MIAMI (AP) | 02/19/2007 06:03 AM

Former NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway apologized again Sunday for his anti-gay remarks, telling a Miami television station that he ”didn’t mean” to say what he said in a South Florida radio interview last week.

Hardaway, in an interview at his home with CBS affiliate WFOR, acknowledged he made a major mistake by saying ”I hate gay people” when asked how he would react to having a gay teammate.

”I don’t hate gay people,” Hardaway said. ”I’m a goodhearted person. I interact with people all the time. … I respect people. For me to say ‘hate’ was a bad word, and I didn’t mean to use it.”

Hardaway made the anti-gay comments Wednesday, a week after John Amaechi became the first former NBA player to reveal his homosexuality. Hardaway said he didn’t believe gay players should share a locker room with heterosexual players, then added, ”I don’t like gay people, and I don’t like to be around gay people.”

On Sunday, he acknowledged ”that was very bad.”

His remarks quickly drew criticism from both the NBA and several gay and lesbian groups, and Hardaway said the firestorm surprised him.

”It was like, you know, I had killed somebody. … I never knew that this was going to escalate that high,” Hardaway said.

Hardaway was banished from some NBA-sanctioned appearances he was scheduled to make in Las Vegas as part of the All-Star weekend. He also lost at least one of his endorsement deals, and he ordered his name dropped from advertising at a car wash he owns in Miami, saying he made that decision to ensure the safety of his employees.

Hardaway played parts of 13 NBA seasons with Golden State, Miami, Dallas, Denver and Indiana, and played in five All-Star games.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

LONDON, Feb. 17 (UPI)

London police are investigating the death of the founder of the popular Gaydar dating Web site who was found on the ground beneath his eighth-story balcony. Friends of Gary Frisch insist he had no suicidal tendencies and was unlikely to have jumped from the balcony at the upscale Battersea Reach-district apartment building. The businessman was found dead a week ago. Investigators were awaiting toxicology tests as part of the death investigations. Frisch’s acquaintances told The Independent that he had been planning a trip to Australia and had ordered himself a new car. They concur that the death was either an accident. Frisch launched Gaydar with his former partner in 1999 and saw it grow into a thriving enterprise with about 3.5 million users in 23 countries.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International  

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 17 (UPI)
A Utah Supreme Court ruling over visitation rights for a child conceived in a lesbian relationship could affect heterosexual couples. In a split decision Friday in the case of a 5-year-old girl, the court ruled that Keri Lynne Jones of Taylorsville, Utah, does not have the right to seek visitation with the child, because she is not the biological mother and did not adopt the child, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Kathryn Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said the ruling means an unmarried straight partner who has not adopted a child would also be barred from making a case in court, the newspaper said.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (AP) | 02/18/2007 12:58 PM

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY Associated Press Writer

The Anglicans’ spiritual leader, faced with a deepening rift over homosexuality and scripture in the worldwide Anglican Communion, called Sunday for humility among bishops as the conflict threatens to fracture the church.

Leaders of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, meeting in Tanzania for a conference that ends Monday, traveled by boat from the mainland for a Holy Eucharist in Zanzibar, a predominantly Muslim archipelago on the Indian Ocean.

The Anglican Communion is struggling with a rift over ordaining gays and blessing same-sex unions, which reached a crisis in 2003 when the Episcopal Church _ the U.S. wing of the fellowship _ consecrated its first gay bishop. Last year, the U.S. church elected its first female leader, Katharine Jefferts Schori, fueling the divide.

Conspicuously absent from Sunday’s service was Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, who has called the acceptance of gay relationships a ‘’satanic attack” on the church and who now leads a rival network formed by conservative Anglicans in the U.S.

On Friday, Akinola led seven conservative archbishops in refusing to take communion with Jefferts Schori.

”There is one thing that a bishop should say to another bishop,” Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglicans’ spiritual leader, told the Anglican leaders and several hundred worshippers in a packed cathedral Sunday. ”That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great savior.”

One of the leaders involved in Friday’s boycott, the Rwandan archbishop, was seen again refusing to take communion Sunday, but it was unclear what the others did because all archbishops remained at their seats to receive communion.

