NewsWrap for the week ending February 22nd, 1997 (As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT Program #465, distributed 02-24-97) [Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Alejandra Sarda, Bjorn Skolander, Ron Buckmire, Rex Wockner, Graham Underhill, Lucia Chappelle and Greg Gordon, anmd anchored by Brian Nunes and Josy Catoggio.] The institutions of European unity have brought considerable pressure on their member nations to end discrimination against gays and lesbians, but as employers many of those institutions have failed to take the same steps themselves. They came a step closer this week, though, as the full European Parliament adopted measures calling for anti-discrimination policies and for equal spousal benefits for the partners of their lesbian and gay employees. Five liberal parties in the EuroParliament joined together to overcome the opposition of two more conservative parties that resisted extending benefits to same-gender couples. The bills move next to the European Commission, which will decide whether to take them to the Council Of The European Union, which has the power to actually enact them. Swedish European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen has the job of moving the bills ahead, and has been solidly supportive throughout, but he's asking for help in convincing national governments to approve the measures. The European Court of Human Rights this week rejected the final appeal of three British gay men imprisoned because of consensual sadomasochistic activities following a 1990 police sting known as Operation Spanner. Sixteen men were originally convicted on charges of "actual bodily harm" and given sentences ranging from 3 to 6 years in prison. Only three carried the case through to this last appeal, and one of them had died before the EuroCourt heard the case. The Court believed the national government was entitled to regulate what it called "the infliction of physical harm" and denied the plaintiffs' claims of violation of privacy rights and selective enforcement. The British government had won the decisions in this case at every level with its arguments for the need to protect citizens' health and morals. Although the Spanner case has been a political football from beginning to end, it would never have been prosecuted under guidelines adopted more recently by the British legal establishment, since no serious injuries were involved. As Britain prepares for elections, the Labour Party reached out to its gay and lesbian constituents this week with the kind of promises they won't hear from the Tories. Jack Straw, who's likely to become the Home Secretary if Labour takes power as expected, carried the message to the London gay and lesbian advocacy group Stonewall. He promised another try at making the age of consent for sex between men equal to the age of consent for heterosexual and lesbian acts. However, current projections suggest that Labour will not necessarily have the votes to improve on the split-the-difference compromise reached in 1994, when the gay age of consent was lowered from 21 to 18 instead of matching the heterosexual age of consent of 16. Straw also promised an attempt to repeal the notorious Section 28, which prohibits local governments and schools from portraying homosexuality in a positive light, either directly or with grants to other groups. Labour is also planning to add the strong anti-discrimination language of the European Convention on Human Rights to Britain's own constitution, and to actively combat violence against gays and lesbians. There was a great stir in Britain this week as a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, Nobel prizewinner James Watson, seemed to be supporting abortion of fetuses who might someday be identified as carrying a so-called "gay gene". In fact, Watson's point was that a woman should have the choice to abort for whatever reason she chooses, and that developing genetics technology will present parents with new kinds of decisions and responsibilities. He's now suing the "Daily Telegraph" newspaper for taking his remarks out of context when they headlined them, "Abort Babies With Gay Genes". The situation was remarkable for bringing anti-abortion activists and gay and lesbian activists into agreement in their shared opposition to Watson, when they've more typically been on opposite sides. Britain's original "Naked Civil Servant" and sometime columnist Quentin Crisp, whose name itself was once practically a code word for "gay", was quoted in the press as saying he still believes that it would be better for both the world and himself if he had been aborted. After meeting with leading San Francisco area activists this week, U.S. Vice President Al Gore requested a reading list of books describing the personal experiences of lesbians and gays. Openly lesbian California State Assemblymember Carole Migden is seeing that 10 volumes are sent to Washington, D.C. for Gore's edification. Suggestions thus far have included Randy Shilts' military history "Conduct Unbecoming" and Vito Russo's film history "The Celluloid Closet". Washington state's Gary Locke has become the second U.S. governor to veto a measure against same-gender marriage. The Republican-controlled legislature had quickly and enthusiastically passed a bill to both reserve marriages for heterosexual couples only and to deny recognition to legal gay and lesbian marriages another state might someday perform. Seventeen U.S. states have passed such