NewsWrap for the week ending August 7, 1999 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #593, distributed 8-9-99) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Martin Rice, Rex Wockner, Chris Ambidge, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Dean Elzinga The New Jersey state Supreme Court this week unanimously found the Boy Scouts of America's ban on gays to be an illegal violation of the state's Law Against Discrimination. It's the first state supreme court ever to rule against the Scouts in a civil rights case, and BSA has vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. New Jersey's highest court found that the Scouts are a "public accommodation" which must abide by the state's civil rights law, rather than a private group exempt from it. California's state supreme court had found just the opposite only last year. But the New Jersey justices cited the Scouts' broad-based membership and open recruiting, and its associations with schools, police, fire departments, and other government groups bound by the law. The New Jersey court also rejected the Scouts' argument that the ban on gays is part of its primary mission, particularly since there is no reference to the ban anywhere in thousands of pages of Scout publications. The ruling came in the case of much-honored Eagle Scout James Dale, who was removed from his volunteer position as an assistant scoutmaster in 1990 after being quoted in a newspaper talking about gay youth. Speaking of the ban, Dale said, James Dale: “The Boys Scouts taught me about right and wrong ... you know what? If I look in the Scout Handbook, this is wrong, no two ways about it, and the Supreme Court of New Jersey has sort of remedied that.” But Boy Scouts of America national spokesperson Gregg Shields said, Gregg Shields: “The Boy Scouts policy stands across the country. Several other states have already reviewed it and found in favor of the Boy Scouts, and we feel confident that ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court will find in our favor as well. The Boy Scouts of America is a private, voluntary association of people. The 1st Amendment protects our right as a private voluntary association to freedom of assembly.” Religious right groups immediately howled at the New Jersey ruling. But a different perspective was offered by Scott Cozza, ousted as a Scout leader for joining his son Steve in founding Scouting For All, a movement petitioning the Boy Scouts of America to lift the ban. He told CNN’s “TalkBack”: Scott Cozza: “Scouting was founded in England in 1907, and scouting is a world movement, it's not just here in America, we're part of a world association of scouting -- and most of the countries, this issue of gays, they're laughing at us as Americans that it's even an issue.” The Scouts have until November to file their appeal, but it's entirely up to the U.S. Supreme Court justices whether or not they take the case for review. Britain’s military ban on gays and lesbians may face some interesting questions, now that the Ministry of Defence has formalized a policy on transsexuals. Officials say the guidelines issued this week only clarify a policy which has long been in practice, of treating transsexuality like any other long-term medical condition. That means transsexuals can continue to serve in uniform as long as they're physically able to carry out their duties. The guidelines grew out of the case of 20-year veteran Sergeant Major Joe Rushton, who is now known as Joanne and awaiting sex reassignment surgery. Like other women, Rushton will be barred from about 30% of the jobs in the British military. But while officials insist their new guidelines make no difference in the military ban on gays and lesbians, Christine Burns of the transgender group Press for Change is doubtful. She notes that since Britain refuses to issue new birth certificates to transsexuals, "Joanne will physically be a woman but legally be a man. Given the Army's ban on homosexuality, it is not clear whether she will be allowed to have sexual relations with a man or a woman -- if anyone." American Airlines this week announced that it will extend full spousal benefits to the same-gender partners of its gay and lesbian employees worldwide. They'll be able to receive benefits including survivor pension benefits and medical, dental and life insurance in less than a year. American's announcement came less than a week after a nearly identical statement by United Airlines, both carefully referring to domestic partners who cannot legally marry. No air carrier has previously offered pension and insurance benefits to same-gender partners in the U.S. United and American are the number-one and number-two airlines in passenger-miles. Britain's government signalled this week that it may extend official recognition to same-gender couples for compensation for crime victims. To date, Britain has recognized gay and lesbian couples only for immigration. But the Home Office has taken note of the public outcry at the differential treatment of a married man and a gay man who were both widowed in the April bombing of Soho's Admiral Duncan gay