Out In The Mountians : News - The Rest of Our World

COOLUM, Australia – According to a report from the Associated Press, Uganda's president declared Sunday that his country has no homosexuals. President Yoweri Museveni was in Australia to accept an award for his government's successful campaign against AIDS. The comment follows a report by a human rights group that accused Uganda, among other countries, of torturing and mistreating its homosexual population.
      Museveni has led an aggressive AIDS prevention campaign since 1986 that has been credited with slashing the infection rate among adults in the African nation from 28 percent to less than 10 percent.
      The claim that Uganda has no homosexuals was made as the President listed the ways that AIDS is spread: ``First, it goes through unprotected sex. We don't have homosexuals in Uganda so this is mainly heterosexual transmission.''
      Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said in a report last June that it had documented cases of homosexuals being tortured in Uganda. The report compiled alleged cases of torture and mistreatment in 30 countries including Uganda, Pakistan, Argentina, Russia and the United States.

Survey Says:
Unprotected Oral Sex Tops

NEW YORK – The yearlong GayHealth.com oral sex survey results have been tabulated – and what have they found? We love oral sex – love it, love it, love it.
      More than 1,600 people completed the survey conducted between January of 2001 and January 2002. Compared to other types of sex, 42.2 percent of respondents said oral sex is their favorite type of sex, and 20 percent said they liked it equally as much as anal sex.
      The survey also revealed that most people forgo condoms and dental dams while giving – and getting – oral sex, even with casual sexual partners.
      Using a condom during oral sex was rare, and all participants reported participating in unprotected oral sex during the previous year. According to the survey, 25 percent of participants reported having only unprotected oral sex with their primary partner.
      Almost 60 percent of respondents said it is not worth it to use condoms or dental dams during oral sex. More than 19 percent said it is better than transmitting diseases.
      When asked how often they use a condom or dental dam when receiving oral sex from a partner whose HIV status is unknown to them, 55 percent said they never use condoms, 14 percent said they rarely do.

$300 Million for Welfare Marriage – What Do Lesbians & Gays Do?

WASHINGTON, DC- The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) attacked elements of the Bush Administration welfare proposal that call for significant federal and state funding of programs to promote and foster heterosexual marriage.
Bush’s plan calls for “encouraging healthy marriages and two-parent married families as a goal.” This includes the expenditure of $300 million for projects devoted to promoting heterosexual marriage. Already several states offer cash bonuses to welfare recipients who marry.
“Lesbian mothers on welfare cannot marry,” said Sean Cahill, Ph.D., Director of NGLTF's Policy Institute.

Women’s Football Tackles the Media

According to a press release from the Bay State Warriors, try-outs were held in early March. The organization was voted into the Independent Women’s Football League in December, 2001. The chosen athletes “should possess solid athletic ability, preferably collegiate experience, as well as the drive to learn and execute the game of tackle football.”
The IWFL has member organizations in New York, New Hampshire, Texas, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Oregon, Florida, Montreal and more. The league's second season opens in April 2002. The Bay State Warriors will play a spring season as part of the East Coast division, opening its season against The New Hampshire Freedom April 20th, 2002.
And guess how they’re funding the team? A raffle! The prize is a Sony 53-inch high definition projection TV.

Missoula Madness

MISSOULA, MT – As reported last month, Adrianne Neff and Carla Grayson and their infant son barely escaped with their lives from a fire that was termed “suspicious.” Four days earlier, the two women and another lesbian couple had filed a lawsuit with the ACLU against the Montana University System’s denial of benefits to same-sex partners of its employees. Two days after that, both couples had received envelopes containing white powder and death threats.
      But now, apparently due to a whisper campaign by right wingers and reported by LGNY, the two women themselves have come under suspicion, even though the initial investigation led Missoula Police Captain Bob Reid to announce that the police were treating the fire as arson and “an attempted triple homicide.”
      The local response was positive until the local paper reported that the police were investigating two possibilities: that somebody who lived in Grayson and Neff’s house set it on fire, or that someone who did not live in Grayson and Neff’s house set it on fire.
      The rainbow signs started disappearing. People who had pledged to the relief fund “changed their minds.” But there was no evidence against the two women, just a smear campaign begun by a Ku Klux Klan leader identifying the fire as “fishy.” The characterization was repeated by a right-wing radio host. And then Captain Reid announced that it was “possible” the women started the fire.
      There are several other suspects, including one who has made comments to informants about homosexuals and about the fire. The police will talk to him just as soon as they have the time.