The archbishops have agreed not to speak publicly until the conference ends.

The creation of Akinola’s group, called the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, has been the most dramatic step by conservatives to encourage a breakaway Episcopal group that would be outside Jefferts Schori’s oversight.

An eventual breakup of the communion would be the most stunning fallout from struggles over gay relationships that also have gripped Roman Catholics, Lutherans and others. The Anglican fellowship was founded in the 16th century by King Henry VIII and spread worldwide by the British Empire.

Many conservative Anglicans believe a liberal trend could cost the fellowship significant numbers of converts _ particularly in Africa, where competition for souls is fierce.

Across Africa, with a population of about 900 million people, Islam and Christianity are both estimated to have about 400 million followers, with animist religions making up most of the remainder. And as animist ranks dwindle, Muslims and Christians are increasingly competing for converts.

On Sunday, the Muslim call to prayer was heard outside during lulls in the Christian hymns.

Supporters of ordaining gays believe the Bible’s social justice teachings take precedence over its view of sexuality. However, many Anglicans outside the United States believe gay relationships are sinful, and they are distancing themselves from the U.S. church.

There is no formal structure for expulsion from the Anglican Communion _ the world’s third-largest Christian body behind the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches.

Williams, who lacks any direct authority to force a compromise, urged Christians to see and understand others’ suffering as Zanzibar commemorates the 100th anniversary of the last slave sold here and the 200th anniversary of the end of slavery in the British empire.

Sunday’s service was held in Christ Church, which was built in 1874 over Zanzibar’s biggest slave market and has an altar that stands over an old whipping post.

”It is so easy,” Williams said, ”to pretend that those dark and unacceptable parts of our history do not exist.”

___

On the Net:

The Episcopal Church: http://www.episcopalchurch.org

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

TEANECK, N.J. (AP) | 02/19/2007 04:51 AM

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press Writer

Hundreds of gay couples received the same legal protections as married couples early Monday when a law making New Jersey the third state in the nation to offer civil unions took effect.

The civil unions _ which offer the legal benefits but not the title of marriage _ were granted automatically to the hundreds of gay New Jersey couples who have been joined in civil unions or married in other states or nations.

At least one couple held a ceremony at the first possible moment. Steven Goldstein and Daniel Gross reaffirmed their Vermont civil union shortly after midnight. They would have had the rights in New Jersey even without holding a midnight ceremony here.

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a prime sponsor of the civil unions law who hosted ceremonies for couples including Goldstein and Gross in her office, called the day ”a big giant step forward.”

A handful of town halls across the state also opened at 12:01 a.m. to accept civil union license applications from couples who had not been so joined previously. They must wait 72 hours before they can hold civil union ceremonies, and several plan to exchange vows early Thursday.

Among those couples were Marty Finkle and Michael Plake of South Orange. A few dozen friends, Finkle’s 17-year-old daughter and several local officials showed up to cheer the couple as they filled out paperwork in their town hall.

The couple also was one of the first in the state to register in a domestic partnership in 2004. Domestic partnerships offered a handful of the benefits and obligations of civil unions.

New Jersey lawmakers hastily created civil unions last December, less than two months after a state Supreme Court decision held that gay couples had a right to the same benefits as married couples.

Gay rights activists in the state say they’ll continue to press for full marriage rights through both political channels and lawsuits. Some social conservative groups, meanwhile, are pledging to block same-sex marriage by pressing for an amendment to the state constitution that prohibits such unions.

Forty-five states have legal or constitutional bans on same-sex marriages. Only Massachusetts allows gay couples to marry, while California offers domestic partnerships.

Goldstein, the chairman of the gay rights group Garden State Equality, and Gross, a vice president at Goldman Sachs, held their ceremony behind a desk in a cramped office instead of a more idyllic or religious spot.

There were several kisses, a prayer reading, friends and journalists, but no music, no dancing and none of the breaking-of-the-glass that is traditional in Jewish weddings.

The couple did that in a Jewish wedding service in Canada in 2002 _ the first same-sex union featured in the wedding pages of The New York Times _ and promised even grander festivities if they can gain the right to marry in New Jersey.

