NewsWrap for the week ending January 18, 2003 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #773, distributed 1-20-03) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Lucia Chappelle & Greg Gordon] Anchored by Dean Elzinga and Cindy Friedman There were several moves by the Vatican this week against secular equality for gays, lesbians and transgenders. An official document was issued specifically calling on politicians of the Catholic faith to act in accord with dogma on a range of issues, including opposing legal recognition of same-gender relationships. Called "Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life", it was issued by the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog group, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and specifically approved by Pope John Paul. It declared that Catholic politicians "cannot compromise" legislatively even on such grounds as tolerance, pluralism or freedom of choice, saying that, "Democracy must be based on the true and solid foundation of non-negotiable ethical principles, which are the underpinning of life in society" and that "a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals." In the name of protecting the family, which it said must be "based on monogamous marriage between a man and a woman," it asserted that, "In no way can other forms of cohabitation be placed on the same level as marriage, nor can they receive legal recognition as such." At least in the U.S., a number of Catholic elected officials told reporters that the Vatican statement would not change their political positions. Several, including gay-supportive Democratic Presidential hopeful Senator John Kerry, cited the nation's first and only Catholic President John F. Kennedy, who said that in accord with the principle of separation of church and state that no elected official should be "limited or conditioned by any religious oath, ritual or obligation." The Catholic News Service also reported a confidential Vatican document rejecting any Church recognition of transsexuals. It instructs bishops not to alter the gender shown in baptismal records and prohibits marriage and ordination for those who have undergone sex reassignment surgery. CNS quoted its informant as saying that, "The key point is that the surgical operation is so superficial and external that it does not change the personality. If the person was male, he remains male. If she was female, she remains female." The very term "gender" is coming under fire from the Vatican. The Pontifical Council for the Family this week announced that it will soon be releasing a thousand-page tome called the "Lexicon of the Family and Life" that discusses 90 words related to sex and family issues. In an interview with Italy's "30 Days" magazine, Council director Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo of Colombia declared that the word "gender" "literally means the masculine or feminine genre, but in international debate is used to indicate radical ideological feminism." That ideology, as described by the cardinal in terms of CEDAW, the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, views marriage and motherhood as two forms of slavery. Details of what the lexicon will say about homosexuality are not yet public, but it is included. The cardinal described the family as threatened by what he called "cultural manipulation," including legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples. A French lesbian who played a significant global role in creating the vision of radical feminism, Monique Wittig, has died at age 67. Her first published novel "L'Opoponax" won France's prestigious Prix Medicis, but her fierce sexual politics emerged in her later books including "Les Guerilleres" -- "The Guerillas" -- and "Le Corps Lesbien" -- "The Lesbian Body", as well as in her direct action group Feministes Revolutionaires. She believed that the concept of "woman" is entirely a product of heterosexual society, she famously said that "Lesbians are not women." She emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-70s when she felt that non-gay women had taken over the French feminist movement, and most recently had been teaching at the University of Arizona. She's survived by her partner and sometime co-author Sande Zeig, with whom she co-produced the recent lesbian film "The Girl". Elsewhere on the literary scene, U.S. actor Richard Chamberlain writes matter-of-factly about being gay in his soon-to-be-released memoir "Toward Love". Although his gay orientation has been described as "Hollywood's worst-kept secret," the star of the TV series "Doctor Kildare" and of the miniseries "Shogun" and "The Thorn Birds" has always previously refused to discuss it with reporters. Canada's first municipal elected official to publicly identify himself as a gay man, Ottawa City Councilor Alex Munter, has announced he'll be leaving politics after his term ends this year, at least temporarily. Munter, now in his 4th term on the Ottawa Council, came out in 1993. Only 34 years old, Munter said, "I'm going to find a new way to live my life. I don't know what is next, and that is exhilarating." Back in the U.S., California Governor Gray Davis has appointed veteran activist Daniel Zingale his cabinet secretary, the highest rank ever achieved by an open gay in the state's administrative branch. Zingale had been heading the state's Department of Managed Health Care, but now will oversee all the state's agencies and departments. Other open gays are being honored by governments in other ways this month. The city of Barcelona, Spain will be awarding long-time activist Jordi Petit its Medal of Honor in the coming week. Petit is a former Secretary General of the International Lesbian and Gay Association. And Tasmanian activist Rodney Croome is receiving one of Australia's Centenary Medals for his civil rights work, having been nominated by the state's premier. Croome played a key role in the repeal of Tasmania's draconian sodomy law. The U.S. state of Georgia's fornication law, which criminalized all sex acts outside of marriage, was struck down by the state's Supreme Court this week. The Georgia high court ruled unanimously that the state constitution's privacy guarantee "protects from criminal sanction private, unforced, non-commercial acts of sexual intimacy between persons legally able to consent." The case in question was an appeal by a 16-year-old convicted after being caught in a heterosexual act by his girlfriend's mother. The court cited the 1998 case in which it struck down the state's sodomy law, a law that became notorious when it was upheld in 1986 by the U.S. Supreme Court in "Bowers versus Hardwick". The highest U.S. court will reconsider state sodomy laws this year in a Texas appeal. Virginia's crimes against nature law -- which prohibits all oral and anal sex acts, in theory even by a married couple, although it's alleged to be selectively enforced against gays -- has become an issue in discussion of a judge's reappointment. Virginia's legislature must approve all the state's judicial appointments and reappointments. The tenor of questioning by the House and Senate Courts of Justice Committees has raised concerns among activists and mainstream reporters that the conservative Republican chairs may be making a litmus test of judicial rulings on gay and lesbian issues that will work against supportive judges -- charges the chairs deny. But in the case of Newport News Judge Verbena Askew, the settlement of a past sexual harassment complaint brought against her by a woman led House committee chair Robert McDonnell to say, "There is certain homosexual conduct that is in violation of the law. It certainly raises some questions about the qualifications to serve as a judge." He later said reporters had "mischaracterized" that remark, and Senate committee chair Kenneth Stolle told the press that "sexual orientation in my view is not something that qualifies or disqualifies a person to be a judge in Virginia." However, some other conservative lawmakers were quick to chime in that gay or lesbian identification meant a person was regularly breaking the state law -- while gay and lesbian groups pointed out that many heterosexuals were doing so as well. A joint session of the House and Senate committees spent a remarkable 7 hours this week on Askew -- one of 60 reappointment candidates -- that focused primarily on the sexual harassment complaint and delved into great detail with the accuser. Askew flatly denied the allegation, while some 50 church members prayed and sang in a day-long demonstration of support for her. It's probably no coincidence that Askew is a Democratic appointee and the first female African American circuit judge in the history of the state. The committees are expected to vote on her reappointment in the coming week. And finally... a new Pennsylvania high school will bear the name of the late gay African-American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Rustin is best-known as the lead organizer of Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior's historic 1963 March on Washington, although he also organized the first freedom rides for Black equality in 1947 and played a key role in the Montgomery bus boycott that began with Rosa Parks. After the March on Washington he turned to international activism for peace and human rights in areas including India, South Africa, Cambodia, Haiti, and Israel, until his death in 1987. Rustin was kept out of the limelight of the civil rights movement because of his sexual orientation, 1930s Communist Party affiliation, and conscientious objector status in World War II. Those same issues, and possibly his race as well, made the naming of a school for him in his hometown of West Chester a long-running controversy, which finally ended with a 6-to-3 school board vote last month. Board President Rogers Vaughn said, "The contributions that Mr. Rustin made aren't just to civil rights, but to the whole United States." The 67-million-dollar Bayard Rustin High School will open in Westtown Township in 2005.