NewsWrap for the week ending June 22, 2002 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #743, distributed 6-24-02) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Lucia Chappelle & Greg Gordon] Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Brian Nunes A Vancouver area Anglican diocese has become the first in Canada to formally authorize blessings of gay and lesbian couples. While the New Westminster diocese's gay-supportive Bishop Michael Ingham had blocked enactment of two prior synod votes in favor of the move because the margins were narrow, the latest vote was a landslide of more than 60%. He is ready to proceed, based on the advice of experts in Anglican canon law. The motion approved by the synod specifies that the union ceremony will not resemble marriage and that priests who object as a matter of conscience will not be required to perform it. The union ceremony would have no legal weight. Representatives of nine of the diocese's 80 member churches walked out of the synod meeting in protest immediately following the vote, and quickly issued a statement of dissent. Thirteen of Canada's 41 Anglican bishops soon followed with a statement declaring that New Westminster's decision conflicts with the "moral teaching of the Holy Scripture and the tradition of the universal Church." Ingham responded that those bishops serve more rural areas with pastoral needs different from his urban diocese's, and called for mutual respect for those differences. The bishops who signed what they called a "statement of regret" also question if New Westminster exceeded its authority in the matter, although the head of the Anglican Church in Canada, Primate Michael Peers, said the diocese "acted responsibly." He declined calls to convene an emergency meeting of Canadian bishops, but the matter will be discussed at their regularly scheduled meeting in October. The head of Canada's largest Anglican diocese, Archbishop of Toronto Terence Finlay, praised New Westminster's action. The head of the global Anglican communion, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, issued a statement that he is "deeply saddened" by it, asserting that it threatens the unity of the world church. Carey, who has been no friend to gays and lesbians, is due to retire at the end of October. The "London Times" reported this week that the British Government's Church Appointments Commission will be recommending a gay-supportive candidate to succeed him, Archbishop of Wales Dr. Rowan Williams, although there has been no official statement. On Vancouver Island, the Nanaimo City Council issued its first-ever proclamation of Gay Pride Day, reversing the result of a tie vote last month. The proclamation came in the face of a threat of a Human Rights Commission complaint and numerous demands from residents. A Human Rights Commission complaint is expected in Alberta, where Edmonton Mayor Bill Smith refused a proclamation requested by the Edmonton Pride Committee. Smith told reporters, "I'm a Christian Catholic and it goes against my personal belief" -- but that kind of argument has failed before human rights commissions in other provinces. In the Canadian heartland, Premier Lorne Calvert this week formally apologized for Saskatchewan's refusal to issue a provincial proclamation of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Pride Day in 2000. That apology came along with C$2,500 as part of a mediation agreement reached following a Human Rights Commission complaint by the Pride Committees of Saskatoon and Regina, the cities which alternate hosting of the provincial pride parade. It's Regina's turn for pride this year, but there won't be a proclamation of heterosexual pride to counter it. Last year a threatened lawsuit by Christian Truth Activists forced a proclamation of Family Pride Day, which in practice was a Heterosexual Family Pride Day with a verbal attack on gays and lesbians in a rally at city hall. This year Mayor Pat Fiacco stood firm in refusing the conservative group's request, using its own hate literature to back up his decision. Elsewhere in Canada, about 3,000 people marched this month in Winnipeg, Manitoba's 16th gay and lesbian pride parade, as the rainbow flag flew at city hall for the first time. Calgary, Alberta's second Gay Pride Parade had hundreds of marchers and thousands of cheering spectators. Peru's Movimiento Homosexual de Lima has so far been unable to obtain a permit for its planned pride march and rally. Authorities in Lima's Miraflores district denied the group's application on the grounds that "neighbors opposed the parade," but documented that opposition with just one letter signed by a single resident. