From: steff@inet.uni2.dk Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 22:39:10 +0200 (METDST) Subject: [euroletter] EuroLetter 63 EURO-LETTER No. 63 September 1998 The Euro-Letter is published on behalf of ILGA-Europe - The European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association by Gay and Lesbian International Lobby in co-operation with The Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians. Editors: Steffen Jensen, Ken Thomassen, Peter Bryld, Lisbeth Andersen and Soeren Baatrup. Contact to Euro-Letter: E-mail: steff@inet.uni2.dk URL: http://www.steff.suite.dk Fax: +45 4049 5297 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 by sending an empty message to euroletter-subscribe@makelist.com and from no 30 onwards the Euro-Letters are available on the Internet at http://www.steff.suite.dk/eurolet.htm and at http://www.france.qrd.org/assocs/ilga/euroletter.html ********************************************************* IN THIS ISSUE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS URGENCY RESOLUTION ON EQUAL RIGHTS FOR GAYS AND LESBIANS IN THE EU THE FULL TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION ILGA-EUROPE'S REPORT "EQUALITY FOR LESBIANS AND GAY MEN" NOW AVAIABLE IN SPANISH Documents relating to ILGA-Europe can be found at ILGA-Europe's homepage http://www.steff.suite.dk/ilgaeur.htm An update of the Survey on the Legal Situation for Gays and Lesbians in Europe can be found at http://www.steff.suite.dk/survey.htm A description of partnership laws and other laws regarding same-sex partners can be found at http://www.steff.suite.dk/partner.htm Consolidated versions of the basic treaties of the European Union including amendments from the Amsterdam Treaty can be found at this web-site: http://ue.eu.int/Amsterdam/en/traiteco/en1.htm ********************************************************** EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS URGENCY RESOLUTION ON EQUAL RIGHTS FOR GAYS AND LESBIANS IN THE EU 17 September 1998, the European Parliament adopted with a majority of 110 against 89 votes (6 abstentions) a resolution reaffirming the Parliament's defence of the human rights of gays and lesbians. The resolution was motivated by the refusal, during the past few months, of the Parliaments of Cyprus, Romania and Austria to bring their anti-homosexual legislation in line with European human rights standards as demanded both by the EP in various previous resolutions and by the human rights organs of the Council of Europe. In this resolution, the EP firmly expressed its refusal to "give its consent to the accession of any country that, through its legislation or policies, violates the human rights of lesbians and gay men". The countries concerned are Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, and Lithuania. The Commission has been called upon to take into consideration respect and observance of the human rights of gays and lesbians when negotiating the accession of applicant countries. Additionally, the EP calls upon Austria to immediately repeal Article 209 of the penal code, which provides for a discriminatory age of consent for gay men, and to immediately provide for an amnesty for, and the release from prison of, all persons jailed under this law. This is especially embarrassing for Austria since this country is currently holding the presidency of the EU for the second half of 1998. "The adoption of this resolution is a big success for the European lesbian and gay movement", comments Kurt Krickler, co-chair of ILGA-Europe, the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, who followed the debate and vote in Strasbourg on Thursday. "After a similar motion for a resolution had failed last July due to the lack of support from the Socialdemocratic group in the EP, ILGA-Europe and member groups in most of the 15 EU countries had carried out a joint and obviously effective lobbying campaign towards the Socialdemocratic members of the EP in the various countries so that the PSE group in the EP finally changed its mind. We are especially grateful to the liberal group (ELDR) and the Green group which was courageous enough to retable the motion after the failure in July, and also to those groups which joined the motion, e.g. the the European United Left/Nordic Green Left, the radical group (ARE) and the PSE. THE FULL TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION (Rule 47) tabled by the following Members: Swoboda and Berger, on behalf of the PSE Group Frischenschlager, Watson, Thors and Plooij-van Gorsel, on behalf of the ELDR Group Ojala, Gonz lez µlvarez, Guti‚rrez DĦaz, Vinci, Pailler and Eriksson, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group Voggenhuber, Lindholm and Roth, on behalf of the V Group Dupuis, on behalf of the ARE Group replacing the motions by the following Members: Frischenschlager and others, on behalf of the ELDR Group (B4-0824/98) Roth, Lindholm and Voggenhuber, on behalf of the V Group (B4-0852/98) On equal rights for gays and lesbians in the EC - having regard to its