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Belgian Marriages
BRUSSELS, Belgium—Another European nation is moving closer to legalizing marriages for gay and lesbian couples.
The Belgian government has approved a bill to legalize same-sex weddings.
If approved by parliament, it will make Belgium the second country in the world to recognize gay marriages after its northern neighbor, the Netherlands.
Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt’s Cabinet approved the bill and it could become law by early next year if approved by parliament.
“Mentalities have evolved, there is no longer any reason not to open marriage to people of the same sex,” the center-left government said in a statement.
Although gay-rights campaigners welcomed the bill, they were disappointed that it does not allow gay married couples to adopt some children.
“The bill is important, but it has a negative side,” Michel Duponcelle of the Tel Quels gay and lesbian center was quoted as saying in the daily La Libre Belgique Saturday.
The Dutch measure allows adoptions of Dutch children by same-sex couples, but excludes the adoption of foreign children to avoid confrontations with other nations.
Racy Posters
NEW YORK —References to sex in New York were considered offensive and removed from city bus shelters nearly as soon as they went up.
The posters, paid for by the Bronx Lesbian and Gay Health Resource Consortium, showed two men, one with his arm around the other, above a caption that read, “I’m not gay, but sometimes I have sex with other guys.” It included a number for the health line.
Infinity Outdoor, the company that maintains the advertising, had approved the original content. But company spokesman Dana McClintock said several complaints were received, specifically about the reference to sex.
The ad was posted early one day but replaced later in the day with two alternates used in the campaign. One showed a woman in a business suit and was intended to reach lesbians; another showed a man saying he wanted to know how to help a gay friend get health care.
The city’s Department of Transportation owns the shelters, and Commissioner Iris Weinshall supported the company’s decision.
“This poster was totally inappropriate, and we applaud the contractor for taking it down,” she said.
But Lisa Winters, founder of the consortium, said the original was “not at all an offensive ad.
“There are ads for (the HBO television show) ‘Sex and the City’ up all over the place,” she said. “What’s wrong with these posters?”
London Partnerships
LONDON — Same-sex couples in London will be able to register their partnerships with the city and hold ceremonies marking them.
The London Partnerships Register, to be launched in September, will make the Greater London Authority the first public organization in Britain to offer recognition to same-sex couples.
Mayor Ken Livingstone called the move a “step on the road to equality,” adding he hoped other cities and organizations would follow suit.
“Clearly we still have some way to go, but I believe that the London Partnership Register is a great start,” Livingstone said.
The Church of England is opposed to gay marriages. Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey declared in April that gay unions would “muddy the waters” of traditional marriage.
The city register will not confer the same legal rights as marriage, the mayor said, but it is expected to prove the existence of an intimate relationship if there is a subsequent legal dispute concerning issues such as tenancy, pensions and immigration rights.
Sexuality Report
WASHINGTON — The U.S. surgeon general says Americans should respect what he describes as diversity in sexual values.
David Satcher says communities must provide lifelong sex education, encourage sexual abstinence as well as birth control. Americans should rely on scientific evidence to determine what works, Satcher said, and develop greater understanding toward gays and lesbians.
“Given the diversity of attitudes, beliefs, values and opinions, finding common ground might not be easy, but it is attainable,” the report concludes. The first step is confronting the issue, Satcher added. “Sex is not an easy topic to discuss and it has never been.”
In the tradition of surgeons general, Satcher, who was appointed by President Clinton, does not flinch from reporting even controversial data.
He says there is no valid scientific evidence that one’s sexual orientation can be changed and details the consequences of harassment on the mental health of gays and lesbians.
“We’re certainly not trying to get anyone in any religious group to change their views,” he said. “We’re just saying these are people, these are human beings.”
Yugoslav Gay Rights
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia —Gay rights activists are not safe in Yugoslavia.
Roving bands of young men attacked activists staging what was believed to be the first gay rights march in Yugoslavia’s capital, circling them one by one and kicking them until police intervened.
Dozens of people were reportedly injured, including a half dozen police officers deployed to the capital’s main square. Hospital officials said none of the injuries was life-threatening.
The melee began even before the scheduled start of the gay gathering, as dozens of soccer hooligans and members of a nationalist group appeared at the Republic Square to prevent the march from taking place.
