Washington Blade - December 24, 2004

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodia's HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns must overcome social taboos and highlight the dangers of unprotected sex between men to prevent the virus from spreading, a reproductive health development group said last week. An estimated 4 percent of Cambodia's 13 million people are men who have sex with other men - many of those working as prostitutes, said Kha Sovannara of Washington-based Policy Project. In a new report, Policy Project warned that many men in Cambodia who have sex with other men also have sex with women, and could therefore "be serving as a bridge group of HIV transmission to the general population." A survey in five urban areas of Cambodia found that the majority of interviewees were not aware of the risk of contracting HIV through unprotected anal sex, Kha Sovannara said. "This group is a very high-risk group because they can infect both men and women," he said, adding that ignorance about how the virus can be spread contributes to the problem.

Gay marriage at top of Spain's Socialist party agenda this term Friday, December 24, 2004

MADRID - Leaders of the country's Socialist party have gay marriage at the top of their agenda, and changes may come as early as January, according to Newsday. The historically conservative Catholic country now is led by a party whose priorities include putting a stop to restrictions on gay men and lesbians on issues including marriage and adoption, Newsday reported. President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his Socialist party already are opposed on gay rights efforts by the Catholic Church, whose leaders have called legalizing gay marriage equivalent to spreading a "virus" in Spain. "The church thinks this is not good for society," Jose Maria Calderon, a spokesperson for the Conference of Spanish Bishops, the national body of the church, told Newsday. "This leads us to destroy the concept of marriage." According to Jordi Pedret, a Socialist and a member of Parliament's Justice Committee, there are 250,000 gay couples in Spain waiting to get married.

Canadian lawmaker claims opposition to same-sex marriage is growing

OTTAWA, Ontario - In his push for a national referendum on same-sex marriage, political representative Pat O'Brien said at least four other Cabinet ministers may take his side, the Hill Times reported. O'Brien said Natural Resources Minister John Effort and Joe Comuzzi, junior Cabinet minister for Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario, both may oppose legislation that seeks to legalize same-sex unions, the Times reported. "There are at least half a dozen ministers who I believe if they were given a free vote will vote against this," O'Brien told the Times. The controversial legislation likely will pass, one source told the newspaper, but not easily. O'Brien is an outspoken critic of same-sex marriage and said public opinion should be considered before the government offers legislation on gay marriage in the House late next month, the Times reported.

Movement for civil unions gains strength in Australia

SYDNEY - Australian gay activists are gathering support for civil unions as the nation watches other countries such as New Zealand and Canada reform laws pertaining to committed gay couples, the Sydney Star Observer reported. The country's Equal Rights Network, a national gay and lesbian rights group, called for support for civil unions in the wake of reforms in New Zealand and Canada, the Observer reported. "Labor [Party] support for civil unions would not only bolster the chances of reform, it would also heal the rifts between the LGBT community and Labor over the latter's support for the government's pre-election same-sex marriage ban," ERN spokesperson Jen Van Achteren told the Observer. New Zealand recently approved a civil union bill, and Canada's highest court last week gave its approval to plans for same-sex union legislation, the newspaper reported.

Lesbian couples face ostracism, jail after coming out in India

DELHI - Two female couples recently experienced firsthand the consequences of being open about their relationships in Indian society, the Scotsman reported. One woman in eastern India was jailed after she and her partner declared their union and said they plan to live together, according to the Scotsman. Elsewhere in the country, both sets of parents of a young lesbian couple demanded the girls be arrested after declaring they wanted to marry each other, the Scotsman reported. In eastern India, Pooja Singh, a widow with a child, is charged with abducting and illegally marrying Sarita, 19, the woman with whom she is living, according to news reports. Singh was arrested after Sarita's father reported his daughter missing. Homosexuality is illegal in India, news outlets noted. In northern India, two lesbians announced their marriage earlier this month and were disowned by their families and rejected by their communities, the Scotsman reported. Raju Singh, 25, and Mala Kaur, 18, demand that their union be registered.

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