OUTfront Seattle

Gay.Com: Castro daughter champions gay rights

2008-03-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

Castro daughter champions gay rights

published Friday, March 28, 2008

The daughter of Cuba's new president is urging the Cuban National Assembly to adopt a law protecting LGBT rights, arguably the most liberal bill of its kind in Latin America.

Mariela Castro, Raul's daughter, is the head of the National Center for Sex Education. The proposed legislation would recognize same-sex unions, including inheritance rights, allow free gender-reassignment operations for transgender people, and allow transgender people to change their identification records without first having to undergo surgery. The bill, however, does not allow adoption for gay couples, nor does it push for marriage equality. "A lot of homosexual couples asked me to not risk delaying getting the law passed by insisting on the word marriage," she said, according to BBC News. "In Cuba marriage is not as important as the family, and at least this way we can guarantee the personal and inheritance rights of homosexuals and transsexuals."

Check out the full article here...

exposed: a celebration of queer artistry

2008-03-27T16:25:00.001-07:00

Support the Center for LGBT Health (Gay City Health Project and Verbena Health)

and Seattle’s queer arts community by attending…

exposed: a celebration of queer artistry / friday, april 4^th / 7pm

HaLo Studios / 500 East Pike Street / 2^nd Floor / Seattle

exposed is an arts-based fundraising event that will feature the work of 20 of Seattle’s most gifted queer artists, as well as a spoken word showcase by Bent Arts. The exhibit will present a wealth of queer art in a variety of media - visual, sculpture, ceramic, and functional. All art on display will be available for purchase from the artists. 100% of the proceeds from specially designated pieces will directly benefit the Center.

Featured artists include: Kathy Admire, Cody Blomberg, Nabanita Dutt, Anna Perrone Heinrichs, Allie Jones, Jeff Larson, Ellen Leggett, Kerb Lydick, Sandra Jo Palm, Miranda Pingitore, Gregory Poore, Derek Sparks, Justin Orvold, Robert Yoon, Suzanne Spratt, Thomas Wurst, Josh Summer, Claudia Trott, Debra Bacianga and Ingrid Berkhout

National News: Task Force decries anti-gay bigotry involving teen shot in hate-laced attack

2008-02-21T15:52:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 — Lawrence King, a 15-year-old student in Oxnard, Calif., was shot in the head yesterday by a classmate. King was declared brain dead, but his body remains on a ventilator for possible organ donation. According to the Associated Press, the Ventura County prosecutor has filed charges of attempted murder with a hate-crime enhancement, but can't discuss the facts behind the case.

Statement by Matt Foreman, Executive Director National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

“Right now we don’t know exactly how anti-gay hate expressed itself in the murder of Lawrence King. What we do know is that he was harassed on a daily basis because of his sexual orientation and gender expression. We do know that adults at his junior high school did not stop it and that kind of tolerance of anti-gay bigotry is pervasive in our nation’s schools. Our hearts go out to Lawrence’s family — and to all young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender kids who are — right now, right this minute — being bullied and beaten in school while adults look the other way.”

National News: State Department drops ban on HIV-positive diplomats

2008-02-19T10:13:00.000-08:00

State Department drops ban on HIV-positive diplomats
By Matthew Lee, Associated Press February 18, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Under pressure from a lawsuit, the State Department is
changing rules that had disqualified HIV-positive people from becoming U.S.
diplomats.

Effective Friday, the department removed HIV from a list of medical
conditions that automatically prevent foreign service candidates from
meeting an employment requirement that they be able to work anywhere in the
world.

The change was made after consultation with medical experts and in response
to a lawsuit filed by an HIV-positive man who was denied entry into the
foreign service despite being otherwise qualified, the department said..

Prospective diplomats with HIV will now be considered for the foreign
service on a case-by-case basis, along with those with other designated
ailments like cancer to determine if they meet the "worldwide availability"
standard, it said.

Officials denied that the policy had ever intentionally discriminated
against HIV-positive people and noted that the policy had applied only to
incoming diplomats, not those who had contracted the virus or other
diseases while in the foreign service.

"We have a policy requiring that all foreign service officers be worldwide
available as determined by a medical examination at the time of entry into
the foreign service," said Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman.
"That has not changed."

The department's chief medical officer had "revised its medical clearance
guidelines on HIV based on advances in HIV care and treatment and
consultations with medical experts," Gallegos said. "The new clearance
guidelines provide that HIV-positive individuals may be deemed worldwide
available if certain medical conditions are met."

The decision was hailed by Lambda Legal, a New York-based group that
advocates for the civil rights of homosexuals, bisexuals, transgender
people and those with HIV and represented the plaintiff in the lawsuit
against the State Department.

"The new guidelines mean that candidates for Foreign Service posts who have
HIV will now be assessed on a case-by-case basis, as the law requires,"
said Bebe Anderson, the organization's HIV project director. "At long last,
the State Department is taking down its sign that read, 'People with HIV
need not apply.'"

