Washington Blade - July 21, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) - World leaders attending the Group of Eight summit Sunday were criticized for not providing enough money to fight HIV and AIDS worldwide. Max Lawson of Oxfam, an aid agency, lamented that two global initiatives - the Education Fast Track Initiative and the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB & Malaria - were underfunded and called on leaders to fill the financing shortfalls, which he said amounted to some $450 million for the education program and about $700 million for the health initiative. "That's small change to the leaders meeting this weekend and it could make a massive difference to leaders," he told reporters.

World Pride in Jerusalem threatened by Lebanese conflict

BERUIT, Lebanon - As military action in southern Lebanon and northern Israel enters its second week, plans for the World Pride event in Jerusalem on Aug. 6 appear threatened. Organizers are trying to reassure participants and spectators amid rumors of "bounty funds" for the murder of World Pride participants and talk of moving the event to Tel Aviv. "We are carefully monitoring the situation, while continuing our work towards Aug. 6, the opening date of the Jerusalem World Pride week," World Pride organizers said in a statement posted on the group's website. "During the current hostilities, Jerusalem is a calm spot, with a variety of public events going on as scheduled. We advise our guests from around the world to follow the news together with us, and hope together with us for peace." Meanwhile in Lebanon, the gay group Helem is boycotting World Pride out of opposition to Israel. "It began with a sit-in, in solidarity with Gaza, but then turned into relief work," Ghassan Makarem of Helem, told the Age newspaper in Australia.

Russia, France said to lift bans on blood donations by gay men

MOSCOW - Russia is planning to lift its ban on blood donations from gay men, a Moscow-based gay rights is claiming, and France will follow suit, according to a published media report. Project Gay Russia, a gay advocacy group, claims the country's Office of the General Prosecutor and Ministry of Health made the decision in response to a request sent last May by two of the group's activists, Nikolai Alekseev and Nikolai Baev. Russian health officials have not commented publicly on the issue, and the claim by Project Gay Russia could not be independently verified. "The Ministry of Health has informed us that this instruction will be shortly amended, and gays will not be forbidden anymore to give their blood," Baev is quoted as saying in a news release on the gay group's website. France is also moving in the same direction on this issue, according to a report in the French publication Le Monde.

Fiji clarifies consensual gay adult sex is legal

SUVA, Fiji - The High Commission in Fiji ended months of confusion over the nation's position on consensual sex between gay adults when it declared such acts are not illegal. "The legal rights of people of the same sex engaging in private consensual sexual activity in Fiji are protected," the High Commission said, the website Fiji Live reported July 12. The High Commission said the prohibition on gay sex was overridden by a 2005 High Court decision that retracted the imprisonment of two gay men based on human rights protections in Fiji's Constitution, the website reported. Australian Thomas McCosker and Fijian Dhirendra Nadan were convicted in 2005 for having consensual sex and received two-year jail terms. The most recent controversy arose after New Zealand's Out Takes Reel Queer Film Festival offered a prize trip for two to Fiji. The prize sparked protests from New Zealand gay groups that thought that legislation prohibiting sodomy was still effective in Fiji.

Norway politician in hot water for proposing gay-free beaches

OSLO, Norway - A politician and newspaper have been accused of promoting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation after the newspaper printed the politician's letter stating that he wanted a gay-free beach. Odd Djoseland of the Progress Party claimed in his letter that heterosexuals were uncomfortable with gays "drooling" over them at local beaches, Norway's Aftenposten reported July 11. "I therefore want a beach in our community that's free of gays and lesbians, a place where we normal, heterosexual people can sunbathe and swim in peace and quiet," Djoseland wrote. The politician insisted later his letter was meant to be humorous. "Djoseland has offended and insulted me, as a bisexual, and a whole group of people," said Bent Sandvand, who filed a police report July 10 against the politician.

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