International News - Rex Wockner

International News

by Rex Wockner - SGN Contributing Writer Iraqi Gay leader assassinated The Baghdad head of the international group Iraqi LGBT was assassinated in late September, activists in London reported. Bashar, 27, was gunned down in a barbershop. "Militias burst in and sprayed his body with bullets at point-blank range," said leading British Gay activist Peter Tatchell. "The exact identity of the gunmen is unclear, but he was probably murdered by the Islamist death squads who are targeting Lesbian and Gay Iraqis for 'sexual cleansing.'" Bashar was the local coordinator of foreign-funded "safe houses" for Gays and Lesbians living in Iraq. "His efforts saved the lives of dozens of people," Tatchell said. "Bashar was a kind, generous and extremely brave young man - a true hero who put his life on the line to save the lives of others." Sarajevo Queer Festival attacked At least 10 people were injured - six of whom required hospitalization - when dozens of hooded, bearded men shouting "Kill the Gays" and "Allahu akbar" ("God is great") attacked the opening of the first Sarajevo Queer Festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina on September 24. Some attendees were dragged from cars while others were chased down the streets near the Academy of Fine Arts, site of the festival's opening events. A police officer and two journalists also were injured. The five-day, indoor, arts and culture festival offered exhibitions, performances, movies and public discussions. Some local media had campaigned for violence against the festival, urging that the organizers be lynched, stoned, doused with gasoline or expelled from the country. Posters advocating "Death to Gays" appeared around Sarajevo in early September, and the festival was denounced by some imams, who objected, among other things, to its coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. "We do not feel safe for ourselves or for our families," one of the event's organizers told Amnesty International prior to the festival's opening. "Some of us had to find new accommodation because our names and addresses were made publicly known. We are afraid to use public transport or go out alone." The European Parliament's Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights strongly condemned the attacks. "It is a cowardly behavior to challenge the views one disagrees with by violence," said Intergroup President Michael Cashman. "Bosnia-Herzegovina wants to become a member of the European Union and the country should clearly show that it is ready for membership. Authorities and society at large must show that they can respect the rights of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexual and Transgender people not just in law, but also in practice. Respect for human rights is at the heart of EU membership." Intergroup Vice President Sirpa Pietikäinen added, "Religious and political leaders should be aware that the violence ... is a result of their homophobic speeches." Belgrade Queer Festival attacked Ten masked protesters attacked 25 people leaving an event of the 5th Queer Belgrade Festival September 19 in Serbia, injuring four people. One of the injured individuals was American and another Russian. Two of the attackers were arrested. The Queer Belgrade Collective issued a statement demanding police locate and arrest the remaining perpetrators and punish them in a proper and timely manner. The group also urged the government to amend the Serbian Criminal Code to recognize hate crimes. The festival featured movies, performances, bands and panel discussions. Larry King quizzes Ahmadinejad on Gays in Iran U.S. TV interviewer Larry King quizzed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his nation's treatment of Gays September 23. There have been persistent, though unconfirmed, reports for years that Iran hangs men for the crime of engaging in Gay sex. King said: "People [are] protesting that they don't have the same rights as other people. Homosexuals - you said last year, you denied there were homosexuals [in Iran]. There's homosexuals everywhere." Ahmadinejad replied: "I said it's not the way it is here [in the U.S.]