resolution of 8 February 1994 on equal rights for homosexuals and lesbians in the EC1, calling on the Member States to apply the same age of consent to homosexual and heterosexual activities alike (para 6), - having regard to its resolution of 17 September 1996 on respect for human rights in the European Union (1994)2, demanding the elimination of discrimination and unequal treatment of homosexuals, especially in view of unequal age of consent provisions (paragraph 84), - having regard to its resolution of 8 April 1997 on respect for human rights in the European Union (1995)3, repeating the demand for the repeal of unequal age of consent provisions (para. 136) and explicitly urging Austria to repeal her age of consent law (para. 140), - having regard to its resolution of 17 February 1998 on respect for human rights in the European Union (1996)4, reiterating its demand to the Austrian Government to repeal the unequal age of consent provision in the Austrian penal code (para. 69), - having regard to its previous resolution on sexual orientation, discrimination and the human rights of homosexuals in Romania, - recalling the Copenhagen accession criteria for candidate members, in particular the requirement to respect human rights, A. having regard to Recommendation 924/1981 on discrimination against homosexuals adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, recommending the Committee of Ministers to urge all Member States to apply the same minimum age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual acts (para. 7 ii), B. having regard to the decision of the European Commission of Human Rights, adopted on 1 July 1997, in Application No. 25186/94 (Euan Sutherland) against the United Kingdom, finding "that no objective and reasonable justification exists 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" (para. 66), and concluding that an unequal age of consent provision is "a violation of Article 8 of the [European Human Rights] Convention, taken in conjunction with Article 14 of the Convention" (para. 67), C. considering that, for reasons of credibility towards the applicant countries when demanding from them the observance of human rights, EU member states such as Austria need to repeal their own legislation discriminating against lesbians and gay men, in particular existing discriminatory age of consent provisions, D. noting that the following applicant countries, with which the EU has already started the accession negotiation process, still have legal provisions in their penal code that seriously discriminate against homosexuals: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, and Romania, E. deploring the insufficient law reform voted upon by the Parliament of Cyprus on 21 May 1998, replacing the total ban on male homosexual acts by a series of other discriminatory provisions, including a higher age of consent, F. deploring the refusal of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies on 30 June 1998 to adopt a reform bill presented by the Government to repeal all anti-homosexual legislation provided by Article 200 of the penal code, G. regretting the refusal of the Austrian Parliament to vote for the repeal of Article 209, the higher age of consent provision for gay men, on 17 July 1998, thus knowingly ignoring both the decision in the Sutherland case and the urgent demands towards Austria expressed by the European Parliament in its abovementioned resolutions of 8 April 1997 and 17 February 1998, H. welcoming with great satisfaction the recent law reforms in this field in Finland and Latvia as well as the positive 22 June 1998 vote of the UK House of Commons on repealing the unequal age of consent provision for gay men though, regrettably, this was subsequently overruled by a vote in the House of Lords, I. considering that Article 13 EC as amended by the Amsterdam Treaty, once ratified, will empower the Council to take appropriate measures to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation, J. confirming that it will not give its consent to the accession of any country that, through its legislation or policies, violates the human rights of lesbians and gay men, K. whereas, according to official statistics, there are still every year approximately 50 reports to the police, 30 criminal proceedings and judicial inquiries and 20 convictions under Article 209 of the Austrian penal code which provides a minimum penalty of six months' imprisonment and a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment, 1. Calls on the Austrian Government and Parliament to immediately repeal Article 209 of the Penal Code and to immediately provide for an amnesty for, and the release from prison of, all persons jailed under this law; 2. Calls on all applicant countries to repeal all legislation violating the human rights of lesbians and gay men, in particular discriminatory age of consent laws; 3. Calls on the Commission to take into consideration respect and observance of the human rights of gays and lesbians when negotiating the accession of applicant countries; 4. Asks the Commission in particular to examine, in its review of the CEEC due before the end of this year, the human rights situation of gays and lesbians in these countries; 5. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the parliaments and governments of Austria, Cyprus, and Romania, and the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe. ILGA-EUROPE'S REPORT "EQUALITY FOR LESBIANS AND GAY MEN" NOW AVAIABLE IN SPANISH A Spanish translation of the report, cf. EuroLetter 61, is now avaiable at ILGA-Europe's web site: http://www.steff.suite.dk/ilgaeur.htm Steffen Jensen E-mail: steff@inet.uni2.dk http://www.steff.suite.dk Tel. +45 3324 6435 or +45 2033 0840 Fax: +45 4049 5297 ______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe, unsubscribe, opt for a daily digest, or start a new e-group at http://www.eGroups.com -- Free Web-based e-mail groups. From aubrey@wolfenet.com Mon Sep 21 18:46:29 1998 Received: from scaup.prod.itd.earthlink.net (scaup.prod.itd.earthlink.net [207.217.120.49]) by qrd.rdrop.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id SAA06005 for ; Mon, 21 Sep 1998 18:46:28 -0700 (PDT) Received: from office (ip194.seattle6.wa.pub-ip.psi.net [38.28.40.194]) by scaup.prod.itd.earthlink.net (8.8.7/8.8.5) with SMTP id SAA14129; Mon, 21 Sep 1998 18:45:59 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <2.2.32.19980922014514.006894c0@proxy> X-Sender: aubrey@proxy X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (32) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 18:45:14 -0700 To: aubrey@wolfenet.com From: Eros Publishing Subject: Press Release ISSUE #8, September 21, 1998 BEYOND THE EDGE CAFE FETISH GAZETTE FETISH GAZETTE FETISH GAZETTE an occasional newsletter about fetish (and other) activities at BEYOND THE EDGE CAFE 703 E. PIKE SEATTLE, WA 98122 206-325-6829 ladysun@eskimo.com www.powerotic.com/BTE/ "Old rituals call us to the place we started out, the edge" Madeline DeFrees "Shadegrown Tobacco" A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR The cafe ownership change is a month in the past. I'm getting some much needed rest and having fun exploring a new relationship (I love poly relationships). While I do miss seeing some of you on a regular, daily basis, I have seen more of you lately because I can now attend fetish nights. I also have more time to invest in keeping the cafe kinky. SSMUT is quite entertaining and thought-provoking and the BTE University promises to be educational and fun. We have lots of parties and events planned for this fall and winter. Change is scary, but without change, there is no growth. While we know that we aren't the end-all-be-all of the kink community we have become an important resource and hope to continue. Look at our calendar at the end of this newsletter. It has grown and looks to continue growing. Ralph is committed to keeping the cafe the community living room and is working on a few upgrades that will enhance your enjoyment of the cafe. The cafe is not just one person or a couple of person's. The cafe is all of you. I want you to know how much I appreciate your continued support of BTE. I am constantly in awe of this tribe I belong to. Thank you all. Allena WOMEN'S PARTY THIS COMING SUNDAY Beyond the Edge Cafe will be hosting our monthly play party this coming Sunday, September 27. This month it is women only. Cost is $15, which includes dinner and play. The evening starts at 6:00 PM and goes until at least midnight. If you are interested in attending and haven't attended a Sunday party before please e-mail Allena at ladysun@eskimo.com. If you have attended Sunday parties in the past and plan to attend this one, please RSVP to the cafe or Allena. OCTOBERS ARTIST: CHARLIE DANIELS Leather Alterations-- A showing of modified photographs of people, events and things connected to the Seattle Leather Community, by Charlie Daniels. Starts October 1st at Beyond the Edge Cafe. Charlie has been involved in the Seattle Leather Community for about five years now, and has been taking pictures of people and events in and around the community for about three. His interest in photography goes back to high school. He has always wanted to work with hand-colored or tinted photographs, but always believed that keeping all those little bottles of inks and dyes in one place was beyond his organizational skills. So he built a computer with plenty of RAM and Photoshop instead, and now he is very happy. Sources of influence and inspiration include Annie Leibovitz, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Mapplethorpe, and the person who scribbled with pastels all over the photographs of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on the original Saturday Night Live. Charlie has had some experience and education in photography, printing, graphic design and video production, but firmly believes that credentials, while nice to have, have little or no bearing upon one's willingness or ability to inflict art upon society. BTEU'S NEXT CLASS: ELECTRICITY! Doug House, who many