NewsWrap for the week ending August 14, 1999 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #594, distributed 8-16-99) [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 Leo Garcia and Cindy Friedman The U.S. military this week issued new guidelines intended to clarify its so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on service by gays and lesbians. The guidelines were accompanied by a strong statement against harassment by Secretary of Defense William Cohen. A memo from his Undersecretary for Personnel Rudy de Leon said that, "Servicemembers should be able to report crimes and harassment free from fear of harm, reprisal or inappropriate or inadequate government response" -- in other words, that those who report anti-gay harassment should be treated as victims rather than suspects. The revised guidelines reserve investigations of homosexuality for senior personnel in the military justice system, and prescribe training on the anti-harassment rules for personnel at all levels. It remains to be seen whether the military will actually enforce its guidelines; since the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy went into effect in 1994, no one has ever been officially disciplined for asking, pursuing or harassing. Officials indicated that the military guidelines were released in response to the July bashing murder of Private Barry Winchell at Fort Campbell in Tennessee. Testimony in a preliminary hearing this week for suspect Private Calvin Glover revealed that Winchell had been the subject of homophobic taunting by his co-workers for four to six months before his death. No superior ever intervened in that harassment, but two sergeants specifically asked Winchell if he were gay, in flagrant violation of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". The rumors that Winchell was gay were started by his roommate Specialist Justin Fisher, who paradoxically was also the one to introduce Winchell to the gay bar in Nashville and the transsexual he went on to date. Fisher is a suspected accomplice to the murder. Decisions as to whether he or Glover will be court-martialled will be made in late August. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" also appeared to be the theme for the Boy Scouts of America in a policy statement released this week in connection with an employment dispute in Rhode Island. Until now, the Scouts' notorious and much-litigated ban on gays had been unwritten. In the case that sparked the statement, a 16-year-old Eagle Scout -- whose name has not been made public -- sought to return to full-time office work at Camp Yawgoog, where he'd previously cut back to part-time. Although his version and that of camp leaders are distinctly different in several respects, both agree that he was asked about his sexual orientation and his employment was terminated. To protest the firing, some 90 camp staff held a sit-in that shut down operations for the first time in more than 80 years. The Eagle Scout filed a complaint with the state Human Rights Commission, because both employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and inquiring about job applicants' sexual orientation are illegal in Rhode Island. After various consultations, the policy statement was issued on Narragansett Council stationery with the approval of national headquarters. The statement said that as a matter of policy, Scouting does not ask about the sexual orientation of any member, and that Scouting complies with all applicable employment laws. It also said that "those who openly self-identify as homosexuals -- 'known or avowed'" will not be accepted as Scouts or leaders. As for the Eagle Scout whose case led to the statement, it said that there was no basis to question his eligibility, and he has returned to full-time work at the camp. But the Boy Scouts of America is not letting the matter rest there. It was revealed this week that national leadership had approved in May plans for a year-long study to decide whether the membership policy should be based on sexual orientation or behavior -- the distinction the U.S. military has discussed in terms of "status" and "conduct". The areas to be reviewed and ultimately considered by the Scouts' executive board are "The moral and religious basis for defining homosexuality as a moral issue"; the "scientific and medical basis for the determination of sexual orientation and the effect of homosexual orientation upon youth in dealing with their own sexuality"; and the consequences of the policy itself, in terms of losing support from public agencies and others. Young gays and lesbians in Hong Kong were foiled this week in an effort to reach out to their peers. The Chinese University's Tongzhi Culture Society, the only officially recognized gay and lesbian student group in Hong Kong, had hoped to greet incoming freshmen at five other schools there. When they sought permission to have a booth at orientation events, they received some equivocal answers. This week at City University, five TCS members went ahead and set up their booth anyway, only to be confronted by security guards until they left. City University's student union president insisted that the issue was not anti-gay discrimination but lack of space. But a group of South African activists were able to meet with some national government officials this week. The meeting was announced by Juan Uys, leader of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance political party, who attended with four of his group's members; five other gays and lesbians participated as well. Details of the discussion have not yet been made public. Lesbians in India are determined to make their issues public, even though those who appeared at a news conference this week were afraid to be photographed or to give their names. Members of New Delhi's Campaign for Lesbian Rights issued what's believed to be the first report on the status of lesbians in India, as part of a call for decriminalization of sex between women. Their statement said, "Women have been harassed, attacked, blackmailed, coerced into marriages and sexual relationships, have lost their jobs, housing rights, family property ... and have been prevented from protesting by being threatened by the police and their immediate social milieu." Meanwhile, the Women's Support Group in Colombo is planning for December an international lesbian conference they believe will be the first of its kind in South Asia. A Scottish group for lesbians over 40 was recently awarded a small grant by the Edinburgh City Council, at the unanimous recommendation of the Council's all-party women's committee. The committee reported that the women were too fearful to do their own fund-raising. But in Canada, a University of Toronto group is traveling around Ontario to increase visibility, and specifically to promote a hotline for lesbigay youth. They call their van “Priscilla, Queen of the North” in a nod to the popular movie about Australian drag queens. This week, they held a lesbian wedding ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Recognition of same-gender domestic partners is the subject of a long-awaited discussion paper New Zealand's government is about to release. The Ministry of Justice will accept public comment on 8 or 9 key questions and then report to the Parliament on proposed amendments to the Human Rights Act. According to openly gay Labour Member of Parliament Tim Barnett, there are 35 New Zealand laws that discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. Prime Minister Jenny Shipley told a group of high school students that she favors legal recognition for those couples, but does not support extending legal marriage to them. Spousal benefits for employees' same-gender domestic partners were announced this week by U.S. Airways, the U.S.' sixth-largest airline. Following United and American, it's the third airline to announce plans to offer the benefits in the U.S. Gainesville, Florida's City Commission this week approved spousal health care benefits for domestic partners of all its unmarried employees, regardless of gender. Given a choice among three similar proposals, Commissioners selected the one that would provide benefits to the largest number of workers at the earliest possible date. Reverend Gregory Dell was in a United Methodist Church court this week appealing his conviction and sentence for having blessed a gay male couple. Since there's no question that he performed the ceremony, and since the denomination's highest judicial authority has affirmed the ban on such actions as church law, there didn't seem to be much hope for Dell's appeal of his conviction for disobedience. The arguments were stronger against his sentence, however, which essentially strips him of his ordination indefinitely, until such time as he will promise in writing never to preside at another same-gender union. The prosecutor's view was that if Dell couldn't abide by the laws of the church, he should leave it. And finally, even in tolerant Edinburgh, in the madness of its annual Fringe Festival, distinguished playwright Terrence McNally's gay take on the lives of Jesus and his disciples was vehemently protested by some Christians. Appropriately enough, the European debut of his play "Corpus Christi" was staged in what used to be a church, but is now known as the Bedlam Theatre. Before the play opened, some women were discovered praying in the bathrooms. With a laying-on-of-hands on the restroom walls, they were trying to "cleanse" the theater, and fully expected that an "act of God" would prevent the show from opening. Some 70 people demonstrated outside the theater on opening night with prayers, hymns and chants, but at least their leader, pastor Jack Glass, made it a theatrical protest which was suitable to the theme. He wore a crown of thorns, and when TV actor Stephen Billington arrived to play his role as Judas, Glass handed him 30 pieces of silver. And speaking of silver, thanks to the controversy, despite the competition of more than 1,300 other Fringe Festival shows, "Corpus Christi" sold out the house.