The change in policy came less than two weeks before the trial in the
lawsuit brought in 2003 by Lorenzo Taylor, a trilingual international
affairs specialist who passed the difficult foreign service application
process but was rejected after he told the department of his HIV status.

"Now people like me who apply to the Foreign Service will not have to go
through what I did," Taylor said in a statement. "They and others with HIV
will know that they do not have to surrender to stigma, ignorance, fear or
the efforts of anyone, even the federal government, to impose second-class
citizenship on them. They can fight back."

Lambda Legal said the suit had been settled "partly due to the new
guidelines," but the State Department said the policy switch was not part
of the settlement.

"The change simply reflects medical advances in the area of HIV care and
maintenance," Gallegos said.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

International News: IGLHRC: Arrests of Gay Men in Senega

2008-02-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

For Immediate Release
Contact: Hossein Alizadeh, IGLHRC Communications Coordinator, 212-430-6016

(New York, Monday February 4, 2008)- In a letter to Senegalese Minister of Justice, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and PAN-Africa ILGA have demanded the immediate and unconditional release of up to 20 gay men believed to have been arrested on suspicion of homosexuality in Senegal in the past week.

At least 7 and perhaps as many as 20 gay men have been arrested in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, since the morning of Sunday 3 February after a popular local magazine, Icones, published photographs of a marriage ceremony between two Senegalese men. The wedding is believed to have taken place in a discrete location in Dakar more than a year-and-a-half ago. Sources report that the photographs were sold to the sensationalist magazine by the photographer for 1,500,000 ($3000) CFA francs. The arrests were reportedly undertaken upon the orders of Mr. Asane Ndoye, head of the Senegalese Police’s Division of Criminal Investigation. It is unclear where the men and women are being held.

“Mass arrests of people simply because they are gay terrorize the entire community,” said Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC’s executive director. “The inhuman treatment of gay men and lesbians must stop. We call upon the world community to enforce international human rights law.” The U.N. Human Rights Committee affirmed in its decision in Toonen v. Australia (1994) that existing protection against discrimination in Articles 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) incorporates sexual orientation as a protected status.

“We are afraid for our lives, especially those of us shown in the photographs,” said Jean R., a Senegalese gay activist who spoke to ILGA and IGLHRC from a hotel where he is seeking refuge. “Some of us have gone into hiding and others are fleeing the country.”

Senegal is one of the few Francophone African countries that penalize homosexuality. Under Article 3.913 of the Senegalese penal code, homosexual acts are punishable by imprisonment of between one and five years and a fine of 100,000 ($200) to 1,500,000 ($3,000) CFA francs. While there are occasional arrests and convictions of gay men under the Article, social stigma and blackmail are the most prevalent abuses faced by gay men in the country.

“Many consider Senegal to be one of the most progressive African countries on the issue of homosexuality,” said Joel Nana, IGLHRC’s Program Associate for West Africa. “The government has included a commitment to fighting HIV among men who have sex with men in its national AIDS response plan since 2005. That’s why we found these arrests to be very distressing.”

Senegal has strong political and economic ties to a number of conservative Islamic governments and institutions, and will be hosting the summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference in March. The OIC has invested heavily in the rehabilitation of Dakar’s infrastructure in preparation for the Summit.

Under the circumstances, IGLHRC and Pan-African ILGA expressed concern as to whether Senegal is well-suited to host the upcoming International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), scheduled to take place in Dakar in December 2008.

“There will be no room for an open and inclusive discussion on the human rights dimensions of HIV in the face of such harassment,” said Danilo da Silva, co-chair of Pan-African ILGA, a federation gathering over 40 lesbian and gay groups from all parts of Africa. “We expect more from a leading country like Senegal.”

##.

International News: Jamaica: Shield Gays from Mob Attacks

2008-02-04T16:18:00.000-08:00

Jamaica: Shield Gays from Mob Attacks

Widespread Homophobic Violence Shows Failure of Police Protection

(New York, February 1, 2008) – A homophobic mob attack in Jamaica that left
one man severely injured and another missing and feared dead shows yet
again that authorities must take urgent action against violence and hatred,
Human Rights Watch said today. This incident is the latest in a string of
homophobic mob violence over the last year, including an attack on mourners
in a church.

“Roving mobs attacking innocent people and staining the streets with blood
should shame the nation’s leaders,” said Scott Long, director of the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights
Watch. “Gays and lesbians in Jamaica face violence at home, in public, even
in a house of worship, and official silence encourages the spread of hate.”

On the evening of January 29, a group of men approached a house where four
males lived in the central Jamaican town of Mandeville, and demanded that
they leave the community because they were gay, according to human rights
defenders who spoke with the victims. Later that evening, a mob returned
and surrounded the house. The four men inside called the police when they
saw the crowd gathering; the mob started to attack the house, shouting and
throwing bottles. Those in the house called police again and were told that
the police were on the way. Approximately half an hour later, 15-20 men
broke down the door and began beating and slashing the inhabitants.

