News from Swedish gay/lesbian politics
Published by the Swedish Federation for Gay and Lesbian Rights
(RFSL)
 No. 12/94 (March 21th-27th, 1994)


1 Gays and lesbians leave the working group of the church
The representatives of the Ecumenical Group for Christian Gay Men
and Lesbians, EKHO, in the working group of the Swedish Church
concerning homosexuality, on March 24th deceided to quit the work
of the group. The decision was a reaction to the formal remarks of
the Swedish Church on the proposals from the Partnership
Commission (see News from Swedish gay/lesbian politics 11/94).

2 Parliamentary decision on life insurances
The Parliament has now rejected a motion urging an end to the
discrimination in the collectively negotiated life insurances for
state employees. It was in January 1993 that the Social Democratic
MP Kent Carlsson and others submitted a motion urging that it
should be possible for gay men and lesbians to appoint their
cohabitant as a beneficiary in the collectively negotiated life
insurance that is valid e.g. for people in unemployment
programmes.
  The motivation of the Standing Committee on the Labour Market is
that the Parliament later this spring will consider the
partnership issue.

3 The school plans are ready
The Government has now adopted the school plans for the
comprehensive school (see News from Swedish gay/lesbian politics
5/93, 15/93, 33/93, 43/93 and 6/94).
  In the compulsory part of the school plans there is only one
paragraph about sex education; this is what is stated as a goal
that the pupils shall have achieved by the end of the ninth grade:
"The pupil shall have knowledge about what fertilization means,
know something about the genetical inheritance and have knowledge
about the biology of the sexual life, about preventive measures
and sexually transmitted diseases."
  The RFSL and the Swedish Association for Sex Information
arranged a press conference on March 22nd to present their
criticism against the new school plans.

4 The Standing Committee on Civil-Law Legislation starts with the
partnership
The Standing Committee on Civil-Law Legislation on March 24th
started its work to draw a partnership act. The decision to do so
was made by a majority consisting of the Liberal and Social
Democratic Parties.