measures in just over a year, and more are poised to follow suit, in anticipation of legal same-gender marriages in Hawai'i following a court ruling later this year. But first-year Democratic Governor Locke said, "Our overarching principle should be to promote civility, mutual respect and unity, and to reject hate, violence and bigotry. This legislation fails to meet that test." The Republicans were just a few votes shy of being able to override the gubernatorial veto, but now plan to put the question to the voters in a referendum, where they're confident it will pass. Open lesbian Sandy Nelson lost a closely-watched lawsuit this week in the Washington state Supreme Court. She was an award-winning education reporter for the "Tacoma News Tribune" until she became politically active opposing an anti-gay state ballot initiative in 1990. At that time, the newspaper moved her to an editing job to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest, even though it made a formal endorsement against the initiative as well. Nelson sued to return to her reporting role under a state law banning discrimination based on political activity, but the state Supreme Court's 5-to-2 ruling agreed with the trial judge that freedom of the press had to take precedence over the state employment law. Almost 70 assorted organizations have supported Nelson's case, which she has sworn to appeal further. The Massachusetts state Supreme Court ruled this week that sexually abusive behavior in the workplace constitutes sexual harassment even when the parties involved are all of the same gender and heterosexual. Boston's Gay And Lesbian Advocates & Defenders were relieved that future cases would not have to search out an individual's sexual orientation in an effort to prove or disprove sexual harassment. The Court's ruling upheld an award to three men who were grabbed, fondled, propositioned, and flashed by their supervisor at a lumber company. Same-gender sexual harassment has drawn mixed rulings from U.S. federal appeals courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court has so far declined to consider the question. A bomb exploded at a lesbian club in Atlanta, Georgia on the evening of February 21st. Five people in the patio area of the Otherside Lounge were injured by flying shrapnel. One woman required surgery, while a few others sought treatment for ear pain and headache from the sound of the explosion. Several local news reports said the bomb was apparently packed with nails and quoted eyewitnesses as saying that some of the victims had nails sticking out of their arms. Police also found a backpack in the club's parking lot that contained a second, unexploded bomb, which they detonated by remote control. Authorities are investigating possible connections to the recent bombing at a local abortion clinic and the bomb that went off at a public celebration during the Olympic Games. It was the fourth bomb to strike Atlanta in the past seven months, raising fears that a serial bomber could be at work in the city. In Argentina, Buenos Aires activists staged a colorful demonstration this week on behalf of the transvestites and transgendered people who continue to be particularly -- and sometimes fatally -- abused by police there. The demonstrators blocked the entrance to the Palace of Justice with large dolls bearing the names of some of the 64 trannys they believe to have been murdered by police over the last decade. A dozen protesters chained themselves to the stairs. Others chanted, performed skits, and passed out almost 4,000 leaflets to passers-by, calling for unity in changing a federal government they charge is repressive and corrupt. They found the by-standers to be open-minded, while people involved in two other protest actions going on at the same site at the same time expressed their solidarity with the trannys. When Buenos Aires first gained home rule in 1996, activists won a non-discrimination ordinance and an end to the notorious warrantless arrests known as "police edicts", but so far the federal police continue to abuse their special powers and to single out trannys. And finally ... Those who found the "earring magic ken" doll scandalous will faint dead away at "Billy", a new gay doll from Britain who's billed as "out and proud". He was such a success at a 1994 AIDS benefit that now he's being marketed internationally -- and he's selling like hotcakes. He's got major muscles and a wardrobe straight from the Village People, including Cowboy Billy, Sailor Billy, San Francisco Billy, Master Billy -- and Wall Street Billy? A partner for Billy is now in the works, as a spokesperson explains that Ken and G.I. Joe are too short for him. And yes, it may be true in more ways than one: Billy's not being sold in toy stores because he's not only politically correct, he's what's called "anatomically correct" -- except in his case, he's beyond merely correct and into, shall we say, extra credit. ------------*-------------- Sources for this week's report included: Agence France Presse; The Associated Press; The Boston Globe; The Chicago Tribune; The Daily Telegraph (London); The Detroit News; The Independent (London); KIRO-TV/Olympia,Washington; BBC Radio 5 Live's "Out This Week"; The New York Times; Reuters; The Times of London; United Press International; and cyberpress releases from Countdown on Spanner; EGALITE; The European Parliament; The International Lesbian & Gay Association (ILGA); San Francisco Supervisor Carole Migden; and Sandy Nelson.