Human rights defenders who spoke to the victims also reported that police
arrived half an hour after the mob had broken into the house – 90 minutes
after the men first called for help. One of the victims managed to flee
with the mob pursuing. A Jamaican newspaper reported that blood was found
at the mouth of a nearby pit, suggesting he had fallen inside or may have
been killed nearby. The police escorted the three other victims away from
the scene; two of them were taken to the hospital. One of the men had his
left ear severed, his arm broken in two places, and his spine reportedly
damaged.

The attack on these men echoes another incident in the same town on Easter
Sunday, April 8, 2007. Approximately 100 men gathered outside a church
where 150 people were attending the funeral of a gay man. According to
mourners, the crowd broke the windows with bottles and shouted, “We want no
battyman [gay] funeral here. Leave or else we’re going to kill you. We
don’t want no battyman buried here in Mandeville.” Several mourners inside
the church called the police to request protection. After half an hour,
three police officers arrived.

But instead of protecting the mourners, police socialized with the mob,
laughing along at the situation. A highway patrol car subsequently arrived,
and one of the highway patrol officers reportedly told the churchgoers,
“It’s full time this needs to happen. Enough of you guys.” The highway
patrol officers then drove off. The remaining officers at the scene refused
to intervene when the mob threatened the mourners with sticks, stones, and
batons as they tried to leave the service. Only when several gay men among
the mourners took knives from their cars for self-defense did police
reportedly take action by firing their guns into the air. Officers stopped
gay men from leaving and searched their vehicles, but did not restrain or
detain members of the mob.

“While Jamaican police have begun to reach out to gay and lesbian
communities, this change hasn’t reached many police stations where
protection remains an illusion,” said Rebecca Schleifer, advocate on
HIV/AIDS and human rights at Human Rights Watch. “These horrifying attacks
should galvanize officials to protect all Jamaicans against violence,
regardless of who they are.”

Two other mob attacks last year reinforced the fears of gay and lesbian
Jamaicans. On April 2, 2007, a crowd in Montego Bay attacked three men
alleged to be gay who were attending a carnival. The men took to a stage to
dance during the revelry, but the mob began throwing bottles and stones at
them. Witnesses said the crowd chased the men down the street, slashed one
man with knives and beat him with a manhole cover. According to local press
reports, at least 30 or 40 people beat another man as he sought refuge in a
bar, tearing his clothes from him and striking him as he bled severely from
a head wound.

In this case, police did intervene in an attempt to protect the men, but
were overpowered by the mob. They were able to transport at least one
victim to the hospital only after backup forces arrived more than 20
minutes later.

On February 14, 2007, a mob in Kingston attacked four men, including the
co-chair of t the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (JFLAG).
The men took refuge in a store in Tropical Plaza on Constant Spring Road in
Kingston, while a crowd of at least 200 people gathered outside, calling
for the men to be beaten to death because they were gay. The men called
local police, as well as Human Rights Watch. When officers arrived, instead
of protecting them, they verbally abused the victims, calling them “nasty
battymen,” and struck one in the face, head, and stomach. They took the men
to Halfway Tree Police Station in Kingston, but refused to take their
complaints and ordered them never to return to the station.

In 2007, Human Rights Watch wrote to then-Prime Minister Portia
Simpson-Miller and Peter Phillips, minister of national security, calling
for an investigation into all the reported violence, as well as protection
of witnesses from threats or reprisals. Human Rights Watch has received no
response from the government to any of this correspondence.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/02/01/jamaic17957.htm

International News: Spain Takes Big Changes in Stride

2008-02-04T16:15:00.000-08:00

Associated Press:

Spain Takes Big Changes in Stride
By Daniel Woolls
Despite condemnations from Catholic officials, Spain's liberal government
and the majority of its citizens support gay equality, including marriage
equality and adoption rights.
Sunday 02.03.08

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/03/AR2008020301419.html

MADRID, Spain—A generation ago, traditional families were sacred in Spain.
Gen. Francisco Franco liked them big and Catholic, and gave hefty cash
prizes to parents with the most copious broods.

These days, a civics course in Spain’s public schools teaches that modern
families can be quite different _ single parents with kids, or same-sex
couples raising adopted children.

This and a host of other social reforms have given traditionally Catholic
Spain a striking new look. And while the clergy is fighting the changes,
the general public seems to be taking them in its stride.

Spain is one of the few countries that grant full legal status to same-sex
couples, including adoption rights. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero, whose Socialist government enacted many of the changes, also
engineered a law granting financial aid to families caring for handicapped
or elderly relatives, amnestied 600,000 undocumented aliens, and created
special courts to prosecute spousal violence.

Half the members of Zapatero’s Cabinet, and half the Socialist candidates
running for legislative seats in elections March 9, are women.
All this is in stunning contrast to the conservative society forged in
Franco’s dictatorship, and is seen by political scientist Ramon Cotarelo as
a reaction to having spent nearly four decades feeling like the continent’s
repressed, backward cousin.

“Spaniards like to come across as progressive. They think that this way,
they remedy the inferiority complex they have with respect to the rest of
Europe,” said Cotarelo, who teaches at Complutense University in Madrid.

