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GLBT individuals throughout the world continue to face grave threats to their lives, many times with little or no state protection.
In Afghanistan, at least five men convicted of sodomy by Taleban Sharia courts have been placed next to standing walls by Taleban officials and then buried under the rubble as the walls were toppled upon them in 1998. These news come from the Taleban press itself. "The Sharia (Islamic code) punishment was implemented on two sodomists yesterday in Herat and the criminals were put under a wall," Taleban-controlled radio Voice of Sharia reported March 22, 1998. "Having received the assent of His Eminence Amirol Momenin, the judicial decision was administered at a stadium in the city of Herat today."
In Brazil on August 4, 1998 four military policemen in the city of Salvador (Bahia) reportedly forced two transvestite sex workers to throw themselves into the sea, after humiliating and torturing them. One of them drowned and the body was found three days later in advanced state of decomposition. The other one survived and had to go into hiding for fear of police reprisals. According to Grupo Gay de Bahia, 1,600 homosexuals have been murdered between 1980-1997 in Brazil, and only in 5% of cases the alleged murderers went to trial.
In Croatia, a gay man who had been dismissed from the armed forces on July 1998 because of his homosexuality is now afraid for his life. After pressing a lawsuit against the discriminatory policies of the armed forces, he has been called back to complete the remainder of his military service. He now fears, however, that once returned to the hands of the military, he will face life-threatening reprisals, not only for his homosexuality but for his attempt to call the armed forces to legal account. His lawsuit, along with his homosexuality, has already been widely reported in the Croatian media.
In El Salvador, the Asociación Salvadoreña de Desarrollo Integral para Minorías Sexuales "Entre Amigos" (Salvadoran Association for Integral Development of Sexual Minorities "Between Friends"), expressed concern about a series of murders against transvestites, homosexuals and women carried out with impunity. Many of those targeted have been sex workers. Entre Amigos reported that since the month of February there have been at least 9 killings of transvestites and women, and 5 transvestites have been seriously injured in San Salvador and Sonsonate counties. There have also been at least 6 attacks on various gay gathering places.
In Iran, the Reuters news agency reported that a man found guilty of having sex with another man was hanged by the authorities the western city of Hamadan. He had also been convicted of adultery, alcohol drinking and drug dealing.
In Mexico, a recently-constituted Comisión Ciudadana Contra Crímenes de Odio por Homofobia (Citizen's Commission Against Homophobic Hate Crimes) has documented 125 murders of homosexuals from April 1995 to May 1998. Many victims were found in circumstances of extreme violence, such as genital mutilation. According to the Commission, the police often dismisses these crimes as "crimes of passion" between homosexuals and refuses to investigate.
In Romania, a human rights activist has been assassinated, in an attack which may have been linked to his apparent homosexuality or to his work in exposing official corruption. On October 13 1998, Steven Itoafa's body was discovered in his apartment. He had been stabbed and his throat had been cut; his hands were tied behind his back. Police called the crime a "particularly cruel and savage killing." However, police have since declared his death a "sex crime" and a "homosexual murder" -- a way both of dismissing his killing, and of implying that homosexuals bear ultimate responsibility for violence committed against themselves. Both police and the mainstream press have repeatedly painted homosexuals as potential criminals, subject to jealous rages which lead to murder.
In the United States, Matthew Shepard, a 21 year-old student at the University of Wyoming, was abducted and brutally beaten, in an attack apparently motivated by his homosexuality on October 6 1998. 18 hours later, he was found tied to a wooden ranch fence outside the city of Laramie. His skull had been smashed, and his head and face had been slashed; the two passing motorcyclists who discovered him at first mistook his figure for a scarecrow. On October 12, he died of his injuries. Shepard's case is just one in a long line of brutal murders and hate crimes committed against GLBT people in the United States. Less than a month after his death, on October 28 at approximately 9 p.m. in Baltimore, Maryland, 31-year-old Leonard "Lynn" Vine was shot six times after having anti-gay and anti-drag epithets shouted at him.
