gay news worldwide

Germany's New Gay Partnership Law takes effect -Aug 1/2001  MORE

Chances for HIV vaccine suddenly "very good -24 Aug 2001  MORE

Gay community suffers losses in terrorist attack -27 Sept 2001  MORE

HIV Vaccine Promising -10 Nov 2001  MORE

Gay Prom Date and the Catholic Church - 1 May 02  MORE

Canada Moves to Allow Same-Sex Marriages - 17 Jun 03  MORE

Canadian Supreme Court approves same-sex marriage -9 Dec 04  MORE

New York appeals gay marriage ruling- 8 Feb 2005  MORE

Canadian Same-sex Marriage Bill Passes Commons Vote 28 June 05 MORE

Little Sisters Gay Bookstore That Challenged Censorship Laws Up for Sale
21 April 08 MORE

New study that links gayness to your brain suggest we were born gay
17 June 08 MORE
 

GERMAN PARTNERS (August 1, 2001)

Germany's gay partnership law took effect Aug 1, and dozens of ceremonies took place in cities and towns across the country.

The first couple to tie the knot was Heinz Harre and Reinhard Leuschow,married at the Hanover town hall at 8:20am. Over in Hamburg,15 couples got hitched the first day.

"For gays and lesbians in Germany, it's a huge step forward after a long battle,"said gay member of parliament Volker Beck. "The law will make a lot of peoplevery happy."

The law grants registered gay couples marriage rights and obligations in areassuch as inheritance, health insurance, immigration, name changes and alimony.It withholds rights in the areas of adoption, taxation, pensions and social-welfarebenefits.

Meanwhile, registered gay couples have nearly all rights of marriage in Denmark,France, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the US state of Vermont. The Netherlands lets homos marry under the same laws as heterosexual couples.Court rulings have given gay couples many marriage rights in Canada and Hungary.

24 August 2001 Chances for HIV vaccine suddenly "very good"

For the first time, scientists at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Centre have recently been successful  in concocting a vaccine that would safely protect a monkey from dying of AIDS.

Over a year ago, Godot, a handsome, blond, 4-year old macaque gota big dose of SHIV, an especially nasty lab-made mixture of HIV and SIV, the human and monkey versions of the AIDS virus. Ordinarily he would be dead in 6-8 months. Godot is infected but healthy now. Seven months before he was infected, Godot got an experimental new AIDS vaccine, one experts hope will be a model for a shot to control the world-wide epidemic.

Two other variations of the same approach have been tested at Harvard Medical School and Merck & Co. with similar results. An AIDS vaccine is still no sure bet, but many believe they are now at least on a rational path towards finding one.

The question now is:"Can we translate these monkey findings into the human situation?" Even if all goes well, it is estimated it will be 2005 before large scale experiments begin with the human vaccine. Learning whether it will truly prevent AIDS will take another two years. Many estimate these vaccines are still a decade or more  away.

27 Sept 2001 Gay community suffers losses in terrorist attack

New York Fire Department Catholic chaplain Rev. Mychal Judge is among the Gay people who died in New York on September 11 during the collapse of the World Trade Center. Killed while he was administering last rites to a fallen fire fighter, the 68-year-old Brooklyn born Franciscan priest was remembered with tears, words of honor and even some laughter during his funeral service Saturday, Sept. 15, at Saint Francis of Assisi Church in New York.

"We come to bury his voice but not his spirit, his hands but not his works, his heart but not his love," said fellow Franciscan Father Michael Duffy in the New York Post. "Mychal Judge will be on the other side of death to greet them. He'll greet them with that big Irish smile and say, 'Hello, welcome. I want to take you to my Father'."

Attending the Reverend's service were former U.S. President Bill Clinton, New York Senator Hillary Rodham-Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea. Clinton told the Post that Rev. Judge's joy in being a Catholic priest "is a rebuke to the act of hatred and violence against the City of New York, the Pentagon and the American people."

Graham Berkeley, 37, an openly-Gay product management director for software maker Compuware, was among those killed on United Airlines Flight 175 which crashed into the World Trade Center on Tuesday, Sept. 11.

In a September 17 story on www.advocate.com, Graham's parents, Charles and Pauline Berkeley, who live in England, expressed grief over losing their son and over seeing it happen on television. "We watched our child die," Mr. Berkeley told The [London] Mirror. "He was a brilliant boy. A brilliant man."

Graham had been scheduled to fly from Boston to Los Angeles for a conference on the flight that was the second to hit the World Trade Center, in its south tower.

He was a professional violinist in both England and Germany. His mother told the Mirror, "I believe in an eye for an eye. Every mother who has lost a child will feel this. I hope Bush is the man he says he is."

