NewsWrap for the week ending June 14th, 1997 (As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT Program #481, distributed 06-16-97) [Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Brian Nunes, Graham Underhill, Rex Wockner, Lucia Chappelle and Greg Gordon, and anchored by Cindy Friedman and Tory Christopher] In Australia, it was revealed this week that the Victoria Police have paid out a record-setting four million dollars in settlements from a notorious 1994 bar raid. That's taken care of only about 250 claims, with another 70 due to be heard in court and perhaps another 80 still to be filed, so there may be another two million dollars still to be paid out. Forty-three officers raided the club variously known as the Commerce Club and the Tasty, forcing 463 men and women to undergo strip searches in front of the whole crowd over a period of three hours. The raid was ostensibly in search of underage patrons and drugs, but turned up only a single tab of ecstasy. The police department has since reprimanded the inspector who ordered the raid, counseled a sergeant who worked under him, and revised its guidelines for search warrants and strip searches in consultation with civil rights experts. Victoria Premier Jeff Kennett has confirmed that there will be no state bail-out funds for the police department, which has already begun to feel the pinch in things like availability of uniforms and payment of mobile phone bills. The bar was ruined by the raid and closed three months later. Australia's only openly gay Senator, Dr. Bob Brown of Tasmania, was one of at least seven people arrested this week in a logging protest. He'll be facing a maximum fine of $2,000 for his efforts to preserve the old growth Goolengook Forest in the East Gippsland area of Victoria, which houses a number of endangered plant and animal species. Undeterred, Brown proclaimed that it's the national prime minister and the state premier who ought to be arrested for allowing logging to destroy the national estate. Brown is the leading spokesperson for the Australian Greens. In the U.S., openly gay suspected multiple murderer Andrew Cunanan, also known as Andrew Phillip DeSilva, was added to the FBI's famous "Ten Most Wanted" list of fugitives this week, with a $10,000 reward posted for information leading to his arrest. In the official description, he is a 27-year-old white male, 5-feet 10-inches tall, 180 pounds, with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and sometimes prescription glasses -- but it's also known that Cunanan enjoyed changing his appearance. He's considered "armed and dangerous". A popular figure in the San Diego club scene and frequent visitor to many other gay communities across the U.S., Cunanan is believed to have lived off wealthy older gay men. It came as a shock to those who knew him when he became the prime suspect in a series of four murders beginning in late April, including two gay men in Minnesota, a real estate tycoon in Chicago, and a cemetery caretaker in New Jersey. Gay and lesbian communities around the U.S. have done their utmost to cooperate in the search. The FBI also made a public plea for help this week in connection with three bombings in Atlanta, Georgia, one the late February explosion at the lesbian, gay and transgender bar The Otherside Lounge. The FBI is now fairly convinced that that bombing was committed by the same person as a previous attack on a women's health clinic, and "increasingly confident" that both are related to the fatal bombing at a concert during the Olympics in July. The three task forces working on those bombings are now joined together into one, and the half-million-dollar reward for information on the Olympic bombing has been extended to the other two. At a press conference, the FBI released sketches of two men sought for questioning regarding the clinic bombing, a blurry photo from the Olympic bombing, and copies of letters sent to media outlets immediately following the bar bombing. Those letters referred to The Otherside as "the sodomite bar" and promised an "all-out war" against abortion, the federal government, and what it called "perversions". In Zimbabwe, police this week turned over at least nine charges of homosexuality and sodomy to the attorney general for prosecution of the nation's first post-colonial president, Canaan Banana. Investigation of Banana began in February after his sexual harassment and sexual assaults against his palace guard in the 1980's were revealed when one of his victims was tried for murder. Many other victims came forward whose complaints had previously been to no avail because of Banana's political power. They included other aides during his presidency, members of his soccer team, and students in his theology classes at the University of Zimbabwe. There has still been no comment from Banana's decades-long political ally, current President Robert Mugabe, who gained an international reputation for his vicious verbal assaults against gays. In the U.S., ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, was reintroduced this week with a record 185 co-sponsors and more bipartisan support than ever before. The measure to prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation failed in September in the U.S. Senate by a single vote, in the first floor debate ever held in the federal legislature on a gay and lesbian civil rights measure. President Bill Clinton has already given the bill his strong endorsement, but it remains to be seen if the measure will advance. Lead sponsor Senator Jim Jeffords, a Vermont Republican, has not yet scheduled a hearing for it in the Labor Committee he himself chairs, and there's no indication yet that the House of Representatives will give it any consideration at all. In what may be Canada's first official action giving a same-gender relationship equal value to legal heterosexual marriage, a Public Service Staff Relations Board has granted a marriage leave to openly gay federal employee Ross Boutlier of Halifax. The ruling reads, "The granting of such family-related leave in situations such as the one I am faced with in this case, merely recognizes the fact that the homosexual community possesses the right to establish families in pursuance of their sexual orientation," and goes on to say that, "The law is never static. It moves over time to reflect the values of the society it regiments." In Belgium, a bill has been introduced in the Flanders regional parliament that would apply spousal tax rates to inheritances received by surviving members of registered domestic partnerships. Press reports say the majority coalition of the Flemish government has already agreed to its passage. While heirs unrelated by blood or marriage now face a 30% inheritance tax, surviving traditional spouses need pay only 10% on the first three million francs. To qualify, couples must have been registered for at least three years and have gone on record with wills made out in each other's favor. It's the latest move in the majority coalition's step-by-step plan to give registered same-gender couples rights equal to those of traditional married pairs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning this week regarding protease inhibitors, the new drugs that have made an almost miraculous difference in the lives of many people with AIDS. Perhaps as many as one percent of those taking the drug may experience a sudden upsurge in blood sugar levels, sometimes as soon as four days into treatment but more usually after about 10 weeks. These problems can be life-threatening, but if detected early will usually be controllable by oral medication or insulin. Doctors were advised to regularly monitor their patients' blood sugar levels, while people taking the drugs were urged to contact their doctors immediately if they experienced any of the following symptoms: increased thirst, increased urination, dry and itchy skin, fatigue, or unexplained weight loss. And finally ... you wouldn't expect a new play from gay Pulitzer Prize winner Tennessee Williams -- he died in 1983 -- but in the coming season Britain's National Theatre will be putting on the very first production of a 1939 work that's been little more than a rumor up until now. "Not for Nightingales" is set in a very oppressive men's prison and has homosexual themes, which may well be the reason for its suppression during Williams' lifetime. The National Theatre describes it as "harrowing", "tough and abrasive", "very impassioned, campaigning and issue-led" and "a protest about a culture of vengeance." Actress Vanessa Redgrave read about the play in Lyle Leverich's recent exhaustive biography of Williams, tracked it down and managed to obtain the rights for it. Naturally she was eager to act in it as well as co-produce it, but the main female role is for a 19-year-old ... and director Trevor Nunn told Redgrave it was inappropriate for her to take the one tiny role for a middle-aged woman. ---------*---------- Sources for this week's report included: The Associated Press; Australia Channel 10 Television Network News; The Australian Broadcasting Corporation; Cable News Network; The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; The Chicago Tribune; The Herald Sun (Melbourne, Victoria, AUS); The Independent (London); The Telegraph (London); The London Times; The National Broadcasting Corporation (U.S.); The New York Times; Reuters; The San Francisco Chronicle; The San Francisco Examiner; The San Jose (CA) Mercury News; United Press International; The Wall Street Journal; The Washington Post; The Windhoek Advertiser (South Africa); and cyberpress releases from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Australian Green Party; the Human Rights Campaign (U.S.); Log Cabin Republicans; the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (U.S.); People for the American Way; the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.