Ecuador's new Constitution (1998) follows in the footsteps of the South African Constitution, offering explicit non-discrimination guarantees for sexual minorities: "La igualdad ante la ley. Todas las personas serán consideradas iguales y gozarán de los mismos derechos, libertades y oportunidades, sin discriminación en razón de nacimiento, edad, sexo, etnia, color, origen social, idioma; religión, filiación política, posición económica, orientación sexual; estado de salud, discapacidad, o diferencia de cualquier otra índole." (Constitution of Ecuador, 1998, Article 23, section 3) [unofficial translation: "Equality before the law. All individuals shall be considered equal and shall enjoy the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities, without discrimination due to birth, age, sex, ethnicity, color, social origin, language, religion, political affiliation, economic position, sexual orientation, health status, disability, or difference of any other kind."
The European Court of Justice ruled on February 17, 1998 against a lesbian who sued her employer (South West Trains) for the right to equal pay with heterosexuals, including a free travel pass for her partner. The Court rejected a claim that such discrimination constituted sex discrimination contrary to Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome, which provides for "equal pay... without discrimination based on sex." (Grant v. South-West Trains Ltd)
In Canada the Supreme Court of Canada determined April 2, 1998 that the Alberta legislature's omission of "sexual orientation" from the categories protected by the province's anti-discrimination statute was a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. With one justice dissenting, the court further ruled that the remedy is to read "sexual orientation" into the legislation rather than to invalidate the legislation altogether (Vriend v. Alberta). The Supreme Court had already determined back in 1995 that "sexual orientation" was a protected ground in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Egan v Canada)
Colombia's Constitutional Court ruled March 26, 1998 that private religious schools cannot ban gay students. The same Court ruled further September 10, 1998 that a 1979 law allowing for the firing of openly gay teachers was unconstitutional.
South Africa's highest constitutional court ruled 9th October 1998, that laws which criminalize sex between men were unconstitutional because they violated the right to privacy and affected the "dignity, personhood and identity" of lesbian and gay people.
In Texas, United States, Houston police arrested on September 17, 1998 two adult men for engaging in consensual "homosexual conduct" in the privacy of their own bedroom. The men face charges under the state's 119-year-old sodomy law. Such laws exist in almost half the American states, but prosecutions are rare. However, this case demonstrates these laws can be arbitrarily enforced. Even without prosecutions, the Texas sodomy law has stigmatized and damaged lesbian and gay lives. In 1997, a supervisor for Texas's Child Protective Services agency (CPS) removed a three-month-old baby from lesbian foster parents, saying "Homosexuality is against the law and CPS staff were knowingly condoning it." The Texas case is extremely similar to the Toonen case (Toonen v Australia), where in 1994 the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) ruled that Tasmania's sodomy laws were wrong because they violated the right to privacy, and because they discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation. The UNHRC based its decision on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The United States has also ratified the ICCPR, and is bound by its provisions. Less than two months after the Texas arrest, the Texas Supreme Court overturned its sodomy laws as unconstitutional. About 20 states still ban sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex.
In Germany, Mariana Cetiner -- a Romanian lesbian that was arrested and sentenced to serve a three-year prison term for merely asking another woman to have sexual relations with her -- was reportedly granted refugee status in October of 1998. Mariana's case was the focus of an international human rights campaign, resulting in an official promise of a Presidential pardon in January of 1998, followed by her actual release (after considerable additional pressure) two months later. Despite Mariana's release, the laws under which she was convicted remain in the books in Romania, punishing homosexual acts "committed in public, or causing public scandal," with one to five years' imprisonment, and criminalizing "inciting or encouraging a person to the practice of sexual relations between persons of the same sex, as well as propaganda or association or any act of proselytism," with the same punishment. In the meanwhile the new German government has promised to create better legal protection for gay and lesbian asylum-seekers and binational couples in Germany.
