NewsWrap
for the week ending August 4, 2001
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #697, distributed 08-06-01)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, 
Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon]

Anchored by Greg Gordon and Cindy Friedman

  Gay and lesbian couples in Germany contracted legal "registered life 
partnerships" for the first time this week.  Berlin lesbians Angelika Baldow 
and Gudrun Pannier were generally reported as the first couple to register, 
although Hanover gay male couple Heinz Harre and Reinhard Lueschow may have 
actually preceded them.  Baldow and Pannier wore matching tailcoats and bow 
ties for the occasion and cut a three-tiered cake with two bride figures and 
a rainbow flag.  Baldow adopted Pannier's surname.  Dozens of other couples 
across Germany exchanged rings, kisses and champagne toasts, including 15 
couples who registered simultaneously in Hamburg.  Hamburg city hall was 
decorated in rainbow colors for the occasion, and in Hanover the mayor was 
present to congratulate new couples.  Berlin's new openly gay Mayor Klaus 
Wowereit wrote an open letter to new couples saying, "You have taken the 
first step into new territory."  He added that the new law "doesn't fulfill 
everyone's wishes and dreams but it's a great step forward."  300 couples are 
expected to have registered by the end of August.  The partnerships carry 
some significant marital rights but are threatened by a constitutional court 
challenge to be heard in October.  One of the plaintiffs in that lawsuit, the 
state of Bavaria, was one of three states that failed to prepare to register 
gay and lesbian partnerships as the new law went into effect August 1st, 
sparking a protest demonstration in Munich.

  Legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples is part of a sweeping law 
reform package against discrimination to be introduced later this year by the 
Government of the state of West Australia.  This week state Attorney-General 
Jim McGinty presented the state parliament with a 200-page review of the 
legal status of gays and lesbians including recommendations for nearly 50 
reforms.  Gay and lesbian activists participated in the development of the 
report by a Government-appointed advisory committee.
As McGinty said, "Western Australia is light-years behind the rest of 
Australia in tackling the issue of discrimination against gays and lesbians." 
 He called the state code "the most restrictive and discriminatory laws in 
Australia."
The top recommendation is the addition of sexual orientation as a category 
protected under the state's Equal Opportunity Act from discrimination in 
areas including employment and accommodations.  Perhaps the most 
controversial recommendation is equalization of the age of consent, which is 
currently 21 for homosexual acts and only 16 for heterosexual ones.  
Recognition of same-gender couples is recommended in areas including medical 
decision-making, parental rights, fertility treatment, pensions, inheritance, 
and property.
Once the reform legislation is introduced, the Opposition Liberal Party will 
allow its members to vote their consciences, while the ruling Labor Party 
will vote as a block.  Since the Green Party also supports reform, passage 
appears likely.

  Hopes for passage of a U.S. bill to prohibit sexual orientation 
discrimination in employment are at a new high.  The Employment 
Non-Discrimination Act, ENDA, was reintroduced this week.  Some form of U.S. 
federal gay and lesbian civil rights bill has been repeatedly introduced 
since 1974, but only once has there ever been a floor vote, when ENDA failed 
by a single vote in the Senate in 1996.  The Senate's Democratic leadership 
will schedule another Senate floor vote this year and ENDA is expected to 
pass there.  But a floor vote in the Republican-controlled House remains 
doubtful, even though it's believed the bill has majority support there.  
Senate co-chief sponsor Ted Kennedy promised that if ENDA is kept off the 
House floor, he'll attach its language to another bill to force its 
consideration in a House-Senate conference committee.
ENDA would bar sexual orientation discrimination in hiring, firing, 
promotions, and compensation by government and private sector employers and 
by labor unions.  It specifically exempts the military, religious groups and 
religious schools, and businesses with less than 15 employees.  It contains 
no provision for domestic partner benefits and specifically states that it 
does not create affirmative action requirements for gays and lesbians.

