Subject: EUROLETTER 54
From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 16:36:05 +0200 (METDST)

EURO-LETTER 

No. 54						    October 1997

THE EURO-LETTER IS PUBLISHED ON BEHALF OF ILGA-EUROPE - THE
EUROPEAN REGION OF THE INTERNATIONAL LESBIAN AND GAY ASSOCIATION
BY THE DANISH NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR GAYS AND LESBIANS IN
CO-OPERATION WITH  Gay and Lesbian International Lobby. 

Editors: Steffen Jensen, Ken Thomassen, Peter Bryld, Lisbeth
Andersen and Soeren Baatrup.  

Contact to Euro-Letter: 
E-mail: [email-masked] 
URL: http://www.inet.uni2.dk/~steff 
Fax: +45 2036 7856 Tel: +45 3324 6435 Mobile: +45 2033 0840 
Mail: c/o Steffen Jensen, Gl. Kongevej 31, 4.th, DK-1610 Copenhagen V,
Denmark  

You can receive Euro-Letter by e-mail (send a message
to the above address)  and from no 30 onwards the Euro-Letters
are available on the Internet at 
http://www.france.qrd.org/assocs/ilga/euroletter.html
http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/orgs/ILGA/euroletter  You can find a
link to Euro-Letters at http://www.inet.uni2.dk/~steff 

IN THIS ISSUE

ASYLUM IN NORWAY FOR LESBIANS AND GAY MEN

EUROPEAN COMMISSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS FINDS VIOLATION OF EUAN
SUTHERLAND'S HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE UNEQUAL AGE OF CONSENT

UK TO RECOGNISE SAME-SEX COUPLES IN THE IMMIGRATION RULES

PARTNERSHIP IN PORTUGAL?

FOREIGN SAME-SEX PARTNERS CAN OBTAIN PERMIT TO LIVE IN BELGIUM

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL WORKING AGAINST LAWS PUNISHING SEXUAL
RELATIONS BETWEEN MEN IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES

The ILGA-Europe EU Action Plan and other documents relating to
ILGA-Europe can be found at ILGA-Europe's homepage
http://inet.uni2.dk/~steff/ilgaeur.htm

An update of the Survey on the Legal Situation for Gays and
Lesbians in Europe can be found at
http://inet.uni2.dk/~steff/survey.htm

A description of partnership laws and other laws regarding
same-sex partners can be found at 

http://inet.uni2.dk/~steff/partner.htm

----------------------------------------------------
ASYLUM IN NORWAY FOR LESBIANS AND GAY MEN
By Gro Lindstad, LLH

The Norwegian minister of Justice issued the day before she left
government new regulations for asylum policy in Norway.

Norway is now recognising lesbians and gay men as asylum seekers
and will grant asylum based on sexual orientation. This is a
matter we have worked on for several years and we have had cases
from countries within the latest few years.

The new regulations are done in order to comply with UN's
convention on refugees. The demand for proving risk of
persecution in the home country is now lowered when decisions on
asylum are to be taken. The lacking ability of the home country
to protect will count in the decision making - not only the lack
of will. Threat of persecution not only from government but also
from other groups in the society will count.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS FINDS VIOLATION OF EUAN
SUTHERLAND'S HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE UNEQUAL AGE OF CONSENT
Stonewall Press release

UK GOVERNMENT TO ALLOW FREE VOTE ON AGE OF CONSENT THIS SESSION

The European Commission on Human Rights, which screens case
going to the European Court of Human Rights, today published its
report on the case of Euan Sutherland, who is suing over the
unequal age of consent.

The government have agreed not to contest the cases while at the
same allowing Parliament a free vote on the question of
equalising the age of consent.  The parties have agreed to take
no further steps in the cases before the Commission and the
Court while Parliament considers the question.  They have agreed
the following terms:

that the government will make available at the earliest
opportunity time for a free vote on the reduction of the age of
consent to 16.

that such a vote will take place on a proposed amendment to the
present law if an opportunity arises.  If this is not possible
there will a vote on the principle of reducing the age of
consent in the present Parliamentary session.  If there is a
majority for equality the government will bring forward
legislation which will introduce the substantive change in the
law by the end of the next parliamentary session at the latest.

