NewsWrap for the 2 weeks ending December 4, 1999 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #610, distributed 12-6-99) [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 Greg Gordon South Africa's highest court this week gave spousal immigration rights to the foreign partners of gays and lesbians. The text of the Constitutional Court ruling affirmed that, "Gays and lesbians in same-sex life partnerships are as capable as heterosexual couples of expressing and sharing love in its manifold forms" and "are capable of constituting a family." Finding that the Aliens Control Act unfairly discriminates against same-gender couples, the court took the unprecedented step of rewriting the law, changing references to "spouse" to "spouse or partner in a permanent same-sex life partnership." Typically the court would act to strike down an unconstitutional law and leave its amendment to the Parliament, but that would have deprived all binational couples of immigration rights in the interim. The case was brought by the National Coalition on Gay and Lesbian Equality on behalf of four gay and two lesbian South Africans and their partners from Britain, Cyprus, France, and Germany. Their case was joined by the government-appointed Commission for Gender Equality. The court also punished three officials of the Department of Home Affairs by requiring them to pay the couples' legal costs. Two things the court did not decide in this case were the status of unmarried heterosexual couples and whether South Africa's Marriages Act must also be expanded to include gays and lesbians. The National Coalition on Gay and Lesbian Equality's legal advisor believes that the same logic that shaped this decision will ultimately lead to legal gay and lesbian marriages. The Canadian Supreme Court may be revisiting its ruling that gave gay and lesbian couples equal standing with unmarried heterosexual couples. The specific subject of the landmark "M v. H" case was an Ontario law that used a gender-specific definition of "spouse" in establishing the right to support payments after a break-up. The Ontario government accepted the ruling and enacted omnibus legislation changing dozens of provincial laws. But instead of expanding the definition of "spouse," a new category called "same-sex partner" was added to each law. The original lesbian plaintiff "M," her attorney Martha McCarthy, and the national group EGALE, Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere, have decided that just isn't good enough. They've asked the high court to rehear the case, but only regarding the specific language. Previously, when the Canadian government established a similar separate category for extending benefits to its employees' same-gender partners, a Federal Court required that a single category be used. Also in Canada, a court granted Alberta's first-ever co-adoptions by same-gender couples. Although the provincial legislature had altered its formerly gender-specific law to use the gender-neutral term "stepparent," that term was not specifically defined to include gay and lesbian couples. The Court of Queen's Bench found that it does, and made two lesbians legal parents of the sons their partners had borne by artificial insemination. That ends a legal struggle the women began four years ago. Bills to establish legal gay and lesbian partnerships with most of the rights and responsibilities of marriage were rejected this week in both the Czech Republic and Latvia. The Czech Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Parliament, voted down partnerships by 91 - 69. The same body had passed the bill on its first reading in April, after the Cabinet had approved it in March. But similar bills have been introduced since 1997, and a group of deputies are expected to try again with a new version. The Latvian bill was killed by a committee of the Saiema, as the parliament is known, for the third time in five years. Yet it went farther than either of its predecessors of the last five years, which were both rejected in committee without discussion. This time a committee first sent the partnership measure on for a legal review and gave it some consideration. Perhaps most importantly, it drew considerable media attention to the status of Latvian gays and lesbians, bringing some facts before a public that mostly still sees homosexuality as abnormal. In the U.S., there have been several advances for gay and lesbian couples. The Seattle, Washington City Council unanimously adopted a requirement that the city's contractors grant their gay and lesbian workers' same-gender partners the same benefits they offer married workers' spouses. The law introduced by openly lesbian City Councilmember Tina Podlodowski will affect contracts of at least $30,000 after June 1. It's the third such law in the U.S., following one passed in Los Angeles just a week before and San Francisco's pioneering Equal Benefits Ordinance passed in 1996. Trustees of the University System of New Hampshire this week adopted spousal benefits for its gay and lesbian employees with only one dissenting vote. The system includes all the state's colleges