One of the attackers told B-92 radio that “we are here to prevent immorality in Serbia,” while others shouted “Serbia is not a gay country.” Later the hooligans smashed the front door window of the offices of a moderate political party supporting gay rights.
Belgrade police chief Bosko Buha said in a statement to B-92 radio he had not expected so many and so aggressive anti-gay hooligans to appear at the march, and therefore had deployed only 50 policemen without riot gear. Some of the police were forced to fire shots in the air to disperse the crowd, witnesses said.
Bush Backs Off
WASHINGTON — President Bush’s administration has dropped plans that could have permitted religious organizations to discriminate against gays and lesbians.
The White House backed away from a proposal that would have allowed religious groups to receive federal funds even if they discriminated against gays and lesbians.
Amid intense criticism, officials abruptly ended a review of a proposed regulation that would have exempted religious groups that get taxpayer dollars from state and local anti-discrimination laws.
The issue was raised by an internal report from the Salvation Army, the nation’s largest charity, which suggested the White House would put forward the regulation in exchange for support of its initiative to open government programs to religious groups, now pending in Congress.
White House officials denied the quid pro quo, but said they were considering the regulation, which would allow religious groups to bypass local and state laws that bar discrimination against gays when the groups take federal dollars.
“President Bush regularly talks about seeing into the good hearts of people. Does he think that gay people do not have the same good hearts and moral values as others? How else could he support, in the name of faith, taking a position that values gay people less than others?” said a statement from Kirsten Kingdon, executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
“It will just deepen opposition and make many of my colleagues more skeptical,” Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said before the White House changed course.
Gay Teen Killed
CORTEZ, Colo. — An openly gay Navajo youth may have been killed because of his sexuality.
A tipster told investigators that Shaun Murphy, 18, had bragged that “he had beat up a fag,” according to police affidavits.
Fred C. Martinez’s bludgeoned body was found June 21 near Cortez. Murphy, of Farmington, N.M., is charged with second-degree murder.
Investigators said they also learned that Murphy and the 16-year-old victim attended the same party June 16, the last day Martinez was seen by his family.
Martinez’s classmates and a counselor at Montezuma-Cortez High School have described him as outgoing, happy and well-adjusted to his sexuality. He plucked his eyebrows, wore makeup and carried a purse at school.
Montezuma County Sheriff Joey M. Chavez said Wednesday that investigators were not certain hate was the motive but were investigating it as a possibility.
German Partnerships
KARLSRUHE, Germany — German same-sex couples are going to qualify for a new range of benefits and rights.
Germany’s highest court has rejected two conservative states’ requests to delay the law.
The Federal Constitutional Court turned down the plea by Bavaria and Saxony for an injunction to prevent the law, pushed by the government to reduce discrimination, taking effect Aug. 1.
Officials from the states had argued that the law breaks constitutional provisions that protect marriage and the family.
The new law would allow gay couples to exchange vows at local government offices and require a court decision for divorce. Same-sex couples would also receive rights given heterosexual spouses in areas such as inheritance and health insurance.
The law was passed by the center-left majority in the lower house of parliament last year, but in the upper house, where Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s government lacks a majority, representatives voted to withhold some tax privileges granted to heterosexual couples.
Three opposition-ruled states, Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia, lodged complaints over the legislation with the Federal Constitutional Court, which is not expected to deliver a final ruling for several months.
Bavaria and Saxony also demanded that the court also block the measure while it decides.
Rhode Island Protection
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island is providing civil rights to transsexuals.
The Senate approved the measure June 28, the final day of its session, with little debate. Republican Gov. Lincoln Almond allowed it to become law without his signature.
“We thought it would be very controversial,” said Tina Wood, spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Alliance for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights. But legislators “seemed to understand it was an issue of basic human rights.”
Rhode Island joins Minnesota and Connecticut, along with several cities including Seattle, New Orleans and Portland, Ore., in extending civil rights to those who change gender identity.
Almond said he did not veto the bill because he did not want to be seen as an enemy of civil rights.
State law already bans discrimination based on gender, race or sexual orientation. Rhode Island legislators amended the law to include those who cross-dress and those who have had, or are planning, a change of gender.
It protects them from discrimination when seeking housing, employment or credit, and prevents employers from firing an employee for having a sex change.