Euan Sutherland, 20, and Chris Morris, 18, who is taking a
similar case, claim that the unequal age of consent for gay men
is a violation of their rights under Article 8, the right to
privacy, and Article 14, which provides protection from
discrimination. 

Following a hearing of Euan Sutherland's case in Strasbourg last
May the Commission have decided by a majority of 14 to 4 that

"there is no objective and reasonable justification for the
maintenance of a higher minimum age of consent to male
homosexual, than to heterosexual, acts and that the application
discloses discriminatory treatment in the exercise of the
applicant's right to respect for private life under Article 8 of
the Convention".

In reaching this decision the Commission concluded:

that society's claimed entitlement to indicate disapproval of
homosexual conduct cannot constitute an objective or reasonable
justification for inequality of treatment under the criminal law

that they were unable to accept that it is a proportionate
response to the need for protection to expose to criminal
sanctions the young man who it is claimed are in need of
protection.

that current medical opinion, including that of the British
Medical Association is to the effect the sexual orientation is
fixed for both sexes by the age of 16 and that men aged 16-21
are not in need of special protection.

The Commission's report noted that Parliament had debated the
age of consent in 1994 and quotes extensively from the speeches
of Michael Howard, the then Home secretary who opposed
equalisation and Tony Blair, then the Shadow Home Secretary who
supported an equal age of consent arguing that

"It is not at what age we wish young people to have sex.  It is
whether the criminal law should discriminate between
heterosexual and homosexual sex.  It is therefore an issue not
of age, but of equality.

By supporting equality no one is advocating or urging gay sex at
16 any more than those who would maintain the age of consent for
heterosexual sex advocate that girls or boys of 16 should have
sex.  It is simply a question of whether there are grounds for
discrimination".

The Commission has referred the case to the European Court of
Human Rights for a final ruling.

Welcoming the agreement with the government Angela Mason,
Director of Stonewall said

"We believe this is an historic step forward.  We have always
argued that this issue is a question of human rights and we are
delighted that the Commission has endorsed this view. A free
vote in Parliament will be an opportunity to break with the
centuries of discrimination and bigotry and begin the process of
accepting gay men and lesbians as equal citizens in society. We
would like to pay tribute to Euan Sutherland, Chris Morris and
their families and to thank the Home Secretary and his
colleagues who have worked for a speedy and just settlement of
these claims.

Stephen Grosz of Bindman & Partners, solicitor for Euan
Sutherland and Chris Morris said

"The Human Rights Commission has decisively rejected the last
Government's attempt to justify discrimination against
homosexuals, and we would expect the Court to do the same.  We
are delighted that the Home Secretary has approached this issues
in a constructive and enlightened way with the clear aim of
enhancing the protection of gay rights in this country.  The
object of these applications to Europe will be achieved only
when the age of consent has been reduced to 16, and we hope that
the government will move quickly to achieve this end."

Over the coming months Stonewall will be organising a campaign
to ensure a resounding victory when Parliament votes on the age
of consent.

UK TO RECOGNISE SAME-SEX COUPLES IN THE IMMIGRATION RULES
By Mark Watson

From Monday 13 October same-sex couples in long term, committed
relationships will be able to apply for residency in the UK 

The Immigration Minister, Mike O'Brien, has today announced that
he will introduce a policy to allow same-sex couples in long
term, committed relationships to stay in the UK. The policy will
come into affect as from Monday 13 October.

Mike O'Brien said:
'The position we inherited for common-law and same-sex couples
was unsustainable and may have breached human rights law.. 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. Once admitted they will have to show that the
relationship has subsisted for a further year before being
granted settlement.'

Applicants will have to show that: 

they have a relationship akin to marriage with a person (of
either sex) who is present and settled in the UK (or is here in
a category leading to settlement or has been granted asylum);
any previous marriage (or similar relationship) by either
partner has permanently broken down;
  
they are legally unable to marry (other than by reason
consanguineous relationships or age);

they have been living together in a stable relationship which
has subsisted for four years or more; and they intend to
continue to do so permanently; they can maintain and accommodate themselves 
adequately without recourse to public funds.