of you know as Dragon, will be coming down from Vancouver BC to give a workshop on electricity. Dragon has given over 150 workshops on subjects including SM101, BDSM Etiquette, safety, electrical play, suspension, bondage, device construction, terror (a personal favorite), breath control, wax play, sensory deprivation, mummification, intubation, temporary and permanent piercings, bloodsports, and ponygirl (another favorite). He has enjoyed electrical play as part of his BDSM lifestyle for over 15 years. Dragon's current electrical toy collection includes 8 TENS units, 2 shock-boxes, cattle prod, new and antique violet wands, and numerous interface devices. Dragon was introduced to BDSM at the age of 17 by an older woman and is now enjoying his 25th year in the scene. He has been active in the Vancouver community for many years. His credentials include: founding Member of NLA:BC (now defunct); operator of The Other Side (privately held BDSM Club, operating in Vancouver, that replaced NLA:BC; operator of PLAYRZ, an invitation-only experienced players BDSM Club operating in Vancouver; consultant to Vancouver Police Department and B.C. Coroner's Office on BDSM matters. Classified as a "Professional Witness"; co-owner of Purgatory, currently under construction, soon to be Vancouver's first permanent, legally-licensed BDSM/Fetish club. (Opening for Mack VIII, October, 1998); Member, Triskeli Guild, Bellingham, Washington; 1/3 of 3D (Diabolical Devices for Damsels), along with J.G. Leathers and J.L. Gord (3D is three guys with far too much time on their hands, who sit around designing, then making, really diabolical BDSM devices); co-founder of the Mack McKinnon Fetish and Fantasy Memorial Weekend. For those of you who may be interested, Mack VIII is being held October 23-25, 1998. Info at (604)582-9033, or Internet users may check www.angelfire.com/bc/mackviii or e-mail mackviii@hotmail.com FETISH DINNER: A SPANKING SUCCESS Saturday night's Fetish dinners continue to be popular with all types of customers. Last Saturday's dinner was especially fun. Seven so called vanilla guests held a party for a young man's 30th birthday. The group had discovered us by our website and thought that we would be "entertaining". They were right! Not only did the birthday party get an incredible dinner, the birthday boy was treated to a rendition of "Happy Birthday Mr. President" by a visiting drag queen and for dessert, he happily bent over for his birthday spankings, presented by yours truly. Not only are Saturday's Fetish Dinners a place for romance and play but also a great place to celebrate birthdays and other special occasions. If you let us know in advance, we gladly give spankings and present the birthday boy/girl with a souvenir of his/her evening. Birthday parties can be held upstairs or downstairs. There is a minimum seating of 8 to reserve the downstairs for a private party. Also, please give us plenty of notice as the dungeon fills up fast for dinner. OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES NEEDED Ralph is looking for old Fetish/Kink magazines and books with pictures for a collage project he is working on. He plans to cover the cafe tables with kinky photos. If you have old magazines, pictures, books etc. that you are willing to part with, please drop them by the cafe. Also, if you have books that you would like to donate to our in-house fetish library, please drop them off. HALLOWEEN IS COMING! We will be having two Halloween parties this year. The first will be our Last Sunday of the Month party, on October 25th. This is our normal private party and RSVP's are required. There will be dinner and play as usual and also a prize for the best costume that fits our theme: COME AS YOU AREN'T. This has been our theme for the last few parties and we have had some amazing costumes. Costumes are not required to attend the party and you don't have to fit the theme, unless you want to compete for a prize. On October 31 we will also have a Halloween party during Fetish Night. Again, there will be prizes for costumes. The categories will be: Best Kinky Costume, Best Non-Kinky Costume and Best Costume made out of Safe Sex supplies. (I personally will be handing out a prize for the best Catholic School Girl Costume in the R-rated Bathroom around 1am.) Look for more information in the next week or so. BTE ANNIVERSARY PARTY Beyond the Edge Cafe will be celebrating its 3rd birthday on November 15th. We want to invite everyone to an all day open house and a play party that evening. There will be ongoing demonstrations throughout the day, both upstairs and down and a pansexual play party from 6pm on. Look for more information in the next week or so. UPCOMING EVENTS IN OCTOBER AT BEYOND THE EDGE October 1, Thursday Artist Reception for Charlie Daniels. Leather Alterations-- A showing of modified photographs of people, events and things connected to the Seattle Leather Community. 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM October 1, Thursday Julie & Ken Join clarinetist Julie and pianist Ken for an evening of music from the 30's & 40's. 