NewsWrap
for the week ending June 30, 2001
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #692, distributed 07-02-01)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, 
Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon]

Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Brian Nunes

  The gay and lesbian Pride season peaked this week with the anniversary of 
the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City.  A then-routine 
police raid on the gay, lesbian and transgender bar set off 3 days of 
rioting.  That rebellion is considered to mark the beginning of the 
contemporary movement for gay and lesbian civil rights.  The observance of 
the anniversary in major U.S. cities has spread both to smaller towns there 
and around the world.  It's also spread beyond the month of June, with events 
scheduled through most of the year.  These are just a few of the biggest June 
pride events:

  New York City's own 32nd Gay Pride Parade featured about 200,000 marchers 
and drew hundreds of thousands of spectators, including all six mayoral 
hopefuls.  Three dozen gay and lesbian couples exchanged vows at a 
demonstration in Central Park for marriage rights.

  In the "gay mecca" of San Francisco, organizers estimated the pride parade 
gathered a million people.  This year's theme was "Queerific," intended to 
mark a fully inclusive event.

  In Paris, newly elected openly gay Mayor Bertrand Delanoë was the city's 
first mayor to join the pride march.  He led it with a banner reading, "All 
together against discrimination."  Estimates ranged from 250,000 to 500,000 
marchers, but all agreed it was the biggest Paris Pride ever.

  Berlin's new openly gay Mayor Klaus Wowereit spoke out at the pride rally, 
promising to combat the neo-Nazi right.  The Berlin crowd was estimated at 
one million, and the rainbow flag was flown at city hall for the first time.

  By contrast, Milan's Deputy Mayor Riccardo De Corato told reporters that 
the city council did "not share the sentiments of this rally," referring to 
30,000 people who marched in support of equal rights.

  Thousands also marched in Zurich, with a focus on demanding legal 
recognition for gay and lesbian couples.

  About 2,000 people marched in Edinburgh.

  In Tel Aviv, Mayor Ron Huldai welcomed some 25,000 marchers to their 
celebration of Gay Pride Day, saying that, "The freedom of all individuals 
.. is an integral part of the city of Tel Aviv."  A few Palestinians were 
able to join in, marching with their arms linked with Israelis in a call for 
unity.  Jerusalem's month-long schedule of pride events also featured 
outreach to Palestinian gays and lesbians.

  Toronto celebrates pride in a big way, this year with the theme "Love".  
The annual march drew a crowd estimated at one million and was predicted to 
pump some $C60-million into the local economy.  The earlier Toronto Dyke 
March drew about 25,000.

  Eight smaller Canadian cities also celebrate pride.  Some 6,000 people 
turned out for Calgary Pride in early June, with former Prime Minister Joe 
Clark becoming the highest-ranking politician ever to participate in a pride 
march.

  The 7th pride march in Sao Paulo, Brazil drew some 200,000 people, with 
Mayor Marta Suplicy speaking at the rally.*

  But as the group Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, GALZ, prepared for its own 
very private pride celebrations, there were a series of death threats to its 
leaders.  They included vandalism on the GALZ offices in Harare, where death 
threats and anti-gay slurs were painted on the walls.  GALZ spokesperson 
Keith Goddard vowed the group "will not give in to intimidation," but the 
group has removed its membership lists from the office as a precaution.

  There was intense controversy this week at the United Nations' historic 
General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS over the role of gays and 
lesbians in the global struggle against the disease.  A representative of the 
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, IGLHRC, was ultimately 
allowed to speak at a roundtable discussion after heated debate and three 
votes.  Although the final vote was unanimously in favor, fully 2/3 of 
national delegations were either absent or abstained.  IGLHRC's Karyn Kaplan 
told delegates, "Wherever people are victimized by stigma or singled out for 
hate, they are vulnerable to HIV.  It would be wrong, deadly and disastrous 
not to put human rights at the heart of our response to AIDS."

  But religious conservatives prevailed in deleting any specific mention of 
sexual minorities from the declaration outlining AIDS prevention strategies 
for the UN and its member nations.  Muslim nations staunchly opposed explicit 
references to homosexuality and prostitution as representing a tolerance they 
found offensive.  Their protests were supported by the Vatican.  More liberal 
nations ultimately caved in when it became clear it was necessary if the 
Muslim nations were to participate at all.  The final language of the 
declaration refers to those at risk due to "sexual practice," "livelihood" 
and -- in the case of prisoners -- "institutional location".
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson of Ireland said, "For 
many, there is a reluctance to recognize groups affected by HIV/AIDS 
including men having sex with men; much of that reluctance is based on 
religion and on culture.  A failure to recognize it means the numbers of 
those infected can only grow." 
The final declaration does include one controversial section referring to the 
need for human rights protections as "essential to reduce vulnerability to 
HIV/AIDS," although Australia's original draft had made a much stronger 
statement against discrimination.

