By Christopher Cappiello

First gay MP marries in Canada

Scott Brison, a Liberal Party member of Canada’s Parliament, became the first MP to take advantage of the country’s 2005 same-sex marriage law when he married longtime partner Maxime St. Pierre on Aug. 18, the Canadian Press reports.

The couple got engaged in 2005, months after Parliament endured a divisive debate that saw more than 20 Liberal MPs side with the Conservative opposition. Following the emotional debate, Brison said that Prime Minister Paul Martin joked, “Well, after all I’ve been through on this, Brison, you’d better get married.”

Brison, 40, came out in 2002 but has largely maintained his privacy on personal matters. In 2004 he became Canada’s first out cabinet minister.

“I’m looking forward to the day when the idea of a gay or lesbian politician getting married is not a story after all,” he said after the 2005 same-sex marriage vote.

In his home district of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, residents seem unfazed by the nuptials, according to CP.

“Everybody knows Scott, so it's just another wedding, I guess,” said Paul, an employee at a local autobody shop who only gave his first name to the news agency. “People are talking, but I don't think it bothers anybody. It's not the 1800s anymore.”

Italian politician calls for gay ‘ethnic cleansing’

The deputy mayor of the northern Italian city of Treviso set off a firestorm of protest when he called for an “ethnic cleansing” of gay men.

“The faggots must go to other [cities] where they are welcome,” 78-year-old Giancarlo Gentilini said, according to Reuters. “I will immediately give orders to my forces so that they can carry out an ethnic cleansing of faggots.”

Gentilini, a member of the right-wing Northern League, made the comments in response to reports that gay men were using a public parking lot for sexual activity. His remarks have been widely circulated on YouTube.com.

“Nobody, especially somebody with public responsibility, is authorized to use such language,” said Rosy Bindi, a family minister in the Italian government, to the ANSA news agency. “The term ‘ethnic cleansing’ evokes tragic chapters of history which have brought death and suffering to millions of people.”

On Aug. 11, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Treviso City Hall to call for the veteran politician’s resignation. Gentilini has served two terms as mayor of the city near Venice.

“Today’s protest, which is joined by hundreds of people, will not be the last,” said Aurelio Mancuso, head of Arcigay, the Italian LGBT rights group. “It will be the first in a long series.”

Reuters reports that local prosecutors are examining Gentilini’s remarks to determine if an investigation for hate speech is warranted.

Anti-gay Polish government splinters

Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brothers who lead Poland’s conservative government (as president and prime minister, respectively) fired four cabinet ministers on Aug. 13, leaving their frail coalition without a majority and paving the way for elections this fall, two years earlier than planned.

Among the four dismissed officials was Education Minister Roman Giertych, the architect of proposed legislation that would make it a crime to “promote homosexual propaganda” in schools. Without a working majority in the fractured Parliament, it is unlikely the legislation will come up for a vote before the next elections.

The Polish government has faced international criticism for not meeting European Union standards for LGBT rights. In June 2007, Thomas Hammarberg, commissioner of the Council of Europe Human Rights, gave the Kaczynskis’ Law and Justice Party government a failing grade on human rights.

Since the Polish people overthrew communism almost 20 years ago, no government has won re-election. In spite of political turmoil, however, the country continues to enjoy economic growth and low unemployment.

South African AIDS activist fired from health ministry

AIDS activists and public health experts expressed dismay at the recent firing of South Africa’s deputy health minister, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, one of the country’s most prominent women politicians and an outspoken proponent of aggressive government programs to combat HIV/AIDS.

A statement from President Thabo Mbeki gave no reason for the firing, but it is widely believed Madlala-Routledge was dismissed for attending a conference in Spain without the president’s permission, The Associated Press reports.

“This is a dreadful error of judgment that will harm public health care and especially the response to the HIV epidemic,” read a statement from South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign. “It indicates that the president still remains opposed to the science of HIV and to appropriately responding to the epidemic.”

Madlala-Routledge openly disagreed with Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang about the country’s AIDS policy. During her boss’ recent nine-month absence for a liver transplant, Madlala-Routledge reached out to alienated activists and designed a five-year plan that aimed to treat 80 percent of South Africans with AIDS by 2011.

An Aug. 14 New York Times editorial said, “Ms. Madlala-Routledge provided a brief interlude of sanity and seriousness after the health minister—who recommended beetroot and garlic therapy—fell ill last year.”

Activists are frustrated that South Africa is one of the few African countries that has the resources—financial and medical—to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. “What it lacks,” the Times said, “is a president who cares enough about his people’s suffering to provide serious leadership.”