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has called for letters of protest. In Brazil, several thousand people danced in the streets as pride was celebrated in Salvador, Bahia for the first time this week. Several hundred others celebrated pride in Brasilia, the national capital. Pride flags are flying at city halls for the first time in Berlin, Germany and Aberdeen, Scotland. Aberdeen is celebrating pride for the first time this year, while the opening parade for Berlin's tenth pride celebration attracted 350,000 participants. Earlier this month, about 100,000 people marched proudly in Hamburg, Germany, while in Tijuana, Mexico about 300 people marched before thousands of cheering spectators, a crowd much larger than those for the city's seven previous pride parades. Last month's pride observances included a march by about 7,000 people in Brussels, Belgium and a march by about 2,000 people in Warsaw, Poland's Equality Parade. There've already been numerous pride observances across the U.S. -- perhaps the largest so far drawing some 100,000 spectators in Boston, Massachusetts -- but one of the smallest has drawn intense protest from the religious right. That was a gathering this week of staff in the U.S. Department of Justice, held in the department's Great Hall and keynoted by its #2, Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson. The Department of Justice is responsible for protecting the civil rights of all citizens and observing pride there is nothing new. But religious right groups were grievously disappointed that it should go on with one of their own, Attorney General John Ashcroft, in charge, and several issued press releases criticizing his perceived endorsement of what they view as sin. Thompson's actual speech, which had been vetted and approved by Ashcroft, praised the work the department's gays and lesbians have done against terrorism. Estonia's Justice Ministry disappointed gay and lesbian activists by omitting their interests from a gender equality bill it announced this week. The ministry had actually sent drafts to the Estonian Gay Association to solicit its opinions, but in the final version there's no mention of legal recognition of same-gender partners or their co-adoption of their partners' biological children. Opposition Members of Parliament have submitted a formal inquiry as to whether a separate bill is in development on those to pics. In Britain, Liverpool's domestic partners registry began accepting applications this week. The ceremonial registry, which carries no legal rights, is the first in the U.K. open to couples from all over the country. A bill to restrict fertility treatments exclusively to women in relationships with men was approved this week in Italy's Chamber of Deputies by almost a 2-to-1 margin. The bill covers a wide range of so-called artificial procreation techniques, which have not previously been regulated in Italy. Its fate in the Senate is uncertain. Other world headlines this week featured transgenders. Japan this week saw its first legal ruling on the employment rights of transgenders, as the Tokyo District Court found in favor of a biological male fired for dressing as a woman on the job. The worker had first sought permission to work in her self-identified gender and agreed to a transfer on that basis. She had previously legally adopted a female name and is believed to be awaiting sex reassignment surgery. The judge found the employer, Shobunsha Publications, had not proven that her presence would hurt its business, and ordered it to pay damages of more than 2-1/2-million-yen. In Britain, a High Court judge rejected a transwoman's bid to revise her birth certificate to show her post-surgical gender. The UK has previously beaten a similar transsexual lawsuit in the European courts. But there's also some new hope for future legal reforms, as the British Government announced it is reconvening an interdepartmental working group on transsexual issues. And in India, another of the transgenders known as hijra has won elective office, continuing a burgeoning trend of the last two years. This week Kali Hijra was elected to the city council of Patna. And finally... It seems that openly lesbian tennis legend Martina Navratilova had actually bet against herself before winning the doubles title at the Madrid Open last month, becoming at 45 the oldest woman ever to win a Women's Tennis Association trophy. The penalty for losing that friendly bet with her trainer Giselle Tirado was to return to singles competition for the first time since her retirement in 1994. She made good on it this week on the grass at Eastbourne in England, where she won 11 championships in her heyday. She promptly won her first-round match against 25-year-old world #22 Tatiana Panova of Russia, becoming the oldest woman ever to win a WTA singles match. She lost in the second round against 19-year-old world #13 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia. They played on center court, to the delight of the fans, but to the disgust of top-seeded Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia, who was shunted aside in favor of what she called "some ridiculous match". Navratilova has no intention of playing any further tournament singles, although she told reporters she is interested in adopting a child or two. Navratilova has been a mentor as well as an "idol" for Hantuchova, but that changed in competition. Hantuchova said after the match, "Today was a little bit strange. She didn't tell me anything about how to play her."