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         =   INTERNATIONAL NEWS #291 - Nov 23, 1999  =  
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--> FRENCH PARTNER LAW TAKES EFFECT

France's registered-partnership law took effect Nov. 15 when it
was signed by President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel
Jospin. 

Conservative politicians' attempts to have the law declared
unconstitutional failed earlier in the month.

The law grants same- and opposite-sex registered couples spousal
rights 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.


--> MUGABE LASHES OUT AT BLAIR OVER 'QUEERS'

Homophobic Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe lashed out at
British Prime Minister Tony Blair Nov. 12 at the Commonwealth
leaders meeting in Durban, South Africa, accusing him of running
a government of "queers."

"If Tony Blair wants to turn Britain into a United Gay Kingdom,
that is a matter for him," Mugabe said. "But he should not
lecture other countries. ... Tony Blair has three homosexuals in
his cabinet [an apparent reference to Chris Smith, Nick Brown and 
Peter Mandelson]. There is a gay organization. People who are
homosexuals are queer because they think differently." 

Mugabe accused Blair of sicking "gangster gays" on him Oct. 30 in
London when the gay group OutRage! attempted a citizen's arrest
of Mugabe. OutRage! members halted Mugabe's motorcade and
activist Peter Tatchell opened the door of Mugabe's car, grabbed
him by the arm and told him he was under arrest. In the moments
before police arrived and arrested Tatchell, he lectured Mugabe
on his anti-gay rhetoric.

Blair denies masterminding OutRage!'s assault. His spokesman told
reporters, "The prime minister is not a gay gangster."

Mugabe loathes homosexuals. He has said: "[They are] repugnant to
my human conscience ... immoral and repulsive. ... Animals in the
jungle are better than these people because at least they know
that this is a man or a woman. ... I don't believe they have any
rights at all. [Gay sex is] an abomination."

Meanwhile, in London Nov. 16, Tatchell was charged with using
threatening, abusing and insulting words and behavior and with
assaulting a police officer during the motorcade attack. He could
face 18 months in prison and $24,000 in fines. Two other OutRage!
members were charged with disorderly conduct likely to cause
harassment, alarm or distress.


--> QUEER AS FOLK TO GO WEEKLY

Britain's groundbreaking gay TV drama Queer As Folk, which had
eight installments and will wrap up with a two-hour special in
February, will be spun off into a Channel 4 soap opera that will
air twice a week.

The characters will be different from those in the drama series
but the soap still will be set in Manchester's gay village.

"There's an appetite for this world and so it makes sense to spin
something out from it," said Channel 4's Gub Neal. "Queer As Folk
was already essentially a soap opera looking at relationships
that were identifiable to everybody and how families work -- even
if they weren't families in the conventional sense."


--> ILGA MEETS IN AFRICA

Two hundred delegates from 40 nations -- including eight African
nations -- gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, Sept. 19-25
for the 19th World Conference of the International Lesbian and
Gay Association.

In their first-ever link-up, gay activists from Botswana,
Cameroon, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and
Zimbabwe networked to discuss the complicated lives of gay and
lesbian Africans.

In all there were 80 workshops, caucuses, panels and plenary
sessions on a wide range of issues. 

Thanks to ILGA scholarships, delegates also attended from a
number of other disadvantaged nations, including China and Cuba.

New secretaries general were elected: Kursad Kahramanoglu from
the United Kingdom and Phumzile Mtetwa from South Africa. ILGA's
next confab will be in Rome in July 2000.


--> BRITISH HIGH SCHOOLS EMBRACE GAYS

Students in some British secondary schools are using a sex-
education kit that is very pro-gay, Bristol's Western Daily Press
reported Nov. 12.

"Beyond A Phase -- A Practical Guide to Challenging Homophobia in
Schools" was produced with government funds by North Bristol
Healthcare Trust's Health Promotion Service Avon.

Among much else, the kit provides students aged 14 to 16 with
"role cards" for taking on the identities of a married man who
has gay sex in secret, a 14-year-old bisexual girl, a
transsexual, and a man convicted of having sex in a public
toilet.

An accompanying 14-minute video advises experimenting sexually
with boys and girls to see which gender one is more comfortable
with.

School authorities are defending the kit while conservative
politicans have said they are outraged.


--> ACTIVIST RECEIVES O.B.E.

Angela Mason, the executive director of England's leading gay
lobby group, Stonewall, received an Order of the British Empire
honor Nov. 12 at Buckingham Palace.

Mason's lover, Elizabeth Wilson, and their 15-year-old daughter,
Ellie, accompanied her to the ceremony.

The award was presented by Prince Charles.


--> COLOMBIAN ANTI-GAY MURDERS MAY BE LINKED

Police in Colombia believe nine anti-gay murders may be linked.

In all cases, the perpetrators were attractive men age 18 to 25
and the victims were older men of elevated social status.

Police say the attackers identified their victims at high-end gay
clubs, seduced them into long-term relationships, then finally
robbed and killed them, sometimes after many months of what
appeared to be a stable coupling. In some cases the older men
also were blackmailed.

According to the Bogota daily El Tiempo, the victims include
"recognizable personalities from the world of politics, the press
and nonprofit organizations."


--> ARGENTINE GAY MAGAZINE BAGGED

Argentina's Buenos Aires City Government Ratings Commission has
ordered that issue 72 of the gay magazine NX be sold sealed
because of an ad that shows two naked men "too close together"
and another that shows two nude men kissing. 

The officials also objected to a photo in the Contacts section
from a reader in Spain which depicts him nude and erect with his
hands at the base of his penis. They said the location of the
hands was the decisive factor.

"The year 2000 is almost here and we now find out that we have to
put clothes on any human shown kissing or standing close to
another, [and that we are] allowed to show a penis only if a
person's hands are not anywhere near it?" asked NX's editors. "We
are clearly at the mercy of those with a baroque yet unspecified
understanding of morality. The Ratings Commission should release
a comprehensive listing of those things that are not allowed."

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