As part of their ceremony, their rabbi, Elliott Tepperman, asked the people gathered: ”Do you vow to continue your support for true marriage equality?”

”This was really all about receiving a piece of paper that had some recognition of our status,” Gross said.

Teaneck registrar Laura Turnbull finished processing their civil union license _ No. 1 _ at 12:09 a.m.

Meanwhile, in Asbury Park _ a community revived largely by a growing gay population and one where two men were married, though it wasn’t recognized in 2004 _ five gay couples completed civil union licenses in the first hour of the day.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s Headlines
Benefits for Gay Couples Start in N.J.
Anglican Leader Urges Humility Over Rift
Visitiation rights denied in lesbian case
Gaydar founder’s death investigated
Hardaway Apologizes Again for Remarks

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s Headlines
Anglican Leaders Discuss Stance on Gays
Gays Get ‘Certificates of Inequality’
Hardaway Banished for Anti-Gay Remarks

LAS VEGAS (AP) | 02/15/2007 09:12 PM

By MELISSA MURPHY AP Sports Writer

The NBA banished Tim Hardaway from All-Star weekend in Las Vegas because of his anti-gay remarks. Hardaway, who played in five All-Star games during the 1990s, was already in Las Vegas to make a series of public appearances this week on behalf of the league. But after saying, ”I hate gay people” during a radio interview, commissioner David Stern stepped in.

”We removed him from representing us because we didn’t think his comments were consistent with having anything to do with us,” Stern told reporters Thursday at the opening of a fan festival at a Las Vegas casino, part of the NBA’s All-Star weekend.

Stern said he had not spoken with Hardaway, who left Las Vegas on Thursday, but he planned to do so.

While Stern said a discussion about openly gay players could be part of future rookie orientation programs, he doesn’t see a need to address the league.

”This is an issue overall that has fascinated America. It’s not an NBA issue,” Stern said, pointing to the ongoing debate over gay marriage at the state and federal levels.

”This is a country that needs to talk about this issue,” he said. ”And, not surprisingly, they use sports as a catalyst to begin the dialogue.”

Hardaway apologized for his comments, which came a week after John Amaechi became the first former NBA player to say he was gay.

”As an African-American, I know all too well the negative thoughts and feelings hatred and bigotry cause,” Hardaway said Thursday in a statement issued by his agent. ”I regret and apologize for the statements that I made that have certainly caused the same kinds of feelings and reactions.

”I especially apologize to my fans, friends and family in Miami and Chicago. I am committed to examining my feelings and will recognize, appreciate and respect the differences among people in our society,” he said. ”I regret any embarrassment I have caused the league on the eve of one of their greatest annual events.”

The NBA brings in many former players to take part in various All-Star events. Hardaway had already represented the league in Las Vegas earlier this week at a Habitat for Humanity event and a fitness promotion. The former U.S. Olympian was also scheduled to be an assistant coach at a wheelchair game Thursday night and later appear at the fan-oriented Jam Session until Stern told him he was no longer welcome.

”His views are not consistent with ours,” Stern said.

Amaechi, who spent five seasons with four teams, came out last week in advance of the release of his autobiography, ”Man in the Middle.” He is the sixth professional male athlete from one of the four major U.S. sports _ basketball, baseball, football, hockey _ to openly discuss his homosexuality.

Though Stern said last week a player’s sexuality wasn’t important, Hardaway disagreed Wednesday on a Miami radio show.

”First of all, I wouldn’t want him on my team,” the former Miami Heat star said. ”And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don’t think that is right. I don’t think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room.”

When show host Dan Le Batard told Hardaway those comments were ”flatly homophobic” and ”bigotry,” the player continued.

”You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people,” he said. ”I’m homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.”

Hardaway also said if he did find out that a teammate was gay, he would ask for the player to be removed from the team.

Hardaway apologized later Wednesday night in a telephone interview with WSVN-TV in Miami, but the furor over his remarks continued Thursday.

”I don’t need Tim’s comments to realize there’s a problem,” Amaechi told The Associated Press in a phone interview Thursday. ”People said that I should just shut up and go away _ now they have to rethink that.”

