NewsWrap
for the week ending February 17, 2001
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #672, distributed 02-19-01)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, 
Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Matt Alsdorf, Greg Gordon & Lucia 
Chappelle]

Anchored by Greg Gordon and Cindy Friedman

  Valentine's Day this week spurred legislative activity for gay and lesbian 
couples in a number of countries.
The canton of Geneva this week enacted Switzerland's first legal recognition 
for unmarried couples, including gay and lesbian couples.  The new registered 
partnerships carry rights including prison and hospital visits, inheritance, 
joint housing applications, adoption, artificial insemination, and exemption 
from testifying against a partner in court.  The partnerships do not qualify 
for cantonal social security payments or marital tax benefits.  Switzerland's 
Justice Ministry is expected to release a national bill for partnerships 
later this year.

  Finland's parliament opened debate on legal registered partnerships, with 
gay-supportive President Tarja Halonen introducing the Government bill 
herself.  The partnerships would carry almost all of the rights and 
responsibilities of marriage except adoption.  Although a similar move had 
failed in the past, this bill is expected to pass because the parties of the 
ruling coalition now hold a majority in the parliament.  Even the Finnish 
Evangelical Lutheran Church has softened its opposition enough to admit that 
the legal situation of gay and lesbian couples should be improved.

  Norway's state church has agreed to extending adoption rights to gay and 
lesbian couples, one of the few marital rights they do not currently gain 
with registered partnerships there.  The secretariat of the National Council 
of the Church of Norway called gay and lesbian households "valid but not 
optimal" for child-rearing, but recognized that such factors as love, 
security and stability matter more than adoptive parents' gender.

  Openly gay Canadian Member of Parliament Svend Robinson chose Valentine's 
Day to introduce his private members bill to extend legal marriage to gay and 
lesbian couples.  It states simply that, "A marriage between two persons is 
not invalid by reason only that they are of the same sex."  Although Robinson 
was joined by members of three other parliamentary parties, leaving only the 
right-wing opposition Canadian Alliance unrepresented, his proposal is given 
little chance of passage.  Justice Minister Anne McLellan's office quickly 
issued a statement of non-support.

  U.S. Congressmember Jerrold Nadler of New York used Valentine's Day to 
reintroduce his bill to grant the foreign partners of U.S. gays and lesbians 
the same immigration rights as heterosexual spouses. Nadler called his 
Permanent Partners Immigration Act "simply a matter of common sense and 
fairness. He said "there is no excuse for this gratuitous cruelty" of the 
government forcing committed couples to separate. His bill would amend the 
Immigration and Nationality Act to add "permanent partner" to those sections 
of the law now referring to "spouses."  Currently, U.S. gays and lesbians 
with foreign partners must either live apart, move together to a country with 
more accommodating laws, or have their partners live illegally in the U.S. 
under the constant threat of deportation. 

Openly gay U.S. Congressmember Barney Frank of Massachusetts reintroduced a 
bill to extend spousal benefits to the same-gender partners of gay and 
lesbian federal employees, including retirement, life insurance, health 
insurance, and workers' compensation benefits.  Any federal recognition of 
gay and lesbian partners is currently prohibited by the so-called Defense of 
Marriage Act, or DOMA.  But Frank pointed out that both Republicans and 
Democrats had said that while gay and lesbian couples should not be allowed 
to legally marry, they should have access to some of the benefits of 
marriage.  He said, "This bill offers them an opportunity to put their words 
into action." 

  Gays and lesbians and their allies across the U.S. joined more than a dozen 
events for this year's Freedom to Marry Day.  Some gay and lesbian couples 
applied for marriage licenses, which no state will allow them.  A number of 
clergy and religious leaders publicly showed their support for gay and 
lesbian marriage.  Rallies and protest demonstrations were held demanding 
equal marriage rights, including some wedding ceremonies.

