NewsWrap
for the week ending April 28, 2001
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #683, distributed 04-30-01)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, 
Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon]

Anchored by Chase Schulte and Cindy Friedman

  As Green Parties held their first world conference in Australia’s capital 
city of Canberra, members formed a new global 
gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/intersex network to be known as the Green 
Carnations.  Founders included Greens from Australia, Germany, Mexico, New 
Zealand, Sweden and Taiwan.  They plan to develop linkages between gay and 
lesbian communities and Green Parties, particularly in countries that 
actively discriminate against both groups.  Co-founder Dinesh Mathew told the 
"Sydney Star Observer" that the only real obstacle in forming the group was 
identifying members of sexual minorities, saying of the Greens gathering, 
"Everyone looks like a queer here."

  And "Every day is a pink day" for Elio di Rupo, president of Belgium's 
socialist party.  That's what he told the Netherlands magazine "Zizo" in an 
interview representing his first public declaration that he's a gay man, 
although he's long been the subject of speculation.  When he was serving as a 
deputy premier in a coalition government in 1996, allegations that he had 
paid for sex with an underage teen sex worker years before nearly created a 
constitutional crisis.  But many headlines later, the allegations were found 
to be baseless and di Rupo's political career emerged intact.  The popular 
politician promised he'd attend Brussels' pride event in May, but said, "I 
will watch Gay Pride, but don't expect me to dance on a wagon!"

  Pride events in the U.S. this past week included a march by 200 people in 
Lawrence, Kansas; a parade in Phoenix, Arizona; and Washington, DC's fifth 
annual Youth Pride Day, a festival that drew 2,500 people despite rain.

  But organizers of Philadelphia's big annual PrideFest are hopping mad that 
the city's $110,000 grant of last year has been cut to $50,000 for this year, 
when they'd asked for an increase to $150,000.  The difference represents the 
loss of a cash contribution from the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and 
Marketing Corporation, which plans only advertising support this year.  But 
activists blame Mayor John Street for failing to lobby the tourism group.  
Street had vigorously opposed recognition of gay and lesbian couples while 
serving on the City Council but has tried to mend fences with the community 
since becoming mayor.

  But Chicago will be subsidizing construction of a new gay and lesbian 
community center to the tune of $2.25-million dollars.  The city's Housing 
Committee has agreed to buy a site for $5-million and then sell it for only 
$2.75-million to Horizons Community Services.  The total cost will be 
$22-million for a 50,000-square-foot space including a gym, theater and 
technology center.

  DeKalb County this week by a vote of 6-to-1 became the first county 
government in Georgia to extend spousal health insurance benefits to the 
domestic partners of its unmarried employees, regardless of gender.  The City 
of Atlanta is the only other local government in the state to offer those 
benefits, having fought a six-year legal battle to do so.

  Although New Jersey has been a leader in recognizing parental rights of 
lesbian and gay co-parents, a state appeals court this week found the closet 
door barred one lesbian from seeking visitation rights.  The lesbian known as 
"AF" was denied standing to sue for visitation with the 7-year-old daughter 
her former partner "DLP" adopted.  AF never shared a home with the child 
although she had often visited with her.  The ruling said, "Both parties agree
 that [DLP] hid the romantic aspect of their relationship from family and 
friends, maintaining the appearance of a close, platonic friendship.  If the 
parties did not hold themselves out to the world at large as a family, how 
then can a court conclude that [AF] lived with [DLP's] child as part of a 
family unit?"  AF's attorney said the issue was not how society viewed the 
relationship, but how the child did.

  The British Fertility Society this week adopted by a landslide a resolution 
supporting equal access to fertility treatment for gay and lesbian couples.  
The British Fertility Society is comprised of medical research and clinical 
specialists.  The Society's chair Dr. John Mills warned that the resolution 
is not likely to find much popular support in Britain at this time.

  In fact, one British pastor is blaming the equalization of the age of 
consent for sex between men with that for heterosexual acts for the nation's 
current foot-and-mouth disease crisis.  In the Moreton Christian Assembly 
newsletter, Pastor Ray Borlase noted that the last major outbreak occurred in 
1967, the year Britain decriminalized homosexual acts.  Local residents were 
reportedly outraged by the allegations.