  Hungarian gays and lesbians celebrated an historic legal victory this week 
over a Budapest district mayor who had tried to bar their exhibits from the 
huge Pepsi Island youth music festival.  Judge Judit Vida granted the Hattor 
Support Society for Gays and Lesbians a preliminary injunction blocking the 
discriminatory clause District Mayor István Tarlós had forced into a contract 
with festival organizers.  She cited the Hungarian Constitution's prohibition 
against discrimination, even though it does not explicitly include sexual 
orientation among protected categories.  She wrote that, "the mayor, as a 
State agent, had no right to sign an agreement that -- far from reducing 
inequalities ... strengthens society's prejudices against sexual minorities."
Gabor Kuszing of the gay and lesbian civil rights group Habeas Corpus said 
the injunction marks "the first time that the collective rights of sexual 
minorities have been protected by the State.  The last time gay issues went 
to court -- in 1995 to allow youth under the age of 18 permission to join a 
gay rights group -- the court ruled against them.  The injunction is also 
unique because for the first time it directly interprets the Hungarian 
Constitution as defending the rights of sexual minorities."
Mayor Tarlós is appealing the ruling, and Hungary's Justice Minister Ibolya 
David denied that Tarlós had abused his authority.
Meanwhile, the Pepsi Island festival opened this week, including its Magic 
Mirror marquee where gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and feminist groups 
are presenting a full week of speakers, films and performances.  Magic Mirror 
is sponsored by the European Union's ambassador in Hungary, Michael Lake, who 
spoke at its kickoff.

  The European Union’s Enlargement Commissioner has confirmed that nations 
hoping to join the EU will have to act against sexual orientation 
discrimination.  Commissioner Guenter Verheugen wrote in a letter last week 
to ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, that equal treatment 
of gays and lesbians is a basic principle of the EU and one that will be 
given its "full attention" in consideration of new member states.  
Verheugen's statement is believed to apply particularly to former Eastern 
Bloc nations.  The European Parliament has already affirmed that it will not 
consent to the accession of any country that violates gay and lesbian human 
rights.

  But ILGA itself this week was denied observer status at an upcoming 
anti-racism conference by the United Nations.  The landmark World Conference 
Against Racism will be held in South Africa in September, and UN 
representatives were preparing for it in a special drafting session in 
Geneva.  In the absence of a Swedish representative and with 27 nations 
abstaining, a vote on ILGA's status ended in a 43-43 tie, as EU nations faced 
off with members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.  A majority 
was necessary for Brussels-based ILGA to be recognized.  Previously the 
Organization of the Islamic Conference had attempted to bar a speaker from 
the San Francisco-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights 
Commission, IGLHRC, from speaking at the UN's Special Session on HIV/AIDS, 
but was ultimately foiled.  Many ILGA members will be attending the 
anti-racism meeting, and a demonstration will be held there to protest the 
group's official exclusion.

  In Britain, a lesbian teacher who was harassed by students lost a second 
round in her discrimination lawsuit.  Shirley Pearce experienced years of 
abuse and charged that the Mayfield School in Portsmouth had failed to 
protect her.  But this week the Court of Appeal upheld the finding of an 
industrial tribunal that Britain's Sex Discrimination Act applies only to 
issues of gender, not of sexual orientation.  Pearce may appeal to the House 
of Lords.  If her abuse were occurring today, it would likely represent a 
violation of Britain's new Human Rights Act.

  In Malaysia, police made 35 arrests in a raid on a gay club near Segambut.  
Police said they were acting on neighbor's complaints. Six of those arrested 
were club employees who were charged with entertainment regulation 
violations.  The rest were club patrons who were charged with committing 
illegal sex acts on the premises.  They were released from custody after 
giving statements.
Malaysia's former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is currently appealing 
a sodomy conviction that's widely believed to have been part of a conspiracy 
to eliminate him as a political threat to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

  The South Korean government shut down a leading gay Web site this week.  
IvanCity.com had been visited about 10,000 times each day.  It was quashed by 
the government-affiliated Information and Communication Ethics Committee, 
ICEC, enforcing a so-called "grading system" that went into effect July 1st.  
That grading system lists homosexuality among criteria used to deem a site 
harmful, and the ICEC has described homosexuality as "decadent and 
unhealthy".  In addition to censoring Korean-based Web sites, the ICEC 
intends to require filtering of foreign-based sites catering to gays and 
lesbians.  In response, 19 gay and lesbian advocacy groups formed a coalition 
to denounce what they called "an evident infringement of the human rights of 
homosexuals and other sexual minorities."  Their press conference featured 
Seoul Queer Film Festival organizer Seo Dong-jin and Korea's first openly gay 
celebrity, comic actor Hong Seok-chon.

  And finally... chalk up another honor for openly gay award-winning British 
TV host Graham Norton: a statue of him will be displayed at London's 
legendary Madame Tussaud's waxworks.  He sat for the sculptor this week and 
the figure will be displayed in about six months.  But immortality brings 
unexpected problems.  The style-conscious Irish-born comic said, "I'm having 
great trouble deciding what my figure will wear because it's got to be right 
for the day and into the evening and following the seasons -- it's quite a 
demanding outfit."