NewsWrap for the week ending February 12, 2000 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #620, distributed 02-14-00) [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 Leo Garcia and Cindy Friedman It was a very gay week for UK lawmakers. It began with the House of Lords crushing the Government's move to repeal Section 28, the never-enforced Thatcher-era prohibition against "promotion of homosexuality" by local governments or in schools. The Lords voted 210 to 165 to adopt an amendment by Conservative Baroness Young that will likely serve to block repeal until after the next elections. Young's lobbying efforts included a display of what she said was 1-million-pounds' worth of materials developed at public expense to teach children about homosexuality. Some were rather graphic. Among those advocating repeal was the only openly gay peer, Labour's Lord Waheed Alli. He spoke passionately about his own experience growing up gay, read a letter he'd received from a teen driven by bullying and isolation to thoughts of suicide, and related Section 28 to the three nail-bombs detonated in London last year. The third blast was set at a Soho gay bar and killed three people while injuring scores of others. On the day of the Lords debate, activists were in the streets demonstrating in support of repeal. They put a banner on the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Square, and hijacked a double-decker bus to cover it with repeal messages. Ten people were arrested and released. Prime Minister Tony Blair later emphatically told the Parliament that his Government would continue its efforts to repeal Section 28. Also, the House of Commons voted on another bill important to gay youth, the equalization of the age of consent for sex between men with that for heterosexual acts. Currently the gay age of consent is 18, while the heterosexual age of consent is 17 in Northern Ireland and 16 in the rest of the U.K. For the third time in three years, the Commons overwhelmingly approved equalization, this time by 263 - 102. All parties allowed their members to vote their consciences. The two previous equalization measures were blocked by the House of Lords, which will likely reject this one as well. But this time the Government has promised to use the rarely-invoked Parliament Act to override the peers. A lawsuit for equalization has been suspended by the European Court of Human Rights based on Britain's promise to change the law. The particular interest in this age of consent vote was which way Conservative Party spokesperson on finance Michael Portillo would vote. He was not in the Parliament for the last two votes, but in 1994 he opposed equalization. Last year, Portillo revealed that he had had "homosexual experiences" in the past, although not since entering public life or his 17-year marriage. It became clear that he had actually violated the age of consent at the time by having sex with men when he was under 21. This week, Portillo voted for equalization. The student Gay Straight Alliance club at El Modena High School in Orange, California held its first meeting on campus this week, thanks to a federal court order. But when school let out that day, a group of adults were holding a protest demonstration across the street. Almost all of them were members of the group America Forever, who came from their homes hundreds of miles away in Salt Lake City, Utah to try to stop the GSA. This group believes it should be a crime to make any mention of homosexuality to anyone under 18, and refers to gays and lesbians as "anti-species" for having non-procreative sex. Some 30 students went over in a group to shout at them to "shut up" and "go home." One of the adults hit GSA founder Anthony Colin with her cardboard placard, which he tried to seize and tear up. The shoving and shouting between the two groups tied up traffic for some 20 minutes. The Orange Unified School District Board held its regular meeting the day after the GSA met. A number of parents called on its members to end all non-curricular clubs in order to stop the GSA. This would be a questionable move legally since the GSA has already filed a lawsuit against the Board and won its injunction. Unidentified male parent: "For them to be able to come to a safe haven, I don’t believe that that is the responsibility of El Modena High School." The Board did move to eliminate all non-curricular clubs in elementary and middle schools in the district. It also announced plans for its attorney to prepare three new policies for all extracurricular high school clubs: a ban on any discussion of sex in any club; a minimum "C" grade average to participate; and a parent's permission to participate. Although there are real concerns about parental permission posing a special barrier to some students who might like to join the GSA, Colin was pleased that GSA will be able to continue meeting at least through the end of the semester. Anthony Colin: "It’s a blessing in disguise ­ we’ll still be able to meet for the rest of the semester, so I’m very ecstatic with the Board deciding that >... I mean, yaay! (laughs)" Also in California, State Attorney General Bill Lockyer will not challenge last week's state appeals court ruling prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination in jury selection. A spokesperson said Democrat Lockyer agreed with the ruling, and that the state's previous opposition had been a leftover from his Republican predecessor. The decision is believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S., certainly the first by a state appeals court. And there will be no church trials for 68 of the nearly 100 United Methodist Church ministers who jointly blessed a lesbian couple in Sacramento, California last year. That rite was called an act of "ecclesiastical disobedience," because church law forbids Methodist clergy from performing what it calls "homosexual union" ceremonies. Two ministers in other parts of the country have been tried for blessing same-gender couples; one was suspended for a year and the other was stripped of his ministerial credentials. But the church's California-Nevada Conference found there were no grounds for trial of any of the ministers in its region. This is expected to accelerate moves by conservatives in the region to create a new Conference of their own. The Vermont Supreme Court ruling requiring equal access for gay and lesbian couples to the benefits of marriage has led to a call for its impeachment. Thirteen Vermont legislators introduced a bill in the state House this week, charging that the court had overstepped its constitutional boundaries by ordering the legislature to act. A number of private citizens had previously called for impeachment, and the sympathetic lawmakers hope to arrange public hearings on the question. But that's just one of several bills circulating in the legislature both for and against same-gender marriage and domestic partnerships. The House and Senate had agreed that the main work on the issue would be done by the House Judiciary Committee, which hopes to finish the bill it's drafting in time for a House floor vote this month. This week, that panel made the key decision to design its bill to create a parallel legal domestic partners relationship rather than extend equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians. The Committee call their measure "a civil rights bill for gay and lesbian families," and it will provide for the benefits of marriage. The Canadian Government this week introduced an omnibus measure to amend 68 federal statutes to give same-gender domestic partners status equal to unmarried heterosexual couples. Both kinds of couples are referred to as "common-law," while the words "marriage" and "spouse" remain restricted to heterosexual couples. In terms of federal law, there would be little other than the words that would be exclusive to married couples. The massive bill affecting 20 government departments is the federal Government's response to last year's landmark Canadian Supreme Court ruling in the case of "M v. H." Despite opposition by the Reform Party and a dissident faction among the ruling Liberals, the bill is expected to pass. According to a 1998 poll, 67 percent of the public would support it. Finland's newly elected President is not only the first woman to fill that post, but a former president of the national gay and lesbian group SETA. Social Democrat Tarja Halonen has been a powerful ally for gays and lesbians during her lengthy service on the Helsinki City Council and more recently as Finland's Foreign Minister. However, her long-time domestic partner is a male; he'll be moving into the Presidential palace with her, and there are rumors they will soon marry. And finally ... the world's first transsexual Member of Parliament, New Zealand's Georgina Beyer, made her "maiden" speech to her colleagues this week. Although the bulk of her speech was devoted to the needs of her rural Wairarapa constituency, and some to a promise to work on behalf of the lesbigay and transgender community, she couldn't resist making a couple of jokes. She said of herself, "I was quoted once as saying that 'This was the stallion that became a gelding, and now she's a mayor.' I suppose I do have to say that I have now found myself to be a Member! So I have come full circle, so to speak." She also brought down the House by taking a lengthy pause after saying, "I must acknowledge my previous Member..." before going on to name Wyatt Creech, who previously represented her constituency.