SPANISH MAYOR MARRIES GAY COUPLE
UNIVERSITY EVICTS STUDENT GROUP
INDIAN LESBIANS DEMAND DECRIMINALIZATION
BRITISH MILITARY WELCOMES TRANNIES
SEXUAL MINORITIES ORGANIZE IN FIJI
SCOTTISH CHRISTIANS PROTEST PLAY
NO REFUGE FOR COLOMBIAN
SINGAPORE CLUB CLOSES
SPANISH MAYOR MARRIES GAY COUPLE
The mayor of Calvia in Spain’s Balaeric Islands performed a wedding for two men at the town hall Aug. 15.
The marriage of Julian Diaz, 35, and Rodolfo Olocco, 45, was recorded in the town’s civil registry but will not be recognized nationally.
Mayor Magarita Najera said she was happy to be a “pioneer” in the battle for gay equality.
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UNIVERSITY EVICTS STUDENT GROUP
Members of the Tongzhi Culture Society at Hong Kong’s Chinese University were forced to dismantle an unauthorized booth they erected at City University’s studentregistration day Aug. 11.
The stand displayed gay books and promoted gay culture. “Tongzhi” means “comrade” but now also translates as “gay.”
City University officials said security guards confronted the group because there was no room for displays from organizations affiliated with other schools.
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INDIAN LESBIANS DEMAND DECRIMINALIZATION
India’s Campaign for Lesbian Rights demanded Aug. 10 that the government repeal a Victorianera British Empire law that bans gay sex.
“This law has now been scrapped in England whereas in India it is still in force,” the group said in a statement. “No lesbian may have been picked up and flung into jail because of this 138yearold law drafted by Lord Macauly in the 1830s. But it is used to blackmail Indian lesbians, force them to consent to marriage and be invisible.”
A 1994 Delhi High Court lawsuit seeking to overturn the law has yet to result in a ruling, according to an Agence FrancePresse report.
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BRITISH MILITARY WELCOMES TRANNIES
People who undergo sex change operations will be allowed to remain in the British military, the Daily Telegraph reported Aug. 2, citing confidential new Defense Ministry guidelines.
The British military bans homosexuals.
The policy change followed publicity in the case of Sgt. Major Joe/Joanne Rushton, 38, who has begun “gender realignment.”
A former boxer who served in Ulster and Bosnia, Rushton joined the army at age 19, has been married four times and has a son.
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SEXUAL MINORITIES ORGANIZE IN FIJI
Fiji’s first gay group, the Sexual Minorities Project, has formed under the auspices of the organization Women’s Action for Change. And coordinator Trisa Cheer has sent out a call for information on “the study of whether being gay is genetic or not.”
“At the moment there has been quite a debate in our country about it,” she said. “But without actual facts we, the sexual minorities, cannot really argue with them. A whole page in one of our newspapers, The Fiji Times, featured a psychiatrist who is the medical superintendent of our mental hospital [who] says that we can be saved, and I quote: ‘I have helped boys and girls who think they have homosexual tendencies and rescued them from such ideas. … It’s become a fad now. That the in thing to be now is gay.’ Comments like these in our dailies do not help in our work because we are already having to deal with culture and religion which is hard enough as it is.”
The assist the organization, write, Trisa Cheer, Coordinator, Sexual Minorities Project, Women’s Action for Change, P.O. Box 12398, Suva, Fiji. Phone 011 679 314363. Fax 011 679 305033.
Or email: wac@is.com.fj.
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SCOTTISH CHRISTIANS PROTEST PLAY
Seventy Christians picketed the soldout opening day of Terrence McNally’s play Corpus Christi Aug. 10 at Scotland’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In the play, Jesus is converted to homosexuality by Judas Iscariot.
Bedlam Theatre employees also found several women praying in the toilets. They had their hands on the walls and said they were cleansing the building.
One of the protesters, the Rev. Jack Glass of Zion Baptist Church, told reporters: “This is a spoof about a poof. This blasphemous play is making the Lord out to be a homosexual. It’s wrong and vile.”
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NO REFUGE FOR COLOMBIAN
Refugee Corredor Serrano, 35, cannot stay in Canada to escape homophobic abuse at home in Colombia, the Federal Court of Canada ruled Aug. 11.
In upholding a decision of the Immigration and Refugee Board, the court said Serrano is not in serious danger in Colombia because he’s not overtly gay, doesn’t frequent gay venues, and doesn’t live a gay lifestyle.
Nonetheless, Serrano said Colombian police had beaten him and vandalized his business due to his sexual orientation.
They also outed him to his family, forcing him to leave his village of 700 people and relocate to a larger city, he said.
More than 200 foreign homosexuals have received asylum in Canada since 1992.
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SINGAPORE CLUB CLOSES
Singapore’s only gay gym and sauna closed down in late July but no one knows why. The Spartacus facility also contained a bar and a discotheque. Some of the club’s members are especially upset because they had paid their dues up to a year in advance.
Members’ attempts to contact the owners have been unsuccessful.
Copyright © 1999 Lambda Publications Inc. All rights reserved. Lambda publishes Outlines, The Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community, Nightlines, Out Resource Guide, Clout! Business Report, Blacklines and En La Vida. 1115 W. Belmont 2D, Chicago, IL 60657; PH (773) 871-7610; FAX (773) 871-7609. Web at www.suba.com/~outlines/. E-mail feedback to outlines@suba.com!