[OutVoice] Nicaraguan refugee fails his "sexuality" test+Dance hall beats J'ca queers

[TWORadio at aol.com]

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                            THIS WAY OUT
                the international gay & lesbian radio magazine
                    Program #988 - the week of 03/05/07
       (hosted by Greg Gordon and produced with Lucia Chappelle)
        A gay Nicaraguan asylum-seeker fails his sexuality test;
               Dance hall beats assault Jamaican queers;
   A partial pension plan victory resolves Canadian parity problems,
Italy's Prodi swims by sinking same-gender partnerships, activists say
African LGBT people are "Off the Map" for HIV services, a disabled gay
 Iraq vet leads the Congressional charge against DA/DT, and more news

* In "NewsWrap": A partial victory in the Supreme Court for Canada Pension 
Plan benefits for surviving partners of lesbian and gay couples may be the last 
great battle for queer equality in that country... Italian Prime Minister 
Romano Prodi survives a political crisis, but apparently only after jettisoning 
his promised bill for legal recognition of lesbigay couples... Australia's 
historically LGBT-hostile Prime Minister John Howard says he'll consider limited 
legal rights for same-gender couples, while an estimated 350,000 spectators 
cheer the 29th annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade... a new report by 
the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission says that homophobia 
is seriously undermining the battle against HIV/AIDS in Africa... Eric Alva, 
the first member of the U.S. military wounded in Iraq, comes out to help 
reintroduce a bill in Congress to repeal the Pentagon's notorious "Don't Ask, Don't 
Tell" policy, and Christian Chavez, a member of the popular Spanish-language 
singing group RBD, also comes out after photos of his Canadian marriage to 
another man surface on the Internet... plus other GLBT news from around the world 
 (written by GREG GORDON and reported this week by CHARLS HALL and SHERI 
LUNN).

* If there were a reward for being queer, would you be able to prove your 
eligibility?  When a young NICARAGUAN gay man named ALVARO OROZCO applied for 
asylum in CANADA last month, the 21-year-old's request was denied because the 
immigration judge believed he was lying about his sexual orientation.  This Way 
Out correspondent HEATHER KITCHING ["Queer FM" on CITR/Vancouver] spoke to 
Orozco's attorney EL-FAROUK KHAKI about his client's heart-rending story, and the 
renewed efforts to save him from a cruel fate 
[http://orangehabitat.com/alvaro/].

* Two years ago GARETH and KARLENE of J-FLAG, the JAMAICA FORUM FOR LESBIANS, 
ALL-SEXUALS, AND GAYS, were sponsored by Amnesty International and Human 
Rights Watch on a networking and lobbying tour of the U.S.  Gareth and Karlene 
spoke then about the intensely homophobic environment they faced, the brutal 
murder of J-FLAG co-founder Brian Williamson, and their hopes to rally 
international attention for their cause.  This past Valentine's Day, Gareth was one of 
four gay men forced to barricade themselves inside a ST. ANDREW'S PARISH store, 
threatened by a violent mob of over 200 -- an incident that has once again 
focused international attention on the anti-queer crisis in the island nation.  
In a conversation with This Way Out's LUCIA CHAPPELLE during their 2005 visit, 
Gareth and Karlene – who dare not use their last names – discussed a key 
component of Jamaican culture that continues to fuel violence against lesbians and 
gay men today – dance hall music - and how international activism has helped 
them in their struggle [HPM at opm.gov.jm; admin at jflag.org; 
RevRobertGriffin at MCCchurch.net; www.jflag.org].
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