Windy City Times, The Voice of Chicago's Gay and Lesbian Community, Dec 27, 2000Copyright © 2000 Lambda Publications Inc. All rights reserved. |
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by Rex Wockner
Dutch gay-marriage legislation cleared its final hurdle, the Senate, Dec. 19 and will take effect in April.
The new laws will allow same-sex couples to marry under the same statutes as heterosexuals and to adopt children.
Although several nations have passed gay registered-partnership laws, the Netherlands is the first to simply grant gay couples access to regular marriage.
"We're the first country in the world where there is no distinction made on the basis of gender," said Onno Hoes of the national gay-rights group, COC.
Dutch gays have had access to a registered-partnership scheme since 1998.
Gay couples will not be allowed to adopt foreign babies&emdash;due to the Dutch government's fear of Third World homophobia&emdash;and couples from other countries, be they gay or straight, cannot marry in the Netherlands.
The legislation was supported by the liberal and labor parties (VVD, D66 and PvdA) of the governing coalition, with additional support from left-wing opposition parties. The opposition christian-democrat party and small religious parties opposed the bills.
The Vatican denounced the laws' passage.
"The Catholic church contests these revolutionary innovations which in the name of freedom seek to legitimize a union regarded by the universal consciousness as going against nature," the church said. "The family in its natural and Christian model is undergoing a serious affront and is losing its role as the base of society."
BRIT BAREBACKING EXAMINED
One reason British gay men are having more anal sex without condoms is they're bored with being told not to, a new study has found.
Research by Michele Crossley of Manchester University, presented to a British Psychological Society conference Dec. 19, found that premeditated and defiant barebacking is, in part, a response to monotonous safe-sex campaigns.
"The term 'barebacking' suggests a shift toward something sexy or alluring," Crossley said. "This risk is increasingly taken as an aura of rebellion and excitement. This is the boomerang effect&emdash;it is people reacting to a pressure to reestablish a lost freedom. Health promotion, by failing to understand this context, may be making things worse, exacerbating the problem."
In one study of 6,000 gay men in inner London, 38 percent barebacked in 1998 compared to 32 percent in 1996.
Crossley also blamed boredom with condoms, the perception that being HIV-positive is less serious now because of improved treatments, and the feeling that unprotected sex is more romantic.
CITY COUNCILLOR BLASTS POPE
Gay Toronto City Councillor Kyle Rae says Pope John Paul II better keep his "hateful" homophobia to himself when he visits the city in 2002 for World Youth Day.
"[It's] not permissible in our society," Rae said. "I don't think religion should be used as a shield against hate."
GAY KOREAN ACTOR MAKES COMEBACK
Hong Suk-chon, the South Korean actor who was fired from his roles on several television programs after he came out of the closet in September, has been invited to appear on the "All Star Show," a New Year's Day TV special, reports the Korea Herald.
The paper said the invitation signals that the broadcast TV networks have come around and accepted Hong's sexuality.
The firings were protested by other celebrities and gay activists who formed a Hong support group.
Since coming out, Hong has appeared on some cable TV shows and released an album of Christmas music, but he had been blacklisted by the over-the-air networks.
For the immediate future, Hong will host a cable TV program called "Sex and Health" and write his memoir, entitled "I Still Get Thrilled About Illicit Love."
NEW GAY PAPERS LAUNCH DOWN UNDER
At least three new gay newspapers have been launched in Australia following the collapse of Satellite Media, which owned six of the nation's gay newspapers and the 17-year-old national gay glossy magazine Outrage.
When Satellite crashed and burned, it took with it Outrage, the Melbourne Star Observer, Melbourne's Brother Sister, Brisbane's Brother Sister, Sydney's Capital Q, Perth's Westside Observer and the Adelaide Gay Times.
The new paper in Sydney, published by former Satellite employees, is called G. Melbourne has Melbourne Community Voice and BnewsS, produced by separate groups of former Satellite employees.
GAYS MARCH IN URUGUAY
About 150 gays and lesbians staged a pride march in Montevideo, Uruguay, Sept. 28, the South African gay newspaper Exit reported in its December issue.
Another 100 participants walked along on the sidewalks, out of view of media photographers.
The city's first gay-pride parade, in 1993, attracted 13 people, Exit said.
With the theme "Consciousness of Sexual Diversity," the parade traversed the city's most crowded street, July 18th Avenue.
One banner read, "Yes to alternative families, civil union, adoption and insemination."
A float&emdash;the first ever in a Uruguayan pride parade&emdash;was funded by the City Council. Two "nuns" rode on it, dancing and blowing kisses. The next day, the Catholic diocese denounced the "nuns" as a "scandal."
"Among all these people and rainbow colors, I felt so brave, so proud," one marcher, William, told Exit's correspondent.
UKRAINIAN GROUP NEEDS MONEY
Ukraine's Our World Gay and Lesbian Center in Lugansk says it has exhausted domestic sources of funding and is seeking foreign donations to continue its work.
In a 28-page magazine sent to foreign journalists, the organization said $10 will fund 50 copies of their Informational Bulletin which is mailed to politicians, reporters and public figures; $20 will pay two days' wages for the group's three employees; $50 will pay two weeks' rent on their office; and $100 "will give life to the new projects we plan, like developing legislative proposals and answers for younger homosexuals adapting personally and socially."
The average salary in Ukraine is less than $50 a month, the activists said.
The magazine sent to reporters, entitled "Ukrainian Gay Men and Lesbians at the Threshold of the Millennium," provides a comprehensive look at the situation of Ukrainian gays and the work of the Our World Center. It can be viewed online at http:// www.gay.org.ua/publish.htm.
For more information, e-mail ourworld@cci.lg.ua, phone 011-38- 0642-53-06-99, or visit http:// www.gay.org.ua.
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