and the University of New Hampshire. The County Council of Montgomery County, Maryland also extended spousal benefits to its gay and lesbian employees this week by a vote of 6 - 3. It's the first county to do so in Maryland, where only the cities of Baltimore and Takoma Park offer such benefits. But at least three conservative groups have already joined in collecting signatures towards placing a repeal initiative before the voters in November 2000. The City Council of Denver, Colorado this week voted unanimously to establish a domestic partners registry open to all unmarried couples. Boulder had been the only city in Colorado with a partners registry. The certifications carry no legal rights or obligations, but the text of the ordinance affirms that, "Many couples who live together often have personal relationships and bonds that are as strong as those of married couples and who nurture and care for one another in sickness and health." Holy union ceremonies can be performed for gay and lesbian couples as long as its clear they are not marriages, a regional court of the Presbyterian Church USA has ruled. The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Northwest upheld a decision by New York's Presbytery of the Hudson River regarding a ceremony for Jeff Halvorsen and George Cisneros at South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry. If the commission had found for the conservative complainants, it could have meant disciplinary action for the minister who blessed the men, Reverend Susan DeGeorge. But the complainants are appealing the matter to the denomination's national Judicial Commission, and also hope to ban the unions through legislation at the Presbyterian General Assembly in 2001. The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Northwest also ruled that a gay man could advance to the status of a candidate for ordination, even though he clearly stated he did not intend to remain celibate as the denomination requires. The commission upheld a decision by the Presbytery of West Jersey in the case of open gay Graham Van Keuren. He has been working towards ordination since 1995, and hopes that the denomination will repeal its so-called "fidelity/chastity" rule for ministers adopted in 1997. This ruling is also likely to be appealed to the Presbyterians' national Judicial Commission. Admitting to past affairs with men didn't stop British Conservative Michael Portillo from winning a special election to represent London's Kensington-Chelsea district in the House of Commons with a convincing 56 percent of the vote in a field of 18. Other Conservative Members of Parliament were excited to welcome back their charismatic former Defence Minister, although members of the ruling Labour Party taunted Tory leader William Hague that Portillo would take the party leadership away from him. But Conservative leadership has decided to oppose Labour's effort to repeal the notorious Section 28 of the Local Government Act, a never-enforced relic of the Thatcher era that prohibits what it calls "promotion of homosexuality," particularly in schools. Reportedly a meeting of the Tories' Shadow Cabinet spent less than two minutes deciding not only to oppose repeal, but to impose the most stringent level of party discipline on its members to do so. This seems at odds with Hague's efforts to present the Tories as more tolerant and "modern" than in the past, and it's creating particular problems with the party's already troubled situation in London. The Tories have had to reopen their nomination process for Mayor of London, since their nominee Jeffrey Archer resigned in a perjury scandal. Hague encouraged openly gay millionaire Ivan Massow to throw his hat in the ring, but Massow insisted that he be able to continue his long-held opposition to Section 28. Another Tory mayoral hopeful, Andrew Boff, publicly announced that he is gay and opposed to Section 28. The non-gay man who came in second to Archer, Stephen Norris, is also loudly supporting repeal. This week the Conservatives' party whip removed Member of Parliament Shaun Woodward of Witney from his party role as spokesperson for London affairs because of his long-held opposition to Section 28. Woodward is one of many advocates for children who believes Section 28 has made it impossible for educators to intervene in homophobic harassment in the schools. He believed he could find a compromise that would protect children without "promoting homosexuality," but was dumped from his London role before he could finish drafting it. And finally ... Georgina Beyer is believed to be the first transsexual ever elected to a national parliament following New Zealand's national elections. The Mayor of Carterton called the vote for her to represent Wairarapa “an absolute bloody miracle!” as she turned around the National Party's 8,000-vote victory of 1996 to a 2,800-vote margin for her Labour Party. The Labour Party also saw the re-election to the Parliament of openly gay incumbent Tim Barnett from Christchurch Central and the return of the nation's first openly gay MP Chris Carter from Te Atatu, both by very comfortable margins.