. In Iran this is considered a very - obviously most people dislike it. And we have actually a law regarding it and the law is enforced. It is a law that was passed. It was legislated. And it is an act that is against human principles. A lot of things can happen. It can cause psychological problems, social problems that affect the whole society. Remember that God's rules are to improve human life. In our religion, this act is forbidden and the Parliament has legislated about it. Not now, 70 years ago. This is something that happened 70 years ago, before the Islamic Republic became -" King interjected, "So what happens to Gay people?" Ahmadinejad replied: "Well, of course, nobody has held protests. You are - are you concerned for 70 million Iranian people or a few homosexuals? Let's assume in Iran - let's assume in the United States that 200 million people drive cars and a million violators are rounded up and they just basically violate driving laws. Should we be worried for the 199 million people whose safety we must be concerned about or the one million violators? The law is the law and it's law. And it must be enforced. Of course, we do pay attention that in Iran nobody interferes in the private lives of individuals. We have nothing to do with the private realm of people. This is at the [level of] not-private, public morality. In their own house, nobody ever interferes with people." Last year, during a speech at Columbia University in New York City, Ahmadinejad also was asked about the nation's treatment of Gay people. He responded: "We in Iran ... don't have hamjensbaz [a derogatory term for homosexuals] like you have in your country. In our country, there is no such a thing. In Iran, such a thing does not - in Iran, in Iran, absolutely such a thing does not exist as a phenomenon. I don't know who told you otherwise." Iran is known to have executed several teens and men accused of engaging in sodomy, although in nearly all the cases that have been publicized in recent years the individuals were accused of other crimes as well, such as rape. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has said it suspects that other charges often are tacked onto sodomy cases to prevent the public outrage that would accompany executions carried out solely for the crime of consensual adult Gay sex. The group also has said it believes executions solely for Gay sex are taking place out of the public eye. "Our suspicions [are] that their current practice really is to rid society of Lesbians and Gay men," the organization said last year. Human Rights Watch, on the other hand, has said it cannot fully document any executions in Iran in recent years carried out solely for the crime of consensual adult Gay sex. Open Gay joins England's second-highest court Openly Gay lawyer and former Olympic fencer Sir Terence Etherton became a member of England's and Wales' second-highest court in late September. Etherton, 58, was sworn in as one of 36 judges who serve on the Court of Appeal, said The Independent. He is the first openly Gay Lord Justice of Appeal. Etherton was formally recommended by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. "My appointment ... shows that diversity in sexuality is not a bar to preferment up to the highest levels of the judiciary," Etherton told the newspaper. Police arrest Ugandan activists Ugandan police arrested two high-profile "male-to-female Transgender Gay" activists September 10, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission reported September 19. Georgina Oundo and Brenda Kiiza were taken into custody at Oundo's home in the village of Nabweru near Kampala and held at the Nabweru Police Post for a week. They were beaten, kicked, denied food and urged to reveal names and addresses of other Gay activists, IGLHRC said. Police also copied the activists' cell-phone address books, according to Human Rights Watch. Oundo and Kiiza were accused of spreading homosexuality, although no such crime exists, IGLHRC said. Gay sex is illegal under threat of up to life in prison. Police said their investigation remains open and they will seek additional evidence to bring the activists before a court. In the past five years, nearly a dozen people have been arrested on charges related to homosexuality in Uganda. Gays stage marriage protest in Athens The Athens Pride Committee staged a demonstration in front of the Greek Parliament September 29 in support of the mayor of the Aegean island of Tilos and two same-sex couples he married in June. In a trial scheduled to begin October 2 in the Court of First Instance on the island of Rhodes, prosecutors will seek to nullify the marriages and convict Mayor Anastasios Aliferis of breach of duty, which carries a prison sentence of up to five years. Greece's marriage law doesn't specifically prohibit marriage between people of the same sex. But the nation's top public prosecutor, Giorgos Sanidas, has said a constitutional article on family issues implies that marriage is only between a man and a woman. With assistance from Bill Kelley