In Sweden, the government set a dangerous precedent in settling an important asylum case involving a gay man from Iran. The government found that in Iran, homosexuals do not face persecution solely on the basis of their sexual orientation, but only on the basis of the practice of their sexuality. The Government further claimed that the death penalty for sodomy is no longer enforced in Iran, despite reports to the contrary. This precedent may be used to expel a number of gay Iranians from Sweden, to face possible imprisonment or death at home. Sweden explicitly includes gays and lesbians as a protected category in its asylum laws, however the authorities' interpretation of the term "well-founded fear of persecution" has in practice been extremely restrictive. The term is reportedly taken to require each applicant to produce court documents from their home country demonstrating that she or he is currently under legal investigation for homosexuality as a criminal offense.
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, gay bars were raided twice during the month of October 1998 alone. In the first raid (October 2), about 40 persons were reportedly detained and at the end no one was formally charged. The second raid (October 22) occurred under the order of Judge Facciutto of the 1st Correctional Jurisdiction (Juzgado Correccional). More than 70 people were detained for an alleged infraction to the Law of Games and Prevention. At the time of the raid patrons at the bar where involved in a friendly bingo game with a price of a champagne bottle for the winner. When the raid began, film crews from Crónica TV, Channel 26 America TV and Telefe were present and filmed everyone who was detained and rebroadcast those images with titles that read "SEX BINGO". During the raid, a TV photographer, shouted insults to the persons detained. The Sub-Superintendent for Police reportedly told the press that the raid was performed to stop a bingo game where the prices included sexual relations with the winner.
A federal judge struck down as unconstitutional September 30, 1998 a disciplinary rule that prohibited Puerto Rico police officers from associating with lesbians and gay men. Police Regulation 29 stated that "it is a grave offense for police officers to associate with prostitutes, homosexuals, or other persons of dubious reputation." Police officers who violated this regulation risked official reprimands or even dismissal.
In Paraguay, persons living with HIV have been denied access to free medications by the National Program to Fight Against AIDS. The Program used to provide free medications since 1997, but in July of 1998 the provision of free medications was canceled, due to a decision by the Ministry of the Treasury not to release any more funds. Government officials cited a reduction in mortality rates due to AIDS -- which paradoxically could be linked to the medications being provided -- and a subsequent increase in patient load, as reasons to justify their decision.
In Thailand, local activists demanded September 4, 1998 that the United States' administration stop pressuring the Thai government into amending its pharmaceutical patent law. The petitioners called on the United States to allow other manufacturers the right to produce expensive patented drugs and to allow them to be sold at considerably lower prices. Activists cited as an example the cost of a yearly treatment of Fluconazole, which averaged 100,00 baht (about US$2,500), and was out of range of the average Thai family. One of the demonstrators remarked that "in the near future, a number of new drugs are going to be invented for HIV/AIDS treatment. If such law is passed, we won't be able to obtain these drugs at cheap prices. [..] What should the government think of first between trade aspects and people's lives?"
Just last week in India, members of the right-wing Shiv Sena party organized a series of demonstrations and violent attacks against theaters showing Deepa Mehta's critically acclaimed lesbian-themed film "Fire". On December 2, about 100 members surrounded theater managers in Bombay, prompting distributors there to suspend showings of the film, which they claim is a direct attack on centuries of Hindu tradition and an affront to the institution of marriage. The next day, a smaller group of about twelve Shiv Sena protesters smashed mirrors and windows, tore down posters, and shouted anti-"Fire" slogans as they rampaged through the lobby of a cinema showing the film in New Delhi. Fearing further violence, many cinema managers have taken these incidents, coupled with additional attacks on theaters in Bombay, as cues to stop showing the film. Meanwhile, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry of India has taken the film out of release and sent it to the official Censor Board for reconsideration. A coalition of filmmakers and organizations decries these acts of "cultural terrorism", while the director, Deepa Mehta, demands safeguards assuring the public's right to see her art without fear of violence or intimidation.
