APRIL 8.2006 • Q-NOTES
Global
by her and the Foundation is an honor we
are both proud and thrilled to accept.”
State group defeats biased bills
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — National gay
leaders are applauding the impressive
accomplishments of Equality Utah, a
statewide LGBT political advocacy organi
zation, that successfully turned back sev
eral anti-LGBT bills introduced in the 2006
Utah Legislature.
Only one of the five measures opposed
by Equality Utah was passed by the
Legislature, and that bill — which would
have blocked courts
from granting caretak
ing rights to non-bio-
logical parents, in turn
hurting many nontradi-
tional families including
LGBT families — was
vetoed March 21 by
Gov. Jon Huntsman, ]r.
Matt Foreman (pictured), executive direc
tor of the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force, said, “The dogged determination of
our grassroots ally Equality Utah, its execu
tive director Mike Thompson, and all
Utahans who took action against the dis
criminatory, anti-LGBT bills put forth in the
Utah Legislature is extraordinary and serves
as a model to us all. Congratulations on this
amazing success.”
International >
Proposed anti-gay low condemned
ABUJA, Nigeria — A proposed law man
dating five years imprisonment for anyone
who “goes through the ceremony of mar
riage with a person of the same sex; per
forms, witnesses, aids
or abets the ceremony
of same-sex marriage;
or is involved in the
registration of gay
clubs, societies and
organizations,” is
being condemned by a
coalition of human
rights groups.
An open letter opposing the proposed
measure, undersigned by 16 organizations
including the International Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission and
Human Rights Watch, has been delivered
to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
(pictured). The letter contends that the bill
violates the African Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Rights and greatly hampers
efforts to fight AIDS.
“This draconian measure will only
intensify prejudice and discrimination
based on sexual orientation,” said Scott
Long, director of the LGBT Rights Program
at Human Rights Watch. “The bill crimi
nalizes public expressions of love and any
defense of lesbian and gay rights, denying
fundamental freedoms that should be
enjoyed by all Nigerians.”
Group preparing U.N. campaign
GENEVA, Switzerland — Two months
after being denied official observer status
by the U.N. Economic and Social Council
— in a surprising vote that saw the U.S.
stand alongside human rights violators
Iran, China and Zimbabwe — the
International Lesbian and Gay Association
convened its world conference March 27-
April 3 with a vow to “protest this injus
tice” and “not allow this issue to be
pushed off the agenda.”
At the conference, timed to coincide
with a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights
Commission, ILGA spokesman Stephen
Barris said his group is gearing up for a
campaign to convince the UN to recognize
LGBT civil rights as one of its international
causes. He added that the world body
should be embarrassed that it has consis
tently ignored the plight of gay and trans-
gendered people.
1\vo previous efforts to add sexuality to
the list of categories protected by the U.N.
have failed.
Opposition from the Vatican and Arab
countries in particular have been difficult
to overcome.
Gays blamed for bird flu cases
JERUSALEM, Israel — An influential
Kabbalah cleric is blaming gays for Israel’s
first reported cases of bird flu. Rabbi David
Basri, head of the Magen David Yeshiva,
says God is punishing Israel because the
liberal Meretz Party has been running
election ads supporting same-sex mar
riage.
In a written statement, Basri said, “The
Bible says that God punishes depravity
first through plagues against animals and
then in people.” Basri has a history of
attacking gays. In 2004, he excoriated
Jerusalem Pride, saying, “[Homosexuality]
is not a disease or a deviation, but a
straight-out abomination. Even animals
don’t behave this way... There is no place
in the Holy City for such a phenomenon.”
Basri is currently under investigation by
Israeli police for hate speech against Arabs,
which is illegal. Hate speech against several
classes is banned by law,
but gays are not protect
ed. Kabbalah, a form of
Jewish mysticism, has
drawn international
attention thanks to such
celebrity converts as
Demi Moore (pictured)
and Madonna.
Young gays at economic risk
LONDON, England — Early findings
from The Equalities Review, a study com
missioned by the government to assess
socio-economic opportunities for various
classes of British citizens, reveal that gays
are among those at risk of “chronic and
persistent” disadvantage. Although the
preliminary data was released March 21,
the final report isn’t due until fall.
During the presentation of the interim
findings TVevor Phillips, chairman of the
study, explained that many young gays
and lesbians are dropping out of school as
a result of anti-gay harassment and dis
crimination. The result for them is a future
of lower paying jobs and less productivity.
Other disadvantaged groups identified
in the study are black teens, particularly
males, and women with children, who
have the bleakest economic outlook over
all. The estimated cost to the British econ
omy of this inequity and lost potential is
thought to be around $80 billion a year.
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