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM No Cover Tips Appreciated October 2, Friday SSMUT (Seattle Sado-Masochism Unabashed Talk) A facilitated, roundtable discussion about B/D, S/M and other sexual alternatives and an opportunity for anyone to talk about their experiences or ask questions. SSMUT strives to provide an atmosphere where philosophies can take form and be shared. 7:30 PM to 11:00 PM October 6, Tuesday The Women's Welcoming Committee. A meeting for all women interested in BDSM. Especially geared for women new to the community. WWC meets upstairs the first Tuesday of every month. 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM October 7, Wednesday SPECTRUM A discussion group for all female-born, male identified persons. SPECTRUM meets the first Wednesday of every month. 7:00 PM October 8, Thursday An Evening With Brian Alec Thom Join us for an evening of piano music by Brian Alec Thom. 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM No Cover Tips Appreciated October 9 BTE University To Be Announced Join us for our newest event. Workshops preceding the Friday Night Fetish Parties. 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM $3 to $5 October 9 Friday Fetish Night. Join us for another night of play. $5.00 9:30 PM to 1:30 PM October 13, Tuesday The Men's Welcoming Committee. A meeting for all men interested in BDSM. Especially geared for men new to the community. The MWC meets upstairs the second Tuesday of every month. 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM October 15, Thursday Julie & Ken Join clarinetist Julie and pianist Ken for an evening of music from the 30's & 40's. 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM No Cover Tips Appreciated October 16, Friday "Non-Hormone, Non-Op" discussion group meets every third Fri of the month and welcomes all male-identified folks who were born female, with a focus on living without fully transitioning. They are developing a topic list and folks can contact Mike at CtrlRatX@aol.com for more info. 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM October 22, Thursday Julie & Ken Join clarinetist Julie and pianist Ken for an evening of music from the 30's & 40's. 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM No Cover Tips Appreciated October 23 BTE University Hands On Ivy and Michael will give a vaginal fisting demonstration and discuss techniques and safety. 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM $3 to $5 October 23 Friday Fetish Night. Join us for another night of play. $5.00 9:30 PM to 1:30 PM October 25, Sunday Private Pansexual Halloween Play Party. Dinner and Play for $15. Prizes for the best costume portraying our theme COME AS YOU AREN'T. Call Allena for more information and to make reservations. 6:00 PM until Midnight October 27, Tuesday No Safeword Writer's Group. The No SafeWord Writers Group (NSWG) exists to provide mutual support for our members literary efforts. Support is in the form of critique and commentary on each others work, information about publishing opportunities and discussion of issues facing writers. Our focus is erotic writing - but we welcome anyone who writes. The only requirement is to write and be respectful of others. For more information contact Ambrose McNibble at: a_mcnibble@halcyon.com. 6:30 PM until ? free October 27, Tuesday SOS (Sister's of Sin) Social club for women who are into BDSM. Monthly planning meeting. 7:30 to ? October 28, Wednesday F to M Support Group 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM October 29, Thursday Heather Alexander Celtic Musician with an attitude! 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM No Cover Tips appreciated October 31, Saturday HALLOWEEN PARTY Prizes and treats and hopefully lots of tricks. Join us and our neighbor Edge of The Circle Books for a grand Halloween party. Different events will be happening all day, cumulating in a Fetish Halloween Party with prizes for costumes. Every Thursday we host a "twisted twelve step" for our friends in recovery. 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM Every Saturday Night we hold our Fetish Dinners from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Reservations recommended. Call the cafe for more information. Every Saturday Night from 10:00 PM to 3:00 AM we have Fetish Night. $8.00 Call the cafe for more information. TWO OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS November 15, Sunday Beyond the Edge Cafe will be celebrating its third birthday with an all day open house and a pansexual play party that evening. Stay tuned for more details. December 31, Thursday New Years Eve Play Party. Beyond The Edge Cafe also caters, both in-house and on site. Try out our "Breakfast in Bed For As Many Can Fit in a Bed" catering special. We have space for rent, for both meetings and play. Call the cafe for more information. OUR WEBPAGE is www.powerotic.com/BTE/ E-mail to ladysun@eskimo.com http://www.wolfenet.com/~aubrey/aubrey.htm