By Christopher Cappiello

Fallout from Jamaica AIDS Activist Murder

The brutal Nov. 30 murder of Steve Harvey, a well-known advocate for Jamaicans living with HIV/AIDS, has set off an examination of the Caribbean island nation's laws and attitudes toward sexual minorities from both around the world and within the country.

On Dec. 8 the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released an unusually pointed statement condemning the killing and criticizing Jamaica's track record on handling homophobic attacks. "Legal and policy reforms play an important role in ensuring that the human rights of all are respected and helping to change broader social values," the statement read. UNAIDS called on the Jamaican government to "address homophobia and other cause of stigma and discrimination which are fueling the spread of AIDS not only in Jamaica but across the Caribbean."

The New York Times ran an editorial Dec. 13 condemning Jamaica's track record on protecting gays and lesbians. "The country will never defeat its AIDS epidemic -- and will continue to attract criticism from human rights organizations -- unless it takes strong steps to combat homophobia, both among the police and in society as a whole," the editorial read. "A good first step would be to repeal the archaic laws that implicitly sanction anti-gay violence -- and drive the AIDS epidemic -- by making sexual activities between consenting adults of the same sex illegal." Gay sex is illegal in Jamaica and punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

On Dec. 10 Jamaican authorities announced that a civilian monitor would be appointed to oversee the police investigation into Harvey's murder as well as other crimes with gay victims. "I have received several calls from human rights groups internationally and I have expressed to them that I would keep them up-to-date and informed as to where the investigations are heading," Deputy Kingston Police Commissioner Mark Shields told the Kingston Observer.

The Observer ran a dramatic editorial the same day confronting the country's poor record on LGBT hate crimes, and on crime in general. "On the face of it, the police have shown no greater competence in solving murders, or for that matter any other crime, based on the gender and/or sexual preference of the victim," the Observer said. Most dramatically, the editorial calls for the review of anti-gay laws. "The state has no place -- except in very limited and very extreme circumstances, such as in the protection of minors -- in a person's bedroom."

Britain Says Six Percent of Population is Gay

The British government announced Dec. 12 that long-term studies indicate that approximately six percent of the population is gay or lesbian, the Telegraph reported. The conclusion is part of a government effort to estimate the financial implications of its new Civil Partnership Act, which extends the property and inheritance rights of marriage to registered same-sex couples. It is the first time the government has made such an estimate.

"This is a significant moment," Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, a British gay rights group, told the Telegraph. "For the first time the government has robustly acknowledged the existence of a substantial number of gay people in Britain. This is welcome and long overdue."

The Department of Trade and Industry based the estimate on a number of studies from the past 15 years. "It is based on a number of studies by different interest groups," a spokesperson told the Telegraph, "but fundamentally there is very little reliable information about the size of the lesbian, gay and bisexual group."

First UK Civil Ceremonies Held

A lesbian couple in Belfast became the first same-sex couple to take advantage of the United Kingdom's Civil Partnerships Act with a 20-minute ceremony at Belfast City Hall on Dec. 19. "For us this is about making a choice," Grainne Close, a 32-year-old Northern Ireland social worker, told the Associated Press after taking vows with her partner, American playwright Shannon Sickels, 27, in a ceremony that included Dolly Parton's "Touch Your Woman." Because of shorter statutory waiting periods, the law took effect in Northern Ireland one day before Scotland and two days before England and Wales. The new law provides same-sex couples with the same property and inheritance rights as married heterosexual couples, but does not use the word "marriage."

More than 600 couples were ready to take the plunge on Dec. 21 in England, with pop music legend Elton John and his partner David Furnish attracting the most media attention for their surprisingly sedate ceremony in Windsor. Among those congratulating the high profile couple was Prime Minister Tony Blair. "I wish him and David well, and all the other people exercising their rights under the civil partnerships law," Blair said in his monthly news conference, according to Reuters. "I think it is a modern, progressive step forward for the country and I am proud we did it."

Police Shut Down Beijing's First Gay Culture Fest

On Friday, Dec. 16, Beijing police officers shut down the city's first gay and lesbian cultural festival just before it was set to begin, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Organizers expected 400 people to attend the three-day festival of films, plays, exhibitions and seminars, according to London's The Guardian. The paper also reported that a police spokesperson claimed the group had failed to get permits for the event and that anti-gay bias had nothing to do with the police action.

"China continues to talk about political reform, but closing down a cultural event is a crude reminder of the limits on openness," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. "This police raid was an effort to drive China's gay and lesbian communities underground and to silence open discussions about sexuality throughout the country."

In a June 2005 report, "Restrictions on AIDS Activists in China," Human Rights Watch documented widespread harassment of organizations advocating for people with HIV/AIDS as well as efforts by the Chinese government to shut down Web sites providing information on HIV/AIDS prevention.