NewsWrap for the week ending November 13, 1999 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #607, distributed 11-15-99) [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 Cindy Friedman and Leo Garcia The opening of the 50th annual Commonwealth Summit in Durban, South Africa this week was marred by continuing controversy over the attempt by the British group OutRage! to make a citizen's arrest of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe in London on October 30. The direct action group had sought to hold the notoriously homophobic Mugabe accountable for human rights violations in Zimbabwe, particularly the torture of two journalists documented by Amnesty International. But ever since the protest, Mugabe and his government have been criticizing the British government, even accusing British Prime Minister Tony Blair of setting "gangster gays" on him. Mugabe has somehow connected the OutRage! protest to his plans for land reform, in which he believes it is up to Britain to compensate white landholders for property he plans to redistribute to poor Blacks. Although Zimbabwe's government claimed it had received an apology from Britain, Britain maintains that having expressed regret for the OutRage! incident is not the same as apologizing for it, emphasizing that its government cannot be held responsible for OutRage!'s action. OutRage! spokesperson Peter Tatchell in turn criticized Britain for even coming close to an apology instead of joining his group in denouncing Mugabe. As the Commonwealth meeting opened, Mugabe accused Blair's government of "moral decadence" and said, "There are gays in the Cabinet. There is a gay organization." Blair's spokesperson said, "The Prime Minister is not a gay gangster." But of course there are gay men in Blair's Cabinet, including Peter Mandelson, although he refuses to discuss it publicly. This week the Labour Party announced that Mandelson will be running its General Election Planning Committee, even though Britain's next general election is not expected for at least 18 months. This is the same post Mandelson held for the 1997 elections, playing a key role in Labour's landslide victory. OutRage!'s Peter Tatchell also had a political announcement to make this week -- he has decided not to run against Michael Portillo for the House of Commons seat for Kensington-Chelsea. Tatchell and OutRage! will continue to demonstrate against Portillo throughout his campaign there, but Tatchell said he did not want to split the "anti-Portillo vote." Conservative Portillo recently revealed that he had had affairs with other men before entering public life, but took anti-gay political stands while he served as Defence Minister, including supporting the ban on military service by gays and lesbians. However, Britain's military ban was found to be a human rights violation by the European Court of Human Rights, a ruling the Blair government accepted. New Defence Minister Geoff Hoon this week told the Parliament that the military is now developing a new code of conduct for personal relationships and sexual behavior that will apply equally to servicemembers regardless of their sexual orientation. The announcement was welcomed by activists, who had feared that the government would not lift the ban until the Parliament takes up the Armed Forces Act in 2001. One of those activists is Angela Mason, executive director of Britain's national advocacy group Stonewall. This week Mason was formally invested with the Order of the British Empire by Prince Charles. There were a number of military leaders present, and Mason told reporters that it felt strange to be among them, wondering if they knew she was being honored for her work for gay and lesbian rights. The Prince of Wales asked Mason how the gay and lesbian community was recovering from the April 30 bombing of Soho's gay Admiral Duncan pub, a scene he visited after the blast that injured 86 people and killed 3. Last week's bombing of the gay Blah Bar in Cape Town, South Africa was protested this week with rallies outside the bar and in Johannesburg. Government, religious and human rights leaders joined gays and lesbians in denouncing all hate violence and expressing solidarity with all its victims. In the U.S., the last of the four suspects involved in last year's bashing murder of openly gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard reached a plea bargain this week. Convicted killer Aaron McKinney's former girlfriend Kristen Price had first been charged as an accessory after the fact for helping to dispose of McKinney's friend Russell Henderson's bloody clothing. In part in recognition of her testimony against McKinney at his trial, she was allowed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge of interfering with a police officer. She was sentenced to six months in jail, but was credited for four months for time she's already served, while the remaining two months were suspended. Matthew Shepard's parents Dennis and Judy Shepard were in Washington, D.C. this week lobbying for passage of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. They were joined in their lobbying effort by three of the police officers involved in the investigation of Shepard's murder. They were also joined at a news conference by three Republican lawmakers who support the legislation even though Republican leaders have opposed it. Arizona's Senator John McCain this week became the first of the Republican Presidential hopefuls to meet with the national gay and lesbian Log Cabin Republicans. A high point of his half-hour meeting with the group was when he told executive director Richard Tafel, "I just want you to know, Rich, that I am unashamed, unembarrassed and proud to work with you." McCain told the group that if elected, he would work to end discrimination based on sexual orientation. Texas Governor George W. Bush's campaign staff has told Log Cabin that Bush will meet with the group, but has yet to set a date. McCain actually pulled ahead of early leader Bush in polls in New Hampshire this week. The other Republican Presidential candidates are unlikely to visit Log Cabin, having eagerly signed on to an explicitly anti-gay "Presidential Pledge" put forward by a coalition of religious right groups at the Iowa straw poll earlier this year. That pledge specifically includes preserving the Boy Scouts of America's ability to reject gays. This week a Cub Scout den in Ashland, Oregon announced its decision to leave the national organization because of that discriminatory policy. Members and their families were unanimous in their decision. The den will stay together and continue their activities but will choose a new name for their group. Scouts Canada has approved a Toronto group organized specifically for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people ages 18 to 26, although non-gays are also welcome to join. Like most Scouting organizations outside the U.S., Scouts Canada has no policy against gays, but the organization understood the need for a Scouting group that specifically promoted itself as welcoming them. The new 129th Toronto Scouting Group is sponsored by the Christos Metropolitan Community Church. Organizers hope to someday have an additional group for those ages 14 to 17. New Zealand's Immigration Minister Tuariki Delamere announced this week that people with HIV will not be allowed to stay in the country for more than two years, effective July 2000. A half-dozen government ministries and departments vehemently opposed the move, as have AIDS and human rights activists, but Delamere had won approval from senior Cabinet members. New Zealand's AIDS Foundation noted there is a much higher risk of transmission of HIV from about 1,000 New Zealanders now infected than from immigrants and refugees, and emphasized that the way to stop it is to promote safer sex. But Delamere insists that the move will protect the health of the nation, avoid significant costs in health care, and bring New Zealand's policy into line with Australia's. In the Australian state of Queensland this week, there was uproar in the parliament as the government sought to add same-gender couples to its bill against domestic violence. To allow gay and lesbian couples to obtain counseling, restraining orders and other services is "sick," a member of the One Nation Party declared, and so was anyone who supported the bill. An independent lawmaker declared that the law would damage the moral fiber of the state and that Jesus Christ would strike the government dead for proposing it. Nonetheless, the Labor majority pushed the amendment through. France's Constitutional Council this week gave a green light to domestic partnership contracts. After a long and bitter battle, legislators had finally approved the contracts known as PACS, Pacts of Civil Solidarity. But conservatives had appealed to the Constitutional Council in a last desperate attempt to block them. The only concern the Council expressed was for clarification that signing the PACS "implies a life together" rather than a mo re casual relationship. The last hope for opponents is President Jacques Chirac, but he's expected to sign the PACS bill even though he opposes it. And finally ... the German town of Wittenberg began its Carnival festivities this week with the coronation of what would usually be the Carnival Prince and Princess. This year, though, Wittenberg elected gay couple Michael Fonfara and Thomas Walther to wear the crowns, and they were duly installed as "Michael the First" and "Thomas the First." Wittenberg's mayor skipped the party, though. Traditionally, the mayor would kiss the Carnival Princess.