December 2000 | Out in the Mountains |5 World Briefs continued from page three Peyrefitte was born in Casters, in southwestern France. He attended private religious schools and went on to earn a degree in diplomacy from the elite Institute of Political Science in Paris. A diplomat in the 1930s, Peyrefitte was an administrator during the pro-Nazi Vichy regime. He was dismissed after World War II and reinstated in 1960, but never returned to government service. Gay shooting ROANOKE, Va.—A man who’s charged with shooting up a'gay "bar has been indicted . for- first-degree murder and firearms violations. Ronald Gay, 54, is charged with killing Danny Lee Overstreet, 43, and wounding six others at the Backstreet Cafe on Sept. 22. Gay reportedly was upset because he was harassed over his last name. He told police he was upset that his three sons had changed their last names, and family members have said he was also upset because his ex-wife had once experimented with lesbianism. Family members also said that Gay suffered from post- traumatic stress from his ser- vice in Vietnam and that he had other mental problems. , I "7‘iGlayl-"s rlawyérvhas said he may seek a psychiatric evalua- tion for his client, who remains jailed without bond. The trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 22. Voter fraud DES MOINES, Iowa—A gay columnist has pleaded guilty to fraudulently voting in the Iowa caucuses. Dan Savage, 36, had been charged with two counts of voter fraud for casting a ballot using a Des Moines hotel address. By pleading guilty, Savage was spared a trial on a felony voter fraud'count. He could have faced up to six years in prison. ‘ He was sentenced instead to a year’s probation, 50 hours’ community service and a $750 fine. , Savage wrote an article for the online magazine Salon.com recounting how he had infil- trated Republican Bauer’s campaign to protest the candidate’s anti-"gay plat- form. . Savage said one of his goals had been to reveal the vulnera- bility of the caucus process, used as an early test of a candi- date’s strength. “The process is so open to abuse,” he said. Kissing virus BOSTON—There’s some Gary , new scientific evidence that draws a link between kissing and contracting AIDS. A form of the herpes virus that causes an AIDS-related skin cancer appears to spread through kissing. Herpes virus 8 was discov- ered six years ago and causes a skin cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma. In the United States, the cancer occurs almost exclu- sively in people with AIDS. Some had suspected that the virus was transmitted through sexual intercourse, but the new research from the University of Washington, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, contradicts that idea. Dr. John Pauk and others tested 39 gay men who were infected with the virus but did not have Kaposi’s sarcoma. They found the virus in 30 per- cent of their saliva samples and mouth swabs, compared with I I percent of anal and genital samples. When present, the virus levels were also much higher in saliva than in semen. “The important thing is it suggests that oral-oral contact plays some role in transmis- sion, although more study is needed to confirm tha ,” said Pauk. The study also found that homosexual men who engaged in ‘_‘deep kiss_ing”—.—kissing that involves a lot of contact with saliva—appeared to be at sub- stantially higher risk of catch- ing the virus. German couples BERLIN—German law- makers have taken a first step toward giving legal recognition to gay couples. Lawmakers from the gov- erning Social Democrats and Greens used their majority in the lower house to push through legal changes expected to give gays and lesbians the right to sign “life partnerships” by the middle of next year. The changes would allow gay couples to exchange vows ‘at local government offices and require a court decision for divorce. -Same-sex couples would also receive rights given heterosexual spouses in inheri- tance and health insurance. “The long years of discrimi- nation are over,” declared Greens leader Kerstin Mueller, whose party led the push for the changes. “Lesbians and gays today get their rights.” Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin said the aim was to support lasting relation- ships between people regard- less of their sexual orientation. But conservatives, who have denounced the plan as “Marriage Light,” could scuttle parts of the bill when it reaches the upper house of parliament, and are weighing whether to 1 ask the country’s highest court to rule the plan unlawful. Gay reservist PHOENIX—A state repre- sentative who disclosed he’s gay during legislative debate won’t be permitted to stay in the Army Reserves. Major Gen. John L. Scott, the commanding general of Rep. Steve May’s unit, backed a military panel’s recommen- dation that the lieutenant be honorably discharged for vio- lating the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. In a letter, Scott said he based. his decision on a review of the separation board’s records and an analysis by mil- itary lawyers. He said he also took into consideration the arguments in May’s appeal, which included a letter signed by 108 members of Congress who opposed the dismissal. “My review of that docu- ment found no grounds to dis- approve or alter the findings and recommendations of the board as submitted,” Scott wrote. May, a Republican who was re-elected last week, had been open about his homosexuality since his first campaign for elected office in 1996. , He acknowledged his sexu- ;;y;:_:during_Iegislativeggdebate February, 1999, while argu- ing for extending health bene- fits to same-sex partners. He was an honorably discharged ' civilian at the time but was called back to the Army a few weeks later, during the Kosovo crisis. Anti-gay Caribbean SAN JUAN, Puerto Ric(r— Britain plans to scrap its anti- gay laws in its Caribbean terri- I tories, even though local politi- cians and residents oppose the move. “There is nothing we can do about it,” said Orlando Smith, a legislator in the British Virgin Islands. London has tried for years to cajole the territories- Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos—into changing the anti- gay laws themselves. But facing opposition from resi- dents of the islands, the British government has decided to go ahead and make the change itself, officials say. Roger Cousins, the deputy British governor in Anguilla, said he expects the British Parliament to change the terri- torial laws around the end of the year. And the British Broadcasting Corp. reported this week that London is preparing to make the move before Christmas. It quoted from a letter written by Overseas Territory Minister Patricia Scotland to a member of Parliament. The laws in question make homosexual intercourse illegal, and the punishments vary from territory to territory. The laws are rarely enforced, though the Cayman Islands turned away a cruise liner chartered by gays last year. Britain’s government says the anti- gay laws violate inter- national human rights agree- ments it has signed. It has the power to unilaterally revoke the statutes, but had avoided doing so in an effort to be diplomatic with its territories. Gay midshipman ANNAPOLIS, Md.—A for- mer midshipman will not have to repay his tuition at the U.S. Naval Academy after disclos- ing he’s gay. The decision means that Tommie Watkins, 25, will not have to reimburse the Navy the $86,000 that covered his train- ing and tuition, plus interest. 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