International News
By Larry Nichols
PGN Staff Writer
© 2007 Philadelphia Gay News

Australian gay marriage foe defeated

Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s Liberal government was defeated by a huge margin on Nov. 24 by the opposition Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd.

Howard had opposed pro-gay legislation during his 11-year tenure.

In 2004, Howard’s government passed a law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. In February, Howard’s government struck down an attempt by the Australian Capital Territory to enact civil-union legislation.

The defeat even cost Howard his own seat in Parliament.

“I accept full responsibility for the Liberal Party campaign, and I therefore accept full responsibility for the coalition’s defeat in this election campaign,” Howard said in his concession speech.

It remains to be seen how much more gay-friendly the Labor Party will be.

Rudd is opposed to same-sex marriage, but said that if Labor formed the next government it would implement most of the recommendations of the federal Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission: In a June report to the government, the commission made more than 50 recommendations to resolve inequities faced by same-sex couples and urged the passing of laws to guarantee their rights.

The Green Party, with its openly gay leader Bob Brown, was the only party to support gay marriage and won five seats in Parliament.

Queen protested by anti-gay groups in Uganda

A Nov. 23 visit by Queen Elizabeth II at the opening of the Commonwealth Summit in Kampala, Uganda, drew dozens of anti-gay demonstrators.

The protesters, from churches and mosques throughout Uganda, accused Western countries of spreading homosexuality throughout Africa.

“Developed countries in the Commonwealth legalized homosexuality and influenced the poor states,” the Interfaith Rainbow Coalition Against Homosexuality in Uganda said in a statement. “We are telling the Queen that by embracing homosexuality, we shall not have kings and queens.”

Police kept the protesters and other demonstrators contained in an area about a block away from the conference, making it unlikely that the Queen or any members of the Commonwealth saw the demonstration.

Commonwealth People’s Forum on LGBT Rights, an international gay advocacy group, recently issued a list of recommendations to the Commonwealth leaders that included abolition of sodomy laws in countries such as Uganda and India, ending state-sanctioned brutality against sexual minorities and the recognition of same-sex relationships.

Ugandan cabinet minister Nsaba Buturo denounced the recommendations.

“Homosexuality has no room in this country,” he said.

Male homosexuality is illegal in Uganda under 19th-century laws imposed by British colonizers and can carry a sentence of life imprisonment.

Attacks against gays are common in Uganda.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission announced in October that it had uncovered evidence that the Bush administration has funded groups in Uganda that actively promoted violence and discrimination against gays.

That same month, a leading Muslim cleric in the country proposed that gays be gathered and contained on an island in Lake Victoria until they die.

“I asked President Museveni to get us an island on Lake Victoria and we take these homosexuals and they die out there,” Sheikh Ramathan Shaban Mubajje said. “If they die there then we shall have no more homosexuals in the country.”

Gay Somali site launched

Somaligaycommunity.org, a Web site serving gay men in Somalia, was recently launched.

The purpose of the site, which is a first for the Muslim East African nation, is to reach the U.K. Somali gay community to show that there are people like them in the homophobic country.

The project manager of Somali Gay Community in the United Kingdom, Murad, said the site is designed to bridge the information drought surrounding gay affairs in a conservative and Muslim society like Somalia.

“It is a shame that we are still confronted with so much hate and discrimination for the fact that we are gay, but I believe the only way to overcome this is by educating ourselves and others, and having a Web site like this will play such an important role,” Murad said. “Somaligaycommunity.org is meant to act as a contact and information point for what he feels is a community in a state of limbo, due to not being attached to the Somali community in the UK or the mainstream gay community.”

The group is currently composed of men, but it is attempting to draw in Somali women to share their experiences as lesbians.

Latvian Pride ban ruled illegal

A 2006 ban on a Gay Pride march has been ruled illegal by Latvian authorities.

Christians, nationalists and neo-Nazis had threatened the parade with violence and a counter march, and municipal authorities in the Latvian capital of Riga claimed that event would cause public disorder.

The Riga City Council appealed an Administrative Court decision made earlier this year that the ban was illegal, but the Supreme Court has now confirmed the ruling.

Mozaika, an Eastern European GLBT-advocacy group, said in a statement that the decision to appeal by the City Council has set an important precedent for Latvia’s court systems and on any similar future rulings.

Latvia, which is now part of the European Union, is bound by Human Rights Conventions, which allow for the right of assembly and to demonstrate.

This year’s pride festival in Latvia was allowed to proceed, but it was confined to a park in the center of the capital and a limited march.

Gay choir member to appeal ousting

An Italian chorister announced plans to appeal his case to the Bishop after being forced out of his church choir for being gay.

Alberto Ruggin, 20, was dismissed by his priest in Padua, Italy, after revealing his sexuality in a recent documentary shown on Italian television.

Ruggin, a practicing Roman Catholic, said that the priest, Don Paolino Bettanin, was “disgusted” by the affair.

“I tried to explain to him that a true Christian respects everybody,” he said. “He accused me of not revealing my sexuality sooner, but admitted he had suspected it. The truth is that he’s scared of what people might say. So, I’m turning to the Bishop.”

Ruggin had been in the choir for seven years before his dismissal and was openly gay with his family, who had urged him to come out.

Italian gay-rights groups cited the story as proof of the need for anti-homophobia laws in the country.

German invents spray-on condom

A German inventor recently announced the introduction of a spray-on condom.

Jan Vinzenze Krause, director of the Institute for Condom Consultancy, said the concept came from the idea that the condom should fit the man and not the other way around.

“If you go into a drug store to buy condoms, the ones they sell are mainly suited to men with the average penis length of 14.5 centimeters [5.51 inches], but a lot of people have penises that are smaller or larger than that,” he said. “This would represent a revolution in the condom market.”

The system has been described as operating like a car wash. The penis is placed in a chamber and sprayed jets of liquid latex from a detachable cartridge, which covers it in a matter of seconds. The rubber dries in seconds and can be rolled off and discarded like a conventional condom.

With the cost of the chamber and refills, spray-on condoms would be more expensive than traditional ones, costing approximately twice as much.

Although there are many legal hurdles to the invention, Krause hopes it will eventually be available in shops.