WHITEHORSE,
Yukon
Territory
(AP)
—
The
Yukon
Territory’s
government
won’t
challenge
a
court
ruling
allowing
gay
couples
to
marry.
“I
see
no
reason
why
there
should
be
any
appeal,”
Yukon
Premier
Dennis
Fentie
said
last
week.
“Licenses
will
be
issued.”
Justice
Peter
McIntyre
on
July
14
changed
the
territory’s
common
law
definition
of
marriage
to
mean
the
voluntary
union
for
life
of
two
people
to
the
exclusion
of
all
others.
The
Yukon
ruling
came
after
Stephen
Dunbar
and
Rob
Edge
filed
a
petition
for
being
refused
a
wedding
license
earlier
this
year.
In
the
three
provinces
where
gay
marriage
is
permitted
—
British
Columbia,
Ontario
and
Quebec
—
Canada’s
federal
government
has
decided
not
to
appeal
the
decisions.
Fentie
said
Ottawa
should
address
the
gay
marriage
issue.
“It’s
high
time
the
federal
government
dealt
with
the
definition
of
marriage,”
Fentie
said.
NASSAU,
Bahamas
(AP)
—
Passengers
on
a
gay
cruise
were
greeted
by
more
than
100
protesters
as
they
stepped
off
their
chartered
ship
July
16
in
the
Bahamas.
The
protesters,
led
by
Christian
pastors,
gathered
in
a
square
in
front
of
the
cruise
terminal
and
chanted,
“Gay
ways
are
not
God’s
ways!”
Cruise
organizers
said
former
talk
show
host
Rosie
O’Donnell,
who
promoted
the
voyage,
was
aboard
the
Norwegian
Cruise
Line
ship
Norwegian
Dawn.
But
she
wasn’t
seen
among
those
who
disembarked.
Gregg
Kominsky,
a
founder
of
cruise
organizer
R
Family
Vacations,
said
the
passengers
—
1,150
adults
and
450
children
—
had
come
to
have
fun
and
that
on
previous
trips
he
found
most
Bahamians
friendly
and
welcoming.
“We
are
not
really
here
to
make
a
statement,”
he
said.
As
the
first
passengers
stepped
out,
shouting
protesters
pressed
to
within
a
few
feet
of
them.
Police
stepped
in
to
move
demonstrators
back.
There
were
no
arrests.
MELBOURNE,
Australia
—
Two
Melbourne
artists
who
label
Olympic
star
Ian
Thorpe
as
gay
in
an
exhibit
at
Federation
Square
are
under
investigation,
the
Herald
Sun
reported.
Thorpe
has
threatened
to
sue
the
creators
of
a
collage
that
shows
him
with
his
fist
raised
in
victory
and
is
titled
“Not
Only
But
Also,”
the
newspaper
reported.
The
piece
is
on
display
in
the
Ian
Potter
Centre’s
Australian
Culture
Now
exhibition,
the
Sun
reported,
and
an
arrow
points
to
Thorpe’s
head
from
the
word
“gay”
in
capital
letters.
Artists
Natalie
Starr
and
Alexandra
Sanderson
produce
work
that
also
mocks
other
celebrities,
according
to
the
Sun.
Brian
Handley
of
the
Australian
Families
Association
demanded
that
the
collage
be
removed,
the
newspaper
reported.
“It
borders
on
criminality
to
attack
somebody
that
way,”
Handley
told
the
Sun.
The
artists
said
they
are
not
portraying
Thorpe
as
gay
but
are
using
the
art
to
comment
on
“the
speculation
that
surrounds
him
and
the
trashy
interest
in
it,”
Starr
told
the
Sun.
RIO
DE
JANEIRO
—
A
measure
in
the
state
legislature
that
would
subsidize
gay
people
who
“go
straight”
will
be
fought
by
gay
Brazilians
who
call
the
bill
insulting,
the
SAPA
news
outlet
reported
last
week.
“The
bill
to
give
aid
to
homosexuals
who
want
to
become
heterosexual
is
a
political
insult,
which
jeopardizes
the
prestige
of
the
Legislative
Assembly,”
Claudio
Nascimento,
the
leader
of
the
Rainbow
Group
told
SAPA.
“We
expect
it
to
fail.”
Christian
Democrat
deputy
Edino
Fonseca
drafted
the
measure
for
an
“aid
program
for
persons
who
voluntarily
opt
to
change
their
sexual
orientation,”
the
news
outlet
reported.
Two
committees
already
have
approved
the
bill,
SAPA
reported.
“We
do
not
think
homosexuality
is
a
disease,
but
an
acquired
habit
that
can
be
broken,”
Fonseca
said.
Gay
activists
said
they
expect
the
measure
to
fail
in
the
committees
on
discrimination
and
on
human
rights
grounds,
the
news
agency
reported.
BRATISLAVA,
Slovak
Republic
—
Interior
Minister
Vladimir
Palko,
in
meeting
with
Swedish
Ambassador
to
Slovakia
Cecilia
Julin,
protested
a
Swedish
court’s
recent
decision
to
imprison
a
Protestant
minister
for
his
comments
about
gays,
the
Slovak
Spectator
reported
last
week.
“I
object
to
such
a
verdict,”
Palko
told
the
press.
Palko
is
a
deputy
leader
of
the
Christian
Democratic
Movement,
which
is
a
conservative
wing
of
Slovakia’s
four-party
ruling
coalition.
“I
explained
to
Ms.
Julin
that
my
position
was
like
that
of
Martin
Luther
when
he
said:
‘Here
I
stand,
I
can
do
no
other,’”
Palko
told
reporters
after
the
meeting.
Pastor
Ake
Green
of
the
Pentecostal
Church
in
Sweden
was
convicted
of
inciting
hatred
against
people
based
on
their
sexual
orientation
and
sentenced
to
one
month
in
prison,
the
Slovak
Spectator
reported.
He
said
that
gays
and
lesbians
are
abnormal
and
a
cancerous
tumor
in
the
body
of
society,
according
to
the
newspaper.
EDINBURGH,
Scotland
—
A
drunk
woman
claimed
a
man
was
strangled,
chopped
up
and
buried
in
a
garden
because
he
was
gay,
according
to
court
testimony
from
a
hotel
manager,
the
Scotsman
newspaper
reported
last
week.
The
woman,
Tracy
Scott,
31,
is
the
ex-girlfriend
...
