NewsWrap
for the week ending November 6, 1999
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #606, distributed 11-8-99)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, 
Martin Rice, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Greg Gordon & Lucia 
Chappelle]

Anchored by Kevin Riley and Cindy Friedman

  Last year's brutal bashing murder of gay University of Wyoming student 
Matthew Shepard touched the hearts and minds of people around the world.  
This week a jury found that Aaron McKinney had not committed premeditated 
murder, but had killed Shepard in the course of a planned kidnapping and 
robbery, charges which could have also lead to his execution.  But Shepard's 
mother joined in negotiations between the attorneys to reach a sentencing 
agreement that spared McKinney's life, while ensuring that he will spend the 
rest of his days in prison.  Part of the agreement is that no one involved in 
the defense will ever speak publicly about or profit from the case, and that 
there will be no appeal.  The 22-year-old McKinney told the court, "I don't 
know what to say.  I'm truly sorry for the Shepard family.  There won't be a 
day that goes by that I won't be ashamed for what I did."  In a statement 
afterwards, Matthew's father Dennis Shepard said:
Dennis Shepard:  "More than a year ago our son Matthew was murdered, because 
he was gay.  He was the victim of a brutal crime, motivated by hatred.  The 
outcome of this trial will never bring Matthew back to us, but we believe 
that justice was served today."
President Bill Clinton also issued a statement, saying that, "This verdict is 
a dramatic statement that we are determined to have a tolerant law-abiding 
nation that celebrates our differences rather than deepening them.  We cannot 
surrender to those on the fringe of society who lash out at those who are 
different."

  Perhaps just as important as the outcome of the trial was Judge Barton 
Voigt's intervention to limit defense attorney's use of a so-called 
"homosexual panic" defense.  They stressed in opening and closing arguments 
that Shepard had made a pass at McKinney, triggering emotions from McKinney's 
childhood history of forced homosexual acts.  But Voigt ruled that their 
approach constituted a diminished capacity or temporary insanity approach 
that is not permitted under Wyoming law.  
The defense was not permitted to present expert witnesses on McKinney's state 
of mind, but did present two witnesses who said they'd been annoyed by sexual 
advances from Shepard.  One said this had happened within hours of the 
attack, at the same bar where Shepard met McKinney.  The other man had twice 
hit Shepard after advances he said had taken place weeks before.
With the case over and gag orders lifted, the lead investigators in the case 
insisted that Shepard had never groped McKinney.  In the same taped 
confession in which McKinney had said that happened, he also said it was "as 
if" that had happened.  And McKinney's friend Russell Henderson, who was 
sitting in the front seat of the truck with McKinney and Shepard at the time, 
said he was unaware of any pass by Shepard.  Henderson, who is now serving 
two life sentences in the case after a plea bargain in April, refused at the 
last minute to testify for either side in McKinney's trial.
The only remaining legal action in the Shepard case is the trial of 
McKinney's girlfriend Kristen Price as an accessory after the fact, which is 
scheduled for January.

  Matthew Williams this week confessed to reporters from the "Sacramento Bee" 
that he had murdered Northern California gay couple Winfield Mowder and Gary 
Matson as they slept.  He said he had done it only because they were gay, and 
that he had no remorse because he was carrying out God's law.  Williams will 
be facing a trial that could end in the death penalty, but he hopes he will 
become a martyr who will inspire other Christians to kill gays, Jews and 
others.  He said he is not part of any organized hate group.
He said his brother Tyler, who is facing the same charges, had nothing to do 
with the double murder.

  In South Africa, a pipe bomb injured six people, four of them seriously, at 
Cape Town's gay Blah Bar.  The explosion came during the bar's busiest hours 
and might have hurt or even killed more people if it had not been placed 
against a wall inside the bar.  Cape Town has had 79 pipe bomb attacks in the 
last year, but this one was different from most in that there was no warning 
given.  Damage to the bar will run to thousands of rands.

