Apr 15, 2005   | COMMENTS     

ROME (AP) — Italy last week set a June date for referendums on loosening a strict law limiting fertility treatments that has pitted the Roman Catholic Church against those who say the law hurts scientific research and infringes on reproductive freedom. A provision of the law that bans gays, singles and couples beyond childbearing age from receiving fertility treatments would remain unchanged. After years of debate, the law last year banned freezing embryos, and said no more than three could be created. It also forbade sperm or egg donation from outside the couple and prohibited experiments on embryos — a measure criticized by those who said it would hurt research to treat diseases. If successful, the referendums would delete the law’s provisions on embryo research, the three-embryo limit, the ban on egg or sperm donation from outside the couple and the attribution of rights to the unborn. Minister of the Interior Giuseppe Pisanu said the referendums would be held June 12.

Rights group says Saudi sentences against gays violate basic rights
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia is violating basic human rights, including the right to privacy, fair trial and freedom from torture, by incarcerating and flogging accused homosexuals, Human Rights Watch said. Saudi authorities detained more than 100 men at a March 10 party in the Red Sea port city of Jiddah, sentencing many of them in closed trials without representation to up to two years in prison and 2,000 lashes, for “unreported offenses,” the New York-based group claimed last week. A government-affiliated Internet paper, Al-Wifaq, which carried a report March 16 saying the men were “dancing and behaving like women,” implying they were convicted due to gay behavior. The paper claimed that security forces “ambushed” the men after surrounding a rest house next to a wedding hall where they had been given a tip about “a marriage between two men.” Saudi officials could not be reached for comment on the statement.

British lesbian wins landmark visitation case against ex-lover
LONDON — A legal victory for one British lesbian, who won the right to visit her former lover’s biological children conceived while the two were a couple, also is a landmark for same-sex couples, UPI reported. In reversing a lower court’s ruling, the deputy head of the Family Division approved a joint residence order for the woman, according to the Times of London. “What has been said about the importance of fathers is of equal application in same-sex parents,” the judge said, UPI reported. The woman, 46, gains shared parental responsibility for the two girls, ages 6 and 3, by winning joint residence, according to UPI. The woman also has a 16-year-old biological son and lived with the girls as their mother since 1995, UPI reported. The biological mother of the children, 31, has a new partner, since her relationship with the 46-year-old woman ended in May 2003, according to UPI.

Stats show Dutch gays divorce at same rate as heterosexuals
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Since the legalization of gay marriage in the Netherlands, gay couples appear to have divorced at a rate of about 1 percent — nearly the same rate as heterosexual couples, according to data released last week. The Netherlands legalized gay marriage in April 2001 — the first country to do so — and the data was the first time the government has reported on gay divorce rates. Between April 2001 and December 2003 there were 5,751 gay marriages and 63 divorces, according to figures gathered from city registers. In the same period, there were around 243,000 heterosexual marriages and 2,800 heterosexual divorces in the country of 16 million. Jan Laten, a demographics expert at the Netherlands’ Central Bureau for Statistics, cautioned that the figures for gay couples were based on a relatively small sample and could be interpreted in various ways. “The rate could just as well be 2 percent next year,” he said. He said many of those who married shortly after legalization had waited years for their chance, implying a higher than usual level of commitment and stability.

Owner of gay guesthouses will close doors before admitting straights
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Under investigation and set to meet with the South ...