NewsWrap for the week ending July 22, 2000 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #643, distributed 07-24-00) [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 Canadian province of British Columbia is asking a court if marriage licenses should be issued to same-gender couples. Qualifying for a marriage license is almost the only legal distinction remaining between heterosexual and same-gender couples in BC, which for several years has been passing legislation to equalize them. Provincial Attorney General Andrew Petter believes it's discriminatory to deny the licenses to gay and lesbian couples. He also believes that in the light of recent rulings, the courts may reject the current federal common law restricting marriage to "one man and one woman." The national group EGALE, Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere, welcomed the move as "the first time a Canadian government has ever expressed the view that same-sex couples should have an equal right to marry." EGALE is filing its own lawsuit to the same end. EGALE's Equal Marriage Committee chair Laurie Arron said "the exclusion of same-gender relationships from marriage speaks volumes. It sends a loud and clear message that our relationships are inferior, are not worthy of the term 'marriage.' This hurtful message must change." Speaking for BC's Opposition Liberal Party, Barry Penner said the New Democratic Party provincial Government has always failed in the courts, and added, "I suspect this is an NDP political ploy that is geared towards scrounging up political points before they go to the polls." The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver maintained that while the courts could try to play word games, they "cannot change the underlying meaning" of marriage as "between a man and a woman," "an institution in which children are born and raised." Division of property on dissolution of relationships was the subject of Parliamentary committee hearings this week in New Zealand. The Government has proposed a bill that will treat unmarried couples of three years' standing, both heterosexual and same-gender, exactly the same as married couples for this purpose. Currently same-gender couples do not have access to the courts to determine division of assets when they break up. As gays and lesbians noted in testimony, they have also lacked standing as next-of-kin, which has allowed blood relatives to contest the wills of gays and lesbians who left their property to their same-gender partners. When it was decided to hold more hearings on the Matrimonial Property Amendment Act, the bill went to a committee chaired by openly gay Member of Parliament Tim Barnett. A conservative group called Catholic Action, which is not officially recognized by the Church, called for Barnett's removal from the chair, saying his sexual orientation represented "evident bias and manifest prejudice" on the issue. In Australia, the issue of ordaining gays and lesbians so divided the Uniting Church that its triennial national Assembly decided to set the issue aside. A decision had been expected at the meeting three years ago, where ten clergy including a national leader came out as gays and lesbians, but the issue then was left unresolved. This week's Assembly determined it would operate by consensus -- no mean feat for a group of about 280 delegates -- and it became clear in the very earliest business that wouldn't work for sexuality issues. First one delegate tried to block the seating of two representatives of a church gay and lesbian network as non-voting associates at the Assembly, forcing a majority vote that accepted them. Then another delegate refused to accept a committee report that promised support for full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the church, finding it contrary to "ex-gays'" decision to foreswear what he called "the homosexual lifestyle," and against his own belief in Scripture. A proposal "not to consider any proposals relating to sexuality at this Assembly" was hotly debated but ultimately passed by a close vote of 137 - 116. This leaves a very murky status quo in place for the 1.3-million-member Uniting Church. In theory, sexual orientation per se should be no bar to ordination, and while sexual conduct may be considered in the overall assessment of a candidate, the standard of "celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in marriage" is expected but not required. That's the theory, but in practice no open gay or lesbian has ever been ordained in the denomination. On the other hand, those who came out after their ordination, including those with same-gender partners, have never been disciplined. Also remaining unpunished is Pope John Paul II. After the pontiff called World Pride Roma 2000 "offensive and insulting to Christian values" and repeated that "homosexual acts are against the laws of nature," a gay and lesbian group in the Netherlands filed an incitement to hatred complaint against him in Amsterdam. This week the public prosecutors office dismissed the complaint, saying that as head of the Vatican state the pope has "universal legal immunity." Henk Kroll and the Friends of Gay Krant are now looking into possible actions by Netherlands diplomats or under international law. U.S. federal authorities began a preliminary investigation this week into a murder in West Virginia which may have been hate-motivated. According to a 15-year-old witness and their own confessions, two 17-year-old Caucasian boys beat and kicked to death African-American gay "JR" Warren. They then tried to disguise the crime as an auto accident by running a car over his body several times. Both suspects have been charged with first-degree murder, but because they are minors all proceedings are sealed from the public. Local authorities do not believe this was either a racial or a homophobic crime, but civil rights groups who came to investigate the situation are convinced it was both. Marion County Sheriffs had already invited their local FBI agent to monitor their work. But this week Warren's family and representatives of several civil rights groups met with top Department of Justice officials, who decided on a preliminary investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office. That investigation will determine if further federal action can be taken. Warren's family joined activists in a rally in Washington, D.C. calling for passage of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. That bill would greatly expand the circumstances in which federal authorities could become involved in hate crimes investigation and prosecution, and would add sexual orientation, gender and disability as protected categories in federal hate crimes law. Hate crimes and anti-gay harassment were the subject of two reports issued by the U.S. Department of Defense this week. One was the Inspector General's report on the command climate at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where last year Private First Class Barry Winchell was bashed to death by another man in his unit as he slept. The trials of the killer and an accessory revealed that Winchell had been the object of anti-gay harassment on a near-daily basis for four months before the attack. But the Inspector General cleared every officer on the base of any responsibility in the matter. All blame was laid on an abusive first sergeant who has been removed from his duties. The lieutenant over him knew there was a problem and counseled with the sergeant, but the lieutenant was working alone while four other positions were unfilled. The Inspector General didn't have much access to information from gay and lesbian soldiers, though, because he had announced that he would move for dismissal of anyone whose homosexual orientation was revealed in the course of the investigation. Yet the second report promised to hold the military hierarchy responsible for anti-gay harassment as well as violations of the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Such accountability has not yet been put into practice in the seven years the policy has been in effect. This report contained recommendations from a top-level all-service task group to prevent anti-gay harassment and abuse. They roughly paralleled the military's successful approach to racial integration. Chief among the thirteen recommendations was expanded training at every level regarding the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and the importance of respectful behavior regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. The task group chair admitted it wasn't easy to extend respect to someone whose identity was unknown. The NBC sitcom "Will & Grace", the first network series with an openly gay male title role, led all other comedies in the Emmy award nominations announced this week with a total of 11. "Will & Grace" was named in every major comedy category except writing, including Best Comedy Series and nominations for all four of the lead and supporting actors. And finally... Martina Navratilova has been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, where the display in her honor is called "Martina the Magnificent." She's simply the winningest professional tennis player of all time, including 167 singles titles and 165 doubles titles, including 18 Grand Slam events. She was ceremonially introduced to the Hall of Fame by her former coach, transsexual Dr. Renee Richards, who called her "a true freedom fighter." Navratilova's own speech to friends, families and 4,000 adoring fans included an explanation of how she had to keep her lesbian orientation a secret because it would have barred her from gaining US citizenship after her defection from then-Czechoslovakia. But now, she promised "I will continue speaking out on behalf of gays and lesbians until we have equal access and protection under the law." Also, in her long list of thank you's to those who helped her, she included not only her dogs but "even all the girlfriends who suffered through all the matches in the stands -- wherever they are."