Mark Watson, Chair of the Stonewall Immigration Group, said
today: 'We are very pleased that the Immigration Minister
recognises that the policy of the previous government was unjust
and unsustainable. We have had a very difficult struggle for the
right to live with and love the partner of our choice. This has
been won because a number of courageous couples have been
prepared to fight for the right to live with the partner of
their choice and demanded that their relationships be treated
with equal respect. 

However we are disappointed that the criteria are so strict and
much tighter than for those who can marry.  The previous
common-law policy required that couples be together for only two
years. Many same-sex couples will still face an uncertain future
because the Immigration Rules will prevent them developing a
relationship for four years.'

PARTNERSHIP IN PORTUGAL?
By Goncalo Diniz

As mentioned in a earlier press release, Portugal is moving
towards recognition of gay and lesbian couples.

Excluding homosexual couples from adoption rights, this bill is
a huge step forward. A revolutionary aspect in this bill is the
rights of aliens in a partnership for at least two years
(article 7). Foreigners may stay in the country without the
usual bureaucracy if they can prove that they are in a
relationship with a Portuguese national for at least two years.

In the last month,  three parties proposed individual bills on
registered partnerships: The Green Party, The Communist Party
and the Socialist Party. The first parliamentary discussion took
place on June the 25th, having the Green and Communist Bills
failed the vote on the 26th. The Socialist Bill, (which is
copied in this mail), will probably only be discussed in
parliament after the summer break, and voted upon early next
year.

In the past few weeks, this bill has been subject of a national
debate over gay and lesbian registered partnerships, on
television, newspapers, radio etc.

Associacao ILGA-Portugal is confident that the positive
atmosphere surrounding the whole issue will provide a passing of
the bill in early 1998. There are, however, still a few
socialist MPs reluctant on the vote.

The Socialist government holds a majority in Parliament but will
need the other left votes (communist and green) to get this bill
passed.

As the national Lesbian and Gay organisation, we initiated a
postcard campaign in early June directed at the Prime-minister
Antonio Guterres regarding this bill. We are also very happy
that the lobbying aimed at the Prime Minister before the
Amsterdam IGC bore its fruits with the inclusion of Sexual
Orientation in the European Union Treaty.

This is the draft text of the Portuguese Socialist Party
Partnership Bill:

Article 1
(Aim)
This diploma equalises the rights of members of a family living
together to married couples, in what concerns civil, fiscal,
social and labour matters, maintaining however the specificities
of either situation.

Article 2
(Application)
1. The present diploma applies to those who, having attained
majority or being emancipated, notoriously live in a situation
similar to married couples for at least two years.

2. What is stated in the preceding item does not apply to those
who still maintain marriage links or those subjected to marriage
impediments specified in the Civil Code.

Article 3
(Extension of rights in civil matters)
Partners living together receive the same benefits of protection
the married couples do, and rights such as:
a) transmission of lease rights
b) adoption
c) nourishment
d) right of residence

The 85th article of the Urban Lease Regime will be changed as
follows:

Article 85
(Transmission of lease rights)
1. Lease contract will not end by death of the first tenant. Not
even with the death of the person in  the following situation:
consort not judicially separated or person living in union with
the first tenant for at least two years, when the tenant is not
married or judicially separated. (...)

Article 4
(Adoption)
1. Heterosexual couples living together for a minimum of four
years and being at least 25 years old may adopt, according to
article 1979 of the Civil Code, if they are not married or
judicially separated.

2. Couples living together may also adopt each other's children.

Article 5
(Rights related to the end of the union of unmarried couples
living together)
1. The members of the union in this situation will be subjected
to the same condition of married couples in what concerns
nourishment and according to the items stated in the Civil Code.

2. In the situation mentioned above, the court may give lease to
each of the members of this union, if required, the family
residence if it belongs to the other partner, considering the
interests of their children.

Article 6
(Rights related to the end of the union due to the death of one
of the partners)
1. If one of the members of this union dies, and he is the owner
of the family residence, the other member has the right of
keeping it if there is not anything against this in a Will.

2. The right of residence ends when the surviving member
remarries or begins a new relationship.

Article 7
(Legislation related to foreigners and the right of asylum)
In what concerns legislation about entry, exit or expulsion of
foreigners from the national territory and the rights to asylum,
members of a union have the same rights of consorts when
notoriously living together for at least two years.