pictures top: AHMADINEJAD on Larry King

"Quote Unquote"

by Rex Wockner - SGN Contributing Writer "On a personal level, my sister and her partner are an important part of my life and our children's life. I admire your group and your organization and I encourage you to keep fighting for what you believe in because the day is going to come." -Steve Schmidt, John McCain's top campaign strategist, in an address to the GLBT Log Cabin Republicans group September 4 at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. Log Cabin attendees also were addressed by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, Republican National Committee Treasurer Tim Morgan, and McCain political director Mike DuHaime. "I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination." -Barack Obama in his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president of the United States, August 28. "I felt like I was in Hollywood at a very special time when all of us Gay people kind of found each other, and we were like: 'You go. No, you go out. No, you come out!' And we all kind of just jumped in, one after the other. Basically, we just keep ascending, we keep moving up." -Singer Melissa Etheridge to the Oregon Gay newspaper Just Out, August 15. "Hollywood is like a machine with this big maze, and you just keep thinking, 'OK, if I just get to that thing or that award or that show or that party or if I just know that person, then it'll all make sense and I'll be in that place, I'll be there.' And I kept going, 'There is no 'there' here - it doesn't exist.' And I found out that what I created every day - my own life with my family, my friends - is the life I have! There's this illusion called Hollywood - and it's only an illusion - it's just a big machine that people keep going and churning out on television and film, but it doesn't exist." -Singer Melissa Etheridge to the Oregon Gay newspaper Just Out, August 15. "I don't really have an opinion on it [Gay marriage], to tell you the truth. I think people have to do what they feel they have to do. Not being Gay myself, I don't have the same frame of reference - do you know what I'm saying? I don't know what it is to feel like you can never be married or any of that, because I am married, I have kids and I have all those things. It's uncharted ground for me personally; I can't even make a comment on it." -Singer Donna Summer to the Michigan Gay newspaper Between The Lines, August 21. "I went to New Orleans after Katrina. I knew people who died in Katrina. ... The fact that the storm got this type of reaction from this administration - there are not even words to describe how appalling that is. And that we as a country are so cowed by it ... that we, that the media, didn't do anything about them not doing anything. I honestly think people will look back on this era, this administration, in the same way we look back on slavery and go, How the fuck did that happen? What on earth? How could it have gotten that wrong that people didn't see it?" -Openly Gay R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe to the magazine Room 100, summer 2008 issue. "Being in love is easy - it's all the other things that are not so easy. It's a lot of work. It's like anything, and not to overstate the obvious, but it's not unlike being in a band for 28 years and realizing & how do you talk to each other after 28 years? You pull yourself out of the bad and put yourself someplace where you're actually able to construct something." -Openly Gay R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe to the magazine Room 100, summer 2008 issue. "Civil rights for Gays can't come about without the help of Republicans. And this means that Gay people - and straight supporters of Gay equality - need to stand with, not silence, people like [Manhunt.net cofounder Jonathan] Crutchley, who are working to change the GOP from within. Gays need only look to California, where a state Supreme Court loaded with Republican appointees legalized Gay marriage and the Republican governor is one of the most powerful pro-Gay publicly elected officials in the country, to understand the importance of making Gay rights a bipartisan cause." -New Republic assistant editor James Kirchick writing in the Los Angeles Times, August 26. "I am disappointed in the Transgender community. They seem to think that if Nancy Pelosi and myself, George Miller and a few others waved a magic wand we could deliver it [a Transgender-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act]. Look, this past year in the legislatures of Maryland, Massachusetts and New York, efforts to add Transgender protections ... were defeated. And I testified for it in Massachusetts and lobbied for it. And as a political problem out there, I wish there weren't, but pretending that something doesn't exist is never a good way to deal with it. I am afraid that too many people in the Transgender community think that talking to me and Nancy Pelosi is the way to do it. I don't yet see enough grassroots lobbying on their part." -Gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to Towleroad.com, August 26. "Since marriage equality was won, some of our organizations, [top lobby group] Eagle Canada, for example, seem to be making Trans issues a very high priority. Now, perhaps that is where the majority of us want to go next. But maybe not. Maybe we want to put school safety and the creation of Gay-positive curriculum at the top of our agenda. Or a bill to reform Canada Customs. Or legalizing prostitution and adult performances. Or the right to donate blood and organs. Or legalizing threesomes. Or increased funding for AIDS prevention. How about getting rid of the Stephen Harper government. ... I don't personally think it [Trans rights] should be at the top of the list." -Gareth Kirkby, managing editor of the Ottawa, Ontario, Gay newspaper Capital XTRA!, writing in the August 7 issue. "The ceremony will take place at the Democracy Forum at the Japanese American National Museum. ... Randy Guiaya will play the koto, the Japanese harp. Our Buddhist minister is Mexican-American. Our best man is Walter Koenig [who played Chekov in Star Trek]. And our best lady is Nichelle Nichols [who played Uhura on the show]. Some may think that's a little calculatedly Star Trek. But they really are our best friends. ... Then the music will start playing: 'One' from A Chorus Line. We'll come down separate aisles. We come together and enter the circle. It's a Buddhist ceremony. We'll sip from the same cup of sake. It will be very religious and very traditional. And there'll be the sounds of bagpipes outside." -George Takei, who played Sulu on the first Star Trek series, on his upcoming marriage to 20-year partner Brad Altman, to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 29. "For months, John McCain and the Republicans went after Barack Obama for lacking the experience they felt was necessary in order to be commander in chief. Yet, on this day, an aging John McCain, who is the oldest Presidential nominee in history, chose a running mate - a person that is just a heartbeat away from the Presidency - that has no foreign policy experience, no national experience and limited state government experience ... a virtual unknown who has only been Governor for a less than two years of a state with a population of fewer than 680,000 people. ... I believe John McCain chose Gov. Palin because he truly believes that women who supported Hillary - an experienced, brilliant, life-long public servant - would vote for him because his vice president has two X chromosomes. [H]is selection of Governor Palin has demonstrated that he is willing to put his desperation to win this election above the welfare of the American people. ... This calculated, cynical ploy to pull away a small percentage of Hillary's women voters from Barack Obama will not work. We are not that stupid!" -Barbra Streisand writing on her website, August 29. "[Sarah] Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with [Hillary] Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for - and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, 'Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs.'" -Author and feminist activist Gloria Steinem writing in the Los Angeles Times, September 4. "[Sarah Palin] opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves 'abstinence-only' programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger." -Author and feminist activist Gloria Steinem writing in the Los Angeles Times, September 4. "When I'm elected mayor, I would die before allowing the pride parade to be held in Jerusalem. They want to be proud? They're allowed to. They want to demonstrate? Fine. But the streets of Jerusalem are a symbol, and parading on them would be an aggressive act against our tradition, against our values and against our morale. I would lie on the ground in order to block the march and would even die before I approve the pride parade in the city." -Jerusalem mayoral candidate Arcadi Gaydamak at an August 25 press conference. With assistance from Bill Kelley