An Instituto Opina poll published the day after the gay marriage law passed
in 2005 showed 62 percent in favor and 30 percent against.

Only a few thousand gay couples in this nation of 45 million have married,
but the Catholic church is fighting back.

At a church-convened rally Dec. 30 in Madrid to plug traditional family
values, bishop after bishop stood up to denounce Zapatero. A crowded
estimated at least at 150,000 roared in approval when Pope Benedict XVI
appeared live on giant TV screens from Rome and said marriage is the
unbreakable union of man and woman.

The archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal Agustin Garcia-Gasco, said gay
marriage and streamlined procedures for divorce were undermining Spain’s
families and social fabric.

“Along this path we are headed toward the dissolution of democracy,” he
warned the crowd.

Zapatero hit back by accusing the church of trying to impose its view on a
people he described as perfectly comfortable with gay marriage.

“Whatever some cardinal may say, the family, understood in a broad sense,
is in very good health,” Zapatero told a campaign rally.

Under Franco, the church was powerful and close to the government. Franco’s
death in 1975 cost the clergy a source of support, and these days only a
small proportion of the 80 percent of Spaniards who call themselves
Catholic attend church regularly.

Meanwhile, the democratic society that has gradually involved since Franco
died in 1975 shows striking tolerance of homosexuality. In a media campaign
last year to fight AIDS by encouraging gay men to use condoms, one of the
participants was Fernando Grande-Marlaska, a prominent judge at Spain’s
main terrorism court, who is openly gay.

One sign that society is at ease with gay rights is that the issue is not
much of an issue in next month’s election. Cotarelo said the changes have
probably not angered many moderate conservatives, a key consideration in a
race where centrist votes are crucial.

Instead, alongside worries about renewed Basque separatist violence, it’s
the economy, estupido _ inflation above 4 percent, skyrocketing interest
rates on mortgages, and a general sense that one of Europe’s top-tier
economies is cooling.

These are the issues that are giving Zapatero a tough run for a second
term. The Socialists and the conservative Popular Party which Zapatero
unseated in 2004 are running neck-and-neck in opinion polls.

The area in which Zapatero decisively outpolls his Popular Party
challenger, Mariano Rajoy, is social reform, and Zapatero capitalizes on
it.

When he called the vote in mid-January, he looked back on his four years in
power and his promise to deliver socially sensitive governance. “I kept my
word,” he said.

Action: AI on Iran

2008-01-30T12:10:00.000-08:00

In May 2007, two men were tried and convicted of abduction, rape and theft. They were sentenced to being “thrown at a height” or “cliff” (partab az bolandi) by a judge in Shiraz, Fars province, southern Iran. Four other men, allegedly also involved in the crimes, were ordered to endure 100 lashes each. Both of these punishments have not yet been carried out by the Iranian authorities.

On 2 January 2008, Qods, a national daily newspaper in Iran, reported that the sentences of the two men had been confirmed by the Supreme Court, and sent for implementation, and that four other men had been convicted by Branch 2 of the Fars Criminal Court to 100 lashes each, in connection with the same case. The six men were accused of having abducted two young men in the city of Arsanjan, to the east of Shiraz, whom they harassed and whose property they stole before allegedly raping them.

At a press conference on 15 January, Ali Reza Jamshidi, the Spokesman for the Judiciary in Iran, confirmed that the sentences had been upheld by the Supreme Court, but that they had not yet been carried out. His statement appeared to contradict the Qods article, as it suggested that the Head of the Judiciary may not yet have given final approval for the executions. All death sentences in Iran must be approved by the Head of the Judiciary before they can be carried out. He has the power to suspend the execution.

Iran’s Penal Code states in Article 109 that both men involved in same-sex penetrative (anal) or non-penetrative sex will be punished. Article 110 states that those convicted of engaging in anal sex will be executed and that the manner of execution is at the discretion of the judge. Article 111 states that both will be executed “provided both the active and passive parties are mature, sane and consenting”. There is no separate legislation dealing with rape. Article 14 of the Directive on Implementation Regulations for Sentences of Retribution in kind, Stoning, Murder, Crucifixion, Death Penalty and Flogging states that death may be carried out by hanging, firing squad, electrocution or another method determined by the judge issuing the verdict. If no other method is specified, the method will be hanging. The sentence passed in this case is exceptional in its apparent intent to inflict suffering.

The sentence was condemned by the Centre for Human Rights Defenders, a Tehran-based human rights NGO whose members include Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi.

In 2007, at least 312 people, including child offenders, were executed in Iran, although the true figure may be considerably higher. Amnesty International acknowledges the right and responsibility of governments to bring to justice those suspected of criminal offences but is unconditionally opposed to the use of the death penalty and opposes the use of flogging and other judicial corporal punishments which constitute torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.

