Fridae

28th Sydney Mardi Gras attracts thousands
Tens of thousands of spectators crammed Sydney's Oxford Street to watch the 28th annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade on Saturday night.

The iconic lesbian motorcycle club, Dykes on Bikes - a yearly feature for over 15 years - roared through the streets leading the festival's 130 floats. The mood gradually turned sombre as more than 80 people carried the flags of countries which outlaw and severely punish homosexuality, such as Malaysia, Singapore and India.

Australia Prime Minister John Howard, well known for his rejection of same-sex marriages, has been represented annually. Like last year, one entry staged a mock marriage between Howard and US President George W Bush who is also known for his stance against same-sex marriages while another featured an effigy of Howard's head on the body of a massive serpent, while dozens of dancers wearing fig leaves and carrying giant apples marched behind.

Several other participants also advocated same-sex marriage rights. Kate Alway, 25, and her partner Kat Bowman marched side by side wearing top hats and coattails to support adoption and marriage rights for gay couples. Referring to Australia's ban on gay marriage, Alway said: "We are second class citizens that can't do the things that other people do."

Unlike previous years, the event was not televised and flagpoles flying the Mardi Gras proclamation were noticeably absent along Oxford Street, part of the parade route and the center of the city's gay scene.

Although the festival had a close call when it was rescued just in time its 2003 parade after going into voluntary administration in August 2002 as the company fell behind payments to the tax office and other creditors, many are glad the festival survived.

Publicist Terry Stuart said: "Mardi Gras does something to people. Mardi Gras is here to stay. It's a celebration of life and freedom."

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Reported HIV cases among MSM in HK hits all time high
The number of annual reported HIV Cases among MSM (Men who have Sex with Men) in Hong Kong hit an all time high last year.

According to a media release by AIDS Concern, 268 HIV-positive cases (2512 cumulative cases), the highest annual increase ever, were reported to the Department of Health in 2004. Among these 268 cases, 65 were MSM (591 cumulative cases) representing a 26% increase from 2003 and a 13% increase from 2002 - the highest annual increase in reported cases among the MSM population.

The statement read: "The apparent increase in MSM cases was also echoed in the results from AIDS Concern's own testing service that specifically targets MSM. Six HIV-positive cases were recorded in 2004 (ten cumulative cases), the highest annual number since our testing service began in 2000."

The survey of 527 men who had used the group's testing service since August 2002 and reported having anal sex, showed that 28 percent did not use condoms during their last anal sex encounter and 41 percent reported that they did not consistently use condoms for anal sex in the previous three months.

The non-governmental volunteer organisation noted that their service's test results are reported to the Department of Health and so are included in the Government figures, and that the figures reported are NOT an indication of the infection rate in saunas as testing services are provided at several office locations as well as saunas.

Stressing that the announcement is to "alert, not alarm the community," AIDS Concern calls for MSM to consistently use condoms and water-based lubricant for anal sex and testing regularly as "knowing your HIV status can help motivate you to protect yourself and your sex partners from being infected and more MSM getting tested will help provide a clearer picture of the infection rate among the MSM community."

More details can be found at: www.ourbedroom.net/main_news/aids_en.htm.

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NSW Coroner lambastes police probe into gay men's deaths
The New South Wales Coroners Court has launched a scathing attack on the way the police investigated the deaths of three gay men in Sydney in the 1980s. In handing down her findings on Wednesday, senior deputy state coroner Jacqueline Milledge has described the initial investigations, particularly into the disappearance of one of the men, as "grossly inadequate and shameful."

Still popular today among gay beachgoers, Tamarama (also known locally as Glama-rama) is a fifteen-minute walk from the southern end of Bondi Beach.

Gilles Mattaini, 27, disappeared near a popular "gay beat" at Tamarama in Sydney's east 1985 while John Russell, 31, was found dead at the base of a cliff at Marks Park in the area and WIN television newsreader Ross Warren, 25, went missing in July 1989, his car found near Marks Park the next day. Of the three, only Russel's body was ever found.

Milledge said Police knew of "a number of gangs of youths that were systematically engaged in the assault and robbery of gay men in Marks Park and other areas" as several gay men were attacked and murdered in the eastern suburbs between 1987 and 1990, and a number of those assaulted at Marks Park told police their attackers had threatened to throw them off the cliff.

"There is no doubt that at the time of Warren's and Mattaini's disappearance and Russell's death, that was a modus operandi of some gay hate assailants," she said. "This strongly supports the probability that Warren, Mattaini and Russell met their deaths this way."

Milledge criticised the loss of potentially vital forensic evidence Russell's case, and described the initial police investigation into Warren's disappearance as "grossly inadequate and shameful".

Of her 14 recommendations, one of which was for the police service should reintroduce gay liaison training for officers.