NewsWrap for the week ending August 19, 2000 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #647, distributed 08-21-00) [Written by Lucia Chappelle, with thanks to Matt Alsdorf, Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Greg Gordon & Cindy Friedman] Anchored by Chase Schulte and Chris Allen As the Democratic Party converged on Los Angeles this week for its national nominating convention, its gay and lesbian caucus proved that it was firmly entrenched in the mainstream. There were 212 openly lesbigay and transgender delegates, compared to 19 at the Republican Convention two weeks ago. Out in the streets, a demonstration of "Queers & Allies" had a close call with Los Angeles police when about 1,000 marchers disagreed with authorities as to the location of their planned action. The situation was resolved when the protesters left the downtown Federal Building and marched to Pershing Square, one of the sites designated for counter-convention activities. Not absolutely everything was sweetness and light for lesbians and gays inside the convention either. Lesbian California State Assemblymember Carole Migden and other delegates were furious over the appearance of some Boy Scouts among the children delivering the Pledge of Allegiance on Tuesday evening. Migden called it "a stinging insult" for the party to put an organization that discriminates against gays into the national spotlight, and vowed to make sure it would never happen again. The city of Tokyo is in the process of developing human rights guidelines, but the rights of lesbians and gays are not included in a draft currently being circulated. It was considered a landmark "first" in early 1999 when the governor's advisory commission invited gays and lesbians to testify at an official hearing and to join other discussions relating to the guidelines. It was an even bigger "first" when the commission's December report recommended inclusion of sexual minorities in new measures to protect human rights. So it was a source of anger and disappointment to activists to then be left out of the proposed legislation. Tokyo's gay and lesbian group OCCUR has been meeting to consider how to generate public support for their inclusion in the guidelines -- support the government says it has not seen. When Governor Shintaro Ishihara was asked about the omission of lesbigay rights at a press conference he responded, "In what way are they discriminated against?" OCCUR's anger has been further fueled by Japan's first homicide to be identified as a gay-bashing attack. They say the February murder might have been avoided had there been less homophobia among the police themselves and more concern about previous reports of trouble in the area -- including reports that the two perpetrators frequently attacked gay men who meet in the park where the victim died. When OCCUR requested a meeting with the Metropolitan Police Department, they were refused. Four local civil rights ordinances protecting gays and lesbians that were passed last year in Kentucky have been targeted by the Pat Robertson-founded American Center for Law and Justice – or ACLJ -- but now the lawsuit against one has been dismissed and the U.S. Department of Justice has called for the dismissal of the lawsuit against another. In ACLJ's challenge to the city of Henderson's Fairness Ordinance, Christian landlords claimed the housing rights provision in the law would force them to "facilitate sin" in violation of their religious beliefs. However apparently the plaintiffs and their representatives failed to read the fine print before going to court: single-family housing units like the ones owned by the plaintiffs are exempted from the ordinance, so last week it was ruled they have no standing to sue. The Justice Department, in what's believed to be its first intervention to support a local ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, requested the dismissal of ACLJ's similar suit against Louisville's Fairness Ordinance. They warned that success for the case could ultimately jeopardize the basic civil rights not only of gays and lesbians but of people in all groups protected by similar laws, such as those prohibiting discrimination based on gender, race -- or religion. The gay Israeli whose precedent-setting 1997 case won him his late partner's military pension is back in court again. Adir Steiner had hoped that ruling would also give him a spouse's right to add his tribute to Colonel Doron Maisel in the Israeli Defense Force's official memorial tomes. He's finally been granted that -- but now he wants the minutes of the meeting that led to the decision, and in order to get them Steiner is having to sue the Defense Ministry. The Ministry has refused to give Steiner the minutes, saying that some of the people involved might be hurt by their publication. Steiner had forced the issue of the memorial tribute by appealing the Ministry's initial refusal to the High Court of Justice. Before the court could hear the case, the Ministry brought the matter to its Public Committee to Perpetuate the Memory of Fallen Soldiers. That's the consultation that led to the ground-breaking decision to treat Steiner as a legitimate partner -- and that's the discussion Steiner wants to know more about. Using the Freedom of Information Law, he told the Tel Aviv District Court that the proceedings of the Public Committee were necessary both for his tribute to