NewsWrap for the week ending January 17th, 1998 (As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT Program #512, distributed 01-19-98) [Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Steffan Jensen, Graham Underhill, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Jon Beaupré and Cindy Friedman ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, has been granted consultative status with the Council of Europe. The Secretary-General of the Council wrote that, "The ILGA is an active and representative organization in its field of competence. It has already established working relations with the Council of Europe. Furthermore, the organization has a specific contribution to make to any discussion on discrimination generally as well as on more specific issues such as discrimination against people with HIV and AIDS." The Council of Europe has come a long way since it rejected ILGA's 1989 application on the grounds that the group's activities were not "directly related to the present program of the Council of Europe." ILGA has been working with the Council for about 20 years, but with its new official status, ILGA will have a chance to be heard by the Council before action is taken on any issues relating to gays and lesbians. It will participate with the Council's three bodies established for cooperation with non-governmental organizations. ILGA had consultative status with the United Nations for more than a year beginning in 1993, but it was suspended as the result of a concerted campaign by U.S. conservatives. Senior Chief Petty Officer Tim McVeigh won a reprieve from discharge this week when he filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Secretaries of Defense and the Navy for violation of privacy. In response, Department of Justice attorneys convinced the Navy to delay McVeigh's discharge at least through an initial hearing on the lawsuit in the coming week. Discharge proceedings against the decorated 17-year veteran were based solely on the "gay" content in the profile associated with one of his several America Online screen names. His attorneys believe not only that the Navy violated the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in its proceedings against McVeigh, but also that both the Navy and America Online may have violated the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The Navy and America Online continue to deny any wrongdoing in the matter. The Australian Defense Force, which allows gays and lesbians to serve openly, won a ruling from the Full Court of the Federal Court this week upholding a policy of discharging personnel testing positive for HIV. Reversing previous decisions by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission and a federal judge, the Full Court approved the ADF's contention that the work requirements of the military justified rejecting personnel with any potentially fatal disorder transmissible by blood. The case, first filed in 1993, now returns to the Human Rights Commission for reconsideration. Military service by gays and lesbians is "pretty far off" and "hard to imagine," according to Venezuela's recruiting chief General Venancio Ortega. Venezuela has a compulsory draft for all 18-year-old males, but homosexuality is grounds for an indefinite deferral of service. Britain's direct action group OutRage! is seeking support in defense of seven men convicted in connection with group sexual activities in their private homes in the town of Bolton. Two discriminatory laws are involved. One is a 1967 ban on sex between men "when more than two persons take part or are present"; there is no comparable law for heterosexual acts. The other is the age of consent of 18 years for gay sex, compared to 16 years for heterosexual and lesbian acts. OutRage! spokesperson Peter Tatchell said that, "The men's conviction for sex with a 17-1/2-year-old is in defiance of last year's European Commission of Human Rights ruling that Britain's unequal age of consent is unlawful, and takes place just months before Parliament is expected to lower the gay age of consent to 16." As a result of those convictions, three of the men have been added to the national Sex Offenders Register, which has already resulted in vandalism, arson and a physical assault against them. OutRage! is calling for letters asking the court for clemency and for contributions in support of the so-called "Bolton 7's" defense. The men were convicted this week and are scheduled to be sentenced February 2nd. Protests continued in Rome following the murder last week of former Papal assistant Enrico Sini Luzi. The Italian national group ArciGay held a candlelight march protesting violence against gays and lesbians, demanding government intervention in at least 18 similar murders of gay men in Rome over the last 7 years. A Sicilian man, Alfredo Ormando, set himself afire and attempted to enter St. Peter's Basilica to protest the Roman Catholic Church's rejection of homosexual acts. Ormando collapsed before he reached the entry, and at last report was in critical condition with third-degree burns on over 90% of his body. The Vatican issued a short statement denying that it was the subject of Ormando's protest, while an