Thirty-three-year-old Ronald Gamboa was also on United Airlines Flight 175 with his partner of 13 years, Dan Brandhorst, and their adopted 3-year-old son, David. The three lived in Los Angeles.

"When he didn't call, my fears got worse," said Gamboa's mother, Dr. Renee Gamboa, from her home in Anchorage, Kentucky. She had also seen the jets crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and knew that her son, his partner and their baby were scheduled to travel from Boston to Los Angeles that day.

"He never takes an 8:00," Dr. Gamboa told Kentucky's WAVE-TV. "I don't know why he took that flight."

David Charlebois, the first officer of American Airlines Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon, was a member of the National Gay Pilots Association. A memorial service was held September 18 in at The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., Charlesbois' home base.

In a statement, the National Gay Pilots Association said, "His smile brightened a number of NGPA events and the news of his loss carries with it a great grief for all those who knew him, both on the ground and in the air. Our thoughts and prayers go with him, his spouse Tom, and their families."

by Matt Nagle

10 NOV 2001 HIV Vaccine Promising

A Hamilton Ontario, Canada, scientist has developed an HIV vaccine that shows promise in preventing sexual transmission of the virus that causes AIDS.

The vaccine has a 90% success rate in mice and could be tested in humans as early as next year, said Ken Rosenthal, a professor of pathology and molecular medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton.

He will present his breakthrough findings for the first time at an international AIDS conference today in Toronto, organized by the Ontario HIV Treatment Network.

"We don't have a preventive vaccine for HIV now and it's desperately needed. About 22 million people have died of AIDS (worldwide) so far, but the worst is actually going to be experienced in this century because the virus is spreading so quickly, particularly in countries where there is a lot of poverty and illiteracy," said Rosenthal.

Thus far, much of the world's HIV research has focused on coming up with a vaccine that works with the body's immune system.

But since HIV is primarily a sexually transmitted disease, Rosenthal is developing a vaccine that induces immunity at the mucous membranes of the body  the linings of the genital tract, lungs and gut.

"Almost all the infections we get enter the body through our mucous membranes."

The mucosa has its own immune system that is the front line defence against most viruses and bacteria.

It consists of antibodies called IgA, (which are different from those found in the blood), and white blood cells that live near the mucous membrane surfaces ready to combat infection.

Rosenthal's vaccine is delivered to the mucosal immune system through nose drops or a nasal spray.

The vaccine worked best when combined with tiny synthetic pieces of DNA called CpG that were mixed with "wholekilled" HIV virus.

Two doses conferred lifelong immunity in the mice.

"We give mice a drop of this in their nose as a vaccine and they have very high levels of immunity and protection in their genital tract. It induces strong, longlasting immunity in the mucous membranes, whereas if you give a shot you get good immunity in your blood, but not in the mucous membranes which is where the virus is coming in," said Rosenthal.

He plans to start human trials next year, dependent' on drug company sponsorship.

The conference also heard the results of a study that found people with HIV infection in Ontario have unequal access to the latest retroviral therapy.

Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi analyzed an Ontario HIV Treatment Network database of 3,500 HIV patients from 1996 to 2001, and found regional differences in how long they waited to get the drug cocktail.

Generally, patients in Toronto got the treatment slightly quicker, while in some regions, they waited almost a year longer. A breakdown of regions was not available.

"Some of it probably has to do with how informed patients are. Some will advocate for themselves and be asking for the drugs while others may not," said Bayourni, an internist at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.

Cost of the drugs, how far patients live from an AIDS clinic, and the fact that some doctors adopt new drugs more quickly than others, may also be factors, he added.

The conference's keynote speaker has discovered that his scientific toolbox alone can't halt the global devastation of HIV transmission, and a multidisciplinary approach is needed.

"We can best (fight the virus) by collaborating with people who understand the cultural and social practices that directly affect transmission," said Alan Landay, an immunologist at Rush University in Chicago.

11MAY02 GAY PROM DATE AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

They danced the night away.

Marc Hall, the shy, blue-coiffed 17-year-old Oshawa Ontario Canada student who wouldn't take no for an answer when told he couldn't take his boyfriend to his high-school prom, won a major court victory for Catholic students yesterday.

In a comprehensive and clear decision granting Hall's request for an injunction, Mr. Justice Robert MacKinnon of the Superior Court of Justice said a ban on same-sex dates at the prom was a clear violation of Hall's constitutional rights, and ordered the Durham Catholic District School Board to allow Hall and Jean-Paul Dumond, 21, to attend the dance.

School board chair Mary Ann Martin said while the board was "extremely disappointed" with the ruling, Hall and his date would be allowed to attend the prom "if they wish."

While Hall's legal team said the ruling would set a precedent for gay and lesbian rights in the education system, Martin disagreed, saying the ruling applied only to the prom.

