NewsWrap for the week ending May 30th, 1998 (As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT Program #531, distributed 06-01-98) [Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Jason Lin, Graham Underhill, Brian Nunes, Martin Rice, Rex Wockner, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Leo Garcia and Cindy Friedman U.S. President Bill Clinton this week issued an executive order prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in non-military federal employment. In the course of his presidency, almost every federal agency had already adopted its own similar statement, but the first-of-its-kind executive order ensures a uniform policy. However, the President lacks the authority to extend civil rights enforcement to discrimination gays and lesbians may experience. Clinton called on the Congress to take that step, saying, "Individuals should not be denied a job on the basis of something that has no relationship to their ability to perform their work." Barry Goldwater, a one-time U.S. Presidential candidate who also came to support civil rights protections for gays and lesbians, has died at the age of 89. Barry Goldwater was viewed as an extremely conservative Republican when he when he ran for President in 1964. But as his party itself moved to the right in later decades, he protested the growing influence of religious groups on Republican politics, and in the '90's he came forward as an advocate for gays and lesbians. In 1993, he spoke up for lifting the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces, saying, "You don't need to be 'straight' to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight." In 1994, he called for enactment of federal protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation, saying, "It's time America realized that there was no gay exemption in the right to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' in the Declaration of Independence. Job discrimination against gays -- or anybody else -- is contrary to each of these founding principals." He went on to appear in a TV spot supporting ENDA, the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He also spoke in support of local and statewide civil rights legislation in Arizona, the state he'd represented in the U.S. Senate for five terms. South Africa's 1996 constitution was the first in the world to explicitly protect gays and lesbians from discrimination, but this week the nation launched its next step towards realizing its constitution's promises. The constitution itself requires enactment of national laws against all forms of discrimination by February 2000. To develop those laws, South Africa's Ministry of Justice this week kicked off the Equality Legislation Drafting Project, a committee led by Johann van der Westhuizen of the University of Pretoria, a civil rights expert who previously advised the Constitutional Assembly. Justice Minister Dullah Omar suggested that in addition to legal recourse for victims of discrimination and penalties for its perpetrators, affirmative action might be necessary, in his words, "to rectify the imbalances of the past." It appeared to be a civil rights advance when the Parliament of Cyprus voted to reform the nation's sodomy law, but a series of last-minute amendments added to ensure passage could prove more dangerous than the original law. Given a firm deadline by the Council of Europe after five years of avoiding the issue, politicians still faced the wrath of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. To appease the Church, members of parliament spent two hours before the vote in closed session, doctoring the government's reform bill to clarify that they were not "encouraging" homosexuality. There was some delay in the details of those amendments reaching the public, but they have since raised some serious concerns. The new law makes repeated references to "unnatural licentiousness," apparently as a synonym for homosexuality. It prescribes jail sentences for ill-defined "indecent proposals" and "advertising," sentences which are greater than for similar heterosexual offenses. The potential for human rights abuses has sparked protest from the Pancyprian Association for the Protection of Human Rights, Cyprus' Green Party and Amnesty International. Amnesty has promised to adopt as "prisoners of conscience" anyone incarcerated under those provisions. However, Amnesty says that "it remains hopeful that the government will act appropriately in terms of enforcement." In fact even the original sodomy law had long been unenforced. The German parliament, the Bundestag, this week passed a general pardon for as many as a half-million people convicted under the laws of the Third Reich. Openly gay Member of Parliament Volker Beck and his Green Party stood aside from approving the pardon, because more conservative parties refused to specify the gay men convicted under the notorious Paragraph 175. However, the Social Democrats maintain that gays are in fact included under the generic phrasing of the pardon. No one rehabilitated under the law will receive any compensation. Tel Aviv police moved in to close down an AIDS fund-raiser in late May for the traditional observance of the Sabbath, even though organizers had obtained prior permission to run later. The annual Wigstock drag show to benefit the Belah Do-eget AIDS project of AGUDAH, the Association of Lesbians, Gay men and Bisexuals in Israel, had attracted some 10,000 people to Independence Park. When organizers' negotiations with police failed, some 2,000 enraged audience members poured out into a major intersection in a spontaneous and illegal demonstration that blocked traffic for two hours. Four people were arrested but released a few hours later. The AGUDAH Executive Board issued a statement afterwards saying that it "hopes that this demonstration will make it clear to those in Israel who threaten freedom of culture, belief and love, that we will not surrender to those who try to enforce prohibitions contrary to our values" and called the police closure of the event an "act of orthodox religious oppression." Nova Scotia this week became the first Canadian province to extend pensions to the same-gender partners of its government employees. A recent Ontario appeals court ruling opened the door for gay and lesbian pension rights which the language of the federal Income Tax Act had previously blocked. Other provinces have been waiting to see if the federal government will appeal that ruling, but Nova Scotia decided to settle a human rights complaint two gay men had filed in 1995. Nova Scotia ordered payment to the two men directly from the civil service and teacher's union pension funds, but the province will pick up the tab if Canada appeals the Ontario ruling. Nova Scotia is acting to expand the benefits to its entire public service workforce, and expects the private sector will follow suit. In the U.S., the Missouri state Supreme Court this week unanimously struck down the state's 1996 law denying legal recognition to same-gender marriages another state may someday perform. However, it was a technical decision based on the overly general title of the larger law containing the marriage ban, and anti-marriage legislators say they'll seek a new law in the next session. Missouri law already specificly defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Vietnam 's government appears to be taking a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to same-gender couples. The Ministry of Justice issued an order to "put an end to the marriage" of Vinh Long lesbians Hong Kim Huong and Cao Tien Duyen, who celebrated a public wedding ceremony in March before hundreds of people. Twenty Communist Party officials met with the couple in their home, and emerged after three hours with their signatures on a promise not to live together. Justice officials insisted that the only problem was the public wedding, saying that many lesbian couples living privately in the province "are left in peace." Although Vietnamese law makes no reference to same- gender marriages, the Communist Party found the public ceremony to be contrary to tradition and public morals. "Corpus Christi", the new play by open gay Terrence McNally, is back on the schedule at the Manhattan Theater Center in New York City. The production had been cancelled after a series of death threats and a threat to burn down the entire theater, but after consultation with New York's police commissioner, management now feels that with some additional security precautions, the production may proceed. Religious groups had protested the play after a news report described it as portraying a gay Jesus figure who had sex with his apostles. The cancellation was protested in stinging terms by most of the nation's leading playwrights, and South African Athol Fugard had joined in by withdrawing his own new play from the Manhattan Theater Center's lineup. With the McNally production back on track, Fugard renewed permission for his play, and thirty playwrights joined in praising the theater. And finally ... Wichita Falls, Texas pastor Robert Jeffress' attempt at censorship has backfired. A member of his First Baptist Church congregation checked out of the Kemp Public Library copies of "Heather Has Two Mommies" and "Daddy's Roommate", two books for children about children with lesbian and gay parents. When the church member brought the books to Jeffress, he paid the library for the books instead of returning them, saying they were immoral because they condoned and advocated homosexual acts. His Board of Deacons stood behind him, but at least two gay-friendly organizations began campaigns to donate new copies. In a matter of days, not only did the library have fifteen additional copies, but in the wake of the publicity, requests to read them had skyrocketed.