PLEASE NOTE: There will be no "NewsWrap" segment on "This Way Out" program #s 766 (week of 12/2/02) and 770 (week of 12/30/02). One or more special features will air on each of those programs. ---------------------------------------------------------------- NewsWrap + U.S. Elections Special Report for the week ending November 9, 2002 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #763, distributed 11-11-02) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, John Frame, Lucia Chappelle & Greg Gordon] Anchored by Cindy Friedman & Christopher Gaal Britain has joined the handful of countries that allow gay and lesbian couples to jointly adopt children, after a tumultuous week in Parliament that's left the Opposition Conservative Party reeling. Previously, the Labour-dominated House of Commons had approved by a large margin an amendment to the Adoption and Children Bill to open adoptions to unmarried couples regardless of gender, but the House of Lords struck it down. This week began with the Commons reinstating the amendment, again by a large margin, after a 5-hour debate. The Conservative Party had imposed a three-line whip -- the strongest level of party discipline -- requiring its Members of Parliament to vote against the amendment, while quietly suggesting that those for whom it was an issue of conscience should absent themselves. 35 Tory MPs stayed away, but 8 publicly rebelled, with Michael Portillo making a scathing attack from the floor on his own Party Leader Iain Duncan Smith. Portillo has previously said he engaged in homosexual activities in his college days, before his marriage. Gay-supportive Tory John Bercow protested even more dramatically, quitting his frontbench job as the party's spokesperson on work and pensions a few hours before the Commons vote. The Lords could still have blocked the bill and were generally expected to do so, but the next day they reversed their previous opposition to approve the amendment by a comfortable margin and ensure its enactment into law. The difference was stronger support from the Labour peers after vigorous Government lobbying, while 19 Conservative peers broke with their party's opposition. Tory Party Leader Iain Duncan Smith has been left squirming, first declaring that his party must "unite or die," then issuing a rare written apology to the 35 MPs who missed the Commons vote, saying they'd done nothing wrong. The Tories' woes could pay off for gays and lesbians in the upcoming legislative session, as the party is indicating a change of strategy on Section 28. That's the infamous Thatcher-era law prohibiting local governments from devoting resources to "the promotion of homosexuality". Scotland repealed it, but Conservative opposition in the House of Lords blocked Labour's move to repeal it in Britain. Now the Tories are hinting they'll offer their own amendment to Section 28 instead of just opposing Labour's proposed reform. There was another victory this week for Britain's gay and lesbian couples, as three Court of Appeal justices extended tenancy rights to survivors, in a move that could reopen their broader claims in inheritance, property and family matters. Using Britain's new Human Rights Act, the judges actually rewrote existing law to include protections from discrimination guaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights. The case before the court is that of Antonio Mendoza, who is seeking to retain at the same rent-controlled price the apartment that was leased by his now-deceased partner Hugh Walwyn-Jones 20 years ago. A lower court had recognized his right to remain in his home of two decades, but not to retain the rent control protections. The appellate court justices agreed that the current Rent Act represented "impermissible" discrimination based on sexual orientation, and declared that the phrase describing unmarried heterosexual partners as living "as his or her wife or husband" must now be read to mean "as if they were his or her wife or husband" to include same-gender partners. There was a giant step against discrimination this week in the Australian state of Queensland, as the Labor Government introduced sweeping law reform legislation. It would ensure equality for not only gays and lesbians and for same-gender couples of at least two years' standing, but also transgender and intersexed people, protecting them from vilification as well as discrimination. The leading opposition parties have indicated they'll go along with the move, although Labor's huge majority in the unicameral state legislature ensures enactment. Activists, while generally delighted, note two significant omissions -- the currently higher age of consent for anal intercourse than for other sex acts, and adoption rights. However, the bill would grant lesbians access to fertility treatments, although individual physicians could opt out. It would even remove existing exemptions for religious groups, barring them from firing employees in non-religious roles based on sexual orientation. In introducing the bill, Queensland Attorney General Rod Welford said, "No one should have to tolerate abuse of any form because of who they are -- the sexuality of a person is simply not a reason for them to be harassed or assaulted." "The new laws will remove discrimination and give de facto partners rights and obligations consistent with those of married spouses" in "over 50 pieces of legislation". Spain's Guardia Civil, the quasi-military national police force, announced this week that it's opening its barracks to same-gender couples. It's changing a policy that used to recognize only married couples and blood kin, to allow authorization for housing a partner, regardless of gender, with whom a guardsman has "a stable emotional relationship analogous to marriage" of at least 2 years' standing. Civil rights activists noted that the guards' low pay makes it difficult for them to live anywhere except the barracks. Despite his victory, the Mallorca-based guardsman who sought the change in order to live with the partner he registered in the Balearic Islands, is reportedly now on sick leave for emotional stress from the media attention. Ironically, in the days of Francisco Franco's dictatorship, the Guardia Civil routinely raided Spain's gay clubs. This week Vietnamese police raided a gay club in Ho Chi Minh City, arresting dozens of men and sending 30 for what the state calls "re-education". Those men could also face fines, although police admitted no prostitution was involved. Although Vietnamese law does not prohibit homosexual acts, earlier this year the government added homosexuality to its list of "social evils". The state-run "Thanh Nien" newspaper quoted one arresting officer as saying, "It is disgusting and a cause of a disease that corrupts young people, they must be educated