Subject: Pink Paper 29 April

From: Alan Beck <[email-masked]>
Date: 30 Apr 95 06:04:44 EDT

Greetings from 'The Pink Paper', UK national weekly for lgbs
Headline news

"Tories back down over military gays - senior ministers launch furious attack
after Labour pledges review of armed forces ban"
The Government appears to have backed down over the issue of gays in the
military despite a cabinet minister's furious attack on Labour's pro-gay armed
forces policy. 
Senior Tories were reacting to an interview with Dr David Clark, Labour's
defence spokesperson. Clark said that the military ban on lesbians and gays in
the British armed forces was an 'infringement of civil liberties'. He added that
within a month of attaining power, a future Labour government would set up a
working party to look into repealing current service laws.
Clark's comments provoked a scathing response from the Defence Secretary,
Malcolm Rifkind, who said Labour's proposal was 'foolish and extremely bad for
morale.'
Lord Lewin, Admiral of the Fleet, said: 'Homosexuality is not acceptable in a
service environment and my expectation is that the Chief of Staff would resist
such a change very strongly.'
Some 260 men and women have been discharged from the armed services on the
grounds of homosexuality between 1991 and 1994 at an estimated cost of 40m
pounds. Four cases of gay service people dismissed from the armed services will
be heard in the High Court next month.

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

"Freddie's stamp album on show"
Freddie Mercury's boyhood stamp album is to go on display this weekend at the
Stamp '95 show at London's Wembley Exhibition Centre. The Queen star's blue
album was bought by the National Postal Museum for 3,220 pounds at a Sotheby
auction last year. The money raised went to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, an AIDS
charity set up by the remaining members of the band.

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

"Freedom-FM London launched"
London's new one-month gay radio station named its presenters for May when it
goes on air. Programming highlights include: Diva Delight, with drag performers
paying tributes to their icons, and a gay blind date show called Cupid's
Calling. The station will broadcast on a special licence on 104.9FM from 4 May.

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

"Law Society hopeful angers gay solicitors"
Lesbian and gay lawyers have vowed to campaign against a candidate for
presidency of the Law Society who wants sexual orientation removed from its
equal opportunities policy.
Martin Mears, a Norfolk-based solicitor, has described lesbians and gay men as
'overbearing minorities', is one of three candidtes standing to become president
of the Law Society, the governing body of English and Welsh lawyers.
Members of the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association (LAGLA) said they were
'dismayed' by Mears' decision to stand and feared there was a good chance he
would win the election.

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

"Psychiatrist's lecture cancelled"
The annual lecture of the Association for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (APP) due
to be held on Friday, has been cancelled. The controversial American
psychiatrist Charles Socradies, author of numerous books and papers describing
homosexuality as a 'dosorder' was due to make a speech at the London event. His
visit has been opposed by vareious groups including MIND, the mental heralth
chairty, and Pink Therapy, a group of lesbian and gay therapists.

                     _______________________________________

                                 Copyright (c) 1995 'The Pink Paper'
                          reproduce and credit 'The Pink Paper'
                   __________________________________________

Alan Beck, Associate Editor, Canterbury, Kent, UK

******************************************************************************
To send a message to the entire list "queerplanet", email [email-masked]

To contact the List Manager, email [email-masked]
*******************************************************************************