The board would continue to apply the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church to school-sponsored activities, she said.

Both the board and Hall's lawyers say they are ready to continue with a full trial on the issue and take it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary.

But for Hall and his date, last night was a time to celebrate as they rode in a long black stretch limousine to the prom.

Hall, in a white tuxedo and blue tie, said he "was very happy and so excited that we won." When he first heard the news from his lawyer at his home in Oshawa, he said, "I was jumping up and down and everybody was shouting.

"I feel at ease now knowing that we are free of discrimination," said the Grade 12 student at Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic High School.

In addition to allowing Hall to take his date of choice to the prom, MacKinnon's ruling made some significant statements about the Catholic Church's stand on homosexuality, gay rights in schools and Catholic schools' rights under the British North America Act of 1867.

But school board lawyer Peter Lauwers called the ruling "bad law," saying the judge made "too broad" a decision based on a solitary case.

"All the issues (discussed in the decision) are very important and must be aired properly," he told reporters.

MacKinnon said he believed even a full trial of the issue would have found that school principal Michael Powers "unjustly discriminated against Mr. Hall in violation of his Section 15 Charter rights."

The judge said it was apparent during a two-day hearing earlier this week that Hall did not have the same freedom as his heterosexual classmates to bring the date of his choice to the prom.

School is a "fundamental institution" in the lives of young people, MacKinnon said, and recreational activities experienced in a school setting, such as sports, social clubs and dances, "are important in ... a student's development.

"Exclusion of a student from a significant occasion of school life like the school prom constitutes a restriction in access to a fundamental social institution."

The judge said he could find no evidence of a single position on homosexuality in the "Catholic faith community" among the materials that had been presented during the hearing.

The Catholic catechism says homosexuality is contrary to natural law and cannot be tolerated, but goes on to say homosexuals should be accepted with "respect compassion and sensitivity and also that every sign of discrimination should be avoided," MacKinnon noted.

The judge, who earlier said the case presented some of the toughest legal questions of his career, also provided his own views on what a high-school prom is about.

"There is clearly a courtship aspect to the prom, but that event is not solely about physical intimacy leading to sex. Many students, some without regular boyfriends or girlfriends, attend a prom with their friends to have fun and to dance."

MacKinnon said the school board does not as a rule inquire of prom-goers whether they have had sex with their dates in the past or "whether they intend to do so on prom night or whether they intend to so thereafter."

"These are private matters appropriately left to the students themselves."

MacKinnon said it was his view that allowing Hall to attend the dance with his boyfriend does not violate the rights given to Catholic denominational schools under the Constitution Act of 1867.

Lawyers on Hall's side called it a precedent-setting decision that will greatly enhance the rights of gays and lesbians and other students in Catholic schools.

Hall's lawyer, David Corbett, said he was "extremely delighted" with the decision.

"The judge's words are strong and persuasive that Marc's Charter rights have been violated. The school board may want to re-think taking this any further," he said.

Douglas Elliott, who acted for a coalition of groups and individuals supporting Hall, called it a "fantastic decision."

"It's a huge precedent because in all past cases of gay and lesbian rights, it has taken years to reach such a decision," he said.

Elliott said this case marked the first time a Catholic school board has said it had the constitutional right to regulate the private lives of students.

"But the judge has made it clear that it is a strong case of a Charter violation and has sent a strong signal to the school board that it should drop its defence."

The saga started back in February, when Hall informed his school principal, Powers, that he planned to bring his boyfriend to the prom. Powers sought advice from his superiors at the school board and had a meeting with Hall and his parents, at which he announced his decision that the same-sex couple would not be allowed to attend the event.

When the matter became public, there was a tremendous outpouring of support in Canada and abroad.

Such high-profile people as Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove and Industry Minister Allan Rock wrote letters supporting Hall.

But the school board refused to budge, saying it did not oppose homosexuality, but that dating and dancing were manifestations of a homosexual lifestyle that it could not condone.

Hall early on decided that he would take some sort of legal action —either before the Ontario Human Rights Commission or in court — to force the school board to change its mind.

Corbett argued in court that the decision by the principal and the school board discriminates against Hall on the basis of sexual orientation, contravening both the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Lawyers for the school board argued this was not a case of discrimination against Hall but simply a matter of separate schools being able to follow the teachings of the Catholic church as guaranteed under the British North America Act.

The court case seemed to have little negative affect on the prom, which was held in the Trillium Trails banquet hall north of Oshawa.

Grade 12 student Stacey Gallant, 17, said she and many other students support Hall. "He is a wicked guy and he has every right to attend the prom with his date."

Principal Michael Powers told reporters outside the prom that everything was going well for the 160 students and dates.

"It's an exciting evening for the kids and they are having a great time already."  (Toronto Star)

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