Jul 23, 2004   | COMMENTS     

WHITEHORSE, Yukon Territory (AP) — The Yukon Territory’s government won’t challenge a court ruling allowing gay couples to marry. “I see no reason why there should be any appeal,” Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie said last week. “Licenses will be issued.” Justice Peter McIntyre on July 14 changed the territory’s common law definition of marriage to mean the voluntary union for life of two people to the exclusion of all others. The Yukon ruling came after Stephen Dunbar and Rob Edge filed a petition for being refused a wedding license earlier this year. In the three provinces where gay marriage is permitted — British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec — Canada’s federal government has decided not to appeal the decisions. Fentie said Ottawa should address the gay marriage issue. “It’s high time the federal government dealt with the definition of marriage,” Fentie said.

Gay cruise meets protest in Bahamas
NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Passengers on a gay cruise were greeted by more than 100 protesters as they stepped off their chartered ship July 16 in the Bahamas. The protesters, led by Christian pastors, gathered in a square in front of the cruise terminal and chanted, “Gay ways are not God’s ways!” Cruise organizers said former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell, who promoted the voyage, was aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Norwegian Dawn. But she wasn’t seen among those who disembarked. Gregg Kominsky, a founder of cruise organizer R Family Vacations, said the passengers — 1,150 adults and 450 children — had come to have fun and that on previous trips he found most Bahamians friendly and welcoming. “We are not really here to make a statement,” he said. As the first passengers stepped out, shouting protesters pressed to within a few feet of them. Police stepped in to move demonstrators back. There were no arrests.

Olympic star Thorpe threatens to sue artists whose work implies he’s gay
MELBOURNE, Australia — Two Melbourne artists who label Olympic star Ian Thorpe as gay in an exhibit at Federation Square are under investigation, the Herald Sun reported. Thorpe has threatened to sue the creators of a collage that shows him with his fist raised in victory and is titled “Not Only But Also,” the newspaper reported. The piece is on display in the Ian Potter Centre’s Australian Culture Now exhibition, the Sun reported, and an arrow points to Thorpe’s head from the word “gay” in capital letters. Artists Natalie Starr and Alexandra Sanderson produce work that also mocks other celebrities, according to the Sun. Brian Handley of the Australian Families Association demanded that the collage be removed, the newspaper reported. “It borders on criminality to attack somebody that way,” Handley told the Sun. The artists said they are not portraying Thorpe as gay but are using the art to comment on “the speculation that surrounds him and the trashy interest in it,” Starr told the Sun.

Brazil gay activists slam bill to support ‘going straight’
RIO DE JANEIRO — A measure in the state legislature that would subsidize gay people who “go straight” will be fought by gay Brazilians who call the bill insulting, the SAPA news outlet reported last week. “The bill to give aid to homosexuals who want to become heterosexual is a political insult, which jeopardizes the prestige of the Legislative Assembly,” Claudio Nascimento, the leader of the Rainbow Group told SAPA. “We expect it to fail.” Christian Democrat deputy Edino Fonseca drafted the measure for an “aid program for persons who voluntarily opt to change their sexual orientation,” the news outlet reported. Two committees already have approved the bill, SAPA reported. “We do not think homosexuality is a disease, but an acquired habit that can be broken,” Fonseca said. Gay activists said they expect the measure to fail in the committees on discrimination and on human rights grounds, the news agency reported.

Slovakian official protests prison time for anti-gay Swedish pastor
BRATISLAVA, Slovak Republic — Interior Minister Vladimir Palko, in meeting with Swedish Ambassador to Slovakia Cecilia Julin, protested a Swedish court’s recent decision to imprison a Protestant minister for his comments about gays, the Slovak Spectator reported last week. “I object to such a verdict,” Palko told the press. Palko is a deputy leader of the Christian Democratic Movement, which is a conservative wing of Slovakia’s four-party ruling coalition. “I explained to Ms. Julin that my position was like that of Martin Luther when he said: ‘Here I stand, I can do no other,’” Palko told reporters after the meeting. Pastor Ake Green of the Pentecostal Church in ...