  Mexico saw its first-ever mass "gay wedding" on Valentine's Day as more 
than 200 gay and lesbian couples exchanged vows outside Mexico City's 
landmark Palace of the Arts.  Another 3,000 people jammed the plaza to watch, 
most cheering, some throwing rice, but a few jeering.  The event was intended 
to educate the public about the need for legal recognition of gay and lesbian 
relationships and to spur the city council to pass a pending bill to create 
"binding unions".  That bill would give gay and lesbian couples the same 
legal status as common-law heterosexual couples.  It was introduced by the 
Party of the Democratic Revolution, whose leader on the Mexico City council 
Armando Quintero told the crowd, "We are fighting to defend human and civic 
rights against reactionary, homophobic and macho groups and against some 
leaders of the Catholic Church."

  In Britain, a gay wedding was broadcast on national television for the 
first time.  ITV's popular "This Morning" show celebrated Valentine's Day 
with a non-legal ceremony for Mark Jinks and Neil Morris.  The grooms both 
wore morning suits and Jinks was given away by his father. Bishop Jonathan 
Blake of the Society for Independent Christian Ministry led the ceremony in 
full priestly dress.  After exchanging vows, the couple shared the 
traditional kiss.  There was also a traditional wedding cake topped by two 
male figures.  As a wedding present, the show gave the couple the airline 
tickets for their Florida honeymoon.

  There was considerable criticism of that telecast afterwards, but opponents 
will just have to get used to it:  British broadcasting is becoming a hotbed 
of gay and lesbian programming.  There are already several current TV shows 
with gay and lesbian characters, including a gay father on "Metrosexuality", 
but now there will be at least two more.  ITV is reviving its soap opera 
"Crossroads", this time with a gay couple.  The BBC has commissioned 
production of "That Gay Show" for its new digital TV channel BBC3, with 
"Queer As Folk" actor Jonathan Natynczyk as one of its hosts.  A gay radio 
station called LBH Radio launched this week, while openly gay former Culture 
Club star Boy George will have a regular Friday night turn as a DJ on Kiss FM 
beginning in March.

  Ireland was stunned this week when Dublin's top radio "shock jock" Chris 
Barry revealed in a magazine interview that he is gay.  It's something he's 
known since he was 12.  He's been exclusively gay all his life and has been 
living with his partner Kevin for eight years.  He complained about the 
homophobia of some of his colleagues and said there had been some threatening 
messages left at the station.

  China, too, has had a major show-biz "outing" -- but under sad 
circumstances.  In January, pop music star Mao Ning was stabbed near a 
cruising area in Beijing and the suspect is his alleged former lover Guan 
Ming.  In one version of the story, Guan Ming is a sex worker; in another a 
popstar-wannabe claims he was in a love triangle with both Guan and Mao.  Mao 
himself insists he was simply out to buy a bottle of water when he was 
assaulted.  Mao Ning's "outing" has been the biggest scandal in years for 
China's entertainment industry, and he has reportedly fled the country to 
escape the fall-out.

  The Academy of of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this week anounced the 
nominees for its 73rd Oscar awards.  Openly gay Briton Stephen Daldry is up 
for Best Director for "Billy Elliot".  It's the tale of a working class boy 
who fends off homophobia to become a ballet dancer and to bond with a gay 
friend.  "Billy Elliot" also won nods for Lee Hall's original screenplay and 
for Julie Walters' supporting role as Billy' teacher, but not for star Jamie 
Bell.  The Best Actor finalists do include Javier Bardem's performance as the 
late gay Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas in the biographical film "Before Night 
Falls".  His competition includes Geoffrey Rush for his role as the Marquis 
de Sade in "Quills".  The Awards will be handed out on March 25th.

  And finally ... publisher Moulinsart was "shocked" to learn this week that 
one of Belgium's most beloved cartoon characters has been involved in an 
illicit adventure.  It's TinTin, the globe-trotting, crime-solving boy 
reporter with the prominent cowlick, whose two dozen official stories have 
reached a world audience since his creation in 1929.  But Belgian police this 
week announced the arrest of three men and the seizure of 600 copies of 
unauthorized exploits TinTin's creator Herge never dreamed of for his 
clean-cut hero intended for an audience of children.  "TinTin in Thailand" 
has all the usual characters -- TinTin, his fox terrier Snowy, his pals 
Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus -- but they're sex tourists 
pub-crawling through the gay cruising district.  At a club called "Sexy Boy," 
TinTin himself is propositioned by two young men.  And to top it off, his dog 
Snowy has relations with a cat -- a Siamese cat, of course.