NewsWrap for the week ending July 6th, 1996 (As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT Program #432, distributed 07-08-96) [Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Brian Nunes, Bill Stosine, Jason Lin, Greg Gordon, Ron Buckmire and Andy Quan] The government of Hong Kong will not be introducing legislation to protect the civil rights of gays and lesbians. Hong Kong's Secretary for Home Affairs Michael Suen Ming-Yeung told the press in late June that "this is not an opportune time for legislation". More than 85 percent of public comments received by the government opposed the legislation proposed in Hong Kong's Parliament on the grounds that it would give legal recognition to homosexuality and same-gender relationships. Instead, the government will use public education approaches and fund counseling services towards alleviating discrimination based on sexual orientation. Hong Kong gay and lesbian activists had hoped to see civil rights protections enacted before mainland China regains control of the island next year. For the first time since 1992, no U.S. state this year will have an anti-gay-and-lesbian initiative on the ballot. The Oregon Citizens Alliance had already cancelled their latest initiative campaign in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision overturning Colorado's Amendment 2 ... and this week the Idaho Citizens Alliance dropped its campaign as well. But ICA founder Kelly Walton says the ICA will introduce a reworked version in the state legislature in 1997. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA this week voted with a 57 percent majority to ordain gay and lesbian clergy ... but only if they remain celibate after ordination, and repent for the sin of previous homosexual acts. The Assembly was following the recommendations of a committee established at an earlier meeting. Although the vote seems to resolve a question that's been before the Assembly since 1978, some gay and lesbian activists view it as a step backwards, since individual churches of the 3-million-member denomination had previously ordained openly active gay and lesbian clergy. The decision has already driven at least one minister to leave the Presbyterian Church, and it's believed he'll be only the first of many. Of mainstream U.S. Protestant denominations, only the United Church of Christ currently ordains openly active gay and lesbian clergy. In Switzerland, the National Council voted with a five percent margin to ask the government to introduce legislation to extend legal recognition to same-gender couples. A parliamentary vote on the legislation is expected within the next two years. In Britain, a male-to-female transsexual in mid-June was awarded a quarter-million pounds in a sexual discrimination lawsuit against her employer. The transsexual engineer was forced to work alone as a result of harrassment by her co-workers, and suffered a disabling injury as a result. It was Britain's first decision since the European Court of Justice determined that transsexuals are protected under its ban on sex discrimination, and the first to extend Britain's own Sex Discrimination Act to cover transsexuals employed in the private sector. The employer is appealing the decision. In Turkey, police violence against transgendered people has escalated. As Istanbul prepared for the United Nations Habitat II Conference in June on the future of cities , police warned transvestites to disappear. Some of those who didn't were harrassed, beaten and had their homes set afire. Some of those who sought relief through the courts were intimidated into dropping their lawsuits, but the Turkish Human Rights Association IHD plans to take up one of the arson cases. Russian gays and lesbians held their third national conference in early June in Moscow. 150 participants attended workshops on topics including legal problems, psychological counseling and the gay and lesbian press. Participants wrote to the Russian Parliament, the Duma, demanding legislation to give legal recognition to gay and lesbian couples and to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Russia now has more than 20 gay and lesbian organizations located in 14 regions. The International Gay and Lesbian Youth Organization this week held a conference in Eastern Europe for the first time. The week-long meeting in Budapest, organized in conjunction with the local gay and lesbian group Hatter, is training 50 young people from 13 countries to campaign for the human rights of gay and lesbian youth and people with HIV and AIDS. Gays and lesbians in many countries around the world celebrate pride around the late June anniversary of the 1969 uprising at New York City's Stonewall Inn, which is generally recognized as the beginning of the modern movement for gay and lesbian rights. In Mexico, Tijuana's