NewsWrap
for the week ending October 28, 2000
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #657, distributed 10-30-00)
[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

  Ireland has established strong new protections from sexual orientation 
discrimination as Justice Minister John O'Donoghue signed the Equal Status 
Act into law this week.  Now both private and government entities are barred 
from discrimination against nine protected categories in the provision of 
accommodations, goods and services.  This includes membership in private 
clubs, education and government health services.  Those who feel they've 
experienced discrimination can file a complaint with the Director of Equality 
Investigations, a government agency which can issue orders to be enforced by 
the courts.  
The Equal Status Act approved by the parliament in April is the latest in a 
series of measures designed to give Ireland what O'Donoghue called "one of 
the most modern anti-discrimination codes in the world."  The previous step 
was the Employment Equity Act which went into effect last year, giving broad 
workplace protections to the same nine categories including sexual 
orientation.  The next will be a Disabilities Bill to be published next year.
O'Donoghue said, "The Equal Status Act is based on the principle that 
everyone has an equal right to participate in our society. ... We have put in 
place what many commentators regard as the most comprehensive and progressive 
anti-discrimination legislation in the European Union."

  Schools in Britain may become a little safer in the wake of a landmark 
legal decision this week.  An unnamed student was awarded 1,500 pounds -- 
about $2,150 U.S. -- for his claim that his school and school district failed 
to protect him from homophobic harassment by his peers.  It's believed to be 
the first such claim to succeed based solely on verbal abuse.  Eighteen 
months of verbal harassment that began when the student was 12 culminated in 
a sexual assault by two of his tormentors, but Manchester County Court Judge 
Richard Holman found that staff at Sale Grammar School could not have 
foreseen that.  Judge Holman also had nothing but praise for three teachers 
who testified, finding only that the school had "fallen down" in carrying out 
procedures to protect the plaintiff.  
Judge Holman said, "Bullying is a fact of life.  It can never be eliminated 
and no school, however hard it tries, can guarantee that a child in its care 
will not be subjected to it.  A school must, however, take reasonable steps 
to minimize it and to address problems in a positive manner."
Even before the sexual assault drove the traumatized student to leave school 
altogether for two years, the continuing harassment had taken a toll.  
Initially a confident and popular form captain, he became withdrawn and lost 
weight.  He required psychiatric treatment and was given anti-depressants.  
Research has indicted that one out of eight schoolchildren in Britain may 
experience some form of harassment, and that homophobic bullying is more 
psychologically damaging to its targets than other types.  But this 
plaintiff, five years after the abuse began, has made a good recovery, 
resumed his education at a different school, and performed exceptionally well 
on standard achievement tests.

  There's good news, too, for Miguel Washington, the ten-year-old California 
boy whose grandfather abducted him from the only family he's ever known, his 
gay uncle and his uncle's male partner.  Grandfather Paul Washington, Senior 
was supposed to be taking Miguel on a fishing trip, but instead shipped him 
off to a cousin's family in Pennsylvania where he was not allowed to use the 
phone.  The grandfather's attorney sent Miguel's uncle Paul Washington, 
Junior and his partner Timothy Forrester a letter alleging they were 
"actively promoting or influencing a gay lifestyle" for Miguel, failing to 
expose him to "healthy relationships with heterosexual females," and sending 
him to what the letter called "gay art class and ballet" instead of baseball. 
 In two court hearings, Miguel's uncle and partner were able to obtain 
temporary custody over the grandfather's objections, and an order was issued 
for Miguel's return.  Two weeks after his abduction, Miguel was surrendered 
to authorities in Pennsylvania, and two days after that he was returned to 
his gay dads.  Miguel said his grandfather told him "that I should have a 
life with a brother and sister and mom and dad.  I wanted to come home."  
Miguel and his dads were happy and relieved to be together again.  A further 
court hearing in December will determine permanent custody for Miguel.  
Authorities are considering filing criminal charges against the grandfather.