Article 8
(The same fiscal rights)
Registered union of unmarried couples living together, as stated
in article 1 of this document, will benefit, in what concerns
taxes, of the same rights established for married couples.

Article 9
(The same social rights)
In social security matters, registered unions of unmarried
partners living together will benefit the same way married
couples do.

Article 10
(The same rights in working matters)
As for holidays and absences from work, registered unions of
unmarried couples living together have the same rights of
married couples.

Article 11
(Register)
1. Due to what is expressed in articles 11 through 13 of this
diploma, the unions above mentioned have to be registered in a
book existing in Regional Social Security Centres of the members
of the union's area of residence.

2. The above mentioned register depends on the testimony, under
oath, attesting the existence of the union.

3. Members of the union may cancel the register anytime,
declaring this intention together or individually.

4. It is not possible a new register without cancelling the
previous one.

Article 12
(Estate of Property)
The estate of property applied to unmarried couples living
together is separate estate. However, other options are possible
if the members of the union declare their intention in a
contract.

Article 13
(Regulation)
Government will approve, 90 days after the publication of the
present diploma, the necessary legislation to provide its
execution.

Article 14
(Coming in force)
The present diploma comes in force with the approval of the
budget for the economic year of 1998.

The MPs of the Socialist Party.

-------------------------------------------------

1997 will go down in Portuguese history as the year of the gay
and lesbian awakening. During the current year, several major
events have irreversibly changed the Portuguese lesbian and gay
community and given it the largest visibility ever. During 1996
the first gay and lesbian organisation became official, and
started immediately working with the community.

In mid 1996 our organisation started political lobbying in order
to equalise the age of consent between homosexual and
heterosexual sex and to push for a partnership law that would
recognise the rights of homosexual couples.

In January 1997, while the country's first (national) gay and
lesbian newspaper celebrated it's first birthday, the government
approved the new penal code contemplating the same age of
consent between homo- and heterosexual sex (16 y.o.). On May 4th
1997, roughly 400 people marched down Lisbon's Liberty Avenue
remembering those lost to AIDS in the "First AIDS Candlelight
Memorial and March". In early June, after more than a year of
lobbying and a national campaign directed at the Prime-Minister,
the government party announces a domestic partnership bill to
recognise the rights of homosexual couples (excluding adoption),
sparking a national debate over the issue. The voting on the
bill, for political reasons, was postponed till January 1998.
Later, on June the 28th, in Lisbon again, Portugal's first Pride
Festival was held successfully attracting an

attendance of close to 3000 people. In August, the first AIDS
awareness and prevention leaflets targeting the gay and lesbian
community in Portugal, were published by our organisation with the financial aid 
of the Health Ministry.

Currently, from September 13th to September 28th, Europe's
largest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (in terms of the number of
films shown - 66 different films), the "Lisbon's First Gay and
Lesbian Film Festival", is attracting large crowds to theatres,
selling-out almost all the screenings in this 15-day festival.
The festival is being staged in three different theatres across
the city and has the patronage of the Lisbon Mayor. By the end
of the film feast, we predict that approximately 5000 people
will have attended the event.

Later this year, on October the 20th, Portugal's first Gay and
Lesbian Community Centre will open to the public in Lisbon's
city centre. The community centre will have one-on-one (as well
as telephone) legal, medical and psychological support and
counselling; it will be equipped with a coffee-shop, a
documentation centre, a library, an Internet access point and a
small bookstore. The large space where the community centre will
be functioning was given to our organisation by the City Council
and a grand opening with the Mayor's presence is already
confirmed.

These happenings were unthinkable in Portugal in 1995, when the
gay and lesbian community were at a total void. Just two years
ago there were no gay and/or lesbian organisations and the
concept of community was something we were used to witnessing in
other developed countries. The radical and shear speed with
which the homosexual movement has developed over the past 24
months even manages to surprise us. Gay owned and gay-friendly
businesses are starting to pop up at a steady rate, increasing
the overall quality of life of the community. The Portuguese
miracle seems to be well on its way.