Last year in South Korea, after thousands of hours of careful preparation by organizers legally to bring together some 85 films from around the world, local government authorities from Seodaemun District in Seoul declared the First Seoul Queer Film and Video Festival an illegal event on its opening day, September 19, 1997. Officials threatened to levy on organizers a 20 million won (then approx. US$22,000) fine and 3 year jail sentence, as well as seize all screening equipment and film material. In the face of authorities who deemed films with homosexual themes "not relevant to the emotional life of the Korean people", the festival organizers renewed their commitment to demand reasonable censorship procedures and hold a public event. A month ago, the First Seoul Queer Film and Video Festival drew to a wildly successful close, drawing an audience of some 8,500 people.
(International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) 10 December 1998
Email: iglhrc@iglhrc.org
Web: www.cleveland.com/community/gay)
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ArgentinaDESPITE ROSARIO ANTI-DISCRIMINATION ORDINANCE, GAYS, LESBIANS, AND TRANSGENDER PEOPLE CONTINUE TO BE TARGET OF ABUSE [ERN9710]On September 18 1997, Colectivo Arco Iris presented an official report denouncing the continued persecution of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender population by governmental authorities in Rosario, the second largest city in Argentina. Despite the early hopes of activists following Rosario's adoption of an anti-discrimination clause including sexual orientation last year, transvestites (travestis), transsexuals and gays in Rosario continue to be subjected to harassment and abuse by police, arbitrary arrests and sexual coercion. According to the report, the Morality Brigade of the Police and the Second Commissary in Rosario are the principal perpetrators of these flagrant violations of human rights, with the collusion of the Justices for this province. Travestis are detained for 20 days solely for cross-dressing, 30 days for charges of prostitution, and are forced to undergo HIV testing under threat of charges of attempted homicide. Approximately 150 travestis are arrested every month and are detained in harsh prison conditions that endanger their health and safety.
TRANSGENDER WOMEN AND GAY MEN TARGETED FOR POLICE ABUSE IN MENDOZA [ERN 9708]
DECEMBER 29, 1997 HAS BEEN DESIGNATED BY GLBT ARGENTINEAN ACTIVISTS AS "TRAVESTI DAY"
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AustraliaMAJOR GAY LAW REFORM IN TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA [ERN 9706]After nine years of community organizing to repeal Tasmania's anti-gay law, the Tasmanian legislature finalized a vote to repeal their statute criminalizing same-sex relations on May 1, 1997. This decision marked not only the elimination of Australia's only remaining state law banning same sex relations, but it also marked Australia's compliance with the 1994 United Nations' ruling on this issue in the case of Nicholas Toonen v. Australia. In that case the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) determined that Australia had violated its obligations under Articles 2 (non-discrimination) and 17 (right to privacy) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) by allowing the state of Tasmania to maintain legislation prohibiting sexual contact between consenting adult males. | ||||||
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ChinaGAY BAR RAIDED IN GUANG ZHOU [WOCKNER153]Police reportedly raided the only gay club in Guang Zhou, and detained about 20 customers on March 22, 1997.
