NewsWrap for the week ending February 1, 2003 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #775, distributed 2-3-03) [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 Belgium will become only the second nation in the world to extend legal marriage to gay and lesbian couples, following the Netherlands. After four years of heated debate, this week the Chamber of Deputies approved the Government's bill by a more than 4-to-1 margin. The Senate had already passed the bill in November. It will go into effect in about four months, after the formalities of the King's signature and official publication. Belgium had already established legal partnerships for same-gender couples, but now the existing law regarding traditional civil marriage will be amended to read, "two people of different or the same sex can contract a marriage." Green Party spokesperson Kristien Grauwels said, "It makes it clear that any enduring and loving relationship is appreciated in the same way in our modern society." The bill will extend full equal marriage rights in Belgium in all areas but one: married same-gender couples will still be barred from adopting a child together. That was a necessary political compromise by Belgium's generally supportive Dutch-speaking parties to win support from the generally recalcitrant French-speaking parties. Belgium's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Federation -- the Holebifederatie -- hopes to win adoption rights in the future, but for now simply advises gays and lesbians to adopt as individuals before contracting marriage. There's one more complication for non-Belgian citizens. Belgian law had already established that foreign couples can contract marriages there only in accord with the laws of their native countries, which for the foreseeable future means only gays and lesbians from the Netherlands. Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II personally spoke out this week against what he called "inauthentic" families, declaring that "a union between a man and a woman is the only true one in God's eyes." Anything else he described as "based on individual egoism," "a 'caricature' [that] has no future and cannot give any future to society." The statement he made at Saint Peter's Square was broadcast by satellite following the conclusion of the Church's World Meeting of Families in Manila, where Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin had made similar remarks against gay and lesbian marriages. There was also further confirmation this week on the Vatican's new policy against transsexuals in religious life. Directives distributed to religious superiors worldwide by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- but not intended to be made public -- call for barring transsexuals from serving as priests, monks, friars, nuns, and brothers. When superiors have "prudent doubt" about a candidate's transsexuality, they are to arrange medical and psychological examinations. Should what the directives call "a serious and irreversible pathology of transsexuality" be found, or even if doubt remains, the candidate cannot be admitted to the order. If transsexuals are identified among those already in orders, they are to be expelled. However, because the Church views transsexuals as suffering from a "dissociation" of mind and body, the same rules do not necessarily apply to the intersexed, those born with ambiguous genitalia. And in Australia, top Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Dr. George Pell has given his blessing to a current national tour by a U.S. psychologist who believes effeminate boys can be "prevented" from growing up to be gay. Peter Rudegeair came to Australia at Pell's invitation and his appearances -- supported by Church funds -- include a private address to Sydney's Catholic clergy. The tour was arranged in part by Courage, a group supporting celibacy among Catholic gays and lesbians. Australian psychologists as well as gay and lesbian activists have condemned Rudegeair's approach as likely to be harmful. But a Washington, DC judge who happens to be Roman Catholic actually apologized to three Catholic activists arrested for a peaceful protest during the annual U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in November. Judge Mildred Edwards felt compelled to convict gays Ken Einhaus and Mike Perez and lesbian Kara Speltz of misdemeanor unlawful entry, but for the first time in her 15 years on the bench she completely suspended any sentence. Those sentences could have amounted to as much as 6 months in jail plus a fine, but instead each defendant was ordered to pay $50 to the Victims of Violent Crimes Compensation Fund. The bishops' meeting had been the target of significant protest demonstrations by Soulforce -- an interfaith group seeking to end "spiritual violence" against gays and lesbians, to which the defendants belong -- and the gay and lesbian Catholic group Rainbow Sash. Apparently because the clergy erroneously believed them to be Rainbow Sash members, the defendants were denied communion at the Bishops' Mass at the National Shrine. Their "unlawful entry" came the following day, as they knelt all day in the lobby of the hotel where the bishops were staying in hopes of receiving communion and an explanation of why they'd been denied it. No bishop responded. They were arrested and spent an unusual 30 hours in jail before their release. Testifying in their defense was gay-supportive Detroit Bishop Thomas Gumbleton. Judge Edwards told the defendants, "Tremendous violence was done to you ... when the Body of Christ was denied to you. ... I am terribly sorry for what happened to you. As a member of your church, I ask you to forgive our church." She ended the sentencing as priests end Mass, saying, "Go in peace." The Presbyterian Church USA won't be holding a special assembly on enforcing its ban on non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy after all. Late last week it appeared that conservatives within the two-and-a-half-million-member denomination had forced the first special as sembly in its more than 200-year history. But then early this week it was announced that 13 General Assembly delegates had withdrawn their names from the petition calling for the meeting, leaving it short of the minimum number required by church law. Some conservatives accuse the denomination's leadership of pressuring the signatories to back down, and one Ohio pastor has even filed a complaint with a church court. The special meeting would have cost the cash-strapped denomination about a half-million-dollars, but the same issues will certainly be taken up at the regularly-scheduled General Assembly in May. The United Methodist Church also prohibits what it calls "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" from serving as clergy, but 2 years after Seattle, Washington minister Karen Dammann wrote to her bishop that she is in a "partnered, covenanted homosexual relationship," a church appeals court has green-lighted her return to the pulpit. Dammann's letter forced her bishop to file a complaint against her, but an investigative committee convened by the church's Northwest regional body dismissed it. The appeals court ruling this week was split between 4 members who supported the autonomy of the investigative group and 3 who believed it had made an "egregious" error, but the upshot is that Dammann will not be brought to trial. She's now on family leave and will hear in a few months about her next appointment. As for her former Woodland Park congregation, it's currently the only one in the nation under the pastoral care of an openly gay man, Dammann's successor Reverend Mark Williams. Another investigative committee found no evidence that he was homosexually active. In Virginia this week, a bill that would have opened the door to health insurance coverage for domestic partners was killed by a state House committee vote of 13-to-6. Current state law restricts the health coverage employers purchase from insurance carriers to workers' legal spouses and dependent children. Republican Delegate from Fairfax James Dillard's bill would have extended the possibility of coverage to other cohabitants in whom the worker has "an insurable interest". Two gay and lesbian groups testified in support of the measure, as did an employer who hoped to offer extended coverage, while no one actually testified against it. The insurance industry was known to offer no opposition, but the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia had spoken against it previously. Ireland's Government this week announced plans to improve schools' response to harassment and discrimination against gays and lesbians and 8 other minority groups. The announcement came from Justice Minister Michael McDowell and from Ireland's Equality Authority, which has made it a priority for the next three years to develop the program in conjunction with the Department of Education. The first step will be a series of publications beginning this year that will explain schools' responsibilities under the Equal Status Act. Then the Government plans to require schools to formulate written policies with safeguards, standards, and defined procedures for responding to discrimination and harassment -- whether between students, between teachers, or between students and teachers. Ultimately, schools which fail to comply will be vulnerable to lawsuits under the Equal Status Act, including those filed by bullied students. And finally... openly lesbian tennis legend Martina Navratilova this week won the Australian Open mixed doubles championship with Leander Paes of India, achieving two landmarks. Now aged 46 years and 3 months, she surpassed a 1924 male champ to become the oldest person ever to win a Grand Slam tournament. The Grand Slam includes the Australian, French and U.S. Opens and Wimbledon, and with this -- her 57th Grand Slam title -- Navratilova has now won at least one singles, doubles and mixed doubles trophy at all four of them. Although Navratilova returned to tournament doubles play a few years ago after several years' retirement from her long career, one of the finalists she defeated, Australian Todd Woodbridge, told reporters, "She says she's still improving, so God help us all."