“NewsWrap"
for the 2 weeks ending December 6, 2008
 (As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,1080, distributed 12-8-08)
[Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley]

Reported this week by Michael LeBeau and John Torres

  Among the numerous vigils, demonstrations and other events marking the 20th annual World AIDS Day on December 1st, one of the most heartening for LGBT people must have been the participation by some brave openly-gay men in a pre-AIDS Day march in the Haitian city of St. Marc on November 30th.  It may be the first time self-identified gay people have participated in a public event in the Caribbean.  About a dozen men wore T-shirts declaring “I am gay” and “I am living with HIV”.  They were welcomed by march organizers.  One of the country’s most prominent AIDS activists said that “They suffer double the stigma and double the discrimination.”
Socially conservative Haiti has one of the highest infection rates in the world.  Gay men and lesbians face stigma and entrenched homophobia in the former French colony.
The number of people with HIV has risen in every region of the world in the past two years, with the fastest increases being seen in East and Central Asia and in Eastern Europe.  There were specific reports this week that infection rates among gay men in particular have risen sharply in China, the U.K., and Israel.< br> 
  Men who have sex with men in Africa are nine times more likely to be HIV positive than their heterosexual counterparts.
A coalition of groups, including the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission � or IGLHRC � and representatives of 25 Africrican LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations, issued a statement this week decrying the lack of access by LGBTI people to education, prevention and treatment programs on the continent.  At a pre-conference event in early December before the start of the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa held in Dakar, Senegal, their delegates condemned rampant human rights violations experienced by sexual minorities, and vowed to lobby international donors, national HIV/AIDS agencies, and African governments to act on their concerns.
About two-in-three African countries outlaw consensual adult homosexual acts.  Only seven have included men who have sex with men in their national plans for HIV/AIDS prevention, and among those countries only South Africa includes lesbians as part of its response to the pandemic.  According to Fikile Vilakazi, Director of the Coalition of African Lesbians, "the gendered nature of the limited interventions... aggravates the situation even further."

  Notoriously homophobic Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, speaking at an AIDS conference in the Russian capital this week, said that he would continue to ban LGBT Pride events in his city to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
“We have banned and will continue to forbid this propaganda by sexual minorities,” he said, “as they could turn out to be one of the factors in the spread of HIV infections.”
The 72-year-old Luzhkov, who’s called Pride events “satanic,” has fought against pro-LGBT public events in Moscow for the past several years.

  But an unprecedented declaration against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity will be presented to the United Nations General Assembly later this month.
The initiative follows a campaign by the coordinating committee of the International Day Against Homophobia � or IDAHO � which received ed support from the French government.
All 27 countries of the European Union have signed the declaration, and efforts are ongoing to secure more signatories.  Canada, New Zealand, Israel, Japan, Mexico, and about a half-dozen South American countries have also signed on, as have Iceland and several European countries that are not part of the E.U.  Most notably absent as signatories are Australia and the United States.
The Vatican this week announced its strong opposition to the anti-discrimination effort.  While it doesn’t have a vote in the U.N., a Vatican spokesman noted that fewer than 50 of about 200 member states have endorsed the proposal, and warned that those that haven’t “will be pilloried and made an object of pressure.”
Organizers say they hope to convince the General Assembly to pass a resolution callin g for the decriminalization of homosexuality worldwide.

  Meanwhile, Australia's Senate and House of Representatives passed legislation in late November that changes some 100 laws to give gay and lesbian couples equal rights.
The changes, introduced by the Labor government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, extend spousal rights to same-gender de facto couples in areas such as health care, taxation, pensions, parenting, public benefits, workplace benefits, workers' compensation, veterans' affairs, elder care and educational assistance.  Australian federal law, however, defines marriage as exclusively heterosexual.
LGBT activist groups generally cheered the new legislation, but some have criticized the lack of a “grandfather clause” � retroaactivity � in the legislation.  They say that elderly long-term same-gender couples who register under the new laws may lose pension income and other benefits, and could be prosecuted for fraud.

