NewsWrap
for the week ending May 13, 2000
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #633, distributed 05-15-00)
[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 Jon Beaupré and Chris Allen

  The United Methodist Church, the United States' third-largest denomination 
with more than 8-million members, this week voted to maintain key anti-gay 
positions for the next four years.  By margins of two-to-one and more, the 
almost 1,000 delegates to the denomination's General Assembly voted to 
reaffirm that homosexual acts are incompatible with Christian teaching; that 
sexually active gays and lesbians may not be ordained; and that same-gender 
commitment ceremonies may not be performed by United Methodist ministers or 
in United Methodist churches.  The votes sparked a peaceful protest on the 
floor that's believed to be the first significant disruption of a major 
religious convention in U.S. history.  It ended with the arrest of almost 30 
people, including two bishops and a number of ministers.  The day before the 
vote, almost 200 United Methodists including a bishop and other activists 
organized by gay Reverend Mel White's Soulforce group were arrested in a 
peaceful planned civil disobedience action outside the convention hall in 
Cleveland, Ohio.  While that action was in progress, scores of people inside 
the hall briefly disrupted a guest sermon by Anglican leader Archbishop of 
Canterbury Doctor George Carey, chanting, "Wide is God's welcome -- extend 
the table!"  Gays and lesbians and their allies held a number of other 
vigils, rallies and demonstrations throughout the ten-day conference, after a 
year of heavy lobbying of delegates.  Despite the disappointing votes, some 
are already looking ahead to the next General Assembly in 2004.  The United 
Methodist Church has been wrestling with gay and lesbian issues since its 
first General Assembly in 1972, but this year’s Assembly voted to continue 
organized dialogue on the subject for four more years.

  The Colorado Council of Churches this week announced that after 2-1/2 years 
of discussion it has admitted the gay-affirming Universal Fellowship of 
Metropolitan Community Churches to its membership.  It's only the fourth 
state ecumenical council to accept MCC, which has 45,000 members in 17 
countries.  Although MCC's admission was not intended as an endorsement of 
its gay-friendly policies, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput is considering 
withdrawing the Roman Catholic Church from the Council.  The Catholic Church 
had opposed MCC's membership, while the other eleven denominations 
represented on the Council have not revealed their votes.  Chaput is 
reportedly concerned that Catholic parishioners might become "confused" by 
the church's association with a group with such a different stance on 
homosexuality.  The loss of the Catholics would be a severe blow to the 
Council, since the more than 363,000 Colorado Catholics make up almost half 
of the individuals represented on the Council as well as giving the group a 
significant annual financial contribution.  MCC has six congregations in 
Colorado with a total membership of about 500.

  Top-rated U.S. radio talkshow host "Doctor Laura" Schlessinger, who likes 
to think that her anti-gay views represent Orthodox Judaism, was harshly 
criticized this week by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Commission.  The 
CBSC represents an association of all privately-owned Canadian broadcasters, 
and it reviews audience complaints to evaluate if the industry's agreed-on 
codes have been violated.  It found that Schlessinger had been "abusively 
discriminatory" towards gays and lesbians, particularly by the cumulative 
effect of her repeated denounciations in pseudo-scientific terms.  The ruling 
is the most vehemently negative the Commission has ever issued, and it echoed 
activists' fears that Schlessinger's statements might encourage unbalanced 
individuals to acts of violence.  Radio stations still wanting to broadcast 
Schlessinger in Canada will have to read the ruling in its entirety on the 
air.  They will also be expected to censor her remarks on homosexuality, as 
some portions of the raunchy "Howard Stern Show" have been previously.

  Meanwhile, gays and lesbians in the U.S. continued a series of 
demonstrations protesting plans for a nationally-syndicated "Dr. Laura" TV 
show to begin in September.  In Atlanta, Georgia about 40 protestors rallied 
outside the local FOX affiliate.  In San Francisco, the local CBS affiliate 
was the target of about 30 demonstrators, including openly gay San Francisco 
Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Mark Leno.  More street actions are planned in 
other cities.  In addition, GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against 
Defamation, has begun a letter-writing campaign against Procter & Gamble, 
which has purchased advertising time on the "Dr. Laura" TV show.