Two major gay and lesbian groups denounced Hardaway’s remarks.

”Hardaway’s comments are vile, repulsive, and indicative of the climate of ignorance, hostility and prejudice that continues to pervade sports culture,” said Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. ”And by apologizing not for his bigotry, but rather for giving voice to it, he’s reminding us that this ugly display is only the tip of a very large iceberg.”

Said Matt Foreman, president of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force: ”Hardaway is a hero to thousands of young people. And that’s what makes his comments so troubling. Sadly, his words simply put the pervasive homophobia in the NBA on the table.”

Amaechi, who detailed his life in ”Man in the Middle,” hoped his coming out would be a catalyst for intelligent discourse.

”His words pollute the atmosphere,” Amaechi said. ”It creates an atmosphere that allows young gays and lesbians to be harassed in school, creates an atmosphere where in 33 states you can lose your job, and where anti-gay and lesbian issues are used for political gain. It’s an atmosphere that hurts all of us, not just gay people.”

Amaechi taped a spot Thursday for PBS’ gay and lesbian program ”In the Life.” He said the anti-gay sentiment remains despite Hardaway’s apology.

”It’s vitriolic, and may be exactly what he feels,” he said. ”Whether he’s honest or not doesn’t inoculate us from his words. It’s not progress to hear hateful words.”

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

WOODLAND, Calif., Feb. 15 (UPI)

The clerk-recorder in one California county handed out more than 20 certificates of inequality to gay couples on Valentine’s Day. Freddie Oakley’s action in Yolo County was part of an organized protest against California’s failure to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples, the Sacramento Bee reported. Demonstrators from both sides of the issue showed up Wednesday to praise and denounce her. Advocates of gay marriage have made the week of Valentine’s Day Freedom to Marry Week. Similar protests were planned in other California counties and around the country. Critics said Oakley was bringing politics into her office. She’s using an elected office to condone unlawfulness, said Pastor John Evertson of Yolo County Citizens for Better Government, who wants Oakley recalled. If she is allowed to do this, what isn’t she allowed to do? But Shelly Bailes of Davis was thankful to have something to show for her 33-year relationship with her partner — although she said she would prefer a marriage license.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International 

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) | 02/15/2007 09:21 PM
By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY Associated Press Writer

Leaders of the world’s 77 million Anglicans spent Thursday locked in discussion about the church’s American wing, whose leader is under increasing pressure to reconsider her support for ordaining gays and blessing same-sex couples.

Leaders of the global Anglican Communion are holding a closed six-day meeting and the Episcopal Church _ the U.S. branch _ is at the top of the agenda. They were discussing U.S. response to a 2004 report by an Anglican panel that called for a moratorium on consecrating gay bishops and blessing same-sex unions.

”The task before the primates now is to discern what response they want to make to the report and beyond that to the Episcopal Church itself,” said Phillip Aspinall, the Archbishop from Australia at the conference.

Splits between Anglicans have been growing for years, but reached a crisis in 2003 when the Episcopal Church consecrated its first gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The problems only mounted last year with the consecration of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first female leader of the U.S. church.

Supporters of ordaining gays believe the Bible’s social justice teachings take precedence over its view of sexuality. However, most Anglicans outside the United States believe gay relationships are sinful, and they are distancing themselves from the U.S. church.

Africa is home to half the world’s Anglicans and is dominated by conservative leaders.

The Anglican leaders discussed a report by a church committee that has been monitoring the U.S. response to the 2004 Windsor Report, which called for a moratorium on consecrating gay bishops and blessing same-sex unions.

The committee report, which was completed about six months ago but not released publicly, found that the Episcopal Church was taking the Windsor Report ”extremely seriously” and had complied with the report’s request for a moratorium on confirming any more gay bishops.

However, the committee said the wide range of practice in American dioceses on blessing same-sex partnerships made it hard to know ”exactly what has and has not been approved.”

Earlier Thursday, an aide to Jefferts Schori said she will not soften her views even as the issues threaten to break apart the Christian fellowship.

