NewsWrap for the week ending September 30, 2000 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #653, distributed 10-02-00) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Chase Schulte and Cindy Friedman Britain's ruling Labour Party held its annual convention this week, anticipating the first general election since the party took power in 1997. Although gay and lesbian issues did not get much attention there, the three gay Cabinet members -- Culture Secretary Chris Smith, Agriculture Secretary Nick Brown, and Secretary for Northern Ireland Peter Mandelson -- each addressed the main conference. Despite the press of party business and his own past reluctance to be publicly identified as gay, Mandelson delighted activists by coming to speak at a meeting organized by the national gay and lesbian lobby group Stonewall, the Commission for Racial Equality, and the Equal Opportunities Commission. He stressed the importance in politics about speaking out about one's beliefs even on controversial issues, and declared his personal outrage at all forms of discrimination. He added that, "I hate it when people express solidarity with you then go off and snigger behind their hands, which is why I'm in the Labour Party and not the Conservative Party." The one gay and lesbian issue that did get some attention was repeal of Section 28, the Thatcher-era law prohibiting local governments from devoting resources to the "promotion of homosexuality." Although Scotland repealed the clause this year despite an unprecedented media campaign by religious conservatives, the British government dropped its own repeal attempt in the face of resistance from the Conservative-led House of Lords. Local Government Minister Hilary Armstrong announced to cheers that repeal is "unfinished business." But there were no specifics as to when or how Labour will again take up repeal, or if it will appear in the party's campaign platform. But as important as Section 28 repeal has been to gay and lesbian activists ever since its enactment a dozen years ago, it was not the top item on their agenda for the conference. The Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Stonewall and Member of Parliament Gordon Marsden issued a joint statement demanding substantial legislation to establish protections from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Protection from employment discrimination was part of the agenda this week as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe overwhelmingly supported a call for legislative reforms for equal treatment of gays and lesbians. The Council of Europe is the continent's premier civil rights body, and while its recommendations are not binding on the governments of its more than 40 member nations, they carry considerable moral authority. A 77% majority called on member nations to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults and to free anyone now imprisoned under such laws; to equalize the age of consent for homosexual acts with that for heterosexual acts; registries for legal recognition of domestic partnerships; and to ban sexual orientation discrimination, taking special steps to ensure equal treatment in employment. Nations were also asked to combat homophobia with training for students, medical professionals, military personnel, and police. The Council also renewed its repeated calls for sexual orientation to be added as a protected category under the European Convention on Human Rights. ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, called the resolution the Council's most important statement on gay and lesbian rights in 20 years. South Africa's Constitutional Court this week issued a powerful ruling denouncing employment discrimination based solely on HIV status. It was that court's first ruling ever relating to HIV and AIDS. In reversing a High Court ruling in favor of South African Airways, the Constitutional Court declared the airline had illegally discriminated against Jacques Hoffman, violating his constitutional rights to equality, human dignity and fair labor practices. The airline, which is 80% owned by the South African government, had offered a cabin attendant job to Hoffman but withdrew it after testing him and finding he is HIV-positive. But despite his infection, Hoffman was and still is quite healthy, with a low viral load and a high CD4 cell count, and the court agreed unanimously that he is physically capable of serving as a cabin attendant. The airline was ordered to renew its job offer. The ruling described employment discrimination against people with HIV as condemning them to "economic death." Canada this week mourned the loss of a man who played a crucial role in establishing civil rights, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who died at the age of 80. In 1968, then-Justice Minister Trudeau spearheaded decriminalization of sex between men, a quite radical move in that year before the Stonewall uprising. His oft-quoted remark at the time was that, "The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation." Later that year, Trudeau became Prime Minister