FOREIGN SAME-SEX PARTNERS CAN OBTAIN PERMIT TO LIVE IN BELGIUM
By Alan Reekie

The Federation of Working-Groups on Homosexuality (FWH) reports
that:

According to a circular letter now being sent to all municipal
authorities  in Belgium by the Minister of Internal Affairs,
Johan Vande Lanotte, any  foreigner who is a partner of a
Belgian citizen can now obtain a provisional permit to live in
Belgium. It states that any applicant for a residence permit on
these grounds must satisfy certain criteria.

In particular, (s)he must show that the relationship is a
permanent one. The registered address of both partners must be
the same, and they  must be bound by a contract for
living-together drawn up by a notary public.

The Minister issued the circular letter to make it clear that a
Belgian wishing to live with a foreign partner are not obliged
to get married to him or her. And  thus gay men and lesbians can
also live with foreign partners from now on.

According to the FWH, this circular letter is a very welcome
concrete  response to a concrete problem. However, it does not
mean that the  case of people who are living together with
foreign partners need not be taken into account in the (future) provisions on 
registered partnerships.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL WORKING AGAINST LAWS PUNISHING SEXUAL
RELATIONS BETWEEN MEN IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES
(Excerpt from working paper distributed to the Amnesty g/l/t
network)  by Michael Moestrup

Consenting sex between adult men is still criminalized in most
of the countries of the CIS (i. e. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, the Russian Federation,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan). In one of
them, the Russian Federation, although consenting same sex
activity has been decriminalised in federal law since 1993, one
territory within the Federation  the Chechen Republic Ichkeriya 
is reportedly implementing its own separate criminal code which
punishes consenting same sex acts between men by caning and even
by death. In seven other CIS countries men who have consenting
sex with other men in private can be imprisoned.

Amnesty International is lobbying for repeal of the relevant
laws. Amnesty International considers that use of "sodomy" laws
to imprison men for same sex relations in private is a grave
violation of human rights, including the rights to privacy, to
freedom from discrimination, freedom of expression and
association, protected in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), to which all the states featured in
this report are bound by accession or by their status as
successors of the USSR.

AI's position finds support in the decisions of several
intergovernmental human rights mechanisms. In March 1994 the
Human Rights Committee, created by the ICCPR to oversee states
party's adherence to their obligations under the Covenant, found
that provisions of the Tasmanian Criminal Code criminalizing
consensual homosexual relations in private violated Articles 2
(1) and 17 of the ICCPR.

Article 2 (1) provides that each state party shall ensure to all
individuals the "rights recognised in the present Covenant,
without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or
social origin, property, birth or other status". The Committee
noted that, in its view, the prohibition of discrimination on
grounds of "sex" referred to in Articles 2 and 26 of the ICCPR
"is to be taken as including sexual orientation".

Article 17 provides that none shall be "arbitrarily subject to
arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy". The
Committee considered that consensual sexual activity in private
was indisputably covered by the concept of privacy. It rejected
both justifications advanced by the Tasmanian authorities for
restricting this right with regard to homosexuals.
Criminalization, the Committee found, was not "a reasonable
means or proportionate measure to achieve the aim of preventing
the spread of AIDS/HIV", nor was it essential to the protection
of public morals, in view of the repeal of other similar laws in
other Australian jurisdictions and the non enforcement of the
laws of Tasmania. The Committee stated that an effective remedy
for this violation would be the repeal of the relevant
provisions of the Criminal Code. They were repealed in 1997.

Since then, the Human Rights Committee has also criticised
legislation in other countries outlawing same sex relations,
including the "sodomy" laws of several states of the USA and
certain provisions of the Penal Code in Romania.

The European Court of Human Rights has also found that laws
criminalizing same sex sexual relations in the United Kingdom
(Northern Ireland), the Republic of Ireland and Cyprus violated
the right to privacy enshrined in Article 8 of the European
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
subsequently repealed the relevant legislation. Approval of
legislation repealing the "sodomy" provisions in Cyprus is
pending at the time of writing. 

***************************
Steffen Jensen
E-mail: [email-masked] 
http://inet.uni2.dk/~steff
Tel. +45 3324 6435 or +45 2033 0840  Fax: +45 2036 7856