NewsWrap for the week ending July 8, 2000 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #641, distributed 07-10-00) [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 A national vice enforcement campaign in China began this week with a police raid on a gay health club resulting in 37 arrests. Police called it the biggest detention sweep against gays yet, although they said most of the men will probably be released. Authorities allege that the Junjie Men's Beauty and Health Centre in Guangzhou was selling sex with its staff. The club had only opened in February but had already signed up hundreds of members. Now it is closed down and the owner will face criminal charges relating to prostitution. A police spokesperson told foreign reporters that the men at the health club were not arrested because of their sexual orientation -- but it seems evident that President Jiang Zemin had gays in mind, among others, when he announced a three-month law enforcement "strike against repulsive social phenomena." China does not have a sodomy law per se, but the charge of hooliganism has often been used to close down gay venues, break up gay political organizing, and incarcerate gay individuals. The U.S. state of Louisiana does have a sodomy law and this week the state Supreme Court upheld it in a 5-to-2 ruling. Previously an appeals court had struck down the law. The century-old statute provides for up to five years' imprisonment for oral and anal sex, even if they're private non-commercial acts between consenting adults, even a legally married heterosexual couple. The case before the Louisiana high court involved a criminal conviction for a heterosexual act. The majority of the justices agreed that since the legislature had declared the acts immoral, they constitute "an injury against society itself," and rejected any claim that state privacy rights protected these criminal acts. At the same time, the majority did not believe that any truly private and consensual act would ever come to the attention of authorities. They believed the charge was useful in prosecuting sex offenders in cases where evidence was lacking to support other charges. A dissenting opinion charged that, "The only apparent purpose of the prohibition is to dictate the type of sex that is acceptable to legislators." While activists were disappointed by the decision, another legal challenge to the Louisiana law is still pending, a 1994 civil lawsuit brought by the group Louisiana Electorate of Gays and Lesbians that was successful in a trial court. The state is appealing that ruling, but no hearing date has yet been set. In one of the world's more notorious sodomy cases, there's been a surprising twist. Zimbabwe's famously homophobic President Robert Mugabe has granted amnesty to Jefta Dube, the police constable whose trial for murder first publicly revealed the nation's first post-colonial President Canaan Banana's sexual assaults against other men. Dube shot dead a fellow officer who teased him for being "Banana's wife" and was sentenced to ten years in prison. But the court believed Dube was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of three years of what was described as sexual slavery while he served as an aide-de-camp during Banana's 1980's presidency. The news rocked the nation, since Banana had been not only a distinguished international diplomat but an ordained minister and head of the religion department at the University of Zimbabwe. Dube's trial led directly to an investigation of Banana and his ultimate prosecution and conviction for eleven counts of homosexual assaults against Dube and eight other victims. Banana lost his last appeal at the end of May, and it was apparently at that point that Mugabe quietly freed Dube after three years in prison. That's believed to be Mugabe's only public acknowledgment of the Banana scandal, although the two were colleagues in the ruling ZANU-PF party for more than thirty years. Mugabe is known for years of calling gays "worse than pigs and dogs," declaring that they have no rights, and encouraging vigilante action against them. Zimbabwe's sodomy law does not distinguish between sexual assaults and consensual acts. Another discriminatory law, the UK's Section 28, was back in the headlines this week in both Britain and Scotland. In Britain, the House of Commons passed a bill including repeal of Section 28, a Thatcher-era statute prohibiting local governments from devoting resources to the "promotion of homosexuality" or from teaching same-gender relationships as a "pretend family relationship." That sets up another battle in the House of Lords, where the repeal clause was defeated by Conservatives in February. But there have been major changes in the makeup of the House of Lords since, and lobbyists from the Stonewall group say that some repeal opponents seem to be changing their attitude as well. In Scotland, a lawsuit charging the city of Glasgow had violated Section 28 with its funding of gay and lesbian and AIDS groups was settled this week. Last month, the Scottish Parliament voted overwhelmingly to repeal the clause. In the settlement, the city admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to write letters telling the community groups they could not use their city grants to "promote homosexuality." As the groups see it, that makes no difference in what they've been doing already. Plaintiff Sheena Strain is believed to be fronting for the anti-gay Christian Institute. The court required her to pay the legal costs of the community groups, amounting to some 7,000-pounds. Her side is calling the settlement a compromise, but the community groups are declaring it a victory. This may discourage the Christian Institute from its announced plans to bring similar lawsuits against other cities in Britain, where Section 28 remains in effect. The Episcopal Church USA began its triennial General Convention this week amidst protests. Currently this US arm of the global Anglican Communion allows each diocese to make its own decisions whether to ordain non-celibate gays and lesbians and whether to bless same-gender couples. This General Convention is expected to vote on whether to make that so-called "local option" official policy, although there is also considerable sentiment against making any firm decision at this time. Gay Reverend Mel White's Soulforce group held a demonstration outside as the meeting opened in Denver, including a carefully-planned civil disobedience that resulted in 73 arrests. One of those arrested was Episcopal Bishop Otis Charles, who came out as a gay man after his retirement. A further protest came from an unexpected source, noted singer Judy Collins. An Episcopalian herself, she had been scheduled to headline a concert at the Convention to benefit an Episcopal charity. But she announced this week that she will not be appearing, protesting what she views as the church's discriminatory treatment of gays and lesbians. However, Integrity, the network of gay and lesbian Episcopalians, seems much more patient with the church's progress. Led by its president Reverend Michael Hopkins and other openly gay and lesbian priests, the group celebrated the Eucharist with 1,200 people in a Denver cathedral. At least two U.S. states appear headed for November votes on ballot measures to deny legal recognition to same-gender marriages. A proposed constitutional amendment in Nevada this week officially qualified for the ballot. In Nebraska, petitions to place a proposed amendment on the ballot were turned in this week with well over the minimum number of signatures required. The Nebraska measure goes beyond marriage to deny legal recognition to civil unions, domestic partnerships and "any other same-sex relationship," a more sweeping measure than any passed in the U.S. to date. But Germany took a first step towards legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples, as the Government introduced a bill to establish registered partnersh ips. That sparked more than an hour of debate in the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. Conservatives claimed the measure would violate the special status afforded marriage in the national constitution. They were bolstered by both Catholic and Protestant groups who believe the partnerships would damage traditional marriage. Social Democrats and openly gay Green Party MP Volker Beck argued that the partnerships were important to ending discrimination. The bill was sent on to committee. This year's edition of the long-promised legislation includes many of the social and financial benefits of marriage including residency rights for binational couples, but it does not include adoption rights or certain marital tax breaks. Homosexuality has often been compared to left-handedness, but now Canadian researchers have found a correlation between them. With a statistical analysis of twenty published studies, they came up with a strong finding that gays and lesbians are more likely to be left-handed than non-gays. Overall, if one out of five non-gays are lefties, then one out of four gays and lesbians are. Gay men are one-third more likely to be left-handed than non-gay men, while lesbians are almost twice as likely to be left-handed as non-gay women. The researchers believe the two traits may have a common cause in what's called "developmental instability" -- pre-natal factors including exposure to sex hormones -- although they don't claim that this is the sole cause of all homosexual orientation. However, the correlation can only be seen in large groups, and the researchers emphasize that left-handedness "would not be a useful clue for deciding if someone was gay or straight." Also announced this week was a British study of transsexuals, who were also found to include a disproportionate number of left-handers. And finally... left-handedness may not tell you who's gay, but that sense that you have about who is has won a measure of official recognition. It's right there in black and white in the new edition of the Random House Webster's New College Dictionary -- "gaydar", defined as a homosexual's ability to spot another.