by Rex Wockner

The man who several weeks ago forced Costa Rica's government-run healthcare system to provide antiviral drugs to people with AIDS died of the disease Oct. 12.

"I have been very brave," William Garcia, 29, told friends two days before his death.

In late September, the Supreme Court ordered the socialized medical system, Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), to buy anti-HIV "cocktail" drugs for Garcia and, a few days later, for three other people who had filed similar suits.

Garcia had presented the court with prescriptions for AZT, 3TC and Crixivan that CCSS refused to fill. He also provided proof he had paid the required 23 percent of his salary into the healthcare system during the years he was employed.

CCSS continues to claim the drugs don't work, have debilitating side effects and are too expensive.

Costa Rica, pop. 3 million, is prosperous by Latin American standards. About 300 people, mostly gay men, need the anti-HIV drugs right now, according to activists.

Foreign domestic partners of Belgian citizens now receive automatic provisional residency permits, Internal Affairs Minister Johan Vande Lanotte announced earlier this month.

The only provisos: The relationship must be permanent, the couple must live together, and they must sign a domestic-partnership contract.

Same-sex-partner immigration became reality in Britain Oct. 13.

"Some people, such as gays and some common-law couples, are actually prohibited from marrying by law," said Immigration Minister Mike O'Brien. "I think it's unfair to destroy their relationships.

"The position we inherited [from the previous government] for common-law and same-sex couples was unsustainable and may have breached human-rights laws," he said. "We have therefore decided to introduce a concession outside the rules in respect of these couples.

"Under this concession a couple must show that they have been living together for four years or more and intend to continue to live together permanently," O'Brien said. "Once admitted they will have to show that the relationship has subsisted for a further year before being granted settlement."

Applicants must also demonstrate they can support themselves, he said.

Stonewall Immigration Group Chair Mark Watson said he is "very pleased that the immigration minister recognizes that the policy of the previous government was unjust and unsustainable."

But the group is "disappointed that the criteria are so strict and much tighter than for those who can marry. ... Many same-sex couples will still face an uncertain future because the immigration rules will prevent them developing a relationship for four years," Watson said.

Three hundred lesbians and some drag queens marched through Tokyo's popular Shibuya neighborhood Oct. 10 in the nation's first dyke march.

According to Agence France-Press, they could not resist the humor in turning the national Sports Day (taiku no hi) into Dyke Day (daiku no hi).

According to the Australian daily The Age, the women banged drums and blew whistles as k.d. lang music blasted from a sound system. Some marchers wore dark-blue suits and others wore rainbow flags.

"The lesbian community here is hardly visible," said spokeswoman Maria Miho Hiramatsu.

"The problem with lesbians in Japan is that they are connected with pornography. The image of lesbians follows men's ideas of what women are which is very different from women's ideas of what women are."

Singapore banned Janet Jackson's new album, Velvet Rope, earlier this month due to lyrics about homosexuality, battery and abuse, a local newspaper reported.

The action was taken by the Controller of Undesirable Publications.

According to a review in The Los Angeles Times: "While exploring the challenges and rewards of intimacy Jackson drops a few hints that nasty boys aren't her only interest.

"One interlude finds her flirting with a girlfriend, and on a delicate version of the Rod Stewart chestnut 'Tonight's the Night' she leaves the original lyrics intact, suggesting that the object of her affection may be female."

As attendees of the Climax circuit party waited outside to enter, Mexico City police shut down the gay disco Box Oct. 11, citing code and liquor violations.

"We're very disappointed that the city aims to ruin legitimate and exciting places for gays and lesbians, especially when there are more urgent conditions in the city," said Climax promoter John Rozzo.

Climax raises money for Alianza, Mexico City's gay/lesbian business and professional group. Sponsors of the event include Sauza Tequila, Tower Records, Diesel Jeans and Mexico's national tourist office.

Two of Israel's national healthcare programs have stopped paying for anti-HIV "cocktail" drug combos after the Ministry of Finance refused to budget for the treatments.

The decisions by the Meuchedet and Leumit Health Funds leave 300 Israeli persons with AIDS without treatment.

"The responsibility for the impending disaster lies with the minister of finance, Prof. Ya'akov Ne'eman, and the deputy in charge of the Ministry of Finance Budget Department, Mr. Haim Peltz," said the Headquarters of Israel's AIDS Organizations.

The group urges protest faxes to Professor Yaakov Ne'eman, Minister of Finance, at 011-972-2-563-5769; Haim Peltz, Budget Department, Ministry of Finance, at 011-972-2-531-7496; and Member of the Knesset Yeoshuah Matsa, Minister of Health, at 011- 972-2-678-7662. Carbon-copy the Headquarters of Israel's AIDS Organizations at 011-972-3-560-2316 or e-mail them at patric@netvision.net.il.

The British ACT UP-style group OutRage! wants to show gay-porno movies to aggressively homophobic Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe while his penis is attached to a plethysmograph.

"[He] is being invited to take an erotic arousal test, to dispel suggestions that his antigay attitudes could be evidence of repressed homosexuality," the group said in a press release.

"OutRage! has written to Mugabe, challenging him to take a test devised by U.S. psychologist Prof. Henry E. Adams of the University of Georgia. Research by Prof. Adams suggests that 80 percent of men who are homophobic have secret homosexual feelings. In Prof. Adams's test, homophobic men who said they were exclusively heterosexual were shown gay sex videos. Four out of five became sexually aroused by the homoerotic imagery, as recorded by a penile circumference measuring device. Prof. Adams's research was published in the prestigious U.S. Journal of Abnormal Psychology in 1996, with the backing of the American Psychological Association.

In the letter to Mugabe, OutRage! said: "In view of this research and your homophobic attitudes, there is now bound to be speculation about your sexuality. We are sure this speculation is without foundation but to end the innuendo that you might harbour repressed homosexual feelings, we invite you to take Prof. Adams's test [during your upcoming visit to Britain]. ... If you are not gay, there will be no penile enlargement and you will have strong scientific evidence to dispel any queries about your sexual orientation."

Mugabe has called homosexuals "repugnant to my human conscience ... immoral and repulsive." He has declared gay sex "an abomination" and "sub-animal behavior" and urged citizens to "hand [gays] over to the police. ... I don't believe they have any rights at all," he stated in 1995.