NewsWrap for the week ending September 29, 2001 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #705, distributed 10-01-01) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon] Anchored by Jon Beaupré and Cindy Friedman Gays and lesbians in Finland will be able to legally register their partnerships next year. The Finnish parliament this week voted 99-to-84 with 17 abstentions and absences to create registered partnerships giving same-gender couples many of the rights of legal marriage. Those rights include status equal to marriage for purposes of inheritance, taxation, hospital visitation, and division of property on dissolution. However, the new law will not allow one partner to use the other's surname or to co-adopt the other's children. Rainer Hiltunen, head of Finland's national gay and lesbian group SETA, said, "This at long last gives gay couples the rights they deserve. But it's a compromise, and we are disappointed that it doesn't secure the rights of children in a gay marriage, because they can only be registered to one parent." Opposition from Finland's national Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Christian Democratic Party had defeated a similar bill in 1996. Spain's opposition parties accused the ruling Partido Popular of "succumbing to the dictates of the Catholic Church" as the PP this week defeated five bills in the Congress of Deputies aimed at legal recognition of gay and lesbian partners. The various opposition parties proposing those bills emphasized the need to bring the law into line with the social reality of same-gender couples. A Partido Popular spokesperson argued against creating a new legal entity, registered partnerships, suggesting instead the expansion of existing legislation relating to common-law couples. The PP also called heterosexual marriage a cornerstone of Spain's constitution. Some local governments in Spain have already recognized gay and lesbian partnerships. In South Africa, two openly lesbian judges won a double victory for the rights of same-gender couples in the Pretoria High Court this week. Judge Frans Kgomo struck down as discriminatory laws which had prohibited Judge Anna de Vos' partner Suzanne de Toit from sharing parental status of her two adoptive children and had barred Judge Cathy Satchwell's partner Lesley Carnelly from receiving her employee spousal benefits. Those rulings must still be confirmed by the national Constitutional Court, although the plaintiffs believe that will be just a formality. South Africa's 1996 constitution was the first in the world to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Kgomo called discrimination against same-gender couples "unwarranted, dehumanizing, stereotypical, unjustified, and consequently unfair." Unmarried cohabitants in Washington, DC are a step closer to gaining recognition following a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives this week. Washington's City Council adopted an ordinance in 1992 to establish a partners registry carrying hospital visitation rights and the opportunity for city employees to buy into their group health plan to cover their partners at their own expense. But Washington must rely on Congressional appropriations for the bulk of its budget, and since 1992 those funds have been conditioned on complete suspension of the city ordinance. Last week openly gay Republican Representative Jim Kolbe of Arizona succeeded in removing the ban from the House version of the annual city funding bill, although that bill would still require the city to use non-federal funds for its domestic partners registry. When the bill this week reached the floor of the Republican-controlled House, Republican Representative Dave Weldon of Florida attempted to reinstate the ban, arguing it would preserve the "integrity" of marriage. His amendment had the vocal support of Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas, but 41 Republicans broke ranks to join all but 18 Democrats in defeating Weldon's proposal. The version of the Washington funding bill in the Democrat-controlled Senate also omits the domestic partners ban, but that may well have been the cause of controversy that delayed a scheduled vote on the bill this week in the Senate Appropriations Committee. The House added a new anti-gay twist before overwhelmingly approving Washington DC's funds for the coming year. Thanks to an amendment proposed by Republican Representative John Hostettler of Indiana, the city is prohibited from spending any money to enforce a landmark ruling against the Boy Scouts of America by its Human Rights Commission. The Commission had found the Scouts illegally discriminated against two gay men seeking to become Scout leaders, awarding each man $50,000 plus legal fees. Some Democrats argued the House should at least delay interfering until the courts have decided the Scouts' appeal of the Commission's decision. But 54 Democrats joined all but 8 Republicans in passing the amendment, which Hostettler said was necessary to stop a ruling "counter to our most basic liberties." Those gays and lesbians wishing to defend those "basic liberties" by serving in the U.S. armed forces have yet to get any breaks as a result of the Bush administration's authorization of a so-called "stop loss" policy. This week the Air Force became the first service branch to follow through on the authorization, ordering a 30-day suspension of most administrative discharges so as to keep personnel available for combat. But the Air Force order specifically requires continued processing of discharges for violations of the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on military service by gays and lesbians. Past stop loss orders issued during armed conflicts from World War II through the Persian Gulf had all served to suspend so-called "gay discharges" until hostilities ceased. In announcing the stop loss authorization last week, the Pentagon had indicated that action on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" discharges would be left to commanders' discretion -- but in announcing the Air Force order this week, a different Pentagon spokesperson said of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" that, "The law is the law." Nonetheless, the "San Francisco Examiner" has reported military officials saying a de facto suspension of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is already reflected in the actions of many commanders. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has again warned gays and lesbians in uniform to assume that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is being fully enforced. The Government of the Australian state of Tasmania has acted to amend its Anti-Discrimination Act to expand religious exemptions. In response to lobbying by the Catholic Education Office, the state Government drafted what it claims is merely a clarification of the existing religious exemption in the civil rights law. But the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group accused the Government of selling out, calling the move "a grubby backroom deal which gives religious schools and welfare agencies the green light to sack gay and lesbian teachers and social workers." The Group feels the Government's failure to consult it on a matter vitally affecting its constituency undermines that Government's declarations about "Tasmanians working together" in the recently issued official 20-year plan to end discrimination in the state. Australia's federal government also raised activists' ire this week by denying a visa to Peter Tatchell, who was born and raised in Australia before emigrating to become Britain's best-known gay activist. Tatchell was seeking to visit Brisbane for the annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in part as a reporter for the BBC. It's presumed to be Tatchell's plans to seek the arrest for human rights violations of Zimbabwe's homophobic President Robert Mugabe, that led Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock to deny Tatchell's visa with authority generally used against criminals. The Australian Democratic Party joined Tatchell in protesting the decision. The Commonwealth Meeting had been scheduled to begin in the coming week, but shortly after the Tatchell story broke, Australian Prime Minister John Howard postponed the meeting in light of the recent terrorist attacks on the U.S. Canada's broadcasting regulator has ordered two major cable TV carriers to cease their differential treatment of North America's first gay and lesbian TV channel, PrideVision. Shaw Cable and Star Choice had both excluded PrideVision from a three-month free trial preview package, unless viewers went through additional steps to request it, including proving they are at least 18 years old. Shaw is the only cable company serving Canada west of the province of Ontario, reaching about 40% of the nation's cable subscribers, although Westerners have the alternative of satellite access. In announcing its complaint to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission this week, PrideVision called for a boycott of Shaw and Star Choice. Activist attorney barbara findlay simultaneously announced that she is filing a lawsuit against Shaw on behalf of a PrideVision viewer regarding the age verification. The conflicts are likely to intensify in the future, as Shaw has said that following the preview period, it will only offer PrideVision by itself, instead of the traditional so-called "bundling" with other offerings. And finally... this week marked the U.S. premiere of "The Ellen Show", the new CBS sitcom starring Ellen DeGeneres, who rocked mainstream TV in 1997 when she publicly identified herself as a lesbian both in real life and in her character in her now-defunct ABC sitcom "Ellen". The new show was first expected last season and its debut was then further delayed by the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Most critics have picked it as one of the year's best new offerings. DeGeneres joked about struggling with CBS over the new show's name, saying, "They wanted 'Ellen' in the title, absolutely. I wanted 'Cindy Crawford' in the title -- I thought more people would watch."