in the first of his four governments. It was in his final government in 1982 that he carried out his long-planned move for Canada to establish its own constitution under the control of its own legislature, replacing an act of the British Parliament well over a century after Canadian independence. Trudeau ensured that the constitution included the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a powerful statement against many forms of discrimination. Although sexual orientation was not explicitly named in the original Charter, the Supreme Court of Canada determined unanimously in 1995 that the category should be "read in." The pace of legal reform for equal treatment of Canadian gays and lesbians has moved rapidly ever since. In contemporary Canadian politics, Stockwell Day's right-wing Canadian Alliance Party introduced the man it intends to make its first openly gay candidate for Parliament. Stephane Prud'homme, a long-time local gay activist, appeared at a news conference in the Montreal gay bar Le Drugstore. He said that party leader Day had personally assured him that an Alliance victory would "change nothing" for gays and lesbians except to lower their taxes. But Prud'homme was not well-prepared, and after being rescued several times by other Alliance representatives, he was pulled out of the news conference early. Most embarrassingly, he was unable to answer when a reporter asked if he could name five Alliance Party candidates. Prud'homme's community did not welcome his candidacy, laughing at him during the news conference and jeering at him in the street afterwards. Despite Day's denials, it's hard to argue with everyone else's contention that Prud'homme is a token for public relations purposes. He won't be an official nominee for about a month because there's not yet an Alliance Party organization in the Laurier-Sainte-Marie electoral district to name him. Nor is he remotely likely to unseat the district's incumbent Member of Parliament Gilles Duceppe, the parliamentary leader of the gay-friendly Bloc Quebecois who took 69% of the vote in his last election. Openly gay Bloc Quebecois MP Real Menard called his long-time acquaintance Prud'homme "a nice fellow," but warned that he "is going to have to defend a plan that can't be defended by a gay man." Canada's first openly gay MP, Svend Robinson of the New Democratic Party, called the pending nomination "mind-boggling," "an attempt by Stockwell Day and the Alliance to suggest they're an open and inclusive party when every position he and the party has taken shows they are exclusive, intolerant and homophobic." And speaking of Robinson and Day, it turns out that the widely-reported story of Robinson refusing to shake Day's hand when Day was sworn into the Commons was entirely invented by a reporter, who has since apologized. Robinson confirmed that he had refused to join the standing ovation for Day because of Day's anti-gay record in Alberta. But Robinson said, "I have absolutely no problem in shaking his hand, then or now. There is a fundamental difference between civility and hypocrisy. Joining in a standing ovation for Stockwell Day would be both dishonest and hypocritical, and I do not wish to be either." The eyes of the world have been turned to the International Olympic Games in Sydney, where only a handful of the thousands of competitors have publicly declared themselves to be lesbian or gay. Openly gay U.S. diver Dave Pichler placed ninth in the individual men's ten-meter platform; he'd been sixth in that event four years ago in Atlanta. Teamed with Troy Dumais, Pichler placed fourth in the three-meter springboard synchronized diving competition, less than two points behind Australia's bronze medal winners. Dumais and Pichler felt they performed as well as they ever have in that competition. Teamed with Mark Ruiz, Pichler placed seventh in the ten-meter platform synchro, where Pichler's last two dives disappointed. Still more disappointed was openly lesbian French tennis pro Amelie Mauresmo, who was knocked out of singles competition in the first round and out of doubles competition in the second round. But openly lesbian U.S. tennis coach Billie Jean King had a great Olympics, watching Venus Williams take gold both individually and in the doubles with her sister Serena, with Monica Seles winning bronze in the singles. Openly lesbian Australian Lisa Marie Vizaniari placed eighth in the women's discus. And then there were the sweethearts of European women's handball, registered partners Mia Hundvin of Norway and Danish star Camilla Andersen. It looked as if the two would be facing off in the finals, but Hungary intervened to beat Norway in the semis. And finally... the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania City Council anticipated a Culture Club performance by declaring October 1st to be Boy George Day. Given the news, the gender-bending gay activist said, "Don't ask me why because I haven't a clue. But I am flattered. I guess it means that if you happen to be in Pittsburgh on October 1st, you have to walk with a wiggle and talk with a lisp."