  In Egypt, the 52 gay men arrested in a police raid on a riverboat nightclub 
were formally charged this week with "practicing debauchery with men," with 
two men also charged for contempt of the Islamic religion.  They have been 
incarcerated since early May, and British-based human rights watchdog Amnesty 
International believes they have been tortured while in custody.  Amnesty 
believes the men were arrested solely because of their sexual orientation and 
has expressed "grave concern" for their well-being.  No trial date has yet 
been set, and there is no possibility of appeal for verdicts by the state 
security court where they will be tried.

  One of Australia's most notorious civil lawsuits was decided this week, 
with high-profile gay attorney John Marsden winning damages of A$585,000 in 
his defamation suit against Seven Network television.  In a 2,500-page 
ruling, the court found that two Seven Network programs in the mid-1990s had 
"maliciously and recklessly published ... false and grave" claims that 
Marsden had paid for sex with underage minors.  Eleven of those alleged "rent 
boys" testified against him, but the court found them to lack credibility, 
describing several as liars and one as a "poofter basher".  Marsden, a former 
president of the New South Wales Law Society, said the court had "totally 
vindicated" him of the allegations, but added that his reputation would be 
"forever tainted" by them.  Marsden's 6-year legal struggle cost him 
A$6-million, most of which Seven Network was ordered to pay.  However, Seven 
announced immediately that it will be filing an appeal.
Anthony Schembri of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, welcomed the judgment, 
saying, "What the court has ... said is that it's possible to have a 'good 
reputation', a 'settled reputation', as an openly gay person.  Too often we 
hear that being gay or lesbian is to be of bad reputation, and the court has 
found that that's certainly not the case."  He called the ruling "a really 
strong message from the court that there's not necessarily a relationship 
between homosexuality and child mistreatment or pedophilia."

  Taiwan's Government has drafted a bill to extend adoption rights and legal 
recognition to gay and lesbian couples.  The Ministry of Justice said in a 
statement this week that, "In accordance with the draft of basic laws on 
human rights protection, the government should safeguard the human rights of 
homosexuals by allowing them to form families and adopt children."  However, 
the ministry emphasized this was not marriage, which Taiwan law reserves for 
a relationship between a man and a woman.  The bill will require approval by 
the Parliament, where it has been already sent for review.  While a 
spokesperson for the gay rights group Hotline called the move a 
"breakthrough," he wished the bill provided for equal marriage rights, and 
called for urgent government attention to issues of employment discrimination.

  U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher this week issued controversial 
recommendations for sex education.  The report includes a call for greater 
understanding toward gays and lesbians, saying that scientific research 
indicates that sexual orientation is established early in life and cannot be 
changed.  The report also condemns anti-gay violence.  It calls for 
developing and disseminating educational materials for sex ed classes that 
cover the "full continuum of human sexual development."  The report called 
"The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and 
Responsible Behavior" was two years in the making.  The Bush administration 
was quick to note that Satcher is a Clinton appointee whose views are not its 
own.  Satcher, whose term ends in February, insisted he was not taking sides 
on issues but reporting scientific findings.

  And finally... openly bisexual actress Angelina Jolie -- much honored for 
her portrayal of the late lesbian supermodel Gia -- had some interesting 
thoughts this week about her role as videogame character Lara Croft in the 
new film "Tomb Raider".  Jolie told the German magazine "Amica" that, "I 
could really imagine Lara not having a lot of time for men.  Can you imagine 
that, Lara Croft as a lesbian?  That would be a shock for the boys playing 
with their joysticks in their bedrooms around the world.  At the end of the 
day I really like women.  I'd love it if the girls in the cinema watching 
Lara Croft find me just as hot as their boyfriends do."

         ***** addendum to "NewsWrap" *****
(written by Lucia Chappelle and reported by Greg Gordon)
                {224 words/1:25 TRT}
More pride celebrations heated up just as "NewsWrap" was going into 
production this week.  Yugolsavia's first-ever pride event turned into street 
riots on June 30th, the day after thousands of die-hard Serbian nationalists 
demonstrated against the recent extradition of former President Slobodan 
Milosevic to the UN war crimes court in The Hague.  Some of those same 
nationalists joined with skinheads and soccer fans to attack gay and lesbian 
activists as they gathered in Belgrade's central square.  Lepa Mladjenovic, 
of the lesbian group Labris, told reporters that the thugs were waiting in 
the square and immediately surrounded and attacked individuals as they 
arrived.  Police fired into the air, but were unable to stop the attacks, 
which continued as small groups of activists attempted to meet at a student 
cultural center.   The assailants went on to stone the offices of the Social 
Democratic Union party, which has supported both Milosevic's extradition and 
gay rights legislation.  Five people, including a police officer, were 
reportedly injured.

Meanwhile, 1,500 marched in Caracas in Venezuela's first pride march on July 
1st without incident.  Vienna's June 30th Christopher Street Day brought 
hundreds of thousands of colorfully costumed participants out to party and 
pursue equal rights.  In London, an estimated 85,000 took part in that city's 
gay Mardi Gras parade.  And in Mexico City, several hundred protested for 
lesbian and gay rights.