Survey Says We Have Kids

SYRACUSE, NY - Almost 13% of respondents to a survey of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered households have children under the age of 18 living at home, according to a new survey by the GLCensus Partners. The study reveals that more than three-quarters of those households with children were lesbian households (78.4%). U.S. Census data indicates 29% of all U.S. households have a child under 18 living at home.
The 2001 Gay/Lesbian Consumer Online Census was conducted from July 9 to August 20, 2001. Survey respondents were recruited through publicity on the Internet and in print media, and word of mouth referrals were encouraged.

Florida Legislators: “We Were Wrong”

MIAMI – As reported in an ACLU press release, Nine former members of the state House and Senate have signed written statements saying, “In 1977, we were among the state legislators who helped pass Florida's law prohibiting gay people from adopting children. We now realize that we were wrong. This discriminatory law prevents children from being adopted into loving, supportive homes – and we hope it will be overturned.”
A former Speaker of the State House of Representatives and a former President of the State Senate, both of whom voted in favor of the law banning gay adoption, are among those who signed statements.
The lone member of the state senate who spoke against the bill when it was being debated said today that he was encouraged by the former legislators’ change of heart. “This law was always wrong, and it’s good to see that it’s now being seriously reconsidered,” former Sen. Don Chamberlin of Clearwater said.

“Zero Tolerance” for Gays in Honduras

SAN PEDRO SULA - Gays and transgendered people have been targeted for harassment in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the country’s industrial center and second largest city, according to a report from Richard Stern, director of a human rights group based in Costs Rica. The harassment has taken the form of bar raids and arrests.
      San Pedro Sula Mayor Oscar Kilgore reportedly ordered a raid on the city’s only gay bar, “Boys.” Twelve people including several staff members from “Comunidad Gay” were arrested and held for 24 hours and then released. The bar never reopened. The raid was part of the new “zero tolerance for crime and delinquency” program announced in January by President Maduro and implemented by Mayor Kilgore.
      “We are picked up in police cars and taken away from the center of the city and told that we cannot return,” said Marlene, a 24-year-old transvestite sex worker. Prostitution is legal in Honduras.
      Municipal Judge Alvaro Aguilar Frenzel denied the group's allegations regarding the bar raid.

Vatican Says Ban Gays to Prevent Priestly Child Abuse

CHICAGO – The Vatican, in its first comments on the clergy sexual abuse crisis, declared that gay men should not be ordained as priests, says a press release from The Rainbow Sash Movement (GLBT/S Catholics). The organization condemns this recent Vatican response.
      The comments were made by Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the chief spokesman for Pope John Paul II. “If they were to eliminate all those who were homosexually oriented, the number would be so staggering that it would be like an atomic bomb; it would do the same damage to the church's operation,” said A. W. Richard Sipe, a former priest and psychotherapist. Sipe has been studying the sexuality of priests for 25 years and has written three books on the subject.
      “It would mean the resignation of at least a third of the bishops of the world. Many saints had a gay orientation, and many popes had gay orientations,” Sipe said. “Discriminating against orientation is not going to solve the problem.”
      Although scholars have established no connection between homosexuality and pedophilia, the Vatican’s comments were apparently provoked by the fact that many of the victims of clergy abuse in Boston, as elsewhere, have been adolescent boys.

Rosie Backs Off from Oscar-nominated Film

NEW YORK – Rosie O’Donnell has asked to have her name and voice removed from an Oscar-nominated documentary on adoption after learning that the filmmakers are involved in a group that has been described as a homophobic cult, according to the Associated Press.
      The lesbian actress, adoption activist and talk show host had volunteered to narrate Artists and Orphans: A True Drama, about a New York theater group that travels to the former Soviet republic of Georgia to help orphaned and abandoned children.
      O’Donnell found out this week that the filmmakers are involved with the Fourth Way School. According to various newspaper reports, the group bans homosexuals and believes gays shouldn’t be parents.
      David Goldstein, a lawyer representing the film, told New York's Daily News that suggesting that Artists and Orphans is “the work of some kind of nefarious cult is completely baseless.”
      “Furthermore, the inflammatory accusation that certain people affiliated with the film are involved in an organization that endangers the welfare of children or discriminates against … gays and lesbians or families is without foundation,” Goldstein was quoted as saying.
      However, according to a New Jersey-based cult expert and lecturer who helped deprogram Branch Davidians in the mid-’90s, the Fourth Way is a cult and excludes gays. News articles from the mid-’90s about a branch of the school also said the group bans gays.

Maine Pastor Pushes Gay Rights Ordinance

WESTBROOK, ME – A drive to become the 12th community in Maine to adopt a gay rights ordinance is being led by the Rev. Susan Gilpin, pastor of the Prides’ Corner Congregational Church. The Portland Press Herald quoted Gilpin as saying she felt compelled to take action after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. The ordinance would mirror the state’s gay rights law that was rescinded by voters in November 2000 elections. A committee of the City Council will consider the bill this month.