  The head of a regional Council of the Boy Scouts of America has been 
suspended from his job after coming out.  Len Lanzi rose at a meeting of the 
Santa Barbara County Commission to speak in defense of the Scouts when the 
County's Human Rights Commission had recommended severing official ties with 
them because of their policy excluding gays.  While extolling the Scouts' 
work with children, Lanzi felt he had to make his first-ever public 
declaration that he is a gay man because his credibility might be questioned 
otherwise.  He was put on paid leave a few days later.  Lanzi has been 
executive director of the Los Padres Council for three years and an employee 
for a total of fourteen years.  He's won praise from parents, Scoutmasters 
and heads of affiliated organizations.  He's believed to be the 
highest-ranking Scout to come out since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 
that state anti-discrimination laws can't stop the Boy Scouts of America from 
excluding gays from membership and volunteer leadership roles.  Attorneys are 
divided in their opinions as to whether that ruling would also extend to 
excluding gays from paid positions like Lanzi's.  The Los Padres Council is 
under some pressure to renounce the national organization's policy.

  A French politician is suing a gay magazine for outing him.  Jean-Luc 
Romero, RPR party representative for the Ile-de-France region, is furious 
with "e.male" magazine.  Romero said, "I am not ashamed of who I am but it's 
up to me, and me alone, to decide whether to reveal my homosexuality.  I had 
planned to come out but on my own terms and after having informed my family." 
 He said that what "e.male" had done "is unheard of in this country," and 
noted that even ACT UP/Paris had declined last year to "out" a gay politician 
who attended an anti-gay rally.  "e.male" had suggested that a right-wing 
politician was trying to woo the gay vote in Paris' Fourth District by 
packing his electoral list with gay and gay-supportive candidates, and 
suggested Romero might be on that list.  Romero says he's received many 
panicky phone calls since from closeted gay politicians.  

  Gay British millionaire Ivan Massow announced this week that his Massow 
Financial Services is merging with its competitor Rainbow Finance to form the 
Massow Rainbow Group, valued at 20-million pounds.  Massow will hold a 40% 
interest and serve as chair while Rainbow founder Louis Letourneau will 
handle day-to-day operations as managing director.  Both agree that the gay 
and lesbian community will continue to be their core business.  Massow's plan 
is to set up pension plans for gay and lesbian couples, which he believes can 
eventually represent 5% of that market.

  Gay U.S. software magnate Tim Gill announced this week that he's leaving 
the firm he founded, Quark Inc., and plans to give away most of the proceeds 
from sale of his 50% interest in the firm.  In a classic hi-tech success 
story, Gill founded Quark in 1981 with $2,000 he borrowed from his parents, 
and thanks to his QuarkXPress software, it's now a multinational with about 
$500-million in sales each year.  But when Colorado passed its anti-gay 
ballot initiative Amendment 2 in 1992, Gill felt he had to take positive 
action to counter it.  In 1994, he established the Gill Foundation right 
where Amendment 2 began, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with a mission to 
promote justice and equality "while building awareness of the contributions 
gay men and lesbians make to American society."  It's now given away a total 
of $19 million to non-discriminatory charities in Colorado and to gay and 
lesbian causes nationwide, including "This Way Out".  Gill became 
increasingly interested in philanthropy and gave it more and more of his time 
until now it's seduced him away from business altogether.  The foundation 
ended 1999 with $163-million in its endowment.  Just the first piece of 
Gill's Quark sale is expected to increase the foundation's giving in the 
coming year by more than one-third.

  And finally, a Hallowe'en story about those who find diversity scary.  
Religious right groups in Virginia called a boycott against a pumpkin farm 
this year because it displayed rainbow flags.  Cox Farm owners Eric Cox and 
Gina Richard put the flags up many years ago just to brighten up the pumpkin 
patch for the tens of thousands of visitors who come each year for the farm's 
Fall Festival.  It was only later that they learned the flags are a banner of 
gay and lesbian pride, but since their son Aaron Cox-Richard came out in 
1995, they were pleased to keep the flags as a symbol of diversity.  But this 
year local preachers urged their congregations to boycott the farm and 
cancelled traditional school field trips there.  Then P-FLAG, Parents, 
Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, issued an action alert calling on 
members to visit the farm.  Gay and lesbian groups began to do the same.  Two 
articles in the "Washington Post" spread the word farther.  People began 
driving long distances to buy pumpkins from the Coxes as an endorsement.  
Even leaders of some conservative local churches showed support.  The bottom 
line is that the boycott has actually served to increase business.