French tennis pro Amelie Mauresmo, 19, came out of the closet Jan. 28 after beating top-rated Lindsay Davenport at the Australian Open.

She lept into the arms of girlfriend Sylvie Bourdon and later told reporters: "Looking up at Sylvie during the match was that little extra support that I needed. It gave me strength. Finding Sylvie and having such a good personal life now has made the difference in my tennis. It had been the missing part of my life."

According to USA Today, Mauresmo met Bourdon five weeks ago through mutual friend and former French pro Isabelle Demongeot and moved from Paris into Bourdon's house in St. Tropez.

Speaking to reporters in Australia, Bourdon said: "I am her lover, not her psychiatrist. But we talk and talk like therapy so that she feels more positive and confident about herself and her tennis. She wasn't getting that kind of support, and it was affecting her on court. Now she has a good balance in her life and is happy."

She hits it so hard and with so much topspin. Women's tennis is not usually played like that. ... The shoulders looked huge. I think that they must have grown."

Davenport later clarified that her remarks were not a comment on Mauresmo's sexual orientation.

In a German-language press conference, champ Martina Hingis -- who beat Mauresmo to win the tournament -- wandered down the same path as Davenport, saying, "She is half man (Sie ist ein halber Mann)."

FOUR COUNTRIES PROTECT GAYS CONSTITUTIONALLY

A report in this column that Fiji and South Africa are the only nations that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation via their constitutions unearthed the news that, in fact, Canada and Ecuador also protect gays constitutionally.

Ecuador's new constitution took effect last August. Chapter 2, Article 23, Number 3 states: "Equality before the law: All persons will be considered equal and will possess the same rights, freedoms and opportunities without discrimination by reason of birth, age, sex, ethnicity, social origin, language, religion, political affiliation, economic position, sexual orientation, health status, disability, or difference of any other type."

The information was provided by Albis Cruz of FEDAEPS, the Ecuadoran Action and Education Foundation for Health Promotion. In Canada, a Supreme Court ruling created the doctrine of "analogous categories" and then "read in" sexual-orientation protections to Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is an annex to the 1982 Constitution Act.

The section states: "Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability."

The court "read in" "sexual orientation" without physically rewriting the list, said Ken Popert, president of Pink Triangle Press which publishes the gay newspapers Xtra!, Capital Xtra!, and Xtra! West.

Popert added: "Please note that this section protects only against discrimination by the state. However, the courts have applied it to provincial and territorial human rights laws, which in turn constrain all legal persons, including businesses."

GAYS REMEMBERED AT SACHSENHAUSEN CAMP

For the first time, gays were remembered during annual holocaust services at Germany's Sachsenhausen concentration camp Jan. 26.

Gay segments of the events included a wreath-laying, lectures and a performance by the Berlin gay men's choir.

It is believed that up to 10,000 homosexuals were killed by the Nazis and that up to 90,000 others were imprisoned. More than 1,000 were housed at Sachsenhausen due to its proximity to Berlin, which had a thriving gay subculture prior to the rise of National Socialism.

Sachsenhausen's gay inmates were marked with a pink triangle and forced to work in back-breaking brick-making factories because "hard work will make you masculine."

"There were different groups of victims, but all were victims and all should be commemorated in the same way," said Sachsenhausen memorial spokesman Horst Seferens.

GAY GROUP BLASTS BANANA

The group Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) forcefully denounced former Zimbabwean President Canaan Banana Jan. 28 after Banana defamed gays.

On Jan. 18, Banana, 63, was sentenced to prison with labor on 11 counts of forcing himself sexually on aides, bodyguards, a cook and a gardener -- all males.

Yet, in a new interview with the Financial Gazette, Banana said: "Homosexuality ... is a deviant social behaviour. It is abominable. It is wrong not only according to the scriptures but also according to our culture."

He added, "There is absolutely no truth in these charges [against me]."

GALZ members were appalled.

"It is one thing for you [Banana] to remain silent or neutral about homosexuality; it is quite another for you to castigate us when you have been convicted of engaging in homosexual activity yourself," spokesman Keith Goddard said in an open letter.

"To describe your own kind as deviant and abominable is to define yourself as a sell-out. ... GALZ was constantly asked to comment on your trial and your personal life and we refused. Instead, we commented on the issues we believed were relevant to the trial: sexual assault, deciminalising consensual sodomy, abuse of office and whether or not it was possible for you to receive a fair trial in such a homophobic climate."

Goddard continued: "Rumours of your homosexuality have abounded within the gay community for many years. Nevertheless, we have consistently maintained a policy never to out people, believing this to be highly dangerous in a homophobic climate which borders on hysteria. Now you have the audacity to contribute to the hate campaign against us. Even though you do not wish to identify with us as a fellow gay person or lend support to this organisation and its activities, we would ask that, in future, you refrain from making comments which are damaging to the work of GALZ and the lives of the people we represent. You should hang your head in shame."

NUNS CANCELLED

Only one day after announcing it, Sydney, Australia's Opera House cancelled a plan for the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to lead tours of the famed landmark during the gay Mardi Gras Festival.

Opera House Trust head Michael Lynch said the Roman Catholic Church had expressed outrage at the announcement.

"At the time the tour was planned last year the Sydney Opera House did not foresee that some members of the community would be hurt or distressed by the tour. I apologize to the Catholic Church for any offense," Lynch said.

A spokesman for the Sisters replied: "Our main tenet is the expiation of stigmatic guilt. We don't set out to vilify Roman Catholic nuns. The Sisters are very disappointed by the cancellation of the tours."

The Opera House still will be the venue for the launch of Mardi Gras Feb. 5. This year's parade is Feb. 22. Festivities will wrap up Feb. 27 with the famed Sleaze Ball.

Last year, Mardi Gras pumped AU$100 million (US$629,229) into the New South Wales economy.

AUSTRALIAN SURVEY FINDS SUPPORT FOR GAY MARRIAGE

More than two-thirds of young people in the state of South Australia support legalization of gay marriage, a new survey has found.

The poll questioned 1,331 people between ages 13 and 25, according to the Jan. 25 issue of the Adelaide Advertiser.

GAY SWITCHBOARD OPENS IN MEXICO CITY

Mexico City's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Switchboard opened for business Jan. 18. It operates Monday to Friday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. The phone number is 011-52-5-772-0778.

                          -end-

Rex Wockner's weekly "International News" is archived at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/wockner.html, which also archives Wockner's "Quote Unquote" column and some of his longer gay-press articles.

To do a KEYWORD SEARCH of Wockner's archives, go to www.dejanews.com, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on 'power search,' enter keywords in the search window (for example Wockner gay marriage Sweden), scroll down and set the dates to search from May 1 1995 to today, then click 'find.'

Archives of Microsoft Sidewalk's "The Wockner List" are at http://sandiego.sidewalk.com/wockner

A profile of Wockner is at http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/14229.html

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