NewsWrap for the week ending August 21, 1999 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #595, distributed 8-23-99) [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 Leo Garcia A gang gay-bashing on Clapham Common has shocked London. Fifteen young men attacked a lone gay man who was heading for a bus stop in what police believe was a hate crime. The victim required emergency surgery on his skull and also suffered fractured ribs and severe bruising. He has been unable to provide much information about his attackers. Nothing so brutal has happened in that neighborhood before, although Clapham Common has long been known as a gay cruising area. In the U.S., hoping to stop some of the inspiration for anti-gay violence, Reverend Mel White has won a promise from Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell to "lower the volume and shrillness of [his] rhetoric" against gays and lesbians. Before he came out as a gay man, White was long an important writer for the religious right, including ghost-writing Falwell's own autobiography. White once fasted more than 20 days to obtain a promise like Falwell's from televangelist Pat Robertson. But while White hailed Falwell's vow as an "historic" victory, don't expect too much -- Falwell still firmly believes that homosexuality is a sin, and doesn't seem to perceive just how vicious some of his statements have been. Falwell also sees himself as a victim of gay and lesbian protest demonstrators, and appears to have made his promise largely in the expectation that gay rhetoric against him will also be toned down. Still, it's a first step, and the next step will be a dinner in October where 200 of Falwell's followers and 200 of White's trainees in non-violence will share their experiences. Had Falwell refused White's request, White had planned to bring 5,000 demonstrators to Falwell's base in Lynchburg, Virginia. A pledge of a different sort was proposed to Republican U.S. Presidential hopefuls in Iowa last week by 15 religious right groups. Entitled, "For the Importance of Marriage and Family," it's a promise that if elected the candidate will resist all efforts to recognize same-gender couples for legal marriage or domestic partnerships, to allow adoption or foster care by gays and lesbians, to "promote homosexuality as normative" in schools, or to extend civil rights protections to gays and lesbians. This pledge was definitely signed by Utah's Republican Senator Orrin Hatch and by publisher Steve Forbes, who inherited his millions from his gay father, the late Malcolm Forbes. The Human Rights Campaign announced that the pledge had also been signed by former Family Research Council head Gary Bauer, commentators Pat Buchanan and Alan Keyes, and former Vice President Dan Quayle, as would be expected -- but their campaigns have not yet confirmed that for reporters. More importantly, the pledge was definitely not signed by leading candidates Texas Governor George W. Bush, Elizabeth Dole or Arizona Senator John McCain, nor by Democrats former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley and Vice President Al Gore. Opposition to a ballot initiative to prohibit legal recognition of same-gender couples in California advanced with one of the largest individual gifts ever made to a referendum campaign there. E-Trade Group head Kathy Levinson and her partner Jennifer Levinson gave $300,000 to the Californians for Fairness Campaign. That brought the opposition much closer to the anti-marriage measure's supporters, who at last report had raised almost four times more money. Federal Express agreed this week to extend so-called "soft" or "non-economic" benefits to the domestic partners of its San Francisco employees. Those benefits include travel discounts for domestic partners and bereavement leave for employees. The move on the last day before a deadline marked minimal compliance with a federal court order imposing part of the city's Equal Benefits Ordinance on air carriers using San Francisco International Airport. It's a far cry from the much more prompt and generous response to the same court order by United Airlines, which extended its full package including health care and pension benefits to the same-gender domestic partners of all its gay and lesbian employees. But compliance by FedEx does save San Francisco from having to defend the court order in the U.S. Supreme Court. Gay and lesbian employees of the United Nations have issued a statement demanding spousal benefits for their partners. It said that, "The gay and lesbian staff members of the United Nations who are in committed primary relationships are not 'single.' GLOBE-UN [The Gay, Lesbian Or Bisexual Employees at the United Nations] encourages the UN to acknowledge this simple fact and to take appropriate action to ensure equal treatment for all its staff." Among the benefits enjoyed by married spouses but not by domestic partners are insurance, pensions, relocation, travel, and assistance in obtaining visas. The visas are seen as particularly crucial, since UN staff could easily be sent to a country where their partners couldn't otherwise follow. The UN's current employment rules do not allow recognition of same-gender partners, who are legally recognized by less than six percent of UN member states. Domestic partners argued for recognition this week in South Africa's Constitutional Court, for purposes of immigration. Although the Cape High Court delivered a strong ruling earlier this year that denying immigration rights to foreign partners of South African gays and lesbians violated the national constitution, that ruling requires confirmation by the Constitutional Court. The Cape High Court had also criticized the Department of Home Affairs' treatment of the six plaintiff couples. Home Affairs argued that it was only following the law, and that the activists should be lobbying the Parliament for legal marriage if they wanted immigration rights. The court has reserved judgment and there is no estimate as to when a ruling may be published. In what's believed to be the first case of its kind in Scotland, a lesbian is suing for visitation with her former partner's child. Andrea Davies had been present at the child's birth and stayed home as the baby's primary caregiver until her partner left her for a man. Davies visited the child regularly until her partner cut her off. The Scottish Legal Aid Board has agreed to assist Davies in her case. Back in the U.S., there were several civil rights defeats for gays and lesbians this week. The Dubuque, Iowa City Council by a 5-to-2 vote rejected a bill to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. The measure had been unanimously recommended by Dubuque's Human Rights Commission, which may bring it back again next year. Falmouth, Maine's City Clerk certified that a petition had enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot a referendum to amend the city's charter to prohibit all official actions regarding sexual orientation. Earlier this year, the City Council had unanimously passed an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. The city attorney is not convinced that that ordinance would be retroactively repealed should the charter amendment pass. Texas A&M University President Ray Bowen vetoed a move to make sexual orientation a protected category under student anti-discrimination rules. The Student Senate, the Graduate Student Council and the Faculty Senate had all approved the proposal. Bowen is unwilling to add categories beyond those specified under federal law, although some 300 other colleges and universities do list sexual orientation in their anti-discrimination policies. And although Nevada's Republican Governor Kenny Guinn signed into law employment protections for gays and lesbians earlier this year, he was not willing to sign a proclamation for Reno's Gay Pride Day. The main reason appeared to be the participation in Reno's first pride parade and third pride festival by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Guinn's press secretary said that the service group who entertain as drag nuns "have been known to put on performances that could be construed as very disrespectful of religious organizations." Sisters spokesnun Sister Camille Leon responded, "We shall pray for Governor Guinn. We will pray that the governor learns the meaning of tolerance and diversity and we hope he attends the parade to learn more about the Sisters and the many diverse people who live in Nevada." Sir Elton John gave his first performance since surgery to install a pacemaker, and all went well. He did a full solo set for about 3,500 people at a private affair celebrating a corporation's 50th anniversary. "I know what it feels like to be 50," Sir Elton said. "Please, after the last month I know what it feels like to be 70." But now he describes himself as "fighting fit" and looking forward to giving concerts in England that the surgery had forced him to postpone. And finally ... thanks to a mysterious computer hacker, visitors to Fred Phelps' web site godhatesfags.com found themselves instead at GodLovesFags.com. GodLovesFags.com's mission is "to share a message of God's love with people who have traditionally been inundated with a message of hate -- and to monitor the actions of those who spew hate in the name of God." Its Webmaster Kris Haight received anonymous e-mails directing him to look at the InterNIC registry, where he discovered that he had somehow been listed as the owner of Phelps' site. He redirected its traffic to his own site, which received some 50,000 visits in the next 48 hours -- many times more than either the godhatesfags or GodLovesFags sites would usually get.