to lead a healthy lifestyle." Last week Malaysia's religious authorities led police in a raid on a drag beauty pageant at a bar in Muar, Johor, arresting 80 Muslims among the 200 contestants and audience. The detainees will be tried under Islamic law for cross-dressing in public, and could face jail sentences of up to 6 months and fines of 1,000 ringgit, equivalent to US$263. Cross-dressing has been criminalized in the Mexican city of Tecate. In late October the city council adopted a measure to punish a "man dressed as a woman who transits in the public way causing social perturbation" with a fine equivalent to 40 days' salary at the national minimum wage. City councilors who opposed the measure claim that it violates the national constitution, but similar measures are likely to receive consideration in Ensenada, Mexicali, Rosarito, and Tijuana. A Tecate city spokesperson insisted that the drag ban is an issue of public image, vehemently denying that the measure or the city are homophobic. But transgender civil rights are advancing in the U.S. This week the Chicago, Illinois City Council added "gender identity or expression" as a category protected from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and lending under the city's human rights ordinance. There was reportedly no controversy as the Council promptly followed last week's recommendation by Chicago's Human Relations Commission. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley supports the move. And Boston, Massachusetts Mayor Thomas Menino this week signed into law that city's addition of "gender identity and expression" as a category protected from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, lending, insurance, and education. And finally... in Israel, two openly gay men ascended to political office this week. Jerry Levinson, head of the gay and lesbian group Jerusalem Open House, was named by the so-called Jerusalem Now faction to replace one of its resigning members and become the first openly gay or lesbian member of the Jerusalem City Council. And veteran activist Dr. Uzi Even, appointed by the Meretz Party to replace a retiree, was sworn in as the first open gay or lesbian Member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. A number of ultra-Orthodox MKs walked out in protest just before the ceremony. Even told the Knesset, "I am excited and proud because there were other days not so long ago when I was forced to leave my work as a scientist serving the country and my position in the army just because I wanted to live my life openly, without shame, to love one who was close to my heart" -- his partner of almost two decades, Dr. Amit Kama. = U.S. ELECTIONS SPECIAL REPORT = National elections were the big news in the U.S. this week, and while the Republicans regaining control of the U.S. Senate bodes ill for enactment of any new national legislation favorable to gays and lesbians, gay and lesbian candidates fared well, and most referenda affecting gays and lesbians were decided in their favor. The big loss was in Nevada, where the state constitution will be amended to restrict legal recognition exclusively to marriages between one man and one woman. The state requires two public votes held two years apart to approve constitutional amendments, and this was the marriage measure's second victory, both by landslide margins. Nevada already had a state law in place to the same effect, as do 35 other states. At the local level, though, Sarasota, Florida voted by a nearly 3-to-1 margin to amend its city charter to prohibit discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and eight other categories. And the cities of Westbrook, Maine; Ypsilanti, Michigan; and Tacoma, Washington all rejected ballot measures seeking to repeal gay and lesbian civil rights protections their city councils had enacted. There were more than 100 openly gay and lesbian candidates across the U.S., including about 80 of the 228 currently holding elective offices. Almost all of the incumbents won re-election, including the three U.S. Congressmembers: Republican Jim Kolbe of Arizona, Democrat Barney Frank of Massachusetts, and Democrat Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, who trounced her homophobic opponent by a landslide. Nearly all the openly gay and lesbian incumbents were returned to state legislatures as well, although thanks to redistricting only half of New Hampshire's record 8 state representatives will serve another term. There were some notable new additions to state legislatures as well. Democrat Tim Carpenter will be Wisconsin's first openly gay state Senator. While openly lesbian incumbents were returned to the Maryland and California state Assemblies, Democrat Rich Madaleno will be Maryland's first openly gay male Assemblymember, and Democrats John Laird and Mark Leno will be California's first openly gay male Assemblymembers. Massachusetts Democrat Jarrett Barrios became the first openly gay or lesbian Latino in the nation ever to be elected to a state Senate seat, while Democrat and Navajo Jack Jackson, Junior's election to the Arizona state House makes him the first openly gay or lesbian Native American in the nation ever to win elective office. And in New York, Democratic incumbent state Senator Tom Duane and Assemblymember Deborah Glick will be joined by Danny O'Donnell, openly gay brother of now-openly lesbian entertainer Rosie O'Donnell. Glick told This Way Out correspondent JoAnne Powers... [tape] Having run up against term limits in the California Assembly, openly lesbian Democrat Carole Migden easily won a seat on the State Board of Equalization, which according to the gay and lesbian Victory Fund political action committee gives her more constituents than any other gay or lesbian officeholder -- 8 million. Migden told Powers... [tape] Also in California, San Diego County appears to have elected the nation's first openly gay or lesbian District Attorney, Bonnie Dumanis, although the count in the close race is not yet final. And when David Cicilline is sworn in, he'll make Providence, Rhode Island the largest city in the U.S. ever to have an openly gay mayor. With more on the U.S. elections, here's This Way Out correspondent JoAnne Powers [tape: interview with Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund Political Director Bob Kearney] Among non-gay candidates, Wyoming voters ousted the man who prosecuted the murderers of gay student Matthew Shepard, Cal Rerucha. Hawai'i voters gave a seat on the Honolulu County Council to anti-gay activist Mike Gabbard. An organized campaign in Utah dumped anti-gay District Judge David Young, a rather rare event. And Vermont voters appear to have reinstated at least two of the legislators who were unseated in 2000 because they supported the state's pioneering civil unions.