French cabinet minister comes out
France's junior minister for parliamentary relations came out in an interview with the Agence France-Presse wire service January 23.

"Yes, I have a life," said Roger Karoutchi, 57. "I'm neither living a lie, nor flaunting anything. I discuss it naturally. I have a partner and I'm happy with him. As I'm happy, I see no reason why I should hide that."

Karoutchi's move preceded the publication of his memoirs, in which he will briefly discuss his sexual orientation.

Although Karoutchi, a conservative, is the first cabinet minister to come out, liberal Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë has been out since before taking office in 2001.


Turkish Gay group wins right to exist
The Turkish GLBT group Lambda Istanbul won an appeal of a court order that shut it down, Amnesty International USA reported January 21.

The Supreme Court of Appeal overruled the decision of a local court, which had agreed with the Istanbul governor's office that Lambda's objectives violated Turkish moral and family values.

The case now returns to the local court for issuance of a ruling consistent with the Supreme Court decision.

Lambda welcomed the decision but said it was troubled by one sentence in the ruling, which says, "[T]he dissolution of the defendant association could still be demanded if it should act counter to its constitution, in the ways of encouraging or provoking Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual and transvestite behavior or acting with the aim of spreading such sexual orientations."

The group said it will feel safe only when the Turkish constitution is amended to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, a long-standing goal of activists.

"[The] constitutional safeguard is a must to hinder any homophobic interpretations of those vague concepts in law such as 'general morals' or 'social values' by barristers, who suffer from the very same social prejudices as many others in society," Lambda said.


Italian man jailed in Morocco on homosexuality and porn charges
An Italian man was jailed in Marrakesh, Morocco, in mid-January on charges of homosexuality and taking and possessing pornographic images, the Assahra Al Maghribiya newspaper reported.

The man, identified only as "Gian Paolo," will be deported when he has served his sentence, the report said.

The newspaper said he confessed that he headed a network of Moroccan and foreign homosexuals and shared photos of "abnormal sexual situations" on the internet, according to a translation provided by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.


Bahrain barbershop busted for male prostitution
Two Asian men were jailed for six months at hard labor in Bahrain in mid-January on charges they engaged in sex for pay with male customers of their barbershop, the Alwaqt newspaper reported.

The men will be deported after serving their sentences for debauchery and prostitution.

Agents of the Public Morality Police reportedly arrested the men after posing as customers seeking sexual liaisons.

The Alwaqt report was translated by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

Meanwhile, Bahrain's government reportedly blocked access to several Gay-cruising websites, including Gaydar, in late January.


Swedish pastors willing to marry Gays
Sixty-eight percent of pastors in the Church of Sweden are willing to marry same-sex couples, according to a Swedish Television poll of 1,700 ministers.

Sweden is expected to become the ninth country to legalize same-sex marriage in May.

It is possible the church will OK the performance of Gay weddings when church officials meet this fall.

Same-sex marriage also is legal in Belgium, Canada, Nepal, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain and the U.S. states of Connecticut and Massachusetts.


HRW: Anti-Gay Nigerian bill targets "basic rights"
A bill before Nigeria's National Assembly would expand Nigeria's draconian punishments for homosexual conduct and threaten all Nigerians' rights to privacy and free expression and association, Human Rights Watch said January 26.

In a letter to President Umaru Yar'Adua, legislators, the National Human Rights Commission and other bodies, the group urged senators, representatives and the president to reject the measure, which would punish people of the same sex who live together "as husband and wife or for other purposes of same sexual relationship" with up to three years in prison, and punish anyone who "witnesses, abet[s] and aids" such a relationship with five years in prison.

The House of Representatives already approved the measure unanimously on the second of three "readings."

"This bill masquerades as a law on marriage, but in fact it violates the privacy of anyone even suspected of an intimate relationship with a person of the same sex," said Georgette Gagnon, HRW's Africa director. "This legislation would allow the state to invade people's homes and bedrooms and investigate their private lives, and it would criminalize the work of human rights defenders. It is not a ban on marriage, but an assault on basic rights."

Nigeria already bans Gay sex ["carnal knowledge ... against the order of nature"] with up to 14 years in prison.

"The evident intent of the new bill is to extend the already-existing penalties for homosexual conduct," HRW said. "They would no longer be limited to sexual acts between people of the same sex, but would potentially include mere cohabitation or any suspected 'intimate relationship' between members of the same sex."

The group said the proposed punishment for people who "abet" a same-sex relationship could be used against anyone "who gives any help or advice to a suspected "same gender" couple - anyone who rents them an apartment, tells them their rights or approves of their relationships."


With assistance from Bill Kelley