Take Action Here

Local News: Hate Crimes Press Conference

2008-01-30T11:51:00.001-08:00

Hate Crimes Awareness Press Conference 2/1 at 2pm - Jan 29, 2008

(Seattle, WA) In November 2007, a broad coalition of community groups sponsored a safety forum addressing the issue of gay bashing and hate crimes on Capitol Hill. As a result of the forum, many actions have been implemented. In one action, the King County Prosecutor’s Office, Gay City Health Project, and CHCC decided to take further steps to increase public awareness. A Hate Crimes Awareness poster and matching palm cards listing community resources were created for the express purpose of protecting the neighborhood and encouraging others to report anti-gay hate crimes.
A press conference will be held on Friday, February 1, at 2 PM at Kaladi Brothers Coffee located at 511 East Pike Street between Belmont and Summit Avenues. The Hate Crimes Awareness posters and palm cards will be distributed at this time. Kaladi Brothers Coffee is located in the Center for LGBT Health, where Gay City Health Project is also located.
Speakers will include sponsors Jack Hilovsky of the CHCC, Fred Swanson of Gay City Health Project, and Dan Satterberg, King County Prosecuting Attorney.
Partners in the original forum included Bailey Coy Books, Broadway BIA, Broadway Video, Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, Equal Rights Washington, Gay City Health Project, Greater Seattle Business Association, Kaladi Brothers Coffee, Seattle Commission for Sexual Minorities, Seattle Gay News, Seattle LGBT Community Center, Seattle Office for Civil Rights and Rosebud Restaurant

Please come to learn more about our efforts and help spread the word about how to keep our neighborhood safe.

Hate Crimes Awareness Press Conference
Date: Friday, February 1 at 2 PM
Location: Kaladi Brothers Coffee, 511 E Pike Street

For more information, please contact Jack Hilovsky at 328-6646.

International News: South Korea's Liberal LGBT Policies Regress

2008-01-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

The president of South Korea, Mr. Lee Myung-bak, has become a critic of the country's past LGBT policies. Mr. Lee Myung -bak is now listening to anti-LGBT activists and changing policy with his new Anti-Discrimination Bill.

Here is IGLHRC'S overview on the bill and issue:

Overview

South Korea’s policies on LGBTQ issues have
been relatively progressive. The country
prohibited employment discrimination based on
sexual orientation in 2001, and permitted people
who had undergone gender reassignment surgery
to get personal documents reflecting their
changed gender identity in 2006. But
homophobia persists and LGBTQ activists
continue to fight discrimination in schools and in
the military. Many gay websites remain
censored.

The country’s LGBTQ movement is currently
strategizing about how to stall a negative
decision on the proposed anti-discrimination bill,
which, in its most recent draft, eliminates seven
protected categories including sexual orientation.
The LGBTQ movement is also contemplating
how to weather the next five years under the
administration of newly elected ultra-
conservative President, Mr. Lee Myung-bak.

---------------------------------------------------------
Here is the link to the full report: http://www.iglhrc.org/files/iglhrc/program_docs/Regional%20Update-Korea.pdf

Action: Cameroon Action from Headquarters

2008-01-24T17:57:00.000-08:00

Urgent Action: Call for Release of 11 Men and Decriminalization of Homosexuality in Cameroon

January 2008

Eleven men were arrested and detained in Cameroon between 19^th July and 1^st September 2007 because they were suspected of engaging in acts of homosexuality. Sexual relations between two people of the same sex are illegal in Cameroon. The 11 men were arrested in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé where they remain in custody. Amnesty International considers the detainees to be prisoners of conscience, detained solely on account of their presumed sexual orientation, and is calling for their immediate and unconditional release as well as for the decriminalization of homosexuality in Cameroon. The continued detention of the men on this basis contravenes the rights to freedom from discrimination, privacy and freedom of assembly and association, as guaranteed by the international and regional human rights treaties to which Cameroon is a party.

Between 19and 21 July 2007, police arrested six men at various public places in the city of Douala accusing them of engaging in acts of homosexuality. The arrests followed a woman’s allegations of theft and alleged homosexual acts against her two juvenile cousins. The two were arrested, questioned and later released. After their interrogation by the police, three other men were also arrested on suspicion of having engaged in acts of homosexuality. An additional three men were also arrested for the same reasons.

On 25 July 2007, the 6 men were transferred to Douala’s central prison. In addition to charges of homosexuality men were also accused of committing “sodomy” and “corrupting youth” in violation of the provisions of sections 344, 346 and 347 of the Cameroonian Penal code. One of the detainees was also accused of committing an indecent assault with a 16-year-old boy.

On 16 August 2007, two men were arrested in Yaoundé. According to sources, it was close to 4 am when the police broke down the door of the room where the men were sleeping. The policemen asked them to remove their clothes before telling them they were being arrested because they had been caught having sex. Their case was transferred to the Attorney General on 20 August 2007. According to their lawyer, the men were subjected to anal examinations to determine if they had engaged in sexual acts.