”The spirit of Anglicanism will prevail here and there will be a middle way forward,” Robert Williams told The Associated Press. But Jefferts Schori ”will not waver in her stand for justice and inclusion of all people in the body of Christ.”

Conservatives have formed a rival network in the U.S., under the leadership of Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who has called the acceptance of gay relationships a ‘’satanic attack” on the church.

Other conservatives have called for a parallel church for within the United States _ an idea that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the communion, called contrary to Episcopal teachings.

”The canons and the written laws of the Episcopal church do not provide for any sort of parallel structure,” he said Thursday.

Williams lacks any direct authority to force a compromise.

The Anglican Communion is the world’s third-largest Christian body behind the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches. The Anglican fellowship was founded in the 16th century by King Henry VIII and spread worldwide by the British Empire.

An eventual breakup of the communion would be the most stunning fallout from struggles over gay relationships that also have gripped Roman Catholics, Lutherans and others.

___

On the Net:

The Episcopal Church: http://www.episcopalchurch.org

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

MIAMI (AP) | 02/15/2007 05:57 AM
Retired Miami Heat guard Tim Hardaway said Wednesday that he hates gay people, but later said he regretted the remarks.

”You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people,” he said while a guest on Sports Talk 790 The Ticket. ”I’m homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.”

The discussion was sparked by last week’s announcement that retired NBA center John Amaechi is gay.

The host asked Hardaway how he would interact with a gay teammate.

”First of all, I wouldn’t want him on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don’t think that is right. I don’t think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room.”

If he did find out that a teammate was gay, Hardaway said he would ask for the player to be removed from the team.

”Something has to give,” Hardaway said. ”If you have 12 other ballplayers in your locker room that’s upset and can’t concentrate and always worried about him in the locker room or on the court or whatever, it’s going to be hard for your teammates to win and accept him as a teammate.”

Amaechi also detailed his life, in his autobiography ”Man in the Middle,” which was released Wednesday. He hoped his coming out would be a catalyst for intelligent discourse.

”I’m actually tempted to laugh,” Amaechi told The Miami Herald. ”Finally, someone who is honest. It is ridiculous, absurd, petty, bigoted and shows a lack of empathy that is gargantuan and unfathomable. But it is honest. And it illustrates the problem better than any of the fuzzy language other people have used so far.”

Hardaway later apologized for the remarks during a telephone interview with Fox affiliate WSVN in Miami.

”Yes, I regret it. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said I hate gay people or anything like that,” he said. ”That was my mistake.”

Hardaway has reportedly been removed from further league-related appearances.

”It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours,” NBA commissioner David Stern said in a statement to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) | 02/15/2007 05:54 AM

Leaders of the world’s 77 million Anglicans on Thursday were to discuss the liberal stance on gays taken by the church’s American wing, as concerns about gay priests and same-sex unions threaten to break apart the Christian denomination.

The primates, or leaders, of most of the global Anglican Communion’s 38 provinces are holding a closed meeting this week, and the U.S. position on gays is at the top of the agenda.

Splits between Anglicans have been growing for years, but became a crisis in 2003 when the Episcopal Church _ the U.S. wing of the Anglican Communion _ consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

The problems mounted last year with the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori, who supports ordaining gays and is the first female leader of the U.S. church.

Anglican officials said Thursday’s meeting would be spent reviewing the U.S. response to the 2004 Windsor Report by an Anglican panel, which called for a moratorium on consecrating gay bishops and blessing same-sex unions. The church has apologized for not consulting more with other Anglicans on those issues, but has not apologized for consecrating Robinson.

Conservative Anglicans have formed a rival network in the U.S., under the leadership of Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who has called the acceptance of gay relationships a ‘’satanic attack” on the church. Other conservatives have called for a parallel church within the United States.

The conference was sure to be highly charged over the rift.

”The basic issue here is what to do about those who decided they don’t want to stay in the main Anglican body,” Canon Jim Rosenthal, a spokesman for the Anglican Communion, said Wednesday.

Akinola gave a letter this week to the spiritual leader of the communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, which is believed to demand some concessions to head off a schism. Africa is home to half the world’s Anglicans and is dominated by conservative leaders.

Rosenthal confirmed the letter but said it was private.