DIRECTOR OF CHINESE GAY FILM DENIED PASSPORT [WOCKNER159]
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Costa RicaSOCIAL SECURITY TO PAY FOR RETROVIRAL MEDICATIONSIn a historic decision, Costa Rica´s Supreme Court issued a ruling September 23 ordering the government funded Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) social security system to pay for retroviral AIDS medications for William Garcia, a person living with AIDS. Two weeks later William Garcia died. His courageous suit opened the doors for other people living with AIDS. Local activists reported that by November 15, about 30 people in Costa Rica were receiving retroviral AIDS medications from the CCSS, even though the CCSS had not yet developed guidelines for the applications, and all 30 people had to resort to Supreme Court rulings. | ||||||
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EcuadorFOURTEEN MEN ARRESTED DURING GAY BAR RAID IN CUENCA, ONE IS RAPED BY OTHER INMATES WHILE IN POLICE CUSTODY [ERN 9708]On June 14 1997, police from Azuay entered the Abanicos Bar in Cuenca, Ecuador arresting 14 gay men. According to local gay and lesbian accounts, one of the men was raped twice by other inmates while in police custody, as another suffered an epileptic seizure and was offered no medical assistance despite pleas from his friends. Media coverage of the incident relied on police reports fraught with discriminatory and inflammatory language about homosexuals. The men were released June 16th, after being charged with intention to commit a crime against morality.
ECUADOR REPEALS ITS SODOMY LAWS
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GuatemalaGAY AND TRANSGENDER PEOPLE MURDERED [WOCKNER181]Activists in Guatemala expressed concern over the alarming number of murders of gay men and transgender people that are occurring with impunity in the country, including the murder of AIDS activist María Conchita Alonso (aka Luis Palencia) October 2. The El Periódico newspaper reported in its November 16 edition that the gay community lives in a state of fear. | ||||||
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JamaicaJAMAICAN PRISONERS RIOT, SOME ARE KILLED [WOCKNER175,183]Sixteen people were killed in late August riots at Jamaica's Kingston Penitentiary and St. Catherine District Prison, after guards walked out to protest Corrections Commissioner John Prescod's plan to distribute condoms to guards and inmates. Both guards and inmates blamed their actions on anger over the implication that they engage in sex with other men. Many of the dead were killed because they were presumed to have been homosexuals. | ||||||
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JapanTOKYO'S HIGH COURT RULES AGAINST GAY DISCRIMINATIONThe Tokyo High Court ruled September 16 that Tokyo's Board of Education discriminated against the Japan Association for the Lesbian and Gay Movement (OCCUR) in 1990 by refusing to allow its members in a city-run youth hostel. The High Court decision reaffirmed a similar ruling by the Tokyo District Court in 1994. The High Court ruled that when a governmental agency "performs its duties, it is obligated to pay careful attention to the situation of homosexuals as a minority and to guarantee that their rights and interests be upheld. Indifference and ignorance regarding homosexuality are inexcusable on the part of persons in the position of wielding governmental authority." | ||||||
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Korea (South)AUTHORITIES CLOSED DOWN GAY AND LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL [WOCKNER180]Authorities forced the "First Seoul Queer Film and Video Festival" to close down, hours before it was set to open September 19, 1997. | ||||||
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NamibiaPRESIDENT NUJOMA ATTACKS HOMOSEXUALS [ERN9701, WOCKNER157]Namibia's President Nujoma continued in 1997 his attack against the country's homosexual citizens. With glaring similarity to Zimbabwe's President Mugabe in his disregard for the civil rights of lesbians and gay men, President Nujoma stated that "all necessary steps must be taken to combat influences that are influencing us and our children in a negative way. Homosexuals must be condemned and rejected in our society." His statements belie the fact that the Namibian Labour Code (Art. 107) explicitly prohibits discrimination in the work place on the grounds of sexual orientation. | ||||||
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NigeriaEFFORTS TO CRIMINALIZE LESBIAN SEXUnderground lesbian activists in Nigeria expressed grave concern about a law proposal that would reportedly criminalize same-sex relations between women with up to 3 years imprisonment. We have been unable to confirm whether the law proposal has passed. | ||||||