California Teacher Loses Harassment Case

REDWOOD CITY – A high school teacher in San Mateo County failed to convince jurors that she brought a gun to school because she was being sexually harassed by two other teachers. Theresa “Tere” Curl was fired when the .22 caliber pistol was found by a male teacher in her classroom. She sued the teacher and another male teacher along with the school district for harassment. Curl said the two teachers had called her derogatory names and taunted her with sexually explicit gestures and charged the district with ignoring the harassment. School district officials said they had not been aware of any complaints until after the pistol was found. Curl’s lawyer reported that Curl would appeal the decision.

California School Board Approves Gay-Straight Club

CLOVIS – Despite reported threats that parents would withdraw their students from the school, the Clovis Unified School Board has approved a Gay-Straight Alliance club. The school district’s lawyer had said that lawsuits might have been filed if the club had not been approved. State laws prohibit any district from discriminating against a student or student organization on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religious belief or sexual identity.

Minnesota Republicans Demand Repeal of Partner Benefits

ST. PAUL – A contract clause extending employee benefits to domestic partners of unionized state employees prompted Republican leaders of the Minnesota House of Representatives to threaten to reject the entire contract. Governor Jesse Ventura proposed the clause on his own initiative during negotiations last year with several state employee unions. The clause was accepted, but the unions struck when agreement could not be reached on general wages and health benefits. When the strike was settled, the clause remained in the contract.

Pres. Ford Joins GOP Gay Group Board

WASHINGTON, DC – The Republican Unity Coalition is welcoming its new Advisory Board member, former President Gerald Ford. The RUC is a gay-straight alliance that advocates for support for gay issues within the Republican Party. Ford was quoted in an interview with columnist Deb Price as supporting equal economic benefits for gay couples as straight couples enjoy under federal law (such as social security survivorship and tax deductions). “I think they ought to be treated equally. Period,” Ford said in the interview. “

9/11 Victim’s Partner Commits Suicide

JERSEY CITY, NJ – In what has been called the first suicide of a gay partner of a Sept. 11 victim, Mike Lyons took his own life in March. Lyons thought he was “taking a step to be with his partner,” according to Elizabeth Burch, director of the Human Rights Campaign, which had helped Lyons apply for benefits through relief funds.
Lyons’ partner was Jack Keohane, who worked at One Liberty Plaza near the World Trade Center. He was killed by falling debris when one of the towers collapsed. Keohane had reportedly sent Lyons on ahead because of Lyons’ difficulty running due to multiple sclerosis.
Lyons committed suicide on his 41st birthday, just a few days before he was to receive his first relief check from the Red Cross.

Gay 9/11 Scam Artist?

NEW YORK – The Washington Blade is reporting that questions are being raised over conflicting statements given by a Florida man who claimed his same-sex partner had died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Patrick Ian Henn of Ft. Lauderdale claims his partner Jeff John Anderson died while on a trip to Manhattan, although the Express Gay News, a Florida-based gay newspaper investigating the case, says Andersen’s name does not appear on any official victim lists and no relatives of a Jeff John Andersen have come forward.
Henn collected $25,000 from various agencies offering emergency funds to survivors of victims without ever providing proof that he was the partner of an actual person who died in the building collapse. The agencies that provided money to Henn included Empire State Pride Agenda, the United Way, Safe Horizons, and the American Red Cross. Henn contacted the Express Gay News last December to complain about ESPA’s refusal to provide more relief funds after its initial $1000 loan.

Brandon Teena’s Killer Says the Other Guy Did It

LINCOLN, NB – John Lotter, on death row for the killing of transvestite Brandon Teena in 1993, is appealing his conviction and sentence, saying that his partner in the crime, Marvin T. Nissen, actually committed the murder. Lotter and Nissen were also convicted for killing two witnesses to the murder, Lisa Lambert and Philip Devine. Nissen made a deal with prosecutors to testify against Lotter and was sentenced to life in prison. Lotter’s appeal charges that Nissen told a cellmate that he had done the killing.

Gay Partnerships Recognized in Finland

HELSINKI – Except for the right to adopt a child or share a surname, gay partnerships in Finland now are recognized as comparable to marriage. Finns aged 18 or over can register a same-sex union through a civil ceremony. The status provides for property rights in inheritance and divorce. The Finnish Lesbian & Gay Association welcomed the legal change but said it didn’t go far enough. While the newly enacted law does not deal with the rights of children in gay partnerships, a gov’t group is looking into the issue.

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