On 30 August 2007, at around 5:45 AM, three men were arrested by a police patrol in Douala. The men were found fighting over a TV set and a DVD player. According to the police report one of the accused had solicited sex from the other two men in exchange of 25,000CFA (equivalent of US$ 50) and a fight began after a dispute over the payment. The three men were charged with same-sex sexual relations by the Attorney General at the Douala Public Prosecutor’s Department. They appeared at Douala 1st Instance Tribunal on 7 November 2007, on 2 January and on 8 January 2008 and pleaded not guilty. On 9 January 2008, the Tribunal convicted and sentenced the three men to 6 months imprisonment with hard labor and fines ranging from US $54 to US $100.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals in French, English or your own language:

expressing concern for the eleven detainees on trial in the capital, Yaoundé, on charges of practising homosexuality;
stating that Amnesty International believes that they are prisoners of conscience, detained solely because of their alleged sexual orientation;
asking the authorities to order an immediate halt to the trial of these detainees on charges based on their suspected or known sexual orientation;
urging the authorities to release the detainees immediately and unconditionally and to respect their right to freedom of association in accordance with international human rights treaties, such as the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and under the African Convention for Human and People’s Rights, to which Cameroon is a party;
calling on the authorities to ensure that the detainees are not subjected to anal examinations or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;
calling on the authorities to ensure that the detainees are allowed access to their families, lawyers and any medical attention they may require.

ADDRESS APPEALS TO:

Minister of Justice

Mr Amadou Ali

Deputy Prime Minister

Minister of Justice

Yaoundé

Cameroon

Salutation: Dear vice-Prime Minister/ Monsieur

le Vice-Premier Ministre

WITH COPIES TO :

Minister of Interior

Mr Marafa Hamidou Yaya

Minister of Territorial Administration Decentralization

Ministry of Territorial Administration Decentralization

Yaoundé

Cameroon

Salutation: Dear Minister/Monsieur le Ministre

Director of Kondengi prison

Monsieur le Directeur

Prison Centrale de Kondengui,

BP 100, Yaoundé- Province Centrale.

Cameroon

…and to diplomatic representatives of Cameroon in your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your Amnesty International section office, if sending appeals after 31 March 2008.

News: Seattle Times Reporting State's gay caucus is 2nd-largest in U.S.

2008-01-24T10:11:00.000-08:00

State's gay caucus is 2nd-largest in U.S.

By RACHEL LA CORTE
The Associated Press

OLYMPIA — The Washington Legislature has the second-largest gay caucus in the country after a new representative was appointed to the House this year.

Marko Liias, a 26-year-old Democrat from Mukilteo, started the legislative session earlier this month, replacing former Rep. Brian Sullivan, who left the Legislature for the Snohomish County Council.

Liias' arrival gives Washington six openly gay lawmakers, ahead of California's five, but still one shy of the seven gay lawmakers in New Hampshire.

That gives Washington state the second-largest Capitol gay caucus, according to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based political action committee.

Read the full story here.

News: Time.Com reporting France Overruled on Gay Adoption

2008-01-24T09:58:00.000-08:00

By Bruce Crumley

The European Court of Human Rights overturned French court rulings that
prevented a single lesbian woman from adopting a child; the move opens the
way for legal challenges in other European states, but does not oblige all
countries to allow gay adoption.

Thursday 01.24.08
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1706514,00.html

Social and political conservatives have tended to be more cautious European
enthusiasts than their leftist peers. This week provided another example
why that’s the case. In a decision setting precedence not just across the
27-nation European Union, but indeed throughout the entire 47-member
Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights overturned French
court rulings that prevented a single lesbian woman from adopting a child.
The move, gay and lesbian groups say opens the way for legal challenges in
other European states with adoption laws similar to those of France — yet
falls well short of a blanket ruling that would oblige all countries to
allow adoption by homosexuals.

In a 10-7 vote, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Strasbourg
Tuesday that a plaintiff identified only as Emmanuelle B. had been the
victim of illegal discrimination when successive French authorities denied
her request to adopt a child in 1998. The court faulted French criticism
over “the lack of a paternal referent in the household”, and elsewhere said
the woman’s homosexuality had been “if not explicit, at least implicit” in
France’s rejection of her adoption request. The Court judged France had
violated the European Convention on Human Rights — to which France and the
other 46 Council of Europe members are signatories — based on its refusal
to allow a single lesbian adopt in a manner it allows straight singles to.

“French law allowed single parents to adopt a child, thereby opening up the
possibility for adoption by a single homosexual,” the judgment found. In
addition to opening the way for the 45 year-old nursery school teacher, who
has lived with her female partner for nearly 20 years, to see through her
desire to adopt, the Court also ordered France to pay Emmanuelle B. $14,600
in damages, and $21,210 in legal costs.

Gay rights organizations in France and across Europe hailed the ruling for
taking on one of the main kinds of discrimination homosexuals continue to
face. Some conservatives, however, were as equally outspoken in the
condemnation of the decision. Michèle Tabarot, a parliamentarian for the
ruling conservative Movement for a Popular Majority Party and the president
of France’s Superior Council on Adoption, reacted with charges “the judges
are over-stepping their role by going beyond what the law says, and by
imposing their conception” of justice. Tabarot also noted that if French
rules allowing singles to adopt children as a means of increasing the
number of potential homes for orphans, they weren’t intended to alter
official French views on gay parenting. “In France the parliament never
sought to open adoption to homosexuals,” she noted.

