NewsWrap for the week ending October 2, 1999 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #601, distributed 10-4-99) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Martin Rice, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Martin Rice, Rex Wockner, Alan Reekie, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Greg Gordon The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg this week unanimously and unequivocally declared that Britain's ban on military service by gays and lesbians violates the European Convention on Human Rights. The Blair Government has said it will accept the ruling, and the Secretary of Defence announced that all pending cases will be put on hold. The lobby group Stonewall has promised to bring any further discharges for homosexuality to court immediately. However, it's anticipated that Britain still won't actually change its policy before the Parliament debates the Armed Forces Act in 2001. The plaintiffs in the case were four servicemembers who were discharged for being gay or lesbian despite outstanding records. The EuroCourt has yet to determine what compensation they should receive, and urged them to negotiate with Britain. It's believed that those servicemembers discharged within the last six months should also be able to claim compensation. At least sixty servicemembers discharged for homosexuality already have cases in progress with industrial tribunals. ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, called on four other European countries to eliminate military discrimination in the wake of the ruling. Only Turkey maintains a total ban, but Greek and Polish gays and lesbians can be discharged on the grounds that they have a "personality disorder." Germany denies gays and lesbians leadership roles as instructors and officers. Those who experience sexual orientation discrimination in employment, housing or public accommodations will now have recourse in Henderson, Kentucky. The Henderson City Commission this week adopted a so-called Fairness Ordinance by a vote of 3-to-2 despite intense controversy and religious opposition. Elsewhere in the state, Jefferson was expected to become the first county in Kentucky to adopt a Fairness Ordinance this week, but the one opposing county commissioner acted to delay the vote. The other three commissioners have vowed to pass the bill in two weeks. In California, Democratic Governor Gray Davis signed a hate crimes measure into law this week. When it goes into effect January 1, those committing a hate murder based on the victim's sexual orientation, gender or disability can receive penalty enhancements of life without possibility of parole. Currently, the maximum enhancement for those forms of bias is three years. Murders based on other forms of bias, such as race and ethnicity, can be punished with life terms or with the death sentence. Davis has several other gay-friendly bills to decide on by October 10, including two civil rights measures he has yet to take a position on and a domestic partners measure he's said he will sign. A bill to create registered domestic partnerships was approved this week by Switzerland's Federal Assembly by a two-to-one margin. The parliament's Legal Affairs Committee was directed to develop a bill to eliminate discrimination against gay and lesbian couples in areas of finance, taxation, inheritance, and legal residence of a foreign partner. However, rights to adoption and fertility treatments will not be extended to same-gender couples. A sweeping measure introduced in the Colombian Senate, dealing with domestic partners, hate crimes, and civil rights, was hastily withdrawn from consideration this week without debate of any kind. The Congressional Counsel selected by a Senate committee to evaluate the bill, Senator Carlos Corsi, described homosexuality as a cancerous tumor as he recommended the bill's withdrawal. The bill's sponsor, Senator Margarita Londono, responded with an angry op-ed column denouncing his homophobia, and said she'd never imagined the bill would be shelved without discussion. Sister Jeannine Gramick broke silence this week for the first time since the Vatican ended her ministry to gays and lesbians in mid-July. After nearly three decades of lecturing and writing, Gramick and her colleague Reverend Robert Nugent were publicly condemned for having caused "confusion" among Catholics because they’d failed to emphasize enough the "intrinsic evil" of homosexual acts. Like Nugent, Gramick said she would abide by the order, but believed it does not prohibit her from writing or from speaking in an academic forum. She also called on Catholics to assist her in seeking withdrawal of the order she called "unfair." Speaking out against homosexuality this week were two African leaders. In a speech to an international conference on reproductive health, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said, "I have told the Criminal Investigation Division to look for homosexuals, lock them up and charge them." "Carnal knowledge against the order of nature" is a crime in Uganda with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Museveni denounced homosexuality as against the Bible and an abomination in African culture. He mocked European politicians for their support of gays and lesbians. The following day, President Daniel arap Moi in neighboring Kenya declared in a speech at an agricultural show that homosexuality was wrong, going against the Bible and African tradition. He said, "I will not shy away from warning Kenyans against the danger of the scourge." He also made a joke about men wearing earrings to signal they are gay. The group GALZ, Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, who have experienced even harsher words and actions from President Robert Mugabe, responded with a statement saying, "It was not homosexuality that was imported into Africa but the bible and its accompanying homophobia." It also said that same-sex activity had been identified in at least 55 African traditional cultures, and that "these expressions are ancient and entirely indigenous to this continent." Seeking a renewal of tolerance and an end to discrimination and hate violence against sexual minorities, a group of perhaps 150 Mexicans made a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Although millions of Catholics visit the shrine each year, this was the first group openly identified as lesbigays, transgenders and their allies. Telephone threats were received before the event. The local diocese was concerned the march was a political manipulation rather than an act of worship, but openly lesbian national Congressmember Patria Jimenez withdrew from the march to avoid politicizing it. Yet the pilgrimage, or peregrinacion, was both peaceful and respectful. The marchers wore white, sang traditional hymns and chanted prayers as they made a two-hour procession to the shrine. They also passed out flowers to onlookers, and some of those bystanders cheered in support. There was enthusiastic support from city staff in Perth for a cash grant of A$10,000 to Western Australia's tenth annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade, but members of the Perth City Council rejected the request. Although the pride parade now draws 100,000 people and significantly boosts the local economy, the City was only willing to extend A$3,400 in in-kind services. By contrast, the Council at the same meeting voted a larger grant to an arts event attracting only 14,000 people. Parade organizers Lesbian and Gay Pride West Australia had never before requested any funds from Perth, and the group is now giving serious consideration to moving next year's event elsewhere. Three cities are already wooing the popular event, but the leading candidate is probably the City of Vincent, which did grant $10,000 to this year's parade. And speaking of the big bucks, San Francisco-based PlanetOut Corporation announced this week what its founder called “the biggest deal in gay history”. The lesbigay and transgender Internet service amassed $16-.4-million-dollars in new investments, bringing the company's valuation to $60-million-dollars. Investors are looking ahead to going public, something no gay-identified company in the U.S. has ever done. Apparently Australia's Satellite Group Limited was actually the first gay-identified company in the world to go public when it opened on the Australian Stock Exchange last week. The real estate and publications corporation ended its first week of trading down 10% from its initial offering of A50-cents per share. And finally ... gay and lesbian issues had a remarkably low profile this week at Britain's Labour Party's national conference. But the lobby group Stonewall held its regular Gay Rights reception, and there was a brief flutter of excitement there. When Ireland's Mo Mowlam invited the gay and lesbian Members of Parliament to join her on the podium, along with the half-dozen openly lesbian and gay MPs and openly bisexual Member of the European Parliament Alan Donnelly came three other MPs no one expected, including actress Glenda Jackson. However, it seemed they'd simply misheard the invitation and thought it was extended to all MPs present. On the flip side, former Cabinet member Peter Mandelson, who is gay but refuses to discuss it, remained at the back of the room. The "London Times" went on to take a dig at Mandelson, remarking on him dancing far into the night to the music of open gay Boy George and Culture Club, and suggesting that the most suitable lyric for him would be, "I am a man without conviction."