Maisel and to help him document his relationship for a pending tax dispute. He believes opening up the deliberations will not only aid the cause of gay and lesbian rights, it will also help to crack the secrecy of the Committee's work and thus have an impact on all bereaved families. In South Africa, there's been an unexpected turn in the controversial custody case of a Pretoria lesbian mother. A 1993 ruling had granted the mother weekend visits with her son and daughter, but banned her from sharing a room with her partner of eleven years while the children were there and ordered that they not be exposed to anything that might "connote homosexuality," such as videos or clothing. However, those visitation restrictions have been lifted in response to an urgent application to move the daughter out of the father's house. The girl complained that her father was "holding her prisoner" since discovering from her diary that she had been sexually active with her boyfriend. A psychologist described her as severely traumatized and saw the potential for permanent damage should she remain with her father. In temporarily ordering the 17-year-old to be placed in her mother's custody, the judge said the previous restrictions might violate South Africa's first-in-the-world constitutional ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation. The judge will make his permanent decision on the girl's placement after hearing recommendations from the Family Advocate. The questions regarding the death of gay African-American "JR" Warren may finally be answered, now that a judge has ruled that both West Virginia teenagers charged in the murder will be tried as adults. While local investigators say there is no evidence to support their suspicion, some activists believe the killing may have been bias-motivated -- but because the juvenile proceedings have been strictly confidential, few details have been released to the public. That will change now that Marion County Circuit Judge Rodney Merrifield has decided to transfer Jared Wilson to criminal court along with David Parker. Some of the facts have emerged out of the hearings on Wilson's and Parker's status. Parker and Warren had argued, and the fight became physical after Wilson took $20 from Warren's wallet. Together Parker and Wilson kicked Warren with steel-toed boots and loaded him into the hatchback of Parker's car. Warren climbed into the backseat next to Wilson, who pushed him against the frame of the car several times. On a road outside town, they unloaded the alive and conscious Warren and Parker drove over him four times, twice with Wilson as a passenger. Tyra Hunter has been dead for five years, but the city of Washington, DC has finally agreed to a $1.75-million settlement with the transgender's family, who charge that an appropriate response by paramedics and DC General Hospital might have saved her life. Hunter was horribly injured in an auto crash, but when a paramedic discovered male genitalia under Hunter's female clothing, her treatment was interrupted for several minutes of jokes despite the cries of numerous witnesses. The city had dragged its feet every step of the way before making even a token investigation or taking any responsibility in the case, despite continuing complaints from activists and even the City Council. Hunter's mother told reporters that the settlement represented "some measure of justice," but all the outcry has yielded little else. Adrian Williams, the paramedic who discovered Hunter's trans-identity and then walked away from her to make jokes, has since been promoted to sergeant. Dr. Joseph Bastien was found to have neglected Hunter at DC General's emergency room, and the jury based all but $600,000 of its recommended damages on his actions. However Bastien continues to practice there and, because he was dropped from the case in the course of settlement negotiations, he will not even be listed in a federal registry of physicians in malpractice claims. And finally, acid-tongued gay Massachusetts Congressmember Barney Frank had some choice words for Independent Counsel Robert Ray, whose grand jury probe into the Monica Lewinsky scandal was leaked shortly before Vice President Al Gore was set to accept the Democratic presidential nomination. Caught on the convention floor by a CNN reporter Frank said, "I thought I was beyond being surprised [actual Barney Frank sound begins:] by the outrageous tactics of that gang of law-enforcement desperadoes, but this one astounded me ... The only thing I can think of is that Ken Starr realized how badly he had misbehaved and how terrible his reputation was going to look, so when he recom mended a successor, he tried to come up with someone who would be a bigger jerk than he was, so he would not go down in history as one of the most abusive prosecutors ever, and I think Mr. Ray has borne that out." {added over "NewsWrap" outro music, Greg Gordon reads:} According to a report in the August 19th edition of the New York Daily News, one of the world’s most visible lesbian couples, Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche, have broken up. "It is an amicable parting, and we greatly value the 3 1/2 years we have spent together," the paper quotes DeGeneres as saying. The Daily News reports that unnamed friends told them that no third party was involved in the split. We’ll have more on this breaking story next time on "This Way Out".