Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 10:33:53 -0800 (PST) From: Rex Wockner Subject: WOCKNER/INT'L NEWS #286/18 October 1999 ============================================= = INTERNATIONAL NEWS #286 - Oct 18, 1999 = = (c) Rex Wockner = ============================================= --> FRANCE PASSES PARTNERSHIP LAW France's National Assembly passed a partnership law Oct. 13 that grants registered couples -- gay or straight, romantic or not -- many of the rights of matrimony. The vote was 315 to 249. If there are no complications, the "Civil Solidarity Pact" law will take effect at the beginning of the year. Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigou said the measure "offers a solution to five million people who live as couples without being married." The law will apply in areas such as income tax, inheritance, housing, immigration, health benefits, job transfers, synchronized vacation time, responsibility for debts, and social welfare. It does not grant equality in the areas of parental rights, adoption or medically assisted procreation. Unlike heterosexual couples who get married, registered partners will tie the knot before a court rather than at the town hall. They also will not be allowed to file a joint tax return until they've been together three years. Married people can do so immediately. Opponents plan to challenge the law's constitutionality before the Constitutional Council. The registration measure had passed the Assembly three times before (on June 15, 1999; April 7, 1999; and Dec. 9, 1998) but each time it was rejected by the Senate. This time, the bill will become law without Senate consideration. Jean-Benoit Richard of the French Queer Resources Directory explained: "According to the French Constitution, to become a law, a project must be voted with the same words by both assemblies. Otherwise, our constitution says that if both assemblies cannot find an agreement, the National Assembly makes the final decision after several ... examinations by both assemblies." --> SPANISH DEPUTY COMES OUT Spain has its first openly gay member of parliament. Socialist deputy Miguel Iceta, 39, came out Oct. 12 during a campaign meeting in Barcelona. "Acknowledging one's homosexuality is easier now than it was several years ago," Iceta said. "Other politicians are gay but I'm the first to admit it." Iceta is running for a seat in the Catalan regional parliament. If he wins, he plans to resign his federal seat. --> BRITAIN WILL LIFT MILITARY BAN Britain's new defense secretary, Geoff Hoon, said Oct. 14 he will lift the ban on gays in the military. The decision follows a Sept. 27 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that the ban violates servicemembers' rights to privacy and family life. "We will implement it [the ruling]," Hoon said. Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reported Oct. 17 that the Ministry of Defence has set aside four million pounds (US$6.7 million) to compensate 60 sacked gay service personnel who sued after the court issued its ruling. --> RUSSIANS CHEER L.A. GAY CHORUS Los Angeles Gay Men's Chorus performances in Moscow and St. Petersburg were a big success in mid-October, reported the Los Angeles Times. The chorus sang at Tchaikovsky Hall and Glinka Choral Hall. In Moscow, the chorus was joined for three songs by Russia's biggest pop superstar, Alla Pugachova. Pugachova had stunned the nation one day earlier by telling the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets that homosexuality "is a normal part of human existence which was created by nature and God." "Maybe other people see this [concert] as a kind of manifesto," Pugachova said. "But for me, it's a normal human and professional act. I'm going to sing with a chorus I admire." In an interview with a Times reporter, concert-goer Yevdokiya Grukova commented: "Of course, the idea of a gay chorus is strange. [I came to] see what gays look like. ... The world has all types so why not a gay chorus, if they have the talent?" --> CHINESE AUTHOR PUNISHED FOR OUTING The author of the 1995 book Homosexuals in China, Fang Gang, was fined 7,000 yuan (US$845) Sept. 30 for outing the manager of a dance hall where a gay party was held. Fang's publishing house was fined an additional 2,000 yuan (US$241). Although the book did not name plaintiff Xu Yanguang, it named the dance hall and said that its manager was gay. In handing down the verdict, Beijing's Xuanwu District Court said homosexuality is "abnormal sexual behavior and is not acceptable to the public," and, as a result, Xu suffered "depression and psychological pain" as well as economic losses and damage to his reputation. Xu further claimed that his fiancee refused to marry him and he couldn't find a job after the book was published. Fang, 31, may appeal. "I feel the judgment is unfair," he told the South China Morning Post. "It is for doctors, not judges, to say if homosexuality is abnormal. The court says that it is considered abnormal, but by whom -- all 1.2 billion Chinese? The most authoritative definition is by the World Health Organization which has removed it from its list of illnesses." Fang and his publisher also were ordered to pay 1,800 yuan (US$217) of the 2,390 yuan (US$289) in legal expenses associated with the case -- and to publish an apology in the Justice Ministry's Legal Daily newspaper. Persons wishing to protest the decision can write Judge Zhang Li Hua, Xuanwu District People's Court, Beijing 100053, People's Republic of China. --> LATVIANS POLL PRO-GAY As Latvia considers a registered-partnership law for same-sex couples, a new Baltic Data House poll found that 53 percent of the adult population supports the proposal. Thirty-five percent of those questioned do not and 11 percent have no opinion. Sixty-three percent of those polled said homosexuals "are an equal part of society." Thirty-one percent said they're not and six percent had no opinion. "We regard these results as extremely positive and hope they will help us to progress the partnership draft law in the parliament," said Juris Ludvigs Lavrikovs of the Homosexuality Information Center. Latvia's National Human Rights Office sent the draft to Parliament's Human Rights and Public Affairs Commission on Sept. 28. The proposal, modeled after statutes in nearby Scandinavia, grants registered couples nearly every right of matrimony except in the area of adoption. --> ZIMBABWEAN GAY LEADER COMMITS SUICIDE The chairman of the group Gays and Lesbian of Zimbabwe (GALZ), Pangi Nyathi, reportedly committed suicide Oct. 10. A short e-mail from GALZ stated, in full: "GALZ offers its deepest condolences to Herbert Mondhlani on the death of Panghi Nyathi, longtime member of this organisation, a fine counsellor and current chairperson. Panghi died on the morning of Sunday 10 October at his home in Harare just hours after the annual Jacaranda Queen drag pageant. Our hearts reach out to you Herbert. There are no words to describe what you must feel in the light of your tragic personal loss." -end-