Supporters of ordaining gays believe the Bible’s social justice teachings take precedence over its view of sexuality. However, most Anglicans outside the United States believe gay relationships are sinful, and they are distancing themselves from the U.S. church.

Williams has struggled to hold off one of the biggest meltdowns in Christianity in centuries, but he lacks any direct authority to force a compromise. The Anglican Communion is the world’s third-largest family of Christian churches behind Roman Catholic and Orthodox.

Bishop Martyn Minns of Virginia _ one of the most prominent U.S. clerics to leave the American church for Akinola’s group _ said Wednesday that it would be best for the U.S. church to ”back off and reconsider” its stance on gays. But, he said, that was highly unlikely.

”It’s been tragic, the amount of time and energy that has been spent on this issue that was initiated by the American church,” he said.

The creation of Akinola’s group, called the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, has been the most dramatic step by conservatives to encourage a breakaway Episcopal group that would be outside Jefferts Schori’s oversight.

An eventual breakup of the communion would be the most stunning fallout from struggles over gay relationships that also have gripped Roman Catholics, Lutherans and others. The Anglican fellowship was founded in the 16th century by King Henry VIII and spread worldwide by the British Empire.

Several delegates at the six-day conference, which brings together the archbishops who head the 38 provinces in the Anglican Communion, have threatened to refuse to sit with Jefferts Schori over the issue of gays.

But Rosenthal said Wednesday she is welcome and was invited by the archbishop of Canterbury.

___

On the Net:

The Episcopal Church: http://www.episcopalchurch.org

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

MOSCOW (AP) | 02/14/2007 03:41 PM

A top Moscow official repeated Wednesday that the city will not allow a gay rights parade, echoing the mayor’s vocal criticism and saying that homosexuality is bad for your health, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

”There is the hard line of the city authorities and the position of our main faith, the Russian Orthodox Church … of the inadmissibility of such an event in Moscow,” RIA-Novosti quoted the head of the city’s international relations department, Georgy Muradov, as saying.

Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and city authorities barred gay rights activists from staging a parade last year, citing the threat of violence, but activists ignored the ban and were attacked by right-wing protesters and detained by police. Last month, Luzhkov vowed never to allow a gay rights parade, calling such events ‘’satanic.”

Russian gay activists pledged to hold a march in May.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone said last month that he strongly opposed a ban, and RIA-Novosti quoted Muradov as saying Luzhkov expects to face criticism over the issue at a Feb. 27-28 meeting with the mayors of London, Paris and Berlin.

In an attack on what he said was criticism from the Swedish ambassador, Muradov equated homosexuality with alcoholism and drew a comparison meant to suggest the ban was aimed to protect the heath and well-being of society.

”As you know, the sale of alcohol is restricted in many Scandinavian countries. Why not pose the question of removing the limits on alcohol in these countries, of holding a ‘parade of alcoholics’ in Sweden? They would answer: no, it’s bad for one’s health, it affects society’s morals,” RIA-Novosti quoted him as saying.

Muradov said he had ”medical proof” that ”this form of relations” is harmful to health, the agency reported.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s Headlines
Moscow Official Nixes Gay Rights Parade
Anglican Leaders to Discuss Gays
Ex-Heat Guard Says He Hates ‘Gay People’

LONDON, Feb. 13 (UPI)

Gary Frisch, who founded the gay dating site Gaydar with his then-partner, has died in a fall from his eighth-floor flat in London. Police were trying to determine if the cause was suicide or accident, The Independent reported. Frisch, 38, was found by his neighbors on Saturday. He lived in a penthouse in Wandsworth just south of the Thames River. Frisch and Henry Badenhorst, his partner, moved from South Africa to London in 1997 and founded Gaydar two years later. They remained business partners after ending their personal relationship last year, with Frisch serving as chairman and Badenhorst managing director of QSoft Consulting, Gaydar’s parent company. A spokeswoman for Qsoft said that Frisch was at work on Friday and seemed normal to his colleagues. People who knew Frisch described him as shy. He and Badenhorst were reluctant to give interviews and for several years after founding Gaydar asked to be identified only by their first names.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International