  In Britain this week, former Defence Minister Michael Portillo was chosen 
by a landslide as the Conservative Party's nominee to represent 
Kensington-Chelsea in the House of Commons.  The Tories were apparently 
unconcerned about Portillo's public admission of past affairs with other men. 
 Oddsmakers greeted the nomination by giving 6-to-1 that Portillo would 
become the next Conservative Party Prime Minister.
Although Kensington-Chelsea is considered a safe seat for the Tories, the 
ruling Labour Party is giving a maximum effort to opposing Portillo in the 
special election later this month.  They're bringing in openly gay Stephen 
Twigg, who ousted Portillo two years ago from the seat for Enfield-Southgate, 
to be a leading spokesperson for Labour's candidate Robert Atkinson.  
Portillo is also being dogged in his campaign by the direct action group 
OutRage! and its spokesperson Peter Tatchell, who is considering running 
against Portillo as an independent.  Tatchell and OutRage! object to 
Portillo's past anti-gay political positions, including his support for the 
ban on military service by gays and lesbians.  Portillo said in a media 
interview this week that he still supports the ban.

  Elections were also held this week for a number of local offices across the 
U.S.:
Certainly the most astonishing result was open gay Tom Ammiano winning 
one-fourth of the votes for San Francisco Mayor, with a write-in campaign 
that started just three weeks before the election and cost only $20,000.
Tom Ammiano:  "This is quite a victory against corporate campaigning, and I 
think it's the kind of ...(wild cheering)... I think it's the kind of 
participatory democracy that people in San Francisco have hungered for for a 
long time."
Ammiano, currently the President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, 
now faces a December run-off against incumbent Mayor Willie Brown, who spent 
more than $2-million to win less than 40% of the vote.

  Another high-profile victory was gay Republican Dan Stewart's election as 
mayor of Plattsburgh, New York.  He's the first open gay or lesbian ever 
elected a mayor in that state.  

  Also a "first" was the election of Gloria Faley to the school board of 
Chapel Hill-Carrboro, making her the first open lesbian ever to win elected 
office in North Carolina.  Two openly gay men have preceded her, including 
Carrboro Mayor Mike Nelson, who was unopposed running for his third term this 
week.

  Open gays Gerry Hansen and Jon Cooper were elected lawmakers for Pike 
County, Pennsylvania and Suffolk County, New York.

  Openly gay and lesbian incumbents were returned to City Councils in New 
York City and Houston, Texas, and open gay Seth Chafetz beat out two 
incumbents to take a seat on the Birmingham, Michigan City Commission.

  In a late October election, Democrat Larry Bagneris, Junior came in second 
to force a runoff later this month for a vacant seat in the Louisiana State 
House of Representatives.  If he wins, he would become both the first open 
gay and the first African-American to serve there.

  Three U.S. cities also considered ballot initiatives on civil rights 
protections for gays and lesbians:
In Spokane, Washington, voters chose by a four percent majority to retain 
civil rights passed by the City Council earlier this year.

  In Falmouth, Maine, civil rights supporters had a 3-to-2 landslide in 
defeating a charter amendment that would not only have repealed this year's 
civil rights law, but would have prevented any future city actions on issues 
of "sexual orientation."

  But in Greeley, Colorado, a proactive initiative to put civil rights 
protections in place was rejected by more than 70 percent of the electorate.

  In Canada, a recently elected Member of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly 
publicly identified himself as a gay man in the lesbigay publication 
"Swerve".  The New Democratic Party's Jim Rondeau of Assiniboia, a teacher 
and financial planner, thus becomes Manitoba's first openly gay MLA.

  Pride celebrations were held last weekend in Perth and Bangkok:
Perth's tenth West Australia Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade featured more than 
1,000 marchers and more than 50 floats.  Perhaps 150,000 spectators lined up 
two hours ahead of time to stand ten deep to watch.  About 2,000 people went 
on to shows and dancing in Osborne Park, capping a month of events 
celebrating gays and lesbians.

  Bangkok's first Gay Festival drew gays not only from Thailand but from 
Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan.  A Mardi Gras-style parade featured 
seven rainbow-decorated trucks and costumed dancers who circled several 
blocks before a cheering crowd of thousands.  Bringing up the rear of the 
parade was a contingent of three-wheeled motorscooters known as tuk-tuks, 
filled with rainbow balloons.

  And finally ... part of Tom Ammiano's appeal to San Franciscans is his 
humor -- in fact he's a former standup comic.  His campaign for mayor has 
recalled a number of his past wisecracks.  One came a few months ago as he 
joined environmentalists in opposing diesel passenger service across San 
Francisco Bay, and teased reporters saying "I bet you never thought I'd come 
out against ferries."