Germany proposes further rights for gay couples


BERLIN : Germany is considering extending more rights to gay couples, three years after first recognizing same-sex partnerships, Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said in a weekend newspaper interview.

"Lesbian and gay couples are a social reality in Germany," Zypries told the daily Berliner Zeitung.

"That is why we also want to grant them, to the extent it complies with the constitution and its unique protections of marriage and family, the same rights as married couples."

Zypries, a member of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, said that the center-left government planned to expand the 2001 legislation that gave homosexual couples the chance to register their partnerships and receive some of the rights and privileges of marriage.


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Jerusalem Mayor Against the LGBT Community: “I tried to stop the parade but failed.”



Mayor Uri Lupolianski was interviewed Friday on “Radio Jerusalem” regarding the Jerusalem Pride Parade. He blasted the LGBT community in the city and the Pride Parade. The mayor said that he is working to cancel the WorldPride celebrations planned for next year in Jerusalem.

About this year’s parade: “This is a horrible parade. It is not only ugly; it's also a provocation. It's not appropriate for the city, and it offends the sensibilities of its residents. Even people distant from Jerusalem must grasp that this is a sacred city for the Jewish people, and the world as a whole. This isn't Paris, and it isn't London. I'm not talking about what a person does privately in his home - a parade in public is something else.”

“Jerusalem is the Holy City, not just for religious people, but in its very essence. There is a difference between everyone dancing his own dance as usual, and having a parade, which is an attempt to jump up and stomp on the toes of the general public. If somebody has some sort of deviant trait, it doesn't mean that he has to raise its banner in public."

Lupolianski said that he could not prevent the parade, even though he tried. “If I had the legal means to stop a parade that harms the city and its residents, I would prevent the parade. I tried to do so, but it was made clear to me that I don't have the authority." Lupolianski compared Pride to a parade of Jews with pork in the middle of an Arab neighborhood. “They came just to arouse anger, to fight and bring about disgusting things,” he added.



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Archbishop's gay comments 'threat to young' - researchers
Researchers are accusing the Anglican Church's new head, Archbishop Whakahuihui Vercoe, of endangering young people for calling for a world without gays.


The head of a Maori sexuality research project at Auckland University, Clive Aspin, said yesterday that struggles in coming to terms with sexuality were a significant factor in a high suicide rate among young men.

Dr Aspin said comments such as those from Archbishop Vercoe, who was quoted as saying homosexuality was not morally right, threatened to have long-term and permanent damage to youngsters grappling with sexuality.

Early research findings from interviews with more than 70 people of all ages showed Maori had always had an open and embracing attitude towards sexual diversity.

Project researcher Leonie Pihama also rejected a claim by Richard Randerson, dean of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell, Auckland, that most Maori would probably find homosexuality culturally very difficult.


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Lesbian couple wants San Diego country club to treat them as spouses
MICHELLE MORGANTE
Associated Press


SAN DIEGO - Late in the day, when most others have cleared the course of rolling hills and serene lakes, B. Birgit Koebke, golfs alone at her country club. If a group happens to be ahead of her, they no longer allow her to play through.

"I just sit there and wait," she says. "They've made it impossible for me to enjoy the club."

Koebke, a 47-year-old television sales executive, is a longtime member of the Bernardo Heights Country Club. She is also lesbian, and her extended drive to win club golfing privileges for her partner of 12 years, Kendall French, has left few members willing to play with her.

Koebke hopes the California Supreme Court will hear her argument that the state's civil rights laws should require the club to give French, her state-registered domestic partner, the same benefits given to spouses.