pub. Julian Dykes qualified for up to 10,000-pounds' compensation for the loss of his wife Andrea, while gay Gary Partridge could not qualify after losing his life partner John Light, regardless of the duration or economic interdependence of their relationship. The Home Office had already been engaged in a major review of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. But while no final decisions have been made, sources close to Home Secretary Jack Straw told the "London Times" that he believes its policy against awards to same-gender couples is "unsustainable." They even suggested that a modification to treat gay and lesbian couples the same as unmarried heterosexual couples could be attached to a bill to be introduced in November. That's the bill to lower the age of consent for sex between men to match that for heterosexual acts, which the government has promised a European court it will override the House of Lords to enact, if necessary. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a hearing this week on the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which -- among other provisions -- would allow the federal government to respond to homophobic hate crimes for the first time. The U.S. Senate had passed a similar measure two weeks before as a rider to a major spending bill. The House Committee heard from legal scholars and law enforcement personnel, but also from a number of victims of hate crimes and their families, including Oklahoma gay Tony Orr. He described an evening two years ago when he and his partner Tim Beauchamp were using a cash machine in Tulsa. Three men approached and asked if they were "faggots." They knocked Orr to the ground and kicked him in the head and stomach. When Beauchamp tried to intervene, they beat him even more severely. Orr suffered a concussion and wounds to his head requiring stitches. Beauchamp suffered a broken facial bone that left him with permanent nerve damage. The assailants told police they were "only rolling a couple of fags." As Orr told the Committee, Tony Orr: “We're lucky we escaped with our lives, and the vicious criminals who attacked us were given 40 measly hours of community service.” Although the Hate Crimes Prevention Act is a top priority for President Bill Clinton, its future is uncertain. It's vigorously opposed by the religious right. No further action has yet been scheduled on it as the Congress goes into recess for a month. House Judiciary Committee Chair Henry Hyde, an Illinois Republican, called hate crimes "senseless acts of inhumanity" but has not taken a position on the legislation. It's not clear whether the hate crimes language passed by the Senate will survive a House-Senate conference committee. But it does have 182 co-sponsors in the House and 20 in the Senate, and it's gone much farther than last year, when it received no action at all. Although it wasn't a hate crime under Alabama law, two men were convicted and sentenced this week in the widely-reported February murder of gay Billy Jack Gaither. Steven Mullins, who pleaded guilty and confessed to having stabbed Gaither several times and fatally bludgeoning him with an ax handle, said that he'd acted out of hatred towards gays. Charles Butler, Junior, who confessed to having accompanied Mullins, to helping to burn Gaither's body on a pile of tires, and to setting fire to his car, was tried before a jury and found guilty of capital murder. Both men were sentenced to life without parole, because Gaither's family requested that they not be put to death. And finally ... it was a difficult week for followers of professional homophobe Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kansas. Phelps himself stayed in Kansas to make an unsuccessful attempt to crash Melissa Etheridge's 20th high school reunion in Leavenworth, but ten of his family and followers made a tour of points north to protest recognition of same-gender couples. Outside the Vermont Supreme Court in Montpelier, where a lawsuit for legal gay and lesbian marriage is under consideration, they aborted their visit when 250 counterdemonstrators encircled them chanting, "Get your hate out of the state." In downtown Montreal, the Phelps group was set upon by some 50 demonstrators waving rainbow flags, and a scuffle ensued that resulted in two arrests. And while the Phelps gang finally made it to the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa on their third attempt in three months, and demonstrated peacefully there against the recent "M v. H" decision giving gay and lesbian couples the same recognition as unmarried heterosexuals, they had to get some help, from the local police they'd previously feared wouldn't protect them. After months of saying they'd burn a Canadian flag, they discovered they didn't know how to go about it, and turned to Ottawa-Carleton Sergeant Doug Kirkland for advice. He wasn't entirely comfortable giving it, but said he was acting less as a "technical adviser" than as a "safety advisor," because any piece of burning nylon that flew off would just keep on burning whatever it hit. The group took his suggestion of using nail polish remover.