Indeed, Tuesday’s ruling, in many ways, represents a back door to equal
treatment starkly contrasting the more traditional attitudes and laws
prevalent in most of Europe. Franck Tanguy, spokesman for France’s
Association of Gay and Lesbian Parents, confirms “this ruling is a step in
the right direction”, in that it “requires countries that, like France,
allow singles to adopt children to treat unmarried homosexual and
heterosexual applicants in exactly the same manner.” Failure to do so in
any country with such legislation, Tanguy says, means they’d “find
themselves condemned again and again for discrimination by the many single
homosexuals who’d use this precedent to base a legal defense on”. However,
Tanguy regrets the ruling “won’t change anything in countries that don’t
allow any singles to adopt, nor force nations that don’t allow homosexual
couples to adopt to change their laws”.

There are currently nine European countries that permit gay and lesbian
couples to adopt children: Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Iceland,
Norway, the Netherlands, the U.K., and Sweden. Though a boon for single
homosexuals seeking to adopt children where unwed heterosexuals are allowed
to do so, Tanguy says Tuesday’s ruling may cause countries considering
allowing adoption by non-married straight couples to shelve such plans in
order to maintain the prohibition for gays and lesbians.

News: 365.com Reporting Al Gore Voices Support for Gay Marriage

2008-01-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

Al Gore Voices Support For Gay Marriage
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 23, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET

(New York City) Former Vice President Al Gore has come out in favor of
same-sex marriage.

"I don’t understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to
heterosexual marriage to allow it by gays and lesbians," Gore said in a
posting on his person blog in the Current.com website.

"Shouldn’t we be promoting the kind of faithfulness and loyalty to one’s
partner regardless of sexual orientation?"

Current is the news network founded by Gore.

"[T]he loyalty and love that two people feel for one another when they fall
in love ought to be celebrated and encouraged and shouldn’t be prevented by
any form of discrimination in the law," Gore said in the video posting.

In 2000 when he ran for president Gore said he supported civil unions or
contracts but not marriage.
His turnaround was hailed by gay Democrats.

"We applaud Vice President Gore for firmly stating his support for allowing
same-sex couples the freedom to marry. It is a position which some would
still call courageous, but which a new generation of Americans would call
common sense," said Jon Hoadley, Executive Director of National Stonewall
Democrats.

"Vice President Gore has demonstrated leadership on this subject, and we
encourage all Democratic leaders who restrain their consciences out of
political expediency to demonstrate their leadership as well."
None of the frontrunners seeking the Democratic nomination for president
supports same-sex marriage.

"Clearly, the environment is not the only thing that Al Gore is right
about," said Sean Kosofsky a spokesperson for Triangle Foundation,
Michigan's largest LGBT rights group.

In New Jersey, where gays are pressing the legislature for same-sex
marriage, Garden State Equality said Gore's remarks made him the
highest-ranking public figure in the United States to endorse marriage
equality for same-sex couples.

New Jersey allows civil unions but Garden State Equality says it has
received complaints from 512 couples since the law took effect on February
19, 2007 that employers are not respecting their civil unions because civil
unions are not marriage.

Nearly 100 civil-unioned couples and other witnesses recently testified
about the failure of the civil union law over eight hours of hearings of
the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission, which will release its first
interim report on Tuesday, February 19, 2008, the one-year anniversary of
the law.

"Al Gore gets it in a way that the others don't," said Steven Goldstein,
chair of Garden State Equality.

"In the real world, civil unions don't give same-sex couples the rights and
benefits of marriage, because employers view civil unions as inferior. In
New Jersey, the failure of employers to recognize civil unions like
marriage has resulted in a failure rate of our civil union law of at least
1 in every 5."

Legislation to allow gays and lesbians to marry in Maryland will be
introduced on Friday.

The issue of same-sex marriage will be argued in the California Supreme
Court later this year, and in Vermont, the first state to allow civil
unions, a committee set up by lawmakers will deliver its report on whether
to convert civil unions to marriage sometime this spring.

Massachusetts is the only state where same-sex marriage is legal.

Action: 11 Men Arrested for Homosexual Conduct in Cameroon

2008-01-23T10:06:00.000-08:00

FRESH OUT OF AIUSA:
Eleven men were arrested and detained in Cameroon between 19 July and 1st September 2007 allegedly because they were suspected of engaging in acts of homosexuality. Sexual relations between men are illegal in Cameroon. The 11 men were arrested in various places in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé and remain in custody at Douala’s New Bell central prison and Yaoundé’s Kondengui central prison. Amnesty International considers the detainees to be prisoners of conscience, detained solely on account of their presumed sexual orientation, and is calling for their immediate and unconditional release.

