NewsWrap for the week ending September 25, 1999 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #600, distributed 9-27-99) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Martin Rice, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Martin Rice, Rex Wockner, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Leo Garcia and Cindy Friedman A gay-identified company was listed for the first time this week on the Australian Stock Exchange. Staff of the Satellite Group Limited celebrated the occasion outside the Exchange wearing pink suits, carrying pink briefcases, and surrounded by pink flowers and pink balloons. The actual trading was far less colorful -- on what was a bad trading day throughout the market, SGL ended the day where it began, at its issue price of 50-cents per share. But that did nothing to hurt the company, whose 25-million-dollar "float" had actually been oversubscribed, giving it the capital to pay down debt and complete purchase of some gay and lesbian publications. Although the company's media arm has gotten the greatest buzz, most of the Satellite Group's assets are in real property, and it expects to quickly develop both entertainment and retirement venues for gays and lesbians. Shareholders include major institutions and some 2,700 individual private investors, about a third of them lesbians and gays. In the Australian state of Victoria, Andrew Olexander has been elected the first openly gay member of the state's Upper House, the Legislative Council. Liberal Party candidate Olexander led his Australian Labor Party opponent by a substantial margin in the Silvan electorate. Another openly gay candidate in Victoria, Joseph O'Reilly of the Labor Party, had been billed as "Australia's first openly gay man to be preselected by a major political party for a winnable seat," but O'Reilly came in second to gay-friendly incumbent Member of the Legislative Assembly Liberal Leonie Burke in the heavily gay Prahran district. Now-open bisexual Ron Davies is one of seven Members of the British Parliament who will not be seeking re-election there because the Labour Party has rejected so-called "dual mandates." For Davies, this means he will leave the House of Commons but will continue as a Member of the Welsh National Assembly; some others will continue as Members of the Scottish National Parliament. Meanwhile, Michael Portillo, who recently revealed having past affairs with other men, faces stiff competition as he seeks the Conservative Party nomination for the safe seat in Parliament representing Kensington and Chelsea. Should he be selected, the direct action group OutRage! has promised to dog him on the campaign trail to remind everyone of his anti-gay record as a former Tory leader and Secretary of Defence. Britain's third party, the Liberal Democrats, took strong stands in support of gays and lesbians at their national party conference this week. New Lib-Dem leader Charles Kennedy specifically called for lifting the ban on military service by gays and lesbians in his address closing the meeting. The conference had adopted by an overwhelming margin a resolution demanding enhanced police response to hate crimes, which emphasized that homophobic attacks should be treated with the same seriousness as racist ones. Speakers also denounced the notorious Section 28, which prohibits local governments from using their resources to "promote" homosexuality, particularly in schools. Also meeting this week was Britain's influential Law Society, which voted overwhelmingly that same-gender couples should have legal recognition equal to that of unmarried heterosexual couples. While holding that marriage should retain a special status, the Law Society felt it was important to recognize the fact that one-fourth of British adults under age 50 are living in domestic partnerships, and felt just as strongly that no legal distinction should be made between heterosexual and same-gender couples. The professional organization of 70,000 solicitors in England and Wales approved a set of recommendations for legal reforms which will now be published and submitted to the government's Law Commission. The topics include legally enforceable cohabitation contracts, property rights, pension rights, and insurance. In the U.S., Georgia's state Insurance Commissioner's ban on policies providing coverage to domestic partners was struck down by a judge. The city of Atlanta has been struggling for years to offer health coverage to the domestic partners of its unmarried employees. Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine had been blocking that move since 1995, despite a 1997 Georgia state Supreme Court ruling approving Atlanta's expanded definition of "dependent." This week Superior Court Judge Wendy Shoob ordered Oxendine to lift his ban, denouncing his actions as unlawful, "outside the scope of his authority" and "an abuse of discretion." Openly partnered gay Episcopal priest Barry Stopfel this week left his post as Rector of a parish in New Jersey. Stopfel was already openly in a committed relationship when he was ordained as a deacon in 1990. That ordination led to Bishop Walter Righter being brought to trial on heresy charges in 1996, which made headlines nationally. Ultimately a church court found that year that nothing in doctrine specifically prohibited ordination of a sexually active gay, although the issue is still highly controversial. Stopfel went on to become a priest and to serve six years at St. George's in Maplewood, which thrived and grew during his tenure. He's now moving with his partner to a farm in Pennsylvania, where he plans to write a book. Two United Methodist clergymembers who have blessed same-gender relationships saw legal developments this week. Bishop of Omaha, Nebraska Joel Martinez announced that Reverend Jimmy Creech, who was the first Methodist minister to face a church court for violating the denomination's ban on so-called "homosexual union" ceremonies, will be tried a second time. Although the jury fell one vote short of convicting Creech last year, they did so questioning whether the ban was a law or merely a guideline, an issue the church's highest judicial authority has since clarified. But Creech, who lost his pulpit because of the controversy and is now on a leave of absence, went on to bless a gay couple in North Carolina this year, and will now be tried for that. Chicago's Reverend Gregory Dell, the first Methodist minister to be convicted for violating the ban, saw his conviction upheld but his sentence modified this week by a church appeals court. Dell had originally been suspended indefinitely, until such time as he would sign a pledge to respect the ban. The appeals court found the indefinite sentence in violation of church law, and cut it back to a one-year suspension. That will still prevent Dell from serving as an elected clergy delegate from his region to next year's national General Assembly. Dell could still end the suspension by promising not to bless any more gay and lesbian couples, but he says he will never do that. The Australian Council for Lesbian and Gay Rights this week demanded recognition for the domestic partners of gay and lesbian military personnel, as Australian troops are being sent into combat in East Timor. Although gays and lesbians have been allowed to serve openly in the Australian Defence Forces for a number of years, they are always considered to be single. In peacetime, perhaps the most significant benefits denied to same-gender partners are assistance in relocation and housing. But now that servicemembers are at risk for injury or death, the Council declared it is "utterly heartless" of the government to continue to ignore their partners. September 23rd marked the first international Celebrate Bisexuality Day, with events held in at least eight countries. Once rejected by both the mainstream and the gay and lesbian communities, over the last three decades bisexuals have increasingly been organizing a community of their own, and now boast some 1,300 groups in all but two of the United States and 19 other countries. There's now a Bi-Pride Flag, with a wide red horizontal stripe across the top and a wide blue stripe across the bottom that blend into a narrower purple stripe across the middle. Bi activists say they are challenging the stereotype that people can be defined by the perceived gender of their partners. Almost 30,000 lesbigays marched six miles through Johannesburg in South Africa's tenth annual Pride Parade this week. While ten years ago it was an act of courage for a few hundred people to participate, now the entire city is joining in the celebration of an entire month of "Pink September," hoping it will become as big a tourist destination as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. And finally ... a pair of male emus in Australia's Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve are raising seven chicks together. While it is the usual thing for a male emu to take over parenting chores once the eggs have been laid, he will typically chase other males away and even raid other nests. Manager Geoff Underwood hasn't seen anything like this cooperative male couple in his 25 years at the Reserve. But he doesn't think the birds are gay -- he thinks that one of the emu dads is just "confused."