NewsWrap for the week ending July 28, 2001 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #696, distributed 07-30-01) [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 Moscow's city government this week refused to issue a permit for a gay and lesbian pride parade. A number of groups had made requests, including the organizers of Berlin's huge annual Love Parade. According to Moscow's press service, Mayor Yuri Luzhkov stated that, "The city government will not allow holding this march ... because such demonstrations outrage the majority of the capital's population, are in effect propaganda of dissipation, and force upon society unacceptable norms of behavior." He added that "[Homosexuality] goes against the traditional moral values of most Russians, as well as the canons of the main religious confessions in the city." The announcement comes in the wake of a series of police raids on gay venues in Moscow, although Russia's sodomy law was repealed in 1993. But in Australia, Victoria's state Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon announced she will be joining the contingent of gay and lesbian officers in Melbourne's Gay Pride March in January. She'll be the first senior officer in Australia ever to lead the police contingent in a pride march. Nixon said she wanted to support those officers, calling them "incredibly alienated," and added that, "I'm determined to support all members of Victoria Police and provide encouragement and leadership to ensure that all members are recognized and valued across the organization." Nixon is allowing the officers to dress in uniforms at Pride for the first time, and even said she was considering issuing a formal apology to gay and lesbian officers whose careers have been damaged by homophobia. Although her pride plans are supported by Victorian Premier Steve Bracks of the Labor Party, leaders of the state's opposition parties were highly critical. In pride news from Canada, British Columbia's new Premier Gordon Campbell this week issued an official proclamation of Vancouver's Gay and Lesbian Pride Day, August 5th. But the Canadian province's new Liberal Party Government -- which last week dropped its New Democratic Party predecessor's landmark lawsuit seeking equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians -- further disappointed activists this week by dismissing the province's gay-supportive Human Rights Commissioner Mary-Woo Sims. Sims had expected to be allowed to complete her term, which would have run through March. In Hungary, a Budapest district mayor's attempt to block lesbigay, trans and feminist groups from exhibiting at the huge Pepsi Island youth music festival continues to stir controversy. This week a court formally suspended the anti-gay clause that District Mayor István Tarlós had inserted in his 3rd District's contract with the festival, saying it was unconstitutional. Four groups scheduled to exhibit at the festival will have a hearing for their full civil lawsuit against the mayor on August 1st, a case they hope will prevent police interference at the festival. Festival organizers had already decided not to honor the clause. The festival's top sponsor, Pepsi-Cola Hungary, finally made a statement relating to the issue this week, emphasizing that it has no control over festival activities but saying, "Pepsi respects the multicultural nature of the event and believes that it should be something that everybody can enjoy." The Mayor of the city of Budapest also issued a statement that legally registered civil organizations are constitutionally entitled to be represented at public events. In the U.S., a California judge gave an unprecedented go-ahead to a San Francisco lesbian's lawsuit in the widely reported dog-mauling death of her life partner. California law gives only legally married spouses and blood kin the right to file lawsuits for the wrongful death of a spouse or relative. But Superior Court Judge James Robertson said that standing should be extended to lesbian and gay couples because they are denied legal marriage. He cited the state constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. Sharon Smith, the surviving partner of Diane Whipple, said, "Diane and I planned to spend the rest of our lives together. We would have been legally married if we could have been." Smith's attorney Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said, " This is the first time that a court anywhere, not just in California but anywhere in the entire country has held that a surviving lesbian or gay spouse has the right to go forward with a wrongful death suit. It's a tremendous victory for lesbian and gay people in the United States." The lawsuit is expected to go to trial in a few months. The California state legislature is currently considering a bill that would extend the right to file wrongful death lawsuits, among others, to registered domestic partners. In Virginia, Ronald Gay was given four consecutive life terms for killing open gay Danny Overstreet and wounding six others when he opened fire in a gay-friendly Roanoke bar in September. Gay had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and six counts of malicious wounding. He may be eligible for geriatric parole in ten years when he reaches age 65, but state prosecutors have vowed to keep him incarcerated unless he's in very poor health. Gay, a Vietnam veteran, had been declared by the Army to be completely disabled by post-traumatic stress disorder. Although his defenders attributed his actions to mental illness, the notorious shooting at the Backstreet Cafe was widely viewed as an anti-gay hate crime. It sparked a series of demonstrations and was cited in lobbying for state and federal laws against homophobic bias crimes. The federal hate crimes bill -- now known as the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, S.625 -- passed a Senate committee this week and may come to a floor vote in October. A majority of the members of the Democrat-controlled Senate have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill. But the Republican leadership in the House has indicated they will not allow the bill to come to the floor, where it would be almost certain to pass. In Texas, the Houston City Council voted 10-to-4 this week to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in city employment. The Houston City Council had enacted an identical ordinance in 1984 only to have it struck down by a ballot initiative the following year. That's not likely to happen again, as recent polls show some 57% of Houston residents support gay and lesbian civil rights. In 1998, Houston Mayor Lee Brown issued an executive order protecting city workers from sexual orientation discrimination, an order which recently survived a legal challenge. Malaysia's estimated 50,000 transsexuals this week were denied the chance to be recognized in their self-identified gender. Earlier this year, Malaysia's Minister for Women and Family Development Shahrizat Abdul Jalil had responded sympathetically to male-to-female transsexuals' request to be legally identified as women. The transwomen said their male identity cards kept them from getting jobs, forcing them into prostitution. But this week Malaysia's minister for religious matters Hamid Zainal Abidin took the opposite position, that legally recognizing them as women would encourage their entry into sex work. Hamid said, "The request cannot be entertained as it is clearly against Islamic beliefs and teachings. However, we will try to address the problem by having counseling classes for them ... to realize they are really men." A transgender in Cyprus who'd been convicted of fraud won a conditional pardon last week when prison authorities couldn't decide whether to place her with men or women. Pardoned was "Alexia" Angelodimou, described as a cross-dresser whose legal birth name is Marios. Cyprus Attorney-General Alecos Markides cited the public interest in issuing the pardon, but warned that Angelodimou would have to serve out her sentence if she breaks the law again. Chuck Panozzo, the bass player for the rock band Styx, publicly announced this week that he’s a gay man with HIV. His public statement came in conjunction with his appearance at a Human Rights Campaign event in his hometown of Chicago. He’ll be working with that group’s National Coming Out Project. Panozzo said, "Coming out... has really set my spirit free. I’m in a better place than I’ve ever been in my life, and it’s all because I acknowledged who I am and said, ‘I want to live my life as an openly-gay man.’" Styx once scored 4 consecutive quadruple-platinum albums with hits including "Lady", "Come Sail Away", "Babe", "Mr. Roboto", and "Show Me The Way". And finally... open gay Brian Dowling this week won Britain's latest edition of the "reality" TV series "Big Brother". Irish-born airline steward Dowling won 70,000-pounds as "Big Brother"’s first openly gay or lesbian winner in any of its editions around the world. "Big Brother" producer Endemol had already offered him -- win or lose -- a 100,000-pound contract to co-host the popular "Big Breakfast" TV talkshow. What's reportedly Britain's biggest telephone poll to date decided between the two finalists, with Dowling taking a landslide 62% of the 6.8-million votes. Among Dowling's supporters were openly gay entertainers Elton John and Graham Norton, with comic Norton describing the witty Dowling as his "long-lost twin brother". But Dowling's most notable cheerleader was the tabloid "Daily Mirror" newspaper, while its rival "Sun" backed his opponent. The "Mirror" ran a front-page headline "We Come Out for Brian" and told readers, "Go on, make Brian the Queen of Big Brother."