The top deputy to the late Austrian rightist leader Jörg Haider created speculation Oct. 22 that he and Haider had been lovers.

Haider crashed his car and died Oct. 11 after leaving a gay bar drunk.

Stefan Petzner, 27, who replaced Haider as leader of the right-wing party Alliance for the Future of Austria after Haider’s death, told a radio program: “We had a relationship that went far beyond friendship. Jörg and I were connected by something truly special. He was the man of my life. (Haider’s wife, Claudia,) loved him as a woman. He loved her as a man. I loved him in a completely different and personal way. She understood that.”

Reports said party officials unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the interview from being broadcast, blocked further press access to Petzner, passed him over in choosing a leader for the party’s parliamentary group, but kept him on as the party’s overall leader.

Haider, 58, was outed in 2000 by gay activists and newspapers in Austria, Germany and England.

At the time, he had just stepped down from 15 years as head of the populist/nationalist Freedom Party, which was one-half of Austria’s governing coalition from 2000 to 2002.

The presence of the Freedom Party in the Austrian government caused outrage across, and sanctions from, the European Union.

Critics considered Haider extremist, racist and xenophobic. In 1995, the U.S. Anti-Defamation League accused him of making “numerous statements utilizing Holocaust terminology or legitimizing Nazi policy and activities.”

An Oct. 24 Associated Press story, titled “Was Austrian far-right leader Jörg Haider gay?” said Haider had praised aspects of Adolf Hitler’s labor policies; criticized immigrants as lazy, criminal and corrupt; and seemed contemptuous of Jews, but had never spoken against gay people or promoted so-called traditional family values.

Australia’s Senate passed a bill Oct. 16 to treat unmarried couples who break up the same as married couples who divorce.

The measure, which was returned to the lower house for approval of Senate amendments, will create a uniform national standard for separating de facto couples, gay and straight, sending them to federal family-law courts to work out property settlements, pension splits and other issues.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the changes are “long overdue.”

Former UK professional soccer player Paul Elliott, who was the Scottish Player of the Year in 1990-1991, said Oct. 16 that he knows 12 current top players who are gay but not out.

Elliott spoke at a forum called “Homophobia – Football’s Final Taboo” organized by the group Kick It Out, which is funded by soccer’s governing bodies and “works throughout the football, educational and community sectors to challenge racism and work for positive change,” according to its Web site.

Elliott said the players are reluctant to come out for fear of homophobic chanting at games and other negative reactions.

“I’ve known a dozen players who are gay,” he said. “I understand why they do not want to come out. Like racism, there is no place for homophobia in sport.”

Jerusalem’s GLBT community center, Jerusalem Open House, is in “financial crisis,” the board of directors said in an open letter to the community Oct. 22.

“As an organization that a high percentage of its annual budget is built on grants and gifts from abroad (mainly the U.S.A.), we are already feeling the pinch, as the flow of funds slows down from donors abroad,” wrote chair of the board Mikie Goldstein.

“During the first half of this year, we suffered the drastic fall in the value of the U.S. dollar, which shrank our dollar income by 20 percent. ... We were then struck by ... the collapse of banks and stock exchanges around the world. Some of our supporters have lost much money, others less; but they all feel intuitively less wealthy, and are therefore donating less, or waiting to see what happens.”

Goldstein said the “serious cash flow situation” has left the center unable to pay staff salaries and forced it to reduce all employees’ hours by half.

“We request your crucial help in ensuring the continuation of this singular institution,” he said.

Two male U.S. citizens were arrested in Playa del Carmen, in Mexico’s Quintana Roo state, for kissing and hugging in public, the Mexico City daily El Universal reported Oct. 22.

Eric Schroeder, 22, and José Méndez, 35, were accused of committing “a moral misdeed” (una falta a la moral), jailed for 15 hours and fined 2,000 pesos ($148).

Schroeder told the paper that on Oct. 10 the couple was “resolving some differences that we had” and, as they walked out of the house, “there were a few hugs and a kiss out front.”

At that point, police arrived, handcuffed them, then drove them around while they “picked up more people who presumably had committed other crimes,” he said.

“They wanted money and realizing they weren’t going to get it, they drove us around,” Schroeder said.

The couple’s eventual incarceration at the main police station ended after they paid a cop a 300-peso fee to take one of their credit cards and withdraw money to pay the 2,000-peso fine, Schroeder said.

Assistance: Bill Kelley