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- From: Ron Buckmire <buckmr%rpi.edu@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Subject: Nicaragua Sodomy Law SIGNED!
- Message-ID: <1992Aug12.185233.2982@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
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- Organization: ?
- Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 18:52:33 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 69
-
- Hadn't seen much about this recently...
-
- /* Written 11:34 pm Aug 6, 1992 by jbinder in cdp:queerplanet */
- /* ---------- "Chamorro signs Sodomy Law" ---------- */
-
-
- Urgent Press Release
-
- August 7, 1992
-
- Contact: Enrique Asis, Latin American Coordinator,
- International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
- (415) 255-8680
-
- Nicaraguan President Signs Sodomy Law
-
- Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro has signed into law a new
- penal code that makes sodomy a crime punishable by up to four
- years in prison. The bill, which defines sodomy broadly as "the
- cohabitation between individuals of the same sex," was passed by
- the National Assembly on June 11 and sent to Chamorro, who signed
- the legislation on July 8 without informing either the press or
- the opposition Sandinista block. Because the Assembly was in
- recess until the first week of August, and because of what
- activists describe as "chaos" and "anarchy" in the country, word
- of the signing did not reach gay leaders until August 6.
-
- "While other countries are making progress on human rights issues,
- the Nicaraguan government is moving backwards by making homosexual
- relations illegal," said Enrique Asis, Latin American Coordinator
- of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
- "States of the former Soviet Union have begun to repeal sodomy
- laws, while Nicaragua is enacting Latin AmericaUs most repressive
- anti-sodomy legislation." Nicaraguan gay leaders were stunned to
- learn that the bill had been signed into law without public
- notice, blaming the government for trying to circumvent protest.
- "They manipulated everything in a sleazy, underhanded way," said
- Hazel Fonseca of Colectivo Nosotras, the country's main lesbian
- group.
-
- According the Nicaraguan law, the new code cannot be enforced
- until it has been published, an event that has not yet occurred.
- Following publication, opponents of the law have sixty days to
- challenge its constitutionality before the Supreme Court. The
- Nicaraguan Center for Constitutional Rights plans to make such a
- challenge, based on the guarantee of the right to privacy that is
- stated in Article 11 of the country's constitution.
-
- In addition, gay and lesbian activists plan to flood the
- Nicaraguan courts with separate challenges to the new law. They
- will petition the courts to exempt them, as individuals and as
- groups, from the anti-sodomy provisions, arguing that the law
- violates not only their right to privacy, but also their human
- rights guaranteed under international treaty.
-
- Lawyers at the Center for Constitutional Rights believe that the
- justices of the Nicaraguan Supreme Court may vote to overturn the
- new law, especially if international pressure is brought to bear
- upon them.
-
- For more information, contact Enrique Asis, Latin American
- Coordinator, IGLHRC, at (415) 255-8680 or (415) 281-0763, or
- contact Milu Vargas at The Center for Constitutional Rights in
- Managua at 505-2-26301.
- ---
- RON BUCKMIRE
- Association for the Prevention of the Sale of Clothing to Richard Grieco
- 54 Colvin Circle, Troy, NY 12180
- uunet!rpi.edu!buckmr||buckmr@rpitsmts.bitnet||buckmr@rpi.edu||+1 518 276 8919
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