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WOCKNER INTERNATIONAL NEWS #30

By Rex Wockner
San Diego, CA 92103
Internet: E-mail rwockner@netcom.com
WWW HTML by CyberQueer Lounge

Contents


EL SALVADOR AIDS LEADER GOES UNDERGROUND

by Rex Wockner A leading AIDS activist in El Salvador went into hiding Nov. 5 after twice being threatened with death.

In the first incident, two men stepped from a car, aimed a gun at "Wilfredo" and said, "If AIDS doesn't kill the faggots, we will," reported the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

Hours later, the men again confronted Wilfredo, two blocks from his home, and promised to kill him unless he ceased his AIDS work and left the country within 30 days, IGLHRC said.

Wilfredo has worked since July with San Francisco's Oscar Romero AIDS Project, distributing condoms and AIDS leaflets in San Salvador's poor neighborhoods.

Amnesty International is investigating the incidents.

CANADA COMMITS TO NATIONAL PROTECTIONS

by Rex Wockner Canadian Justice Minister Allan Rock confirmed Nov. 17 that the government plans to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.

"Our intention remains ... to introduce legislation in that regard before the Christmas break," Rock told Parliament when questioned by MP Real Menard, one of two openly gay members of the House of Commons.

The exchange came during debate on amending Canada's criminal code to increase penalties for hate crimes against gays.

HOLLAND DEPORTS TRANSSEXUAL HOOKERS

by Rex Wockner Dutch immigration officers Nov. 14 deported around 90 male-to-female transsexual prostitutes back to Ecuador, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Brazil, according to the Internet Euro-Queer mailing list.

Amsterdam police blamed the prostitutes for a rash of fights, thefts and disturbances of the peace.

"We do not want this sort here just at the time we are trying to make prostitution into an ordinary business," the police's media spokesman said. "There have been many complaints about fights breaking out when a customer finds out he's dealing with a man. The transsexuals are also aggressive to female prostitutes."

The transsexuals are believed to have relocated to Amsterdam after being driven out of Paris' cruisy Bois de Boulogne park.

Police said the 90 individuals were in various stages of becoming female.

ZIMBABWE GAYS TO FIGHT CENSOR BOARD

by Rex Wockner Members of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe are raising money to fight censorship laws that, according to GALZ, deem all gay/lesbian material pornographic.

"We have once suffered a raid by the police who were searching (unsuccessfully) for the GALZ library," the group said in a press release.

The Censor Board and the Attorney General refuse to discuss the laws with GALZ, a spokesman said.

The government has also stalled for over six months on issuing a ruling on GALZ's video of the film "Maurice," which the group submitted for a determination in an attempt to force the issue.

Write GALZ, Private Bag A6131, Avondale, Harare, Zimbabwe.

RESEARCHERS: GAYS BRAINS ARE DIFFERENT

by Rex Wockner Canadian scientists reported Nov. 16 that the isthmus area of the corpus callosum area of gay men's brains is 13 percent bigger than straight men's.

The isthmus connects areas on each side of the brain that control aspects of speech and perception of spatial relations. Previous studies have shown that straight men do better than gay men on tests measuring spatial perceptions and don't do as well on some fluency tests.

"This study (unlike earlier findings on the hypothalamus of gay brains) has taken the anatomical differences from the middle of the brain up to the cortex -- the thinking part of the brain," said researcher Sandra Witelson of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. "That's a very big leap.

"This is showing that sexual orientation is part of something that is much bigger than just sexual reproductive behavior. ... What we are suggesting is that sexual orientation is just one feature in the constellation of characteristics which includes perception and cognitive patterns."

The study looked at the brains of 11 gay men and 10 straight men with a magnetic-resonance imager.

The U.S. National Gay & Lesbian Task Force called the study "an important addition to the growing body of evidence indicating a biological basis for homosexuality in some people."

"It shows that homosexuality is a naturally occurring and common variation among humans -- a fact that gay and lesbian people have known all along," the group said. (The Globe and Mail)

ONTARIO GAYS FIGHT AGE OF CONSENT

by Rex Wockner The Canadian AIDS Society and the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights have intervened in a case before the Ontario Court of Appeal that is challenging the province's ban on anal sex when one partner is under age 18. Other forms of sex are legal at 14.

The case involves a man who was convicted of sexually assaulting his financee's niece starting when she was 11 or 12 and of having anal intercourse with her after her 14th birthday.

The organizations claim unequal ages of consent make it hard to educate youth about AIDS.

"The law is archaic and homophobic," said the AIDS Society's Russell Armstrong. "Changing it will allow us to do more effective HIV-prevention work with young people." (Toronto Star)

GERMANY HONORS TWO GAYS

by Rex Wockner Germany bestowed one of its highest honors on two gay activists in October.

Civil-rights lawyer Manfred Bruns and activist Markus Commercon received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for their work championing the rights of gays, HIV-positives and PWAs, and for improving awareness of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Commercon, 30, is the first person under 40 to receive the Order of Merit. He has lectured extensively in schools on gay issues and wrote the book "AIDS--My Path in Life."

Bruns, a retired Federal Court of Justice prosecutor, is a longtime gay leader and was a member of parliament's AIDS panel. (This Week in Germany)

GAY SPEECH CODES DOWN UNDER

by Rex Wockner Melbourne, Australia's Multicultural Gay and Lesbian Support Group has sent gay/lesbian clubs in the state of Victoria a "Code of Practice" to sign to "guarantee the safety and freedom from harassment of patrons of gay venues."

MGLSG said it had received several complaints of drag performers making offensive comments to Asian bar patrons. The Code requires venue owners to ban biased remarks based on age, nationality, immigration status, country of origin, race, color or transgenderism.

"We want the clubs to sign the code but we also want the community to act as the club-owner's conscience," said MGLSG Acting Secretary Michael Hull. "Will people want to go to a nightclub who hasn't signed the code?" (Melbourne Star Observer)

TIJUANA AIDS MARCH DEC. 1

by Rex Wockner A candlelight AIDS walk in Tijuana Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, is expected to draw up to 100 people.

The March in Memory of People Who Have Died of AIDS will start at the gay-community-based AIDS clinic, ACOSIDA, and head through the center of downtown to the Catholic Cathedral where a mass will be held.

In other news, the Tijuana police's annual Christmastime cleanup of downtown "criminal elements" has targeted, among others, the hustlers who hang out at Bar El Ranchero and outside the bar in Plaza Santa Cecilia, reports gay activist Jose Navarro.

"You must have proof of employment or an ID or they'll pick you up and take you to jail for at least three days," Navarro said.

Elsewhere in the state of Baja California Norte, Ensenada's only gay group, Grupo Hippocampo, celebrated the first year of its government registration with a party Nov. 26 at the city's only gay bar, La Ola Verde. And Mirage is a new bar for gays and transvestites in the state capital, Mexicali. It is located on Reforma Avenue at Bravo Street.

SERBIA: FIRST LESBIAN ON TV

by Rex Wockner Lepa Mladjenovic of the gay group Arkadia became the first gay or lesbian to discuss gay issues on Serbian TV Nov. 16.

She appeared along with a British lesbian on the hour-long program "Incidentals" on the arts channel.

"So far, the reaction to the show has been positive," Arkadia said in a news release.