  A large demonstration in Topeka, Kansas convinced the City Council to 
unanimously adopt a resolution against "hateful behavior" this week.  More 
than 300 people organized by Concerned Citizens of Topeka rallied outside the 
State House and marched to City Hall, where the Council chambers were packed 
and overflowing.  The resolution is simply a statement that the city will 
"pursue strategies to control and constrain hateful behavior and hateful 
actions ... and promote positive alternatives."  But Topeka is the home of 
professional homophobe Fred Phelps and his family's Westboro Baptist Church, 
and the Phelpses took the resolution very personally, threatening a lawsuit.  
Concerned Citizens of Topeka insisted they were opposed to all forms of hate 
and were not targeting anyone with the resolution.  But other Topeka 
residents described their personal experiences of being picketed and faxed by 
the foul-mouthed Phelpses, and the former head of the city's Convention and 
Visitors Bureau described losing convention business because of them.  
Councilmembers had previously buried an identical resolution in committee for 
six months, and they have reason to be nervous:  the last time the city tried 
to restrain the Phelpses, with an ordinance limiting pickets, it ended up 
costing the city $47,000 in legal fees in a losing court battle.

  The three gay and lesbian couples who won "civil unions" in Vermont 
announced this week they will be dropping their lawsuit against the state 
when the new law goes into effect.  They had sued the state to obtain 
marriage licenses, and in December won a ruling from the Vermont Supreme 
Court that the legislature must provide same-gender couples with access to 
all the state’s benefits and protections of legal marriage.  The legislature 
chose to create a parallel structure called civil unions rather than extend 
the marriage laws to include gays and lesbians.  Although the couples at one 
time had hoped to continue their legal struggle to win full marriage rights, 
the issue created so much division and backlash in the state that they've 
agreed this is not the time to push for more.  They've already won by far the 
most extensive legal recognition of same-gender couples in the U.S., bringing 
some 300 state-level rights and responsibilities of marriage to couples who 
contract civil unions beginning July 1.  However, the Pat Robertson-founded 
American Center for Law and Justice announced this week that it's preparing a 
lawsuit to challenge civil unions, as well as an amendment to the Vermont 
constitution to prohibit them.

  A South African prison inmate this week won a last visit with his partner 
of 15 years who is dying of AIDS-related illness.  Prison officials had 
denied Quinton Booysen the right to visit on the grounds that a same-gender 
partner did not qualify as a "family member."  Booysen, convicted of fraud, ha
d not seen his partner David Yates since January.  He appealed to the Cape 
High Court, saying he and Yates would have married if the law allowed.  The 
Department of Corrections reached an agreement with Booysen's attorney, and 
two wardens took him to Yates' bedside for a tearful two-hour visit.  Booysen 
went on to praise South Africa's constitutional prohibition against sexual 
orientation discrimination.  But activists were angered when Corrections 
Services officials announced that, "If another person in the same situation 
wanted to do this tomorrow, they would have to go to court again."

  The top issue in Scotland remains Section 28, the Thatcher-era prohibition 
against local governments using resources to "promote homosexuality."  It's 
all but assured that the Scottish Parliament will repeal the discriminatory 
clause in June, despite months of public outcry in opposition.  Nonetheless 
it was trotted out in court this week for what may be the last time, as a 
nurse sued the Glasgow City Council for making grants to gay and lesbian 
organizations.  The Court of Sessions judge denied her request for a 
preliminary injunction to block those grants as violating Section 28, but the 
City Council agreed to voluntarily suspend them until the full lawsuit has 
been decided.  The law will probably be history by the time that case comes 
to trial.  Meanwhile, three Glasgow activists were arrested in a 
demonstration expressing their wrath at the Keep the Clause campaign funded 
by Brian Souter, a multimillionaire as the owner of the transportation 
company Stagecoach.  A group of protestors jumped atop one of Stagecoach's 
public buses and managed to cover it with pink paint before police arrived.

  The chances of Section 28 repeal in the British Parliament this year look 
grim, a Government spokesperson admitted for the first time at a big public 
meeting this week organized by the advocacy group Stonewall.  But the 
election of gay-supportive Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London is a bright 
spot.  As the new mayor began to assemble his Cabinet this week, he put open 
gay Darren Johnson in charge of environmental issues.  Johnson was a mayoral 
candidate himself for the Green Party, and while not coming close to the top 
office, he was one of a surprising three Greens to win a seat on the Greater 
London Assembly.  

  And finally ... as a dominant figure in world music for more than 30 years, 
gay singer-songwriter Sir Elton John is big.  But he's never been bigger than 
in his portrayal in the world's largest photograph, a 60-foot tall, 900-foot 
long work now wrapped around Selfridges department store in London.  Artist Sa
m Taylor-Wood envisioned the work she calls "XV Seconds" as a modern version 
of the frieze of the Parthenon, calling the store "a temple of shopping" and 
using 21 contemporary icons instead of the Parthenon's depictions of Greek 
gods.  Viewing the work this week, Sir Elton was in perfect agreement that he 
is, in fact, the god of shopping.