NewsWrap for the week ending July 27th, 1996 (As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT Program #435, distributed 07-29-96) [Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Brian Nunes, Bill Stosine, Jason Lin, Greg Gordon, Ron Buckmire, Alejandra Sarda and Andy Quan] Participation in the upcoming Zimbabwe International Book Fair in Harare by the organization Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, or G.A.L.Z., is once again the subject of international controversy. Last year, the Book Fair bowed to pressure from Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and excluded G.A.L.Z.. Mugabe has spent the last year repeating his homophobic rhetoric in national and international forums, despite facing protest demonstrations every time he left the country. That's only made G.A.L.Z. more determined to participate this year in the Book Fair, which is a largely government-funded event intended to establish Zimbabwe's international visibility. G.A.L.Z. applied for an information booth where they could distribute information about their counseling services, relevant human rights laws and the personal experiences of gays and lesbians in Zimbabwe. G.A.L.Z. believes Zimbabwe's constitution protects their right to do so. Although Zimbabwe's government was quick to condemn G.A.L.Z. for even applying, the Book Fair's director Trish Mbanga announced that organizers would include G.A.L.Z. because, in her words, "We want to exercise democracy." Zimbabwe's Director of Information Bornwell Chakaodza claimed to be surprised and dismayed by the Book Fair's position, and stated firmly this week that G.A.L.Z. remains barred from having a booth or displaying their materials at this and future Book Fairs. He denied that the ban violated any national law and said the issue was one "of protecting and guaranteeing the cultural health of Zimbabwe." Chakaodza accused Book Fair organizers of "being insensitive to the feelings of vast numbers of Africa's population", and there were reports of threats by the group Sangano Munhumutapa to burn down the entire fair if G.A.L.Z. participated. The Book Fair opens July 30th. The Canadian province of Newfoundland is poised to establish civil rights protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation. The provincial government has decided not to appeal a court ruling ordering the addition of sexual orientation as a protected category under the Newfoundland Human Rights Code. A government spokesperson said the code will probably be officially amended in the next few months. That will leave Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Prince Edward Island as the only Canadian provinces without civil rights protections for lesbians and gays. Some details are emerging in the unprecedented wave police actions against the gay and lesbian movement in Bulgaria. In late June, the Bulgarian national newspapers "Standart" and "Trud" reported the kidnaping of a gay activist in the Danube port of Rouse. On July 9th, police raided Comet, an erotic video center in Sofia, and seized all its tapes. Also on July 9th, police raided and shut down Bulgaria's only gay and lesbian community center, the Flamingo Center, confiscating all its records and equipment and arresting three staffmembers. Although all three were released after 10 hours' detention, the media were waiting at the police station when they arrived there. National broadcast and print media gave the story extensive coverage with a homophobic slant. The Bulgarian national newspaper "24 Hours" reported mass arrests of both Bulgarian and foreign men at a gay beach near Varna on July 11th. On July 13th, police raided At Kayo, a private gay club in Sofia, and have since restricted the club's operations to working hours. I.L.G.A. , the International Lesbian and Gay Association, claims that these actions are in violation of both the Bulgarian Constitution and many international covenants to which Bulgaria is a signatory, and I.L.G.A. is protesting to the President of Bulgaria, Zhelyu Zhelev. Buenos Aires last week began a Statutory Convention to draft the legislative structure for a more autonomous city government ... and gay, lesbian and transgender activists demonstrated outside the convention site to demand a prohibition against discrimination based on sexual orientation. While all the major parties involved have expressed support for those civil rights protections, it seems unlikely that the convention will act to dismantle the police edicts that have been a tool in Argentine law enforcement's harassment of people who are sexually different. At the recent International AIDS Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, the good news was that new combination drug therapies appeared to be effective in stopping the progression of the disease ... but the bad news was that their high cost put them out of reach of the large majority of people with AIDS. Now, President Bill Clinton has said he'll ask the Congress to more than double funding for a government program that makes the new drugs available to those in the U.S. who cannot afford them. Clinton has also agreed to co-chair, with his with Hilary Rodham Clinton, the Honorary Host Committee for a display of the complete AIDS Memorial Quilt planned for Washington, D.C. in October. Some observers see the moves as an effort to appease those gay and lesbian voters who were offended when the President expressed his willingness to sign federal legislation denying recognition to same-gender couples. AIDS prevention education campaigns in Third World countries are severely hampered by sodomy laws, according to I.L.G.A. , the International Lesbian and Gay Association. The Association said sodomy laws in Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua, China, India, and Romania made AIDS work "impossible", and that the situation was even worse in Islamic countries in the Middle East where gay male sex can lead to a death penalty. The Association also decried the lack of funding for AIDS prevention in most of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Among the victims of the crash of T.W.A. Flight 800 outside New York City were at least three openly gay men. One was noted interior designer Jed Johnson, who was memorialized on the U.S. national network TV how "Good Morning, America" by its host and his friend Joan Lunden. G.L.A.A.D. , the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, commended Lunden, particularly for acknowledging Johnson's surviving life partner, architect Alan Wanzenberg. Two others were returning home to France from the international gathering of gay and lesbian choruses in Tampa, Florida called G.A.L.A. V: baritone Jean-Paul Galland and renowned composer David Hogan, both of Le Choeur International Gai de Paris. A court in Spain has opened the door for a foreign national to seek residency based on his gay relationship with a Spanish man. The Catalonia Superior Justice Tribunal in Barcelona granted that right to an unnamed gay man from Columbia in a ruling last week. Gemma Sanchez, secretary general of the Spanish group Coordinadora Gai-Lesbian said, "This is an important symbolic advance for the recognition of the rights of gay couples, making obvious the need for promulgation of a law on de facto partnerships." One of the most famous gay male couples in the U.S. has split up. Body builders former Mr. Universe Bob Paris and one-time "Playgirl" magazine Playmate of the Month Rod Jackson held a highly-publicized marriage ceremony in 1989. In a written statement to the press last week, the couple confirmed having separated two years ago and dissolved their marriage one year ago. They wrote, "We tried our best to make our marriage work. We loved each other deeply ... We share the disappointment of those of you who looked up to our marriage as a role model -- no one feels that disappointment more keenly than we do." They described the reasons for their breakup as "complicated, painful and personal". London's mainstream newspaper "The Independent" twitted the ever-lengthening inclusive names of pride events by calling the city's 25th annual June parade, "The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Some Friends, the Occasional Mum & Dad, John's Straight Flatmate, Susan, and Anyone Else Who Comes Along for the Fun Fair and Free Music, Pride 96". And finally .... Scotland's national gay and lesbian pride celebration was described by the magazine "ScotsGay" in these words: "Weren't we great? 6,000-plus pooves, dykes, bisexuals, and transgenderists marching through a sweltering Glasgow, making a modicum of noise, and astounding the hetties." --------------*-------------- Sources for this week's report included: The Associated Press; Reuter News Service; Wayves Magazine/Halifax; Rex Wockner International News Service; Business Wire/U.S.; The Union-Leader/Manchester, New Hampshire; The San Francisco Chronicle; TheIndependent/London; ScotsGay/Scotland; and cyberpress releases from The International Lesbian & Gay Association, GALZ/Zimbabwe, Escrita en el Cuerpo/Argentina, and the U.S. Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. *************************************************