By Christopher Cappiello

On Aug. 22, Pat Robertson, the conservative Christian broadcaster who once suggested hurricanes would devastate Orlando, Fla., if Disney World hosted "gay days," called on the United States to assassinate Hugo Chavez, the left-wing Venezuelan president. Robertson's remarks, made during his 700 Club television program, set off a chain reaction of outrage among his critics and awkwardness for his allies before issuing an apology two days later.

Chavez has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration, particularly on its Iraq policy, and is a close ally of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. He blames the United States for a failed 2002 coup attempt against him.

On the air, Robertson said of Chavez, "He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent. You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop ... And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

The same day that he issued an apology, Robertson claimed "I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.' And 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP [Associated Press], but that happens all the time." Video of the original program clearly contradicts his claims.

Venezuela, the fifth largest oil exporter in the world, provides the United States with 10 percent of its oil imports. Chavez has repeatedly threatened that any action taken against him would result in the end of Venezuelan oil sales to America. At a time of record gas prices and the recent devastation of domestic oil facilities by Hurricane Katrina, the ramifications of Robertson's remarks could be costly for Americans.

According to The New York Times, Rev. Jesse Jackson called on the Federal Communications Commission to investigate, referring to Janet Jackson's Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction by saying, "This is even more threatening to hemispheric stability than the flash of a breast on television during a ballgame."

Almost a week after Robertson's initial remarks, Chavez announced on Aug. 28 that his government would seek legal action against the 75-year-old former head of the Christian Coalition, including possible extradition. According to the BBC, Chavez called Robertson "crazy" and "a public menace."

LGBT Aid Group Focuses on Niger

The Rainbow World Fund, the only world relief agency raising money primarily from the LGBT community, has announced that it is focusing its international efforts on Niger, the West African nation ravaged by drought and pestilence in recent years. RWF is partnering with Africare, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit agency that has been providing aid to African nations for 35 years. "This unique partnership is bringing the LGBT and African-American communities together in a powerful way to help heal the world," said Jeff Cotter, Rainbow World Fund founder, in a press release.

The United Nations ranks Niger as the second poorest country in the world, with many of its citizens living on less than $100 a year. In 2004 the country suffered from the third year of a drought and a devastatingly poor agriculture season. A subsequent locust invasion complicated relief efforts, and the country's cattle stock, one of its primary forms of wealth, has been severely depleted. Experts fear a worsening situation as many farmers have been forced to eat next year's seed stock for survival this year. RWF reports, "3.6 million people in Niger are at risk of starvation, 800,000 of them children."

Established in 2000, RWF has provided money for a range of international relief efforts. The agency raised more than $250,000 for tsunami relief earlier this year, and has just launched a campaign to provide aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina, partnering with America's Second Harvest, a national network of food banks. While victims don't usually care where the relief comes from, Cotter explained in an interview with The Advocate earlier this year why it is important for gay dollars to be identified in humanitarian aid: "This way we're able to change how the world sees LGBT people. Much of the world still sees gay people as caring only about sex, drugs, and materialism. And there's a lot more to us than that. RWF is a way to put our highest values -- love, compassion, and kindness -- into action. We're able to provide a visible presence and a structure to deliver LGBT charitable dollars for humanitarian relief.

Dutch Gay Marriage Must Be Recognized in Aruba

On Aug. 23 Aruba's Superior Court agreed with an earlier lower court ruling that the Caribbean island, a former Dutch colony that remains part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, must recognize and register the marriage of Charlene and Esther Oduber-Lamers, a lesbian couple who married in Holland in 2001. The government of Aruba has three months to appeal the ruling to Holland's Supreme Court.

The couple attempted to register their marriage in Aruba last year but was met with resistance and public outrage. According to Associated Press reports, the women endured slashed tires, protests outside Parliament, and even having rocks thrown at them in the street. "I couldn't sleep anymore," Charlene Oduber-Lamers, a 33-year-old native of Aruba, told the AP. "I felt like maybe they wanted to kill us." While the couple moved to the Netherlands in November 2004 to escape the persecution, they were determined to continue their legal battle.

Except for a brief occupation by Britain in the early 19th century, Aruba was a Dutch colony from 1636-1986 as a member of the Dutch Antilles. Since 1986 it has operated as an autonomous republic, but has remained part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The kingdom's law dictates that legal documents from one territory, including marriage certificates, must be recognized in the other parts of the kingdom. The Netherlands legalized same-sex marriages in 2001.

"We give neither legal nor moral recognition to same-sex marriages," Ruben Trapenberg, a spokesman for the Aruban government, told the AP, "If we accept gay marriage, would we have to accept Holland's marijuana bars and euthanasia?" Although Dutch is the official language of Aruba, the tiny island just off the northern coast of Venezuela shares the culture and values of its Latin American neighbors much more than that of the progressive Netherlands. Most Arubans speak Papiamento, a Portuguese/Spanish hybrid, rather than Dutch, and the vast majority of the island's 100,000 people are Catholic. Any kind of public gay life is virtually nonexistent there.

The rift within the kingdom could be a harbinger of legal battles in the United States, as same-sex couples that have married in Massachusetts move to other states and seek to have their legal unions recognized, challenging the Full Faith and Credit clause in the U.S. Constitution.

Hong Kong Judge Nixes Gay Sex Laws

On Aug. 24 a Hong Kong judge ruled that the former British colony's ban on sex between men under 21 is unconstitutional and must be changed. The ruling came in response to a case brought by 20-year-old William Roy Leung. The age of consent for heterosexual sex in Hong Kong is 16. According to a law passed in 1990, during British occupation, gay sex between men over 21 is legal.

The laws "discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation," said High Court Judge Michael Hartmann, according to the Associated Press. "[They] are demeaning of gay men who are, through the legislation, stereotyped as deviant." Hartmann's decision also says that the current laws create a "grave and arbitrary interference with the right of gay men to self-autonomy in the most intimate aspects of their private lives."

The existing laws allow for life imprisonment for men under 21 who engage in "gross indecency," or sexual intimacy. "The difference is that I can finally have a loving relationship without being scared of being thrown into jail for life imprisonment," Leung told the AP. "That would be what we've been asking for." According the BBC, the government has agreed to "study" the decision, with no commitment to changing the law.

Hong Kong was a British Colony for 100 years before being returned to China in 1997. It is considered an "administrative region" of China, but still operates with a degree of autonomy, a legal system based on English Common Law, and one of Asia's busiest gay nightlife scenes.