ArciGay statement insisted that it was, and charged that, "The Roman Catholic Church is in large part responsible for feeding the prejudices against gays and lesbians." ArciGay also called on the Pope to abort his plans to visit Rome this week. When he arrived in Rome, ArciGay members were gathered to shout "Shame! Shame! Shame!" at the Popemobile as his motorcade went by. In Utah, the Salt Lake City Council has repealed a city employment policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, just a month after adopting it. Three of the 7 seats on the City Council changed hands in between, shifting the balance from December's 5-to-2 vote to adopt the policy to this week's 4-to-3 vote to repeal it. Before voting, the Board heard testimony from about 100 residents, running about 6-to-1 in favor of job protections for gays and lesbians, before an emotionally-charged overflow crowd. Council President Bryce Jolley, who had made it his personal mission to repeal the law, was frightened by the audience reaction to this remark after the vote by Councilmember Deeda Seed, who had spent two years working for the passage of the policy: Councilwoman Deeda Seed: We can't give up. The fight goes on. [boisterous crowd cheers and yells] Council Chair Bryce Jolley: Excuse me ... shut the doors, please ... [more shouting] ... Excuse me -- that is extremely inappropriate ...I would ask that the officers escort these people out of the chambers. We are done with the public hearing. Please, escort everyone out. [crowd:] Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! [fades out] To those chants of "Shame! Shame! Shame!" Jolley withdrew his order to clear the room. He has promised to put forward a "generic" policy against discrimination which does not specify particular protected groups. The U.S. Supreme Court refused this week to hear the appeal of Robin Shahar, who saw a job offer withdrawn by the office of Georgia's Attorney General when it became known that she was celebrating a private religious wedding ceremony with her lesbian partner. The high court's rejection lets stand an appeals court ruling, that Attorney General Michael Bowers' withdrawal of the job was legal, and that the state's interest in the effectiveness of its Law Department overrode any personal rights issues of Shahar's. Bowers had been concerned about Shahar's presumed violation of Georgia's sodomy law, which he had successfully defended before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1986 in the landmark case "Bowers versus Hardwick". But he later revealed that he himself had been breaking state law at the time by engaging in a lengthy adulterous affair with a married woman who worked with him. In Vermont, the 3 same-gender couples seeking to be legally married have filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court. Their attorneys believe they have a good chance of success in appealing a trial judge's ruling, which affirmed that the state could justifiably restrict marriage to heterosexual couples, as a means of "furthering the link between procreation and child rearing." The Vermont Supreme Court is expected to take up the case and hear it within a few months. In Canada, Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside will have to answer to a New Brunswick provincial Human Rights Commission for his adamant refusal to grant a Gay Pride Week proclamation to the group Fredericton Lesbians and Gays, or FLAG. FLAG members charge that Woodside is illegally discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation; Woodside says that sex has no place in the council chambers. Two mayors in Ontario have received substantial fines for refusing gay pride proclamations, but Woodside has received over a thousand letters of support, many with offers of money to help pay off any fine he might incur. The Cayman Islands government has agreed to reconsider the policy that led it to refuse a gay cruise the chance to dock for seven hours. The Caymans had staunchly stonewalled in the face of the international media blitz over its concern that the gay men would behave inappropriately, but the British government was able to get the ear of its dependent territory. After lobbying by groups including the U.S. national gay and lesbian Human Rights Campaign, a top official of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. chided the Caymans for its anti-gay position. Although Britain continues to affirm that docking decisions are completely in the hands of the Caymans government, the British Embassy has promised to continue to monitor the situation. And finally ... "US Magazine" asked Nathan Lane, who had appeared on Broadway in Terence McNally's "Love! Valour! Compassion!" about "Seinfeld's" Jason Alexander having said of playing the same role in the movie version that he was "the first straight man to have played 'Buzz'." Lane said, "I was just surprised that was his way of saying he was straight ... I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for clearing up that conundrum, that unsolved mystery wrapped in an enigma that is my sexuality. A nation can now sleep easily ... Look, I'm 40, I'm single and I work in the musical theater -- you do the math."