Amnesty International USA is relying on people like me and you to spread the word and take action on this case. It literally takes less than two minutes and is sure to make a difference. Countries like Cameroon often fold to international pressure so the more letters and e mails they receive will be the difference between freedom or unjust imprisonment for these 11 men.

Visit this link to take action: link

In Solidarity,
Eleazar

News: Gay and Lesbian Medical Association: Press Release on MRSA Infection

2008-01-22T10:47:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 19, 2008

CONTACT: Joel Ginsberg | jginsberg@glma.org | 415-255-4547 x314

GAY AND LESBIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION STATEMENT ON
MULTI-DRUG-RESISTANT MRSA BACTERIA STRAIN

SAN FRANCISCO – There has been widespread media coverage recently about a drug-resistant strain of MRSA bacteria, known as USA300, found in gay men in San Francisco and Boston. The findings were reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Unfortunately, some of the media stories have made claims not fully supported by the research or have stigmatized gay men by distinguishing them from “the general population.” Further, some right wing groups and commentators have seized upon this story as an opportunity to spread misinformation about homosexuality.

Epidemiological research documenting the spread of this strain was posted in an online article on the Annals of Internal Medicine website. The strains of MRSA described in the article have mostly been identified in certain gay men in only two geographic regions and specific sexual behaviors were not assessed, so no conclusions can be drawn about the prevalence of these strains among all gay men or about the association of the infection with specific male-male sexual practices.

While the infection may be linked to intimate contact, the infection can also be spread by skin-to-skin contact and by sharing towels and other personal items. The CDC states that there “is no evidence at this time to suggest that MRSA is a sexually-transmitted infection in the classical sense.”

MRSA infection can be a serious matter, but if recognized early, the infection can be treated effectively. The CDC recommends the following to prevent the spread of MRSA:

1. Cover your wound. Keep wounds that are draining or have pus covered with clean, dry bandages. Follow your healthcare provider’s instructions on proper care of the wound. Pus from infected wounds can contain staph and MRSA, so keeping wounds covered will help prevent the spread to others. Bandages or tape can be discarded with the regular trash.

2. Clean your hands. You, your family, and others in close contact should wash their hands frequently with soap and warm water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, especially after changing the bandage or touching the infected wounds.

3. Do not share personal items. Avoid sharing personal items such as towels, washcloths, razors, clothing, or uniforms that may have had contact with infected wounds or bandages. Wash sheets, towels, and clothes that become soiled with water and laundry detergent. Drying clothes in a hot dryer, rather than air-drying, also helps kill bacteria in clothes.

4. Talk to your doctor. Tell any healthcare providers who treat you that you have or had a staph or MRSA skin infection.

To read the CDC’s statement about this issue, go to http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/2008/t080116.htm.

The mission of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association is to ensure equality in healthcare for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and healthcare professionals. More information is available at www.glma.org.

News: Kuwait Arresting people who “imitate the appearance of the opposite sex”

2008-01-19T16:24:00.000-08:00

Pink News:
Kuwaitis arrested for "impersonating opposite sex"
18th January 2008 11:10
Tony Grew
A leading human rights charity has drawn attention to the plight of more than a dozen people arrested and jailed under new "dress code" laws in Kuwait.

Human Rights Watch has called for them to be released.

The law was approved by the National Assembly on December 10th 2007. It criminalises people who "imitate the appearance of the opposite sex."

"The wave of arrests in the past month shows exactly why Kuwait should repeal this repressive law," said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East division at HRW.

"Kuwaiti authorities should immediately drop all charges against those arrested, and investigate charges of ill-treatment in detention."

Security officials have arrested at least 14 people in Kuwait City since the National Assembly approved an addition (Article 199 bis) to Article 198 of the Criminal Code.

The amendment states that "any person committing an indecent act in a public place, or imitating the appearance of a member of
the opposite sex, shall be subject to imprisonment for a period not
exceeding one year or a fine."

The only known targets of the new Kuwaiti law have been transgender people.

Kuwait allows transgender people neither to change their legal identity to match the gender in which they live, nor to adapt their physical appearance through gender reassignment surgery.

The new law, coming after months of controversy, aims at further restricting their rights and completely eliminating their public presence.

In September 2007, the newspaper Al Arabiya reported a new government campaign to "combat the growing phenomenon of gays and transsexuals" in Kuwait.

Human Rights Watch:
Kuwait: Repressive Dress-Code Law Encourages Police Abuse
Arrests Target Transgender People

(New York, January 17, 2008) – Authorities should immediately release more than a dozen persons jailed under Kuwait’s new dress-code law, Human Rights Watch said today. The law, approved by the National Assembly on December 10, 2007, criminalizes people who “imitate the appearance of the opposite sex.” Read full story here

Event: Day of Silence

2008-01-19T09:56:00.000-08:00

DAY OF SILENCE, April 25, 2008: The Day of Silence is an annual event held to bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools. Students and teachers nationwide will observe the day in silence to echo the silence that LGBT and ally students face everyday. The Day of Silence is one of the largest student-led actions in the country.

For more information about this annual event visit the website: http://www.dayofsilence.org/