second annual March for the Human Rights of Lesbians and Gays had 300 people parading down 15 blocks of Revolution Avenue on June 29th, to enthusiastic cheers from on-lookers and only a single homophobic remark. The march ended with a rally, show and dancing at the Mexitlan museum. Other pride events in Mexico last weekend included marches in Mexico City, Mexicali, Ensenada, La Paz, and Culiacan. In Argentina, Buenos Aires saw its 5th annual Gay-Lesbian-Transvestite-Transsexual Pride Parade with 1500 people from 22 organizations marching on a bitterly cold and windy day. The parade's slogan was, "Society may oppress me, police may kill me, but still we stand." There were no police present, and a homophobe drove his car into the parade before being chased off by participants. The day ended with a concert and drag show in the square outside the Legislative Palace. In Italy, more than 10,000 people marched through Naples for the national Gay Pride Parade on June 29th. Naples Mayor Antonio Bassolino spoke at the closing rally, saying, "Love must not be a reason for discrimination." In Canada, Toronto's Gay and Lesbian Pride Week climaxed with a march on June 30th viewed by several hundred thousand spectators. The week had an unprecedented level of corporate sponsorship and featured a 3-day Canadian National Gay and Lesbian Business and Consumer Exposition, with participants such as Chrysler, Canadian Airlines and Sprint Canada as well as a number of breweries. Toronto Mayor Barbara Hall, unlike some of her predecessors, wrote a letter of congratulations in Pride Week's official program, and the city's Economic & Development Office has funded a survey to study the Week's financial impact. New York City's 27th Lesbian Gay Pride March on June 30th was somewhat diminished by gray skies compared to last year, but there were 175,000 marchers and 200,000 spectators according to organizers. As a result of a lawsuit, this was the first year in which the New York Police Department's marching band appeared, and that gay and lesbian police officers were allowed to march in their uniforms. By contrast, Los Angeles Police Sergeant Mitch Grobeson this week was suspended for 66 days, partly because of wearing his uniform in a lesbian and gay pride parade. Grobeson had previously won a landmark settlement in a discrimination lawsuit against the LAPD. In Denver, Colorado 40,000 people attended the annual Pride Fest on June 30th, where Denver Mayor Wellington Webb was among the speakers. The previous day, there was a church wedding ceremony for 50 gay and lesbian couples, and July 1st began legal domestic partnership registrations for same-gender couples in neighboring Boulder. Chicago, Illinois' Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade on June 30th drew its largest crowd ever, estimated by police at 225,000. Anchorage, Alaska had its largest-yet Gay Pride Picnic on June 30th, with 300 people attending. The 6th annual pride march in Orlando, Florida was also the biggest ever, with 2,000 people marching to City Hall on June 29th. Omaha, Nebraska's 12th Gay Pride Parade on June 30th was larger than last year's, estimated by organizers at 550 people. And finally ... nobody celebrates pride like the gays and lesbians of San Francisco. The 26th Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender Pride Parade on June 30th was led off by the traditional Dykes on Bikes contingent -- 200 of them -- who were joined for the first time this year by rollerskating Babes on Blades. The theme was "Equality and Justice for All". Despite record heat, the crowd was estimated by police at 300,000 and by organizers at 500,000. The previous day, 260 same-gender couples celebrated a mass wedding in protest of the nationwide campaign against legal gay and lesbian marriages. In the parade itself, the Freedom to Marry Task Force float had couples celebrating a wedding under a gazebo with climbing gardenias and cherubs. Instead of trailing the traditional "Just Married" sign, the float read "Just About Married". Sources for this week's report: The South China Morning Post/Hong Kong; The Salt Lake City (Utah) Tribune; The Associated Press; The Chicago Sun-Times; The Chicago Tribune; The Louisville (Kentucky) Courier; Rex Wockner International News Service; The Guardian/London; The Globe & Mail/Toronto; USA Today; The New York Times; The Los Angeles Times; The Colorado Springs Gazette; The Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News; The Orlando (Florida) Sentinel; The Omaha (Nebraska) World Herald; Reuter News Service; The San Francisco Chronicle; and cyberpress releases from The Human Rights Campaign, The Triangle Center/Moscow, The International Lesbian & Gay Youth Organization, Sociedad de Integracion Gay Lesbica/Argentina and The International Lesbian & Gay Association.