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Anti-gay prize for gays
30/05/2006 11:19 - (SA)
Wellington - A New Zealand gay film festival has come under fire for offering a membership prize of a holiday in Fiji - where homosexuality is illegal.
The prize was inappropriate given discrimination against gays and people with HIV/Aids, said Bruce Kilmister, the chairman of Aids/HIV support group Body Positive.
"Why would we encourage people to spend their money in Fiji when they discriminate against people living with HIV and Aids?" he said Monday.
The national gay film festival Out Takes was offering the chance for those who joined as members to go in a draw for a holiday at a resort in the South Pacific country.
Reel Queer, the group behind the film festival said there was a high incidence of homophobia and related persecution in Fiji but gays should stand up to unjustified persecution.
Homosexuality is illegal in Fiji, where the indigenous population is made up mostly of conservative Christians. Those found guilty of homosexual acts can be imprisoned for up to 14 years.
However, in a landmark case last year, Fiji's Supreme Court ruled the law was invalid and freed an Australian and an Fijian man jailed for homosexuality. The court cited a provision in the constitution forbidding discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Fiji's largest church, the Methodist church, has been campaigning to have the provision protecting gays removed from the constitution.
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