NewsWrap for the week ending June 24, 2000 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #639, distributed 06-26-00) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Martin Rice, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Alan Reekie, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Leo Garcia and Cindy Friedman Months of controversy in Scotland ended this week as the Parliament voted 99 to 17 to repeal Section 28, the notorious Thatcher-era prohibition against local governments devoting resources to the "promotion of homosexuality" or to teaching in schools that same-gender couples are "pretend family relationships." Surveys found the law has deterred educators from intervening in anti-gay harassment in schools and from supporting gay and lesbian youth. But although the law had never actually been enforced, the religious right feared it was the only thing preventing classrooms from being flooded with pornographic propaganda. Those fears were inflamed by the huge Keep the Clause media campaign funded by multimillionaire Brian Souter. Communities Minister Wendy Alexander told the Parliament, "Week in, week out, we faced a campaign without precedent in public life. The charge that ... [we] ... were somehow in the business of promoting 'gay sex lessons' was always deeply dishonest and an insult to Scotland's teachers. So discrimination needed to be faced down... We will protect children and honor those who care for and love them in an inclusive way." Keep the Clause and Scotland's top Catholic Cardinal Thomas Winning both claimed a victory for new guidelines for teachers including a reference to "the responsibilities of parenthood and marriage" as well as the generic "stable relationships" -- but according to at least one analyst, the marriage reference had been in the guidelines all along. Pressure from several religious right groups failed to reverse household products giant Procter & Gamble's decision to withdraw its sponsorship from a new syndicated television show for anti-gay radio talk show host "Dr. Laura" Schlessinger. With an ad budget of $3-billion per year, P&G's dropping the show rocked the media world, and marked the most dramatic result of ongoing protests by gays and lesbians across the U.S. Five major national religious right groups and a local group from Cincinnati, Ohio where P&G is headquartered, met with senior managers. The company had hoped for a broader discussion of developing more family-oriented television programming, but the groups focused exclusively on demanding that P&G buy back into Dr. Laura. The company's newly elected leadership reviewed the situation, but agreed with their predecessors that Schlessinger has become too controversial. A spokesperson for the religious right groups said, "P&G right now is in the homosexual activists' camp." In other big business news this week, the Coca-Cola Company announced it will be extending spousal health care benefits to the same-gender domestic partners of its gay and lesbian employees. Coke is the 99th of the Fortune 500 companies to make the move. The world's largest soft drink company is also considering extending the benefit to its international workforce in nearly 200 other countries. The Canadian Senate has given its final approval to Bill C-23, the Government's omnibus bill to give same-gender couples the same legal standing as unmarried heterosexuals. Although Senators were not entirely happy with the bill as written, they decided not to amend it, so it will not be returning to the Commons. All that remains for the so-called "Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Bill" to become law is the formality of Royal Assent. Germany's coalition Government announced this week that it has reached agreement on a strong domestic partnership measure it's promised to introduce in the Parliament before the legislative session ends in July. The announcement was made by openly gay Green Party MP Volker Beck. Unlike an earlier draft, the new partners bill includes some of the most valuable benefits sought by activists -- marriage-like recognition of gay and lesbian couples for taxation, health insurance, pensions, and immigration. However, adoption rights are not included. Although the Social Democratic Party that leads the Government had promised partnership legislation when wooing gay votes in its election campaign two years ago, the Government was not able to move its bill through the Parliament last year. This year some conservatives are hoping they can block it in the upper house, where the coalition lacks a majority. Meanwhile, the German Army is drafting plans to recognize the same-gender partners of gay and lesbian military personnel, including giving them allowances and housing equivalent to married couples. A Cabinet minister announced that a working group including representatives of the parties forming Belgium's coalition Government have agreed that civil marriage should be broadened to include same-gender couples. The registered partnerships established in Belgium last year were little more than ceremonial , to activists' great disappointment. In Iceland, where gay and lesbian registered partners already had nearly all the benefits of legal marriage, the parliament voted recently to allow partners to adopt each others' children. Although conservatives lobbied hard against the move, polls found that two-thirds of Icelanders supported adoption rights for same-gender couples. In Britain, a venerable national women's organization generally viewed as supporting "family values" decided this week to lobby for legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples. The National Council of the Townswomen's Guilds, representing a total of some 80,000 members, voted 736 to 687 to take up the cause after an emotional debate. Their specific lobbying goals for same-gender couples include housing and pension rights and next-of-kin status. The French Government announced this week that it will be making "sexual orientation" a protected category in civil rights legislation for the first time ever. Following a meeting with nine leading lesbigay groups, Employment Minister Martine Aubry said she would make the amendment to "social modernization" legislation already pending in the Parliament. Current law prohibits employers from discrimination in hiring and firing based on "moral behavior." Under Aubry's amendment, both employers and landlords will be barred from bias based on "sexual orientation." She said, "It is the government's duty to make sure the law is clear and to say it is not permissible to discriminate against homosexuals when hiring staff or to refuse to rent an apartment to a homosexual couple." Also using "sexual orientation" for the first time ever was the New York state legislature. In the closing moments of the legislative session this week, both houses approved a compromise version of a hate crimes bill agreed on with Republican Governor George Pataki, who has promised to sign it into law. The margin in the Senate was about 4-to-1 and in the Assembly about 5-to-1. For eleven consecutive years the Assembly had passed similar hate crimes measures, but because of the reference to gays and lesbians, until this year Republican leadership in the Senate had never allowed a floor vote. The state's Hate Crimes Bill Coalition, including many groups affected by the legislation, remained staunch in supporting inclusion of gays and lesbians while knowing they could have won enactment by excluding them. Still another first-ever use of "sexual orientation" came this week as Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist signed a hate crimes bill into law. The Nashville-based Lesbian and Gay Coalition for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee have been lobbying for this law for three years. The U.S. came a step closer to including homophobic assaults in federal hate crimes law with a Senate vote of 57 - 42. The vote had been expected to be so close that Vice President Al Gore interrupted his Presidential campaigning to be present to break a tie if necessary, but 13 Republicans broke with their party leadership to support it. Only one Democrat opposed it. What has long been referred to as the Hate Crimes Prevention Act was added as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act. However, it's not likely to be added to the House version of the defense bill, so it might be dropped by a conference committee as it was last year. U.S. President Bill Clinton issued an executive order this week prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in federally conducted education and training programs. The order covers programs by any executive branch department or agency including schools, extracurricular activities, academic programs, occupational training, and scholarships and fellowships. While it doesn't apply to uniformed servicemembers in military training programs, the Department of Defense was ordered to protect the rights of gay and lesbian civilians involved. The world's first Scout group to specifically welcome lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender members became official this week. Toronto's Rover Troop 129's first members included two men and four women who donned rainbow neckerchiefs in a special ceremony. Organizers say they've had nothing but support from Scouts Canada, and they're now working on developing a Ventures troop for younger teens and a Beaver group for children of gay and lesbian parents. And finally... When 20 cops entered Toronto's Sailor's gay bar this week, it wasn't a raid -- it was the first-ever Police Chief's Pride Week Reception. New chief Julian Fantino came into his job with a bad rep among some gay activists, but he has been making serious outreach efforts to connect with the community. Although the cops and the gays were a little standoffish at first, the party soon warmed up and even got a little rowdy. AIDS Committee of Toronto director Mark Deacon caught the gay-friendly spirit of Toronto during Pride Week when he admitted, "I love shocking my friends and saying, 'We hoisted the rainbow flag at City Hall on Monday [and] We're having drinks with the chief [of police] on Wednesday.'"