NewsWrap for the week ending January 25, 2003 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #774, distributed 1-27-03) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Andres Duque, Lucia Chappelle & Greg Gordon] Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Dean Elzinga A gruesome massacre at one of South Africa's oldest gay venues has left 9 men dead and another hospitalized. It's believed that four gang members were searching for two former employees when they invaded Sizzlers, variously described as a massage parlor and brothel, located in the Sea Point area of Cape Town. Most of the victims were discovered tied up with packing tape, shot in the head at close range execution-style, and also had their throats slit. Six died there and 3 died later in the hospital. The dead publicly identified so far are Gregory Berghouse, Sergio de Castro, Stephanus Fouche, Marius Meyer, Travis Reade, Warren Visser, and Sizzlers owner "Eric" Otgaar. Although the gay community has cooperated extensively with police, the investigation is proving difficult and police are saying little. South Africa's Lesbian and Gay Equality Project believes the attack may have been a hate crime, and has set up an international Victim Assistance Fund described at its Web site www.equality.org.za. The Equality Project joined with the gay and lesbian health organization Triangle Project, the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task Force, and the African National Congress in arranging a public memorial service at a local Anglican church, where Cape Town's mayor was among those addressing a crowd of 300. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance -- a national political party publicly rejected by most of South Africa's gay and lesbian activist groups -- cancelled its national convention scheduled to be held in Cape Town this week, and said all members of its national executive body were leaving the Western Cape. Gunmen also took aim this week against the lead sponsor of Colombia's bill to create registered partnerships for gay and lesbian couples, Senator Piedad Cordoba. She told reporters that as she was getting out of her car in Medellin, four men on two motorcycles shot at her. Cordoba believes it was an assassination attempt stemming from her political opponents, but law enforcement officials are calling it an attempted robbery. In 1999, Cordoba was kidnapped by a right-wing group for 15 days. Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe, often criticized by Cordoba, issued an executive order for her full protection by Public Security Forces. The partnership bill is scheduled for debate in the upcoming legislative session. The European Union advanced a step towards international recognition of gay and lesbian partnerships among its 15 member states. The European Parliament's Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs, known as LIBE, voted by a 4-to-3 margin to approve an expanded definition of "family" that includes gay and lesbian couples. The revised definition would appear in a draft directive proposed by the European Commission regarding the free movement of EU citizens among the member states. ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, has long been lobbying for the move, and the co-chair of its European body Kurt Krickler explained that, "This directive will be crucial for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people throughout the European Union, in particular from those countries with some sort of legislation or practice recognizing same-sex couples. Today, they cannot take their status as a legally recognized couple with them when moving to an EU country without similar legislation. And an EU citizen married to or registered with a same-sex partner from a third country, cannot even bring the partner as their union is not ... recognized by these countries." In addition, the European Parliament last week narrowly approved a non-binding amendment to a human rights report that called on all the EU nations to extend full spousal rights to unmarried couples, including gay and lesbian couples. However, the EP defeated another proposed amendment calling for full equal marriage rights for same-gender couples -- something only the Netherlands has granted so far. Lithuania's Justice Minister this week announced that anticipated EU membership could require legal recognition of same-gender couples in that Baltic former Soviet state. At a news conference, Vytautas Markevicius said that eventually Lithuania will have to consider European Court of Human Rights rulings on the subject, while also suggesting the move will have to wait until society and lawmakers of the heavily Catholic country, in his words, "are ripe" for it. The family status of gays and lesbians has been controversial as the Roman Catholic Church held its fourth triennial World Meeting of Families in Manila. The controversy began even before the meeting, as a group called Task Force Pride issued a statement that lesbigays and transgenders are also family members and should be allowed to participate. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines responded that they could do so, while noting that there would be no individual registrations for the meeting, only family registrations not open to same-gender couples. Among other groups speaking out before the meeting was LAGABLAB, a coalition of Filipino lesbigay and transgender advocacy groups. Its statement said that, "The family, for a number of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders, is where we first encounter prejudice and abuse. ... The silence of the Church, the government, other social institutions, and the society in general, speaks loudly how such hatred, abuses and prejudice are condoned." But Archbishop of Manila Jaime Cardinal Sin called the concept of gay and lesbian marriage a product of "misguided independence," defending what he called "the basic family structure of father, mother and child" which he said was "put into question by proponents of same-sex marriages." To the Philippines' leading national gay and lesbian civil rights coalition PROGAY -- the Progressive Organization of Gays in the Philippines -- Sin's remarks served to inflame the nation's "anti-gay hatred". PROGAY spokesperson Oscar Atadero told the BBC: [tape]. In heavily Catholic Croatia, a Government move to recognize gay and lesbian couples under family law caused a firestorm of opposition in parliamentary debate this week. The Government has proposed an inclusive amendment with respect to division of property when a couple breaks up. Even the parties of the governing coalition have not supported the move, and a member of one -- the Peasants Party --declared that homosexuals should be sent for psychological treatment to "be taught to understand the attractiveness of the opposite sex." Conservatives from several parties denounced the idea of equal treatment for same-gender couples. But Croatian gay and lesbian activist groups, who held a press conference this week calling for legal protections from discrimination, remain hopeful that most members of parliament are not so intolerant and that the bill will eventually pass. The Presbyterian Church USA has announced it will convene the first special assembly in its more than 200-year history to discuss enforcement of its ban on non-celibate gays and lesbians serving as clergy. The denomination's leadership had resisted some conservative members' call for the meeting, both because the ban itself has been highly divisive and because of finances. But a formal petition process forced their hand, and the meeting will be held in a month or two. The U.S. federal government has extended unprecedented recognition to the lesbian partner of a victim of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon 16 months ago. Peggy Neff is believed to be the first lesbian or gay partner to receive an award from the special federal compensation fund, more than $550,000, an amount close to that awarded legal spouses. Her partner of 18 years, Sheila Hein, was a civilian management analyst for the Army. Neff wrote in her claim that, "Words cannot express what I have lost. She was my entire world and my soulmate, my closest confidante and best friend." The couple's case was also notable since as a Virginia resident Neff was rejected for state compensation funds, like those New York made available to partners of those who died at the World Trade Center. The head of the federal fund, Kenneth Feinberg, decided in her favor, although it's not yet clear if that in any way sets a precedent. The Human Rights Campaign's Communications Director David Smith said, "This is the first time that we are aware of that the federal government has specifically recognized that someone in a gay relationship should receive compensation for the loss of partner." He attributed it in part to the efforts of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which only this week made public Neff's acceptance letter dated late November. And finally... Some gay words from this week's Hollywood Foreign Press Association Golden Globe awards. First from openly gay Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, as he added a Best Foreign Film Globe to the awards he's reaped for "Hable con Elle" --"Talk to Her" -- which include Best Film and Best Director from the European Film Academy {tape}. And from openly gay producer Scott Rudin as he accepted the Best Drama Globe for the much-honored Oscar contender "The Hours", which features lesbigay characters and is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by open gay Michael Cunningham {tape}.