News
Campaign against homophobia, in Germany
German authorities stated that the Police department of the city of Berlin launched a campaign, promoting tolerance towards homosexual people. “Kai is gay, and so is Murat. They both belong to our community,” read the posters, which were printed for the occasion and were displayed in all the police stations in Berlin. The campaign supports the German Lesbian and Gay Federation.In Israel, parental rights were granted to a lesbian couple
On 29th May, the Supreme Court of Israel granted parental rights to a lesbian couple – a decision that displeased religious fundamentalists. The biological mother of Matan (4 years) and her partner got the little girl’s full custody. Both Ruti and Nicole Berner-Kaddish have a double citizenship (Israelite as well as American); they were married in a church in California, in 1994. Ruti conceived Matan in the United States, by artificial insemination.A play in memory of Matthew Shepard, in New York
Moises Kaufman is the director of “Laramie Project”, a new play that builds around Matthew Shepard’s death. Shepard – a gay student of 21 years – was tortured and killed in 1998 in Laramie, a town situated in the West of the United States. Actors from Tectonic Theatre Project – the company that stages the play – confessed having troubles in understanding this horrible murder and its circumstances (Shepard was crucified on a fence, in terrible pain, only because he had disclosed his sexual orientation to his attackers). Preparations for “Laramie Project” included six trips to Laramie and 200 interviews; for two hours and a half, the eight actors play no less than 60 characters.The Italian Minister of Agriculture came out
On June 3rd, Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio – the Italian Minister of Agriculture – publicly admitted being a bisexual. He added: “I do not confess a sin, therefore I have no reason to be ashamed. Everybody should be free to love whomever he/she wants, no matter the gender. I practice this freedom.” His confession – which was witnessed by many journalists from the main Italian newspapers – is a premiere in his country.Canadians create an invisible condom
State of Canada will financially support the testing of a new product called “the invisible condom” – a product that would contribute to the decreasing (hopefully to the disappearing) of the contamination risk in the case of different STD’s and of HIV. The Minister of Health Allan Rock made the announcement on June 2nd, on the occasion of an international conference on AIDS, which took place in Toronto. The Canadian government offers 350.000 Canadian dollars to the infectious diseases research centre of the Laval University of Quebec, which will conduct the testing.
“The invisible condom” is in fact a gel that kills microbes. The product is at first liquid, which turns into gel because of the human body’s temperature, by thus creating a natural barrier.One of three Czechs accepts same-sex partnership
According to a poll published by the IVVM Institute in Prague, 33% of the Czech citizens would vote for the legalisation of same-sex partnerships; most of them are students or graduated secondary schools/high schools. 38% of the population is against such a law, and 29% had no opinion on this matter. The poll was conducted on 1,018 in the middle of April. In December, the House of deputies from the Czech Parliament had rejected a bill aiming to allow registration for homosexual couples – with only a few votes short…