Lech Kaczynski, president of Poland, used a photo of New York activist Brendan Fay to illustrate what the president feels are negative social impacts of gay marriage.
(Photo by Petr David Josek/AP)
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Friday, March 28, 2008
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A gay New York man has filed a complaint against the Polish president for using images of him and his partner in a national speech condemning gay marriage. The image of Brendan Fay’s wedding with his partner Tom Moulton was woven into President Lech Kaczynski’s televised address to the nation Monday night. Fay said that Polish immigrants and reporters began calling him on Tuesday, asking how he felt about having his image used in the address. “My initial reaction was one of surprise and shock really,” said Fay, a longtime gay activist who is a co-founder of the All Inclusive St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Queens. The images — including a marriage certificate identifying the couple — were shown as the president warned against the dangers of adopting the European Union’s new treaty and its Charter of Fundamental Rights, which Kaczynski says could open the door to same-sex marriage in Poland. In his letter to consul Krzysztof Kasprzyk, Fay wrote that the couple is “frustrated to hear that images from such a joyous day are used to spread intolerance.”
LONDON — Some in the international human rights community are alarmed at developments in Egypt involving gay men. Last week, five gay Egyptians were charged with “habitual practice of debauchery,” a euphemism for gay sex, the New Scientist, a British science and technology magazine, reported. The lead government prosecutor told a lawyer for the defendants that the men, four of whom are HIV-positive, shouldn’t be allowed to “roam the streets freely,” the magazine said. The government there considers them a danger to the public health. Joseph Amon of Human Rights Watch said linking HIV-status and these “debauched activities,” undermines attempts to contain HIV and will prevent others at risk from being tested, fearing the consequences. Egypt has arrested 12 men under its debauchery laws since October 2007, and four are now serving year-long jail terms. The country’s Ministry of Health and Population declined to comment to the magazine.
EDINBURGH, Scotland — Political pressure is mounting on the British government to reverse its decision to deport a gay Syrian teen from Scotland to his home country where he faces almost certain imprisonment and torture, Scotland on Sunday, a Scottish newspaper, reported this week. Scotland on Sunday revealed last week that 19-year-old Jojo Jako Yakob was being held in Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution awaiting deportation, despite evidence he had been tortured almost to death in Syria, where homosexuality is illegal. Shirley-Anne Somerville, a Nationalist Member of Scottish Parliament, has lodged a parliamentary motion in support of our campaign to let Yakob stay in the country. It received wide support, the paper reported. Jojo fled his homeland two years ago after surviving what activists called a harrowing ordeal at the hands of Syrian police and prison guards, when he was arrested for distributing anti-government leaflets. He was beaten and ended up in a coma, Scotland on Sunday reported.
SALEM, Ore. — Israel has granted a Palestinian a rare residency permit after the man, who is gay, said his sexual orientation put his life in danger in the West Bank, a Defense Ministry official said this week, according to a Reuters report. The 33-year-old Palestinian was issued a temporary permit to live with his Israeli partner in Tel Aviv after arguing he faced death threats from fellow Palestinians who disapproved of him being gay, Reuters said. Israel’s Interior Ministry rarely issues permits for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who want to live with their partners in Israel, regardless of sexual orientation, the report said.
LONDON — Police in London have announced the arrest of a 37-year-old man suspected of hiring male sex workers and not paying for them, Pink News, a British gay news agency, reported. The man, arrested in Bangor, north Wales, has been linked to 17 offenses including counts of obtaining services by deception, two allegations of theft, one of administering a substance with intent and one allegation of rape. He is to return in May as police continue their investigations, the report said. Last summer support workers at SW5, a health clinic for sex workers, alerted police about a man who was hiring male prostitutes and not paying for their services, Pink News said.
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