NewsWrap for the week ending November 2, 2002 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #762, distributed 11-4-02) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Lucia Chappelle & Greg Gordon] Anchored by Dean Elzinga & Cindy Friedman The state conference of Tasmania's ruling Australian Labor Party this week adopted without dissent a comprehensive policy on lesbian and gay issues, becoming the first state or federal branch of the ALP to do so. Tasmania A ttorney-General Judy Jackson advised the state parliament that her Government will be acting on the policy as legislation is developed, extending the many steps it’s already taken to advance gay and lesbian equality. She specified that the Government will seek to eliminate discrimination based on marital status, by creating Australia's frst official registry for unmarried couples regardless of gender. The registered contracts would carry full marital rights, including adoption rights. Currently only the state of West Australia allows gay and lesbian couples to adopt. The registries and adoptions could begin in mid-2003. The Australian Capital Territory may be next to consider omnibus reforms towards equal status for gay and lesbian couples. ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said this week that his Government is drafting two bills to amend more than 70 territorial laws to change their terminology from "spouse" or "de facto spouse" to "domestic partner," which would refer equally to the partner in a traditional marriage or an unmarried couple regardless of gender. A draft of the first bill will be given to the ACT Assembly before the year is out, with a final version planned for introduction early in 2003. Openly gay Australian Supreme Court Justice Michael Kirby this week told an international conference on family law that his own nation's gay and lesbian couples should have access to the federal Family Court for property disputes on dissolution, as married couples do. Australian Family Court Chief Justice Alastair Nicholson publicly declared it "a very sensible idea". Federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams is currently ready to open the Family Court to dissolutions only of unmarried heterosexual couples. Except for West Australia, which has its own Family Court which now offers equal access to same-gender couples, dissolving unmarried couples must go through a state Supreme Court for property settlements while dealing with custody issues in the Family Court. In Canada, civil rights bills are advancing in the new province of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. They are currently the only regions in the nation lacking their own laws against anti-gay discrimination, although Canadian federal law has explicitly protected gays and lesbians since 1996. The Nunavut Government this week introduced the province's first civil rights bill, which includes sexual orientation among its six protected categories. The Northwest Territories proposed human rights bill that first came up for discussion last year was introduced in the territorial parliament last week to mixed reviews. Organized labor is opposed because the bill contains no provisions for requiring equal compensation from private employers, although the territorial government has committed to pay equity for civil servants. But community activists across Canada have hailed the measure because it would be the nation's first to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. It passed a preliminary vote this week and may be enacted before the end of the current legislative session. There've been some civil rights advances in U.S. municipalities as well. This week, the Bloomington, Illinois city council voted 6-to-2 to add sexual orientation as a 10th category protected under its human relations ordinance. That ordinance prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, lending, and public accommodations. The council acted despite a negative recommendation from its staff, following instead the positive recommendation of the city's Human Relations Commission. Bloomington's mayor supports the measure. The Human Relations Commission of Chicago, Illinois this week voted unanimously to recommend that city add "gender identity" as a category protected under its civil rights ordinance. One commissioner apologized that the city had not acted sooner to protect transgenders. The Boston, Massachusetts City Council moved to add "gender identity or expression" as a category protected under its human rights ordinance, with a 9-to-1 vote last week. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has indicated he will sign the bill. In India, male-to-female transsexuals blocked train tracks on the Calcutta-New Delhi line, protesting a recent ban on their riding in the women-only coaches. Although a railway police spokesperson was firm that the transsexuals could not ride in the women's coaches because they are men, the protestors challenged police to prove it -- and at least one officer wondered how he was supposed to tell. But also in India, the Malayalam newspaper "Mathrubhumi" reported this week that a Trichur court has granted two young women permission to live together. The women identified as Shaiby and Prema, both nurses in their early 20s, told the court of their intense love and desire for each other and their firm resolution to live together. They had already been living together for more than two months, but because Shaiby had left her family with no idea of where she was for that time, her brother had filed a complaint that led police to take the couple into custody. Former U.S. National Football League player Esera Tuaolo came out on national television this week. When Dave Kopay became the first ex-NFL-er to publicly identify himself as a gay man back in 1975, he believed others would follow, but until now only Roy Simmons had done so, in 1992. While Kopay became a activist for gay and lesbian equality, Simmons dropped out of sight. Tuaolo, an Hawai'ian of Samoan heritage who now lives with his partner of 5 years Mitchell Wherley and their adopted twins, seems more likely to follow Kopay's route. He gave numerous press interviews leading up to this week's appearance on HBO’s "Real Sports" and has gone on to make the TV talk show rounds since. To date no active U.S. big-league professional has come out in the nation's top team sports -- football, baseball, basketball, or hockey. A number of NFL players have said that coming out while still in uniform would likely have led to a career-ending injury for Tuaolo, perhaps by his own teammates. Yet others have been more hopeful for tolerance in pro sports. Some say many of Tuaolo's teammates actually knew his big secret, but didn't care as long as it wasn't made public. Tuaolo was a defensive lineman who played for a total 9 years on 5 NFL teams, staying longest with the Minnesota Vikings but going to the Super Bowl in his single year with the Atlanta Falcons. He could have played longer but the pressure of remaining closeted in a homophobic environment decided him to retire in 1999. Tuaolo told interviewer Bernard Goldberg: Esera Tuaolo: ...I wanted to be happy. Bernard Goldberg: You couldn’t be happy making an NFL pro athlete’s salary? Tuaolo: How? I mean, they didn’t know the true me. They didn’t know who Esera Tuaolo is. Now maybe after this segment, they’ll know me for who I am: that I am a gay NFL ­ well, former NFL player. Goldberg: How do you feel about that? Tuaolo: I feel wonderful! I feel like a burden has been lifted. I feel like I’ve taken off this costume that I’ve been wearing all my life. And finally... Queen Elizabeth's representative in the Australian state of New South Wales, Governor Marie Bashir, has officially opened the weeklong 6th quadrennial Gay Games, whose slogan is "participation, inclusion and personal best". The gala ceremony in Sydney lived up to its name "Fabulous", with more than 2,000 performers -- including open gay Jimmy Somerville and open lesbian k.d. lang -- entertaining a crowd of up to 38,000. The Olympic-style parade of some 13,000 competitors from about 80 countries featured some playful notes. A group of gay and lesbian Australian Aborigines were identified as the "Out Blacks". Netherlands athletes tweaked their native costumes with gigantic clogs. The heads of Florida team members were adorned with pink flamingoes. No wonder lang greeted the crowd saying, "Hello, strange and beautiful family." The crowd responded with a mass rendition of the happy birthday song, honoring lang's 41st. Some of the competitors send their greetings to you, thanks to This Way Out’s Michael Schembri... [tape/:50] Openly gay Australian Supreme Court Justice Michael Kirby gave the keynote address at the Opening Ceremonies, accompanied by his partner of 30 years. He said, "At a time when there is so much fear and danger, anger and destruction, this event represents an alternative vision for humanity. Ours is the world of love, questing to find the common links that bind all people." "We are here because, whatever our sexuality, we believe that the days of exclusion are numbered." "Let the word go out from Sydney and the Gay Games of 2002 that the movement for equality is unstoppable -- its message will eventually reach the Four Corners of the world. Be sure that, in the end, inclusion will replace exclusion."