NewsWrap for the week ending November 30th, 1996 (As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT Program #453, distributed 12-02-96) [Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Ron Buckmire, Susan Gage, Morten Kabell, Graham Underhill, Andy Quan, Bjorn Skolander, Rex Wockner, Lucia Chappelle and Greg Gordon] As part of a general overhaul of Austria's penal code, the first Chamber of Parliament, the Nationalrat, this week considered three key sections oppressive to gays and lesbians and voted to overturn two of them. The age of consent has been left unchanged, after a tie vote of 91 to 91, at 18 years for sex between men compared to only 14 for heterosexual and lesbian acts. The existing ban on gay and lesbian organizations was completely repealed by a resounding 5-to-2 margin, with only the Christian Democratic party opposing repeal. The existing ban on dissemination of positive information about homosexuality was narrowly repealed by a one-vote margin because two opponents were out of the room at the time of the vote. The changes will next be considered as part of a complete penal code reform package by the second Chamber of Parliament, the Bundesrat. Austria's national gay and lesbian movement has actively lobbied for 17 years to achieve this partial victory. In the U.S., a judge in Florida has overturned a prohibition against the Alachua County Commission enacting ordinances regarding sexual orientation. When the County's voters chose in 1994 to repeal civil rights protections for gays and lesbians previously passed by the Commission, they also voted to reserve any such actions for a general ballot. Now Circuit Judge Frederick Smith has declared that action unconstitutional, following the logic the U.S. Supreme Court used earlier this year in overturning Colorado's similar statewide initiative, Amendment 2. However, there are still no civil rights protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation in Alachua County -- the repeal measure was not part of the legal challenge. In Denmark, the Enhedslisten, or Red-Green Alliance party, has become the first to endorse complete equality for gay and lesbian couples. At the party's convention this week, a platform was adopted including the party's commitment to work to remove the distinctions between gay and lesbian registered partnerships and traditional marriage. Currently registered partners are denied church weddings, artificial insemination and adoption rights, including co-adoption of their partners' children. The party holds less than 3% of the seats in the Danish Parliament. In the Australian state of Queensland, the state government has fired the entire staff of the state's Anti-Discrimination Commission, leaving more than a thousand current cases in limbo. The fired staff had worked hard to develop good relations with the gay and lesbian community. The state government had previously considered both gutting the state's anti-discrimination laws and eliminating the state Commission, whose work would have been passed on to the judicial system, but public protest helped to stop that move. The federal and state Commissions had shared facilities until recently, when the federal government tried to get the state government to pay a larger share of the costs. When the state government refused, the federal Commission closed down its Queensland site altogether. In moving to replace the entire Commission staff later this month, Queensland is actually spending more additional funds than it would have cost to make up for the federal government's lost contribution. An Australian lesbian has been denied inheritance of the estate of her partner of 16 years by the New South Wales state Supreme Court. Diane Watson died without a will. While even an unmarried heterosexual partner would have inherited, Jan Bell lost out to Watson's parents because New South Wales has refused to legally recognize same-gender couples. Also in Australia, Queensland's Minister for Family Services Kevin Lingard announced this week that single men and gay and lesbian couples would no longer be considered "suitable" as foster parents. Lingard said it was "time we turned back the clock" and denied that his action was in any way discriminatory. The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties believes Lingard's policy is in violation of at least two sections of the state's Anti-Discrimination Act. The ministry will be reviewing all of its 1,300 currently "approved" foster parents, and is likely to reject even single women who lack a blood connection to their foster children. Single men and same-gender couples are believed to make up about 10% of Queensland's current foster parents, and about 100 children are expected to be removed from their homes under Lingard's policy. Israel's Education Minister Zevulun Hamer of the National Religious Party has canceled a scheduled television program on gay and lesbian teenagers. The edition of the "Klafim Petuhim" or "Open Cards" youth talk show on Israeli Educational TV was nixed after complaints by conservative politicians. Gay and lesbian activists planned to protest the cancellation. The British direct action group OutRage! is hoping to "out" as many as 15 Members of Parliament as gay men and lesbians during campaigning for the upcoming general elections. They've devoted their communications resources to being an outing hotline, hoping to collect solid information that will add credibility to their allegations. The 15 targeted MP's either voted against equalizing the age of consent for sex between men with that for heterosexual acts or in support of excluding open gays and lesbians from service in the British military. Progressive Members of Parliament in Sweden continue to propose numerous legislative measures favorable to gay and lesbian citizens. Three Social Democratic MP's called for co-adoption rights for gay and lesbian registered domestic partners. The Leftist Party proposed a more general motion allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children, while three Green Party MP's demanded full equality between heterosexuals and gays and lesbians in all laws and regulations regarding parenthood. The Leftist Party is seeking a constitutional prohibition on legislation which discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation, and has also made comprehensive motions regarding gay and lesbian families and gay and lesbian youth. The Swedish legislature is also reviewing the Aliens Act, and various proposals have been offered to make it easier to extend asylum to gay and lesbian foreign nationals fleeing persecution in their home countries. One of the Taliban mullahs who now rule about three-fourths of Afghanistan told a "New York Times" reporter that scholars disagree on the appropriate method of execution for homosexuality, which they consider a "great sin". While some recommend that gays should be thrown to their deaths from a high roof, others believe they should be buried beside a wall which should then be toppled on to them. Currently those engaging in homosexual acts are punished by being forced to stand in public areas for hours with their faces blackened. Nonetheless, men continue to have sex with each other in this highly sex-segregated society. The reporter observed mascara and fingernail polish worn by some of Taliban's male military personnel. The Greek Orthodox Church suspended three monks and a priest of the Osios Theodoros monastery and called them to trial before a church court this week following televised allegations of homosexual orgies. The civil prosecutor is also investigating the matter. A TV news program won top ratings as a transvestite sex worker described the clergy holding drag beauty pageants and what were termed "sex games" at the monastery's isolated location on Kithira, alleged to have involved at least one minor child. While the church prosecutor took depositions in Athens, Kithira residents demonstrated against the monastery, waving black flags. The International Lesbian & Gay Association (ILGA) has hired Canadian Lawrence Aronovitch to replace Andy Quan as Coordinator, the group's only paid position. Quan resigned after two years to do freelance work in London. Aronovitch is currently vice-president of Canada's national organization EGALE, Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere. He'll assume his duties in late December at ILGA's European Regional Conference in Madrid. And finally ... people all over the globe observe World AIDS Day on December 1st with a variety of events. The U.S. cartoon strip "The K-Chronicles" led up to the day by asking, "What the heck is all this commotion about the scientific discovery of a 'gay gene' in different families? I could've told them about the gay gene in my family long ago. My cousin Gene was always the coolest ... he always had something encouraging to say about my artwork, and when I actually cared about what I wore, I went to Gene for advice." After reminiscing about Gene's death from AIDS-related illness, artist Keith Knight closes saying, "I hope that most of your folks are lucky enough to have a 'gay gene' in the family like I had. I miss his warmth, charm, wit, and smile. But the worst part about him being gone is that my wardrobe has really gone to sh*t." -------------*---------------- Sources for this week's report included: The Associated Press; Australian Broadcasting Corp.; The Herald Sun (Sydney, Australia); The Los Angeles Times; The New York Times; The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); EuroQueer Digest (Stockholm, Sweden); Rex Wockner International News Service; GLAADAlert (issued by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation); News from Swedish Lesbian/Gay Politics (published by the Swedish Federation for Gay and Lesbian Rights, RFSL); and cyberpress releases from HOSI Wien (Vienna); Queensland Pride (Australia); the International Lesbian & Gay Association (ILGA); and OutRage! (London).