NewsWrap for the week ending April 22, 2000 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #630, distributed 04-24-00) [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 Brian Nunes and Cindy Friedman The Vermont state Senate this week voted 19-to-11 to create "civil unions", registered same-gender partnerships with all the roughly 300 benefits and responsibilities of marriage under state law. Civil unions would not offer the more than 1,000 marital benefits determined by federal law, but they would be by far the strongest legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples in the U.S. The Senate vote turned out to be a highly partisan one, with all the Democrats supporting civil unions and all but two Republicans opposing them. Because the Senate made some minor amendments, the civil unions bill will next return to the House, where it passed 76-to -69 last month. That's a slim majority in the 150-member House, but it is expected to hold for the next vote. Governor Howard Dean has promised to sign the bill, which in the Senate version would become effective July 1. Although the rhetoric outside the Statehouse has grown increasingly heated since the Vermont Supreme Court ordered equal treatment for same-gender couples in December, the Senate debate was entirely civil. Only a few opponents of civil unions even rose to speak, and they were very concerned to defend themselves against being labeled bigots. A number of civil unions supporters spoke, and one of the most moving was Senator James Leddy. He read a letter from a elderly mother of eight, who described one of her sons coming out 26 years before and concluded, "He knew and we know that he was just plain born gay. I can only say God blessed us with eight children and my God made no mistake when he created homosexuals and when he gave us a son." Leddy added that he and his wife would continue to love just the same any of their own children who might come out, and would also accept their committed partners. He said, "If I believe that for my child, I must believe it for the children of others." Senator Jean Ankeney said, "Here I am with an opportunity to vote to extend civil rights in our state. It is indeed for me a high honor, and one I will always treasure." In reactions from outside Vermont, Wayne Bessen of the Washington, D.C.-based gay and lesbian advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign said: HRC’s Wayne Bessen: "We think this is a tremendous, monumental leap forward for the legal recognition of same-sex unions... uh, it's not perfect, it's not marriage, but again, uh... this is a victory for families and I think it's the beginning of a new age where relationships are legally recognized and gain this respect they deserve." Also from Washington, D.C., Robert Knight of the anti-gay Family Research Council said: FRC’s Robert Knight: "We think people oughta contact the Vermont legislators because there's gonna be another vote next week, and they oughta let them know very strongly how they feel about this, and people outside Vermont, who this may affect deeply when gay couples get civil unions in Vermont and then try to get the same ... recognition in their own states, uh... throw the legal situation of marriage into chaos around the nation." As recognition of same-gender couples advances in Vermont, so do moves to block it in other states. This week the Mississippi Senate voted unanimously without debate to prohibit adoptions by gay and lesbian couples. The House already passed the same bill by an overwhelming margin and Governor Ronnie Musgrove supports it. His signature will make Mississippi the third US state to bar adoptions by same-gender couples, following Florida and Utah. The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi called the measure "an invitation to litigate," and that's one invitation the group will certainly accept. A move to gain spousal health care benefits for the domestic partners of gays and lesbians working for the University of Pittsburgh took a blow this week. A judge ordered the city of Pittsburgh's Commission on Human Relations to stop investigating a four-year-old discrimination complaint by seven current and former employees against the University. Common Pleas Judge Robert Gallo agreed with the school that its policy of extending spousal benefits only to married couples is not discriminatory, even though same-gender couples can't marry. Gallo wrote that, "It is repugnant to this court for any entity to deny health benefits to employees based on their sexual orientation," but said he had to follow the clear intent of state law. One key state law was rushed through the Pennsylvania legislature in November specifically to protect the University of Pittsburgh from being forced by the city to extend the health benefits. The Pittsburgh Human Relations Commission is likely to appeal this ruling, while the University is expected to seek a permanent version of Gallo's temporary order, and the University's full lawsuit against the Commission will continue. Gay and lesbian couples continue to be controversial in the religious sphere as well. Reverend Gregory Dell, the first United Methodist minister ever to be convicted by a church court for blessing so-called "homosexual unions," learned this week that he has been reappointed to Chicago's Broadway United Methodist Church. Dell is currently on suspension as punishment for his commitment ceremony, but the suspension will be over when his reappointment begins. Before that, the denomination's General Assembly will be considering proposals to lift its ban on blessing same-gender couples. Dell remains committed to performing those rites, and says that if the denomination doesn't change the rules, his new appointment may be one of the shortest in history. Meanwhile, a complaint has been filed against United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert, head of the denomination's California-Nevada Conference. It was in that region that nearly 100 United Methodist clergy held what they called an act of "ecclesiastical disobedience" by joining together for a public blessing of a lesbian couple. As head of the region, Talbert was responsible for naming a committee to consider whether 68 of those ministers should be brought to trial. After three days of public hearings, the committe e decided there was no basis for trial. Some conservative Methodists now want to see Talbert tried, because when he announced the committee's finding, he said it was more important to have an inclusive church than to punish ministers for blessing same-gender couples. But in Brazil, a court has called for public social security benefits to be paid to gays and lesbians whose same-gender partners die or are imprisoned. Prosecutors of the Federal Public Ministry for the state of Rio Grande do Sul have filed a petition to a Federal Court to order the National Social Security Institute to recognize same-gender couples. They cited the national constitution's prohibition against all forms of discrimination. The court's federal jurisdiction means the order will extend beyond the state to the entire country. Activists view this as a ground-breaking decision because it would give same-gender couples status equal to heterosexual ones for this purpose. Britain's Trades Union Congress this week called for spousal benefits for gay and lesbian workers' domestic partners. The powerful unions association also called for legislation to prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Trades Union Congress published the results of a survey it commissioned that found that more than 70% of the public supports these moves. Currently, the British Government is drafting guidelines for voluntary compliance by employers, but the unions believe a law is necessary to change the behavior of what they called "bad bosses." Also this week, the Scottish Trades Union Congress held its national convention, where 300 delegates voted unanimously for a resolution supporting repeal of Section 28. That's the Thatcher-era measure prohibiting local governments from using resources to "promote homosexuality". The Scottish Executive's move to repeal it is about to be taken up by the Scottish Parliament, after months of intense public controversy. On the tenth anniverary of the death of screen legend Greta Garbo, officials at Philadelphia's Rosenbach Museum opened a forty-year-old package of letters she'd written to her friend screenwriter Mercedes de Acosta. De Acosta had bragged of having a lesbian relationship with Garbo, as well as with film star Marlene Dietrich and dancer Isadora Duncan, but de Acosta was not entirely reliable and no other real evidence has ever been found. There is no question that Garbo was involved with men. But the letters failed to offer any real clues to anything other than an on-again, off-again friendship from 1931 through 1959. Garbo's niece Gray Horan declared, "Garbo's mystery remains intact." And finally, GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, distributed some of its annual media awards this week in Los Angeles. Honors went to the film "Being John Malkovich" and to TV shows "Will & Grace," "Leeza," "Dawson's Creek," "Popular," and the TV movie "Execution of Justice". There were also special awards for openly lesbian actress Anne Heche and for AIDS activist and film great Elizabeth Taylor. The much-married star said in her acceptance speech, "Why shouldn't gay people be allowed to marry? Those against gay marriages say marriage should only be between a man and a woman. God, I of all people know marriage doesn't always work." She concluded, to a standing ovation, "Once and for all of us, long live love!"