  Equalization's most vigorous opponent, Baroness Janet Young, was 
reprimanded this week by Britain's Advertising Standards Authority, even 
though that official watchdog group generally avoids comment on political 
ads.  While equalization was being debated, Young and other leading 
Conservative Party members placed an ad in the national press that the 
Authority called "misleading and inaccurate".  Specifically, Young's ad had 
charged that equalization would mean that "boys and girls [of 16] will be 
legally subjected to anal intercourse, an act which is known to have severe 
health implications."  The Authority found that equalization "did not allow 
16-year-olds to be legally subjected to anal intercourse against their will."

  At the other end of the UK political spectrum, Wales' Liberal Democrats 
have issued an election campaign pledge to enact an Equality Act extending 
civil rights protections for gays and lesbians.  They say they're the first 
political party in Wales to adopt a clear policy on gay and lesbian rights, 
and said the ruling Labour Party had made big promises but "mismanaged" 
relevant legislation.

  Civil rights protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation 
and other categories were unanimously adopted this week by the City Council 
of Huntington Woods, Michigan.  A dozen other Michigan municipalities have 
similar human rights ordinances.

  Hate crimes bills advanced in two U.S. state legislatures this week but 
failed in a third.  
In the Alabama House of Representatives, a bill to add sexual orientation as 
a protected category under the state's existing hate crimes law was narrowly 
approved by a vote of 45 - 42.  A similar bill died in the Alabama Senate 
last year.  Alabama's existing hate crimes law prescribes mandatory minimum 
prison sentences for felonies motivated by bias against seven categories.
The Texas House of Representatives passed a hate crimes bill including sexual 
orientation as a protected category by a vote of 87-to-60, after a series of 
damaging amendments were defeated.  Texas' existing hate crimes law does not 
list specific categories and has proven nearly impossible to prosecute as a 
result.  The fate of a companion measure in the Texas Senate is unclear.  The 
1999 hate crimes bill was stalled by Republican state Senators in what's 
generally agreed to have been an effort to protect then-Governor George W. 
Bush from having to take a position on it during his presidential campaign.
A bill to add sexual orientation and other categories to Colorado's existing 
hate crimes law was killed by a party line 5-to-4 vote in a House committee.  
Seven similar bills have failed in Colorado in the last decade.

  Measures to deny legal recognition to gay and lesbian relationships this 
week advanced in Missouri but failed in Louisiana.
The Missouri Senate gave preliminary approval by a voice vote to a bill to 
recognize only those marriages between a man and a woman.  Missouri enacted a 
similar measure in 1996 that a court struck down on a technicality.
The Louisiana Senate voted 17-to-16 in favor of a bill to deny recognition to 
other states' gay and lesbian "domestic partnerships, civil unions or similar 
relationships."  Despite the majority, the bill failed because the Louisiana 
Senate requires a minimum of 20 "yea" votes for passage.  The bill's sponsor, 
Republican Clo Fontenot, may try again.  Louisiana already denied legal 
recognition to gay and lesbian marriages in 1999.
No U.S. state performs legal marriages for gay and lesbian couples, although 
this week marked the first anniversary of Vermont's enactment of "civil 
unions".  Those unions extend some 300 state-level benefits of marriage but 
none of the more than 1,000 federal benefits of marriage.

  But there is favorable recognition for North America's gayest 
Spanish-language TV series.  The Telemundo cable network's sitcom "Los 
Beltran" has been awarded an American Latino Media Arts award -- known as the 
"ALMA" -- by the Latino advocacy group the National Council of La Raza.  "Los 
Beltran" was a pioneer in adding a gay couple to its regular lineup, and also 
features openly bisexual actor Gabriel Romero.

  And finally... the latest entry in the growing marketing of cosmetics to 
men is mascara.  INCI this week introduced its "Dynamico" mascara at a 
fashion expo in Bologna, Italy.  It will be in stores in about six months, as 
will Estee Lauder's "Surface" foundation cream and eye shadow.  INCI has 
several other cosmetics for men in the pipeline, including a concealer, a 
lipstick, and an eyebrow pencil that can also be used on sideburns.  But an 
INCI spokesperson said, "These products are the final touch, something light, 
almost invisible but which will improve the looks.  We're not talking about 
make-up for gay men but for macho men."