NewsWrap for the week ending January 30th, 1999 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #566, distributed 2-1-99) [Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Martin Rice, Rex Wockner, Chris Ambidge, Alejandra Sarda, Alan Reekie, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Leo Garcia Germany formally remembered gay victims of the Holocaust for the first time this week, as part of the official national Day of Remembrance for Victims of Nazism. The main ceremony was held at the site of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin, which held the largest share of the estimated 10 - 15,000 gay men incarcerated by the Nazis. The ceremony included a wreath-laying with a performance by a gay men's chorus, and there were lectures describing the Nazis' treatment of gay men. The gay group SVD participated, and urged the government to rehabilitate the gay victims of the Nazis, who were still considered criminals long after World War II. SVD also called for the government to pay reparations to those gays as it has to other victims, and for the parliament to apologize to them. Britain's House of Commons by a large margin has given preliminary approval to equalizing the age of consent for sex between men to match that for heterosexual acts. The bill would lower the gay age of consent from 18 to 17 in Northern Ireland and to 16 in all the rest of the UK. The Blair government signalled its commitment to equalization by having Home Secretary Jack Straw introduce the measure ... Home Secretary Jack Straw [tape]: =93... This is not a question of encouraging one lifestyle as against another, nor of encouraging young people to have sex -- far from it. Instead, it is a question of equality before the law. For a large number of young people 16 or 17, it may well be the case that they =92 are too young to enter into a significant sexual relationship, and nothing in this bill should be seen as an encouragement for them to do so. But many young people at that age do enter into such relationships, and where they do so on a fully consenting basis, it is not, in my personal view, right for the law to discriminate against those who are homosexual.=94 The Commons had also overwhelmingly approved a similar measure last year, but the House of Lords voted strongly against it. This year the government has promised to use the Parliament Act to push the measure through even if the Lords object. The government did try to respond to concerns raised last year, by including new criminal punishments for adults in positions of authority who engage in sexual activities with 16- and 17-year-olds in their care. But the Conservative majority in the House of Lords remains unappeased and is lining up to oppose equalization after the Commons take their final vote in the coming week. Britain is under pressure from the European Union to change the law, which has been found to violate both privacy and anti-discrimination clauses of the European Convention on Human Rights. The parliament of Guernsey also voted this week to lower the gay age of consent, but stopped short of equalization. The fiercely independent and fiercely conservative Channel Island British Crown dependency was only willing to drop the gay age of consent from 21 to 18, while the heterosexual age is 16. Even so, it was a hard-won victory for the island's fledgling gay group, Courage. A European Court has confirmed that the Council of Europe need not extend spousal benefits to its employees' same-gender partners, despite an anti- discrimination statement in its regulations. The Council employee who appealed to the Court is a gay Swede who had legally registered his relationship in his home country, where it's equivalent to marriage in almost every way. But when he applied for the household allowance given to Council employees with traditional families who are posted away from their homes, he was refused. Europe's Court of First Instance ruled that the Council is not bound by the laws of its member states in interpreting its own Staff Regulations, which refer only to civil marriage in the traditional sense. Despite the addition of an anti-discrimination statement to the regulations last year, the Court said that it was up to the Council to choose to make any further policy changes to recognize same-gender couples. The Clinton administration this week nominated gay activist Andrew Tobias to serve as treasurer of the Democratic National Committee. DNC General Chair Roy Romer called Tobias "a well-rounded and thoughtful leader known for his innovative and progressive ideas and vast accomplishments." Under the pseudonym John Reid, Tobias wrote the classic gay memoir "The Best Little Boy in the World" and its new sequel "The Best Little Boy Grows Up." Under his own name, he wrote the best-seller "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need." An openly gay political appointee of new Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams resigned this week over a misunderstanding. To describe the way he'd have to manage his very small budget, Office of Public Advocate head David Howard used the word "niggardly," meaning stingy. But the workers he was talking to thought he was using a racial slur, and so many inflammatory rumors went around the capital city that both Howard and Williams believed he could no longer be effective in his ombudsman-type position. A number of gay community leaders both black and white protested the resignation. Williams might consider a different job for Howard when a fact-finding investigation is completed. Other political types have also been busy in the U.S. ... The Board of Utah's Division of Child and Family Services adopted a policy to prohibit all unmarried couples from adopting children in state foster care. The Broward County, Florida Commission approved a measure which not only extends spousal benefits to domestic partners of unmarried County employees, but also provides incentives in bidding for County contracts to businesses which do the same. But in Columbus, Ohio, an initiative to repeal the city's new domestic partner employee benefits qualified for the ballot. Louisville, Kentucky will become the first government in the state to protect gays, lesbians and transsexuals from job discrimination when the mayor adds his signature to a bill the Board of Aldermen approved this week. A hate crimes bill came to a floor vote in Wyoming for the first time, passing the House when the chair broke a tie vote. Like at least three similar measures coming up this term in the state where Matthew Shepard was beaten to death, it includes homophobic bias as a basis for stronger sentencing. In New Zealand, it's goodbye to Nelson's gay radio show "Gaytime FM", after five-and-a-half years of weekly broadcasting. Although it was one of the most popular radio programs in the area, it could no longer find the funds to keep going. But in Argentina, it's hello to the nation's first continuing lesbigay-and- trans TV show, "Asterico.gay", making its debut in February. Its carrier Cablevision TCI will actually bring the weekly magazine format show to audiences in southern Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile as well. The Sydney Opera House had planned to join in Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras by having those drag nuns, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, guide its regular tours for two days. But no sooner were these plans happily announced in the press, than angry Catholics began making phone calls. After the Catholic Church received 100 complaints, an unnamed "senior church figure" contacted the Opera House on their behalf, and the Opera House cancelled the Sisters. Mardi Gras Festival president David McLachlan protested in turn, calling the cancellation "a serious affront to Mardi Gras." A spokesperson for the Sisters said, "Our main tenet is the expiation of stigmatic guilt. We don't set out to vilify Roman Catholic nuns." At the Australian Open tennis tournament this week, French lesbian Amelie Mauresmo came out of nowhere to beat top-ranked Lindsay Davenport in the semi- finals. In 1996, Mauresmo was the world juniors champion, but she'd never before made it past the third round on the women's tour. She lost the final match to number-two-ranked Martina Hingis, but scored major points for gay and lesbian pride. Her lover Sylvie Bourdon was with her at the tournament, and they were cheerfully open about their relationship. In the previous twelve months, Mauresmo had rocketed up the rankings from 108 to 29, which she attributes to Bourdon keeping her relaxed and happy. Her second-place finish now moves her up to number 18, and no one doubts she has a great career ahead. Both Davenport and Hingis were quoted in the media as making some rather homophobic-sounding remarks, but Mauresmo wasn't bothered in the least. Davenport berated reporters for taking her remarks out of context and wrote a note of apology to Mauresmo. Hingis also said she'd been misquoted, but made no apology to Mauresmo. At the close of the final match, the two shook hands rather coldly and skipped the women's tour tradition of exchanging pecks on the cheek. And finally ... as the film "Shakespeare in Love" has reminded everyone, in the playwright's day, all parts were performed by male actors. At the Bard's historic theater the Globe, both "Julius Caesar" and "Antony and Cleopatra" will be staged with all-male casts this year, artistic director Mark Rylance announced this week. He's taking for himself the juicy role of the Queen of Egypt, saying, "It must not be camp. But I will be a woman, I will be Cleopatra.... I want people to believe I love Antony as much as anyone has loved Antony, that I am jealous, that I am a Venusian character opposite the Apollo world of men." He still hasn't cast the part of Antony, though, but remarks that, "I'm very choosy. He will have to have good breath."