NewsWrap for the week ending December 13th, 1997 (As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT Program #507, distributed 12-15-97) [Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Susan Gage, Michael Demmons, Rex Wockner, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Tory Christopher and Cindy Friedman On International Human Rights Day December 10th, the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group became the first lesbian and gay organization ever to receive an Australian national human rights award. The group was honored for its successful nine-year campaign to repeal the island state's sodomy law, a campaign which included bringing a case before the United Nations Human Rights Committee, passage of a national sexual privacy law, filing a case with the Australian High Court, and numerous demonstrations, as well as vigorous lobbying of the state parliament. In accepting the award with Nick Toonen, Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesperson Rodney Croome said, "We helped transform Tasmanian society from one based on exclusion and polarization into a society that values tolerance and practices inclusion. Perhaps more importantly we gave hope to people across Australia and around the planet that a small group of committed people can change their world for the better." A committee responsible for giving the Florida state constitution its regular 20-year review this week rejected a proposal to add sexual orientation as a category protected from discrimination. Even those committee members who claim to support civil rights protections for gays and lesbians were concerned that the controversial issue might prove a barrier to the adoption of other amendments. In 1978, dissension over the addition of gender as a protected category ended with voters defeating the entire slate of recommended amendments. Salt Lake City this week became the first municipality in Utah to adopt an employment policy ensuring equal opportunity for gays and lesbians in city jobs. More than two hours of public testimony before the 5-to-2 vote included such virulently homophobic statements that the bill's sponsor, City Council Chair Deeda Seed, declared that her "heart was broken" and that she was left more discouraged than when she first set out to pass the measure two years ago. Councilmember Bryce Jolley expects to be able to repeal the bill in a matter of weeks when newly elected Councilmembers replace three of the current group. The Lutheran Church of the Netherlands has announced that it will boycott next year's international conference of the World Council of Churches if it is held in Harare, Zimbabwe as planned. The move is a protest against the viciously homophobic public statements of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu met in Cape Town this week with openly gay minister Troy Perry, founder and moderator of the gay- affirming Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. In the course of their wide-ranging discussion of human rights issues, they considered the role of religion in the politics of gay and lesbian civil rights. Tutu said, ""Some people always try to take the Bible literally and legalistically. Quoting the Bible is not enough." He went on to say, "Parents must love their children. It is a shame that fathers still teach their sons not to cry as though that would make them seem like a woman. Fathers teach their sons not to have real feelings. Every human being should rejoice and celebrate both our masculine and feminine sides." Tutu has been an outspoken advocate for equality and played a key role in seeing that South Africa's new constitution included a ban on sexual orientation discrimination. The Metropolitan Community Church's Justice Minister, open gay Mel White, was honored with the American Civil Liberties Union's National Civil Liberties Award for effectively advancing civil rights for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people through principles of non-violence. The award includes a five-week tour of India to study with the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. Norway's state church, which ordains gays and lesbians but expects them to remain celibate, has delayed making a decision whether to defrock an openly lesbian minister who legally registered her domestic partnership. Bishop Rosemarie Koehn has given lesbian priest Siri Sunde a temporary consulting job instead of a pastoral post while an advisory committee considers her case. The church is currently exempt from national laws against sexual orientation discrimination in employment. Catholic University in Washington, D.C. has had two of its awards returned by alumni after withdrawing an award it had planned to give actor-producer Joseph Sicari. Open gay Sicari had been selected to receive an Alumni Achievement Award, until he turned in a biographical statement identifying himself as a founding member of ACT UP. The university found that objectionable partly because a 1989 ACT UP demonstration disrupted a service at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. In protest, one gay Catholic University law school graduate returned his Law School Alumni Society Award, following film actress Susan Sarandon's return of her 1982 alumni achievement award. She wrote that, "If you are following the tenets of the Catholic Church, you should have [my award] back, too. I don't deserve it. I just think that this mixing of politics and religion is too dangerous." Annise Parker has become the first open lesbian or gay ever elected to public office in Harris County, Texas as she won by a landslide a special election to an at-large seat on the Houston City Council. In the same election, Houston elected its first African American mayor, gay-friendly candidate Lee Brown, over his homophobic opponent Rob Mosbacher. Mayor Brad Woodside of Fredericton, New Brunswick is the latest Canadian mayor to refuse to issue a gay and lesbian pride proclamation. If he can't work things out with the group Fredericton Lesbians and Gays by the first of the year, he will have to explain himself before the provincial Human Rights Commission. Ironically, the government minister responsible for the Commission, Roland MacIntyre, himself refused to issue the proclamation at the provincial level. Woodside has received more than a thousand letters on the subject, most supportive, and many offering money to help pay any fine the Commission may ultimately levy against him for discrimination. Two other mayors in Ontario have been fined C$5,000 and C$10,000 for similar actions. In Chesterton, Indiana, the Duneland School Board voted 4-to-1 this week to allow a gay and lesbian history poster to remain on the wall of a high school classroom. The vote upheld a prior unanimous decision by the school district's Materials Reconsideration Committee. The poster had been displayed on the same wall for six years without comment until one student's parents raised objections last year. Those parents have the support of a local group of the Christian Coalition and free legal assistance from the right-wing American Center for Law and Justice, and may decide to appeal the decision further. The poster is headlined, "Unfortunately, history has set the record a little too straight" and depicts 10 historic figures believed to be lesbian or gay. Openly lesbian sitcom star Ellen DeGeneres this week was selected by the New York City-based Ms. Foundation as one its top ten women role models, in the first of what's intended to be an annual listing. DeGeneres also received the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California's Bill of Rights award for advancing gay and lesbian equality by coming out along with her sitcom character earlier this year. But some ABC network affiliates in rural areas and in the South have complained to the network that they haven't been able to find local sponsors for DeGeneres' sitcom because of its portrayal of lesbian dating. DeGeneres' partner film actress Anne Heche was honored this week by the National Board of Review as the year's Best Supporting Actress for her work in "Wag the Dog" and "Donnie Brasco." While Heche hasn't yet become as much of an activist as DeGeneres, she says that she's interested in working for equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians. The Australian census has completed its tally of the nation's first-ever count of gay and lesbian domestic partners, identifying a total of 19,772 couples. Almost half were in New South Wales and about one-fifth in Victoria. Although many believe this first count is only "the tip of the iceberg," it's comparable to the population of many towns in the country and should add weight to efforts to win legal recognition for same-gender couples. Openly gay singer-songwriter Elton John this week won four of the annual Billboard music awards. One of them was a special award for his "Candle in the Wind 1997" tribute to Princess Diana becoming the best-selling single of all time. John also co-hosted a star-studded benefit for the Museum of Modern Art in New York City that launched a retrospective display of the creations of the late openly gay fashion designer Gianni Versace. The Museum's Costume Institute anticipates more than 300,000 visitors to the Versace show over the next four months. And finally ... the new year will bring a new 14-by-48-foot billboard to West Hollywood, California, showing a pair of lesbian brides roaring off together on their motorcycle, with the caption, "Registered at Epiffany's."