Jan.
30, 2002
world news
by Rex Wockner
MORE GAYS ARRESTED IN EGYPT
At least eight more men have been arrested in Egypt on suspicion of homosexual behavior, the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission reported Jan. 21.
"The arrests, following on last year's trial of 52 men for homosexuality, suggest a steadily growing pattern of persecution," IGLHRC said.
There have been several other anti-gay arrests in recent months as well, some of them related to alleged sexual advertising on the Internet.
"Enough is enough," said IGLHRC's Scott Long. "Too many people are sitting in jail whose only crime is to be suspected of homosexuality. Homosexuality is not perverse, the behavior of the Egyptian government is."
The newest arrests took place in Damanhour, capital of Al-Beheira province. A local newspaper suggested further arrests are possible, given that an address book was confiscated that contained "the names and addresses of a large number of perverts."
Damanhour prosecutor Yaseen Zaghloul reportedly ordered that the men's genitals and anuses be examined to confirm their homosexuality, a practice that was seen in the earlier cases as well.
On Nov. 14, 2001, Cairo's Emergency State Security Court handed down verdicts in the cases of 52 men who had been detained for six months because of alleged homosexual activity. Twenty-three of the men were sentenced to between one and five years hard labor and 29 were acquitted. The men were charged with obscene behavior and contempt for religion. Police say they were arrested in and around the gay club Queen Boat on May 11.
International human-rights activists maintain that many of the men were nowhere near the club when they were taken into custody on May 11 and following days, and have denounced the prosecutions as a sham.
POLICE COLLEGE
HIDES GAY MAGAZINE
Britain's national gay newsmagazine, Gay Times, is being kept inside a folder rather than openly on display with other magazines at the National Police Training Centre's Multicultural Community Information Centre near Coventry, England.
A spokesman for the National Police Training organization said the decision was made because "National Police Training does not wish to create the potential for offense."
"NPT believes this is a measured, pragmatic approach to what is a sensitive issue," the spokesman said.
The college's president called Gay Times, which is similar to The Advocate, "salacious and suggestive."
Gay activists and the magazine's publisher denounced the policy.
"If the police were treating ethnic minority publications in this way, there would be an absolute outcry," said activist Peter Tatchell.
Gay Times media critic Terry Anderson asked the BBC, "How on earth will the recruits be able to go on the frontline and deal with the gay community when in their training the attitude is that there is something salacious, something undesirable and something that has to be hidden about homosexuality?"
On Jan. 23, about 20 members of the National Union of Students Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Campaign picketed the training center.
"If they are taking steps to keep magazines like Gay Times out of sight, then how are we supposed to have any confidence in them and believe that they will help us with our problems when the time comes?" protester Adrian Bradley asked www.iccoventry.co.uk.
POLICE CHIEF
MARCHES WITH GAYS
The top cop in the Australian state of Victoria marched in Melbourne's seventh gay-pride parade Jan. 20.
Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon was the first police commissioner in Australian history to join a gay-pride march. Assistant Commissioner Noel Asby and about 50 police officers and recruits also marched.
Nixon and the other officers were denounced by the opposition National Party and some callers to radio talk shows.
"It is inappropriate for the chief commissioner to take part in this march and it is also wrong for police officers to be paid to march in their uniforms," said opposition leader Denis Napthine.
Nixon told The Sunday Age: "It is about Victoria Police showing that they are committed to the whole community. ... I think it is probably a break from previous tradition, but I think it is an important step."
The march included about 70 contingents and was watched by 50,000 spectators.
RABBI WANTS
TO EXECUTE GAYS
Leading Jerusalem rabbi David Batzri said gays should be "put to death" in accordance with religious law, the daily newspaper Ma'ariv reported Jan. 24.
"Homosexuals and lesbians are not only a sickness, they are an abomination which should be removed from every city in the country, also from those districts where they feel protected, like in Tel Aviv," Batzri said.
Some legislators and other rabbis denounced the remarks, which were made during a lecture at a seminary.
Last month, Batzri, a leading scholar in Jewish mysticism, blamed "nearly all" of the nation's "troubles, agonies, wars, diseases and poverty" on excessive masturbation.
HOMOSEXUALITY
TO REMAIN ILLEGAL
IN JAMAICA
Jamaica's government said Jan. 21 it has no intention of decriminalizing gay sex despite a recommendation to do so from Parliament's joint select committee on the Charter of Rights Bill.
"We will not be considering the issue of homosexuality," said Information Minister Colin Campbell.
The committee's report had stated: "It [the committee] would ... bring to the attention of the Government as a matter for consideration, the issue of the repeal of the Offences Against the Persons Act in so far as it relates to the offence of buggery between consenting adults in private."
Buggery is punished with imprisonment at hard labor for up to 10 years.