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Puerto RicoPUERTO RICAN ACTIVISTS FIGHT AGAINST CRIMINALIZATION OF SAME-SEX CONSENSUAL RELATIONSHIPSLocal activists and community organizations have formed a Coalition Against Article 103 and For Privacy Rights and have called for international support of their efforts to amend Article 103 of the Puerto Rican Penal code which criminalizes consensual sexual relationships between persons of the same sex. Local activists have been educating the public about the existence of Article 103 and denouncing this statute as one that encourages discrimination and legitimizes violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons while also violating their constitutional right to privacy. At the height of the campaign, Margarita Sánchez de León of the Movimiento Ecuménico Nacional de Puerto Rico (the National Ecumenical Movement of Puerto Rico, MENPRI) turned herself in to the Division of Sexual Crimes of the Department of Justice on November 4, where San Juan District Attorney Ramón Muñiz Santiago declined to prosecute her. The District Attorney informed her that lesbians are incapable of committing sodomy since they lack a "virile member;" he added that he would not prosecute two homosexual men under this statute because there would be no victim. The Justice Department issued a press release on the same day refusing to prosecute the case because Ms. Sánchez had a "personal agenda in delivering her confession." | ||||||
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RomaniaARTICLE 200 STILL IN USEArticle 200, penalizing sexual relations between persons of the same sex, is still in use in Romania. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) is set to publish a report in January 1998, together with Human Rights Watch, detailing the continued and systematic human rights violations against sexual minorities in Romania. | ||||||
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RussiaGAY BAR RAIDED [WOCKNER173]Moscow police raided the gay club Chance at the end of July 1997, and beat and arrested 40 people for allegedly being under the influence of illegal drugs. According to gay activists, no drugs were found on any of the people arrested and several of the victims took independent drug tests the next day to prove their innocence. While in detention, those arrested were reportedly access to water and toilets and were insulted with comments such as, "You are fags not humans, and you deserve to be killed." | ||||||
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SingaporeGAY GROUP DENIED LEGAL STATUS [WOCKNER141,164,178]Singapore gay group People Like Us was denied registration with the government's Registrar of Societies. Reportedly, no reason was given for the denial. Under Singapore law, any unregistered organization "shall be deemed to be an unlawful society.", and "any person who is or acts as a member of an unlawful society, or attends a meeting of an unlawful society, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $3,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or both." | ||||||
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South AfricaANC REAFFIRMS ITS SUPPORT FOR LESBIAN AND GAY EQUALITYThe governing party of South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) took a resolution in full support of lesbian and gay equality at its 50th National Conference ending December 20, 1997. The resolution calls, among others, for the recognition of same-sex relationships including maintenance, custody, adoption rights; for equal employment opportunities and benefits for lesbian and gay people; for the protection of lesbian and gay youth from discrimination at home, at school, on the streets and in the media; for an equal age of consent; and for the equal right to marry.
SOUTH AFRICAN ACTIVISTS FIGHT AGAINST SODOMY LAWS
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SwazilandSWAZI GROUP DENIED REGISTRATION [WOCKNER152,154]Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini said March 13, 1997 that the newly formed Gay and Lesbian Association of Swaziland would not receive government recognition. Dlamini used the opportunity to reportedly call homosexuality "an abnormality and a sickness." | ||||||
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ThailandGAYS AND LESBIANS BANNED FROM ENROLLING IN TEACHER TRAINING SCHOOLS [ERN9703,WOCKNER142,144,147,178]On December 26, 1996, in a report in the Bangkok Post, the Rajabhat Institute Council, the collective governing body of all of Thailand's teachers colleges, declared that it would bar homosexuals from enrolling in any of its colleges nationwide. The announcement brought strong criticism from human rights groups and many others, who urged the repeal of this discriminatory policy. By mid-1997, the Rajabhat Institute reportedly lifted its ban on admission of homosexuals to its teacher training campuses, apparently under pressure from foreign bodies such as NGOs. But the institute simultaneously proposed a new rule to keep out what it described as "sexually abnormal" people, to be diagnosed by a fairly subjective test, supposedly developed by the World Health Organization. There is no indication that the World Health Organization has developed any such diagnostic test. | ||||||