  Elsewhere, Burundi’s Parliament in late November overwhelmingly voted to specifically outlaw gay sex as part of a package of more than 600 changes to the Central African nation’s penal code.  Progressives cheered the abolition of the death penalty in that package, but have condemned the criminalization of gay sex.
According to Amnesty International, male-male sex was previously banned and punished in Burundi under laws governing "immoral acts."  The new measure specifically punishes consensual adult gay sex in the impoverished country with a large fine and a jail term of between three months and two years.
The president of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights, Michael Cashman, discussed the matter with the European commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, Louis Michael.  Cashman told reporters that "The commissioner... was shocked to learn of this law, and (said) he will travel to Burundi and discuss his concerns with the government."
Executive Director Paula Ettelbrick of the U.S.-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission � IGLHRC � said that "These se laws are meant to silence and terrorize our community."

  Conventional queer wisdom holds that one of the most welcoming cities in the world for LGBT people is Amsterdam. But the University of Amsterdam presented a study last week revealing a drastic increase in homophobic acts in the Dutch capital.  Police received more than 150 reports of anti-gay violence there in the first half of 2008.  That number is probably much higher because many incidents go unreported.
It was the first time police made an effort to specifically keep track of anti-gay hate, which represented 10 percent of all reported bias-based incidents.  Some 28 percent of homophobic attacks were physical assaults, with the remainder involving verbal abuse, threats, intimidation or vandalism.  A high percentage of the incidents took place in gay-bar districts and other places where gay men congregate.  Nearly all the victims were male.
Immigrants were previousl y thought to be the major perpetrators of anti-gay incidents, but the study concluded that the attackers are usually young native-born Dutch men between 17 and 25 years old with little education, who come from dysfunctional families, feel insecure about their masculinity, and are highly impressionable.
City officials plan a new anti-homophobia campaign and to encourage greater police visibility in predominantly gay areas.  Victims of homophobic violence are also being urged to come forward to increase public awareness of the problem.

  But in the U.S., a Florida circuit court in Miami has struck down a state law that barred lesbians and gay men from adopting.
The court granted adoptions to a gay man, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, who with his partner has been raising two foster children � 4- and 8-year-old brothers � since 2004.
> Martin Gill, a North Miami resident, told reporters that he and his partner “are extremely relieved that the court has recognized that it is wrong to deny our boys the legal protections and security that only come with adoption."
The court ruled that the ban violated the equal-protection guarantees of the state constitution because it irrationally singled out gay and lesbian people and their children for different treatment, and denied children the right to permanency as mandated by federal and state law.
The Florida measure barring gays and lesbians from adopting passed in 1977 as part of a homophobic crusade led by former Miss America runner-up Anita Bryant.  Attempts since then to repeal the law in the state legislature have failed.
The Florida Attorney General’s office has said it will appeal the ruling.

  And finally, several new activities are being planned by JoinTheImpact, the grassroots group that coordinated the huge November 15th protests against California's Proposition 8 and other bans on marriage equality.  Those protests, driven mostly by online organizing, took place in some 300 cities in all 50 U.S. states.
December 10th has been dubbed a "Day Without a Gay."  Among other things, JoinTheImpact urges all LGBT people not to spend any money on that day.
Candlelight vigils around the country, in malls or other shopping areas, are planned for December 20th.  Participants are urged to wear shirts that say "2nd Class Citizen."
JoinTheImpact is calling for marches on the 50 state capitols on January 10th as a "National Protest Against DOMA," the federal Defense of Marriage Act.  The group says it wants to remind President-elect Barack Obama that he’s promised to push for repeal of that law.  DOMA bans federal recognition of same-gender couples, whether they’re in state-sanctioned civil unions or domestic partnerships, or even those who’ve married in states where it’s legal.
And JoinTheImpact is calling for nationwide peaceful civil disobedience sit-ins on February 12th at marriage-license bureaus.  "If you are denied a license, don't leave," the group says.  Let's show this country just how many U.S. citizens are denied equal protections under the law."
"Change will not come if we sit back and do nothing," they say.  "Change comes through visibility, conversation, demonstration and action."
For updates and more information, log on to join-the-impact-dot-com.




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