodate the couples' new status.
The plan is supported by the Green party and the Social Democratic Party, which hold a majority of seats in the Bundestag chamber of parliament but not in the Bundesrat upper chamber. Some provisions of the government's proposal would not need approval from the upper house while others would, including those related to insurance, pensions and taxes.
Gay couples have been granted nearly every right of marriage in Denmark, France, Greenland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the U.S. state of Vermont.
LARGE TURNOUT FOR WORLD GAY PRIDE
The gay World Pride Rome 2000 celebration that horrified the Vatican and right-wing Italian politicians ended with a huge parade to the Colosseum July 8.
Police estimated a turnout of 70,000, state TV said 200,000, and organizers said 400,000.
According to one reporter, "The crowd included young couples with baby strollers, bare-breasted transsexuals in glittery wigs, animal rights activists, a guy in a kilt on stilts, agnostics, bikers and representative of unions and leftist political parties."
Another said: "Drag queens stripped down to their leather thongs and stilettos as the march snaked around the side of the Colosseum and the mid-afternoon temperature hit 36 degrees Celsius ( 96.8F ) . A man dressed as a Roman Emperor in drag cruised past the gaping arches of the monument in the back of a horse-drawn carriage as marchers filed by carrying placards denouncing the Roman Catholic Church."
The march began at Rome's southern walls and ended at Circus Maximus, the site of ancient Rome's chariot track.
Speaking one day later to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II called homosexuality "objectively disordered" and "contrary to the laws of nature."
"In the name of the church of Rome I cannot but express bitterness for the affront to the Grand Jubilee of the year 2000 and for the offense to the Christian values of a city that is so dear to the hearts of Catholics across the world," he said.
"The catechism makes it clear that homosexual acts are contrary to the laws of nature. The number of men and women with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This objectively disordered inclination is for the greater part of them a trial. They must be treated with respect, compassion and delicacy. Any sign of unjust discrimination against them must be avoided. Such people are called to carry out the will of God in their lives, and if they are Christian, to unite the difficulties they encounter as a result of their condition to the Lord's sacrifice on the cross."
Franco Grillini of the gay-rights group Arcigay fired back: "Who decides what is natural and what is not? Objectively disordered—what is that supposed to mean? Nobody chooses to be homosexual. Homosexuality is an objective fact.
"It is not enough to say that gays should 'be treated with respect, compassion and delicacy,' or that the Catholic Church condemns 'any sign of unjust discrimination,'" Grillini said. "The everyday real conduct of the hierarchy and of those Catholics involved in politics—the center-right above all—gives lie to these assertions. ... The real offense is the homophobia and the anti-gay prejudice which is fuelled by the Vatican hierarchy."
In Spain, meanwhile, about 50,000 people turned out for Madrid's pride parade July 1. In Barcelona, about 10,000 people marched from University Plaza to Sant Jaume Plaza. They carried signs denouncing the ruling People's Party and the Pope.
ISRAEL ALLOWS
GAY PARTNERS
TO IMMIGRATE
Israel has quietly begun allowing gay citizens' foreign lovers to immigrate.
At a recent meeting of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women, the Interior Ministry's Batya Carmon said immigration officials now treat same-sex couples the same as common-law spouses.
A foreign partner must present a request at the district office of the Interior Ministry along with proof of the relationship. The individual will receive a one-year tourist permit that allows employment. After four years ( during which the tourist permit is renewed annually ) , the individual can request temporary resident status. Several years later, he or she can seek permanent residency and, eventually, apply for citizenship.
GIELGUD GAVE
TO GAY GROUP
The late gay actor Sir John Gielgud, who was not fully out of the closet, was a secret donor to Britain's largest gay lobby group, Stonewall, according to gay actor Sir Ian McKellen.
Gielgud died in May at age 96.
Writing on his personal Web site, McKellen revealed: "Privately Sir John sent regular contributions to Stonewall. ... I had asked him to allow Stonewall to publish the fact that he was a benefactor. He replied: 'No, no, no, no.'"
McKellen added, "What a pity that he couldn't accept his honoured position as one of the most distinguished gay men who contributed so much to world theatre and, of late, to the film industry."
