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NEWS & LETTERS, December 2004Queer Notesby Suzanne Rose SIERRA LEONE—On Sept. 28 Fanny Ann Eddy, founder of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association, was found murdered in the organization's office. Her neck was broken; she was stabbed and raped repeatedly. Fanny was part of the delegation that went to the United Nations Human Rights Commission with Human Rights Watch last spring in Geneva. Their purpose was to advocate for the failed Resolution on Sexual Orientation and Human Rights. She leaves behind a nine-year-old son. INDIANAPOLIS—The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that lesbian partners who agree to conceive a child through artificial insemination are both the legal parents of any child born to them. "No legitimate reason exists to provide the children born to lesbian parents through the use of reproductive technology with less security and protection than that given to children born to heterosexual parents through artificial insemination," Judge Ezra H. Friedlander wrote the ruling. NEW YORK—Toys R Us has been ordered by New York's top court to pay the legal fees incurred by three transsexuals who sued the company over harassment and discrimination claims. The three women charged they were verbally harassed and threatened with baseball bats during two separate shopping visits to a Brooklyn store in December of 2000. The women sought $300,000 in damages. A jury agreed they were harassed but awarded them only $1 each in June, 2002. The outcome was considered a "moral victory." Later in 2002 a trial judge awarded their lawyers $193,551, which the company appealed. WORLDWIDE—The number of people infected with the AIDS virus worldwide has reached an all-time high of almost 40 million, and the infection rate is also the highest ever, according to an annual report released by the United Nations and the World Health Organization. AIDS-related deaths will reach an estimated 3.1 million this year, the highest death toll in the 23-year history of the disease. The most dramatic increases were occurring in Asia and Eastern Europe, with infection rates highest among women. |
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