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TurkeyTURKISH TRANSSEXUAL ACTIVIST SUES ISTANBUL'S BEYOGLU POLICE BUREAU FOR POLICE ABUSE [ERN9708,WOCKNER168,170]Demet Demir, winner of the 1997 Felipa de Souza Award is suing the Beyoglu District Police Bureau for allegedly assaulting her on July 12, 1997, barely two months after her acceptance of the IGLHRC human rights award in recognition of her exemplary activism on behalf of the Turkish transvestite and transsexual communities. Demir's reported assault by the police is emblematic of the situation of transvestites and transsexuals in Istanbul, who have been routinely rounded up from their homes, beaten and evicted. Since Demir's trial started on December 12, 1997, she has been submitted to an increased level of police intimidation. Istanbul police have reportedly posted a twenty-four hour watch outside her house, and harass and sometimes even arrest anyone who attempts to enter or exit her building. | ||||||
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United KingdomEUROPEAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS RULES AGAINST UNEQUAL AGE OF CONSENTThe European Commission on Human Rights issued its ruling October 7, determining that the United Kingdom's unequal age of consent (18 for gay men and 16 for heterosexuals and lesbians) is discriminatory against gay men. The Commission ruled that ""there is no objective and reasonable justification for the maintenance of a higher minimum age of consent to male homosexual, than to heterosexual, acts and that the application discloses discriminatory treatment in the exercise of the applicant's right to respect for private life under Article 8 of the [European] Convention". The British government has agreed not to contest the case while at the same time allowing Parliament a free vote on the question of equalizing the age of consent. HOME OFFICE RECOGNIZES SAME SEX COUPLES IN ITS IMMIGRATION RULES In its October 13 directive, the Home Office determined that citizens of the UK will be able to sponsor their same-sex partners for immigration, as long as they have been living together in a stable relationship which has subsisted for four years or more; and they intend to continue to do so permanently. | ||||||
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United StatesIMMIGRATION AND WELFARE LAWS COME INTO EFFECT, SEVERELY RESTRICTING OPTIONS FOR GLBT AND HIV-POSITIVE IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEESA string of immigration reform and welfare reform laws passed by Congress in 1996 and 1997 took effect, severely restricting the ability of all immigrants to access welfare and other related benefits, as well as closing the door to many undocumented immigrants already residing in the US, by denying them the means to legalize their status. While the new immigration laws do not explicitly mention sexual orientation, their impact on GLBT and PWA immigrant communities has been devastating. A common remedy called "suspension of deportation, where the immigrant had to show among others "extreme hardship," as well as 7 years of continuos residence in the country was gutted. In its stead, "cancellation of removal" requires a higher standard ("exceptional and extremely unusual hardship"), a longer stay (10 years), and a relation to a US citizen or greencard holder family member (same-sex relationships excepted). In the past, PWAs would use the "suspension of deportation" to gain legal status and access to limited health care benefits. Now, "cancellation of removal" is virtually impossible to attain, and anyhow welfare and health care benefits have been mostly barred, even from documented immigrants. An additional proviso of the law will take effect April 1, 1998, barring all persons who will have been in the US for over a year from applying for asylum. This new restriction will be particular punitive for GLBT refugees, many of which may need more time to come out and trust a lawyer or an asylum officer; other refugees may not know that asylum based on sexual orientation is an option. | ||||||
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ZimbabweGAY GROUP'S OFFICES RAIDED, ANTI-GAY RHETORIC CONTINUESWhile the anti-gay rhetoric by government officials continued, the Gay and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) managed to exhibit at the Book Fair, as part of a joint human rights stand sponsored by the 1997 Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) organizers. GALZ did not submit an application to officially register as an exhibitor, as past experience in the 1995 and 1996 book fairs showed how strong and violent was the government's opposition to that idea. Three months before the opening of the book fair, GALZ offices were raided by police.
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE NETHERLANDS BOYCOTTING MEETING IN ZIMBABWE
(The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) Fri, 2 Jan 1998 | ||||||
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