Date: Sat, 22 Jan 94 00:38 GMT+0200 From: Lewis Taylor Subject: News from Swedish Gay/Lesbian Politics, no. 1, 1994 News from Swedish gay/lesbian politics Published by the Swedish Federation for Gay and Lesbian Rights (RFSL), P.O.Box 350, S-101 26 STOCKHOLM. Phone +46-8-736 02 13. Fax +46-8-30 47 30. No. 1/94 (January 3rd-9th, 1994) 1 Dagen on violence and the RFSL Olof Djurfeldt wrote in the Christian daily Dagen on January 8th under the headline "RFSL attacks Dagen": "We understand why the homosexual organization RFSL does not like Dagen. We are against the partnership reform and we do not think that the homosexual life style is to be encouraged by the society. But when the chairperson Tobias Wikstroem accuses us of being jointly responsible for the violence against homosexuals he gravely oversteps the mark. In Aftonbladet last Wednesday, Wikstroem said that 'papers that agitate against gay men and lesbians must be stopped'. In Expressen next day, he singled out Dagen with these words: 'In Dagen, lies are systematically spread about gay men and lesbians. I would not want to say that the violence against gay men depends on this Christian 'moral right', but their lies and their refusal to disassociate from the violence make it more easily accepted.' When combining the two statements it is easy to make the conclusion that it is, among others, Dagen that is to be 'stopped'. Is it the old censorship that Wikstroem wants to resurrect? Does not freedom of print apply to the opponents of the RFSL?" "But Dagen does not agitate against homosexuals. We invite Wikstroem to prove his unfounded statement that we are systematic liars - it will be difficult for him. However, we have pointed to some unpleasant truths about the RFSL. Not for one moment have we encouraged violence against homosexuals or other deviants. Nor do we know of any people who have used violence against homosexuals with reference to us - and therefore we do not have a particular reason to disassociate ourselves. Dagen is known as one of the most consistent opponents of the criminal violence. It is not possible to detect even a shade of connection between these murders and the opposition of Dagen to the partnership reform. Rather it seems as though the RFSL wants to defame its opponents before this spring's expected debate about the partnership reform." 2 Answer from the National Service Administration The National Service Administration has now responded to the letter from the RFSL and the Conscripts' Union concerning gay men's right to serve (see News from Swedish gay/lesbian politics 41/93). The Administration writes that there is no reason whatsoever "to suspect that the attitudes or actions of either the head psychologist Ingela Nyqvist-Bjoerk or any other involved Administration functionary would be in violation of the Administration's policy. Your request for an investigation and possible measures we therefore regard as unnecessary." The Administration agrees with the policy of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces that "homosexuality per se does not constitute a reason to discriminate within the armed forces". However, the Administration writes: "An ambition is that no conscript is to be subject to extreme demands during service. If a conscript expresses concern that his homosexual predisposition would cause problems during the service, this is taken into consideration, as well as other personality factors. This is due to our care for the individual" 3 Gotlands Tidningar on the adoption decision The Social Democratic daily Gotlands Tidningar on January 7th commented on the decision by the Supreme Administrative Court to reject an adoption application from a gay man (see News from Swedish gay/lesbian politics 16/93 and 45/93): "The man, who lives in a relationship with another man, rightly thinks that he is discriminated against and claims that it is unconstitutional to base a decision on a person's sexual orientation. "From the judgement can be concluded that the attitudes of the environment can be too negative and that the risk of psychological stress increases. "A clearly faulty argument - but still prejudice is weighty also in this court. Prejudice that renders it impossible for gay men or lesbians even to be connsidered as adoptive parents." The periodic publications of RFSL Kom Ut (in Swedish): 6 issues a year. Subscription 150 SEK a year. Fakta fraan RFSL (in Swedish): Approximately ten fact sheets that are updated regularly. Subscription 200 SEK per ten mailings. News from Swedish gay/lesbian politics (in Swedish and English): 52 issues a year. Subscription 180 SEK a year or 30 international reply coupons. Hivbladet (in Swedish): 12 issues a year. Free of charge. Membership in the RFSL: 160-250 SEK a year, depending on which local branch is chosen. Includes subscription of Kom Ut.