NewsWrap for the week ending March 3, 2001 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #675, distributed 03-05-01) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Chase Schulte Sydney's world-famous Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was celebrated for the 24th time this week, with 7,500 marchers and 175 floats. An estimated 400 to 500,000 spectators were packed up to 30 deep along the route despite cold, wet weather. Family issues were represented by the lead float called "Behind the Pink Picket Fence". Instead of the traditional storks, it presented pink flamingoes carrying babies, along with baby carriages, a playground and diapers. Nationally the Government is pushing a bill to allow states to bar lesbians from fertility treatment, while Victoria's omnibus bill to give same-gender couples the same legal status as unmarried heterosexual partners is running into opposition from the state's National Party. A float by gay and lesbian teens was named "Censored in High School". One male student wore the school uniform his sister's school wouldn't let her wear in the parade. Older gays and lesbians had a marching contingent. A float promoting national reconciliation with Australia's native peoples carried Aboriginal leaders Geoff Clark and Jack Beetson under the title "Sweeties for a Treaty". Papua New Guinea was represented for the first time by singer Moses Tau, also known as "The Pacific Queen". A group of Tokyo drag queens also made a first appearance. Four major political parties -- the Democrats, Greens, Labor and Liberals -- were represented. Once again a handful of protesters called the "We Care Group" were present with banners to express some Christians' distaste for the parade. Police praised the good behavior of the crowd, although there were seven arrests for assault, malicious damage and disturbing the peace, and some spectators were treated for minor injuries. The Mardi Gras festival period has seen some other significant developments in Sydney and its state of New South Wales. A new memorial to gay victims of the Holocaust was dedicated this week, believed to be the 8th in the world. It took ten years to establish the glass, steel and neon sculpture, which also honors others who have suffered anti-gay oppression. New South Wales Governor Dr. Marie Bashir has granted vice-regal patronage to the state's Gay & Lesbian Counseling Service for the duration of her term in office, believed to be the first time an NSW Governor has become a patron of a gay or lesbian organization. Now 30 years old, the counseling service is Australia's oldest gay and lesbian support group. But while Sydney's gays and lesbians were standing up to be counted, India's transgender hijras are being left out of their national census. Although a leading gay activist had been advised that the census would place a special emphasis on sexual minorities and people with disabilities, the census-takers form offers only "male" and "female" options. This has already led to an altercation between one census-taker and New Delhi hijras, as one hijra refused to answer further questions after being marked "male" on the form and her friends joined her in demands for a special category. New Delhi's census chief announced that all hijras should be counted as males and warned that any failure to cooperate with census-takers can be punished by law. India's estimated population of more than one billion is believed to include a half-million hijras, who are now forming their own national political party. Canada's national census started this week and for the first time it's offering respondents the chance to identify themselves as "same-sex common-law partners". Some religious right groups objected, calling the move unnecessary and a step towards same-gender marriages. But Canada's gay and lesbian partners already have most of the benefits and responsibilities of marriage, and Statistics Canada said that several government departments had requested their enumeration. A California lawmaker representing the "gay city" of West Hollywood this week introduced a bill to create "civil unions" for gay and lesbian couples that he said would be "legally indistinguishable" from marriage. Democratic Assemblymember Paul Koretz calls his bill the California Family Protection Act. Much less ambitious measures to expand legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples failed in the California legislature last year. Koretz' bill was immediately opposed by those who had led the campaign for Proposition 22, last year's successful ballot initiative amending the state constitution to specify marriage as between one man and one woman. In Vermont, the state that last year created "civil unions," a further step to deny marriage to gay and lesbian couples caused some uproar this week. The state's existing marriage law lists those female relatives a man is prohibited from marrying and those male relatives a woman is prohibited from marrying. A proposed amendment to add "another man" to the first list and "another woman" to the second list was passed by the state House Judiciary Committee this week and debated on the House floor. Supporters, primarily Republicans, insisted the bill is merely a clarification of the marriage law. Opponents, primarily Democrats, insisted that the bill is unnecessary since the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman is already recognized in the "civil unions" law and the state Supreme Court ruling that led to it. Vermont's lone gay lawmaker Representative Bill Lippert was among those who took the addition of gay and lesbian couples to a clause against incest as an insult. But in the course of a vigorous House floor debate, Democratic Representative Margaret Hummel pointed out that inserting gays and lesbians into this clause of the marriage law could in fact serve to criminalize homosexual acts, even those performed within civil unions. Just as incest is a felony punishable by up to five years in jail and a fine of $1,000, so might the bill punish homosexual acts in a state which has prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation since 1992. Democrats roundly criticized the Republican-led Judiciary Committee for not having considered this legal implication, and the committee recalled the bill for further deliberations. The Government of the Czech Republic is ready to create registered partnerships extending nearly all the benefits of marriage to gay and lesbian couples, but the Chamber of Deputies may not be ready to follow suit. The Government this week approved a bill that will be taken up in August by the Chamber of Deputies, which has rejected two similar measures in the last two years. If the bill is approved, the only marital rights denied registered partners will be adoption and sharing a common surname. The Roman Catholic Czech Bishops Conference council for public affairs first announced that it would stand aside from the issue, which it viewed as an entirely civil matter since family law would not be affected. But then Czech Cardinal Mllos Vlk announced his opposition, as he declared that the rights of gays and lesbians are already adequately protected and that it would damage marriage and the family to put their relationships on a similar legal level. United Methodist Church minister Mark Kemling will not be facing a church trial in Nebraska for blessing a gay couple, Nebraska Bishop Rymes Moncure announced this week. Kemling is an outspoken critic of the denomination's ban on union ceremonies who has long been on leave from pulpit ministry. He had allegedly performed the ceremony in June at Omaha's gay-affirming Metropolitan Community Church, but he refused to confirm or deny the charge and the United Methodist regional panel investigating the complaint was unable to find any eyewitnesses to the event. Two of the denomination's three trials for same-sex union ceremonies were held in its Nebraska conference, both against former Omaha minister Jimmy Creech, who was defrocked at his second trial. Amnesiac and celibate gay Baptist minister James Simmons fell short of the two-thirds vote of confidence he'd requested from the gay-supportive Dallas, Texas White Rock Community Church, and he has resigned his short-lived ministry there. When Simmons revealed in his December audition sermon that he had no memory of his life before 1984, one congregant recognized him as San Antonio Church of Christ minister Barre Cox, a married father of one who had disappeared that same year. The incredible story drew national media attention to the church that "outed" some of its members and for some raised doubts about Simmons that weren't satisfied. Simmons is joining the White Rock congregation and believes God will provide him with a new ministry. But for those looking for a job in policing, Scotland may be the place to go. The Lothian and Borders Police has launched Scotland's first recruiting campaign for new officers that targets gays and lesbians. Campaign "firsts" include bus posters and an ad in London's "Pink Paper", as well as radio spots and billboards. And finally... a print media ad for a phone company may be Hong Kong's first marketing campaign targeting the "pink dollar," although the advertiser prefers to leave its meaning in the eye of the beholder. The company named Sunday is hawking its discount rates by showing a photo of three men in what the "South China Morning Post" called "revealing dress," with one man kneeling. The caption headline reads "You can't miss this opportunity." As it happens, the Chinese character for "opportunity" is pronounced "gay" and is understood in Cantonese just as it is in English. A further clue is the copy's reference to customers being "happy together," the title of Wong Kar-wai's film about a gay couple. But a Sunday spokesperson offers a different interpretation of the puzzle, suggesting the men were intended to portray ancient Chinese heroes traditionally represented by the number 10, which added to the "3" men shown makes "13" -- the cents-per-minute rate the phone company is offering.