NewsWrap for the week ending May 31, 2003 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #792, distributed 6-2-03) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Fenceberry, Rex Wockner, Graham Underhill, and Greg Gordon] Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Greg Gordon Despite the new Archbishop of Canterbury's belief that a strong case can be made for Anglican recognition of gay and lesbian couples, the primates of the 70-million-member worldwide church this week once again came out against it. In a pastoral letter following their closed meeting in Brazil last week, they cited a lack of "theological consensus" and potential for "divisive controversy" in declaring they could not authorize "public rites for the blessing of same-sex unions." But also this week, the main target of the statement, Bishop Michael Ingham of Canada's Vancouver-area New Westminster Diocese, proceeded to authorize clergy in six of his parishes to perform a "rite for the celebration of gay and lesbian covenants," as previously approved by the diocesan synod. Ingham's letter said, "This is not a marriage ceremony, but a blessing of permanent and faithful commitments between persons of the same sex in order that they may have the support and encouragement of the church in their lives together under God." Archbishop Rowan Williams reacted with "sadness and disquiet" and said he regretted "the inevitable tension and division that will result" from Ingham's move. But it was a happy one for gay Anglican couple Michael Kalmuk and Kelly Montfort, whose relationship of more than 20 years was the first to be blessed in the New Westminster diocese. The ceremony was performed this week by Reverend Margaret Marquardt at St. Margaret's Cedar Cottage Church in Vancouver. Kalmuck said he felt the ceremony confirmed his relationship as "spiritually" equal to his parents'. Canada continues to move towards secular marriage equality as well. This week at a press conference organized by the national group EGALE, Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere, the leaders of 3 of the 4 opposition parliamentary parties and all 3 candidates for the leadership of the ruling Liberal Party each made statements of support for equal marriage rights for same-gender couples. Meanwhile the House of Commons Justice and Human Rights Committee is struggling to develop its report after holding a series of heated public hearings on the issue across the country. They've revealed they have no consensus, but they are unanimous in the belief that the current one man/one woman definition of marriage is no longer acceptable under Canadian law. The report due at the end of the month may have to include both a majority recommendation for equal marriage rights and a minority recommendation for a national partnership registry. Sweden announced that it will now register its citizens' partnerships at its embassies in Lisbon, Madrid and Paris. Sweden was one of the first nations to extend most marital rights to gay and lesbian couples, and recently announced that it would register those relationships at its embassies in nations that had no objections. France, Spain and Portugal were the first host countries to agree, with more expected to follow. However, the Swedish Federation for Homosexual, Bisexual and Transsexual Rights wonders why host nation opinion should matter, since technically the embassies are Swedish territory. But Puerto Rico's Supreme Court this week reaffirmed its own split decision that same-gender couples should not be covered by the provisions of the Law Against Domestic Violence. Justice Secretary Annabelle Rodriguez called for amending the law in the legislature, which is currently overhauling the penal code with a bill that leaves the criminalization of homosexual acts intact. While gay and lesbian activists organized both a lobbying effort and their pride parade, five religious groups urged retention of the sodomy law at a legislative committee hearing. Texas' Republican Governor Rick Perry this week signed into law the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, prohibiting the state from recognizing either same-gender marriages another state may someday perform or their legal civil unions like Vermont's. Texas law already disallows gay and lesbian marriages within the state. In Massachusetts, the state's four Roman Catholic Bishops issued a statement to be read in parishes this weekend, calling on the faithful to actively oppose any state move to recognize same-gender couples, and to actively support the proposed Marriage Affirmation and Protection Amendment to the state constitution, which would restrict legal marriage to one man and one woman. Catholic opposition to legal recognition of same-gender couples could result in fines for 3 Mexican bishops. The Mexico Possible Party this week filed a formal complaint with the Attorney-General, accusing the bishops of influencing voters in violation of federal election laws that specifically prohibit such religious intervention. The bishops had urged Catholics not to vote for parties supporting gay and lesbian unions or abortion, as Mexico Possible does. The 2.5-million-member Presbyterian Church USA held its national General Assembly this week and it was a roller coaster ride for those who want the denomination to open ordination to non-celibate gays and lesbians. Currently the church restricts not only clergy but also elders and deacons to those who maintain either chastity or fidelity in marriage, which in the Presbyterian Church is exclusively heterosexual. Two previous General Assemblies voted to change that rule, but the move fell far short of ratification by the church's regional presbyteries. Conservatives were barely stopped this year from calling the first special meeting in the denomination's history to discuss failure to enforce the ban on ordaining partnered gays and lesbians, alleging some 30 violations, and liberals were expecting to spend this Assembly defending against that movement. But the current Assembly's first move was to elect to its top office a known supporter of those ordinations. Then a committee approved a proposal to lift the ordination ban to be considered by the full Assembly once again, which came as something of a surprise. But when the matter came to the floor, the Assembly chose to delay any vote until at least 2006, instead referring the question once again to a study group. The Boy Scouts of America's exclusion of open gays sparked demonstrations outside its annual national meeting this week in Philadelphia, where the local Cradle of Liberty Council had just unanimously added "sexual orientation" to its own non-discrimination statement. Local and national leaders met to discuss their differences on the point with neither making immediate changes. The Philadelphia group's decision was spurred in part by the urging of their United Way, which might otherwise have withheld funding. It's been suggested that BSA's national policy of discrimination, despite having been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, could call local councils' tax-exempt status into question in states with laws protecting gay and lesbian civil rights. Kentucky's Democratic Governor Paul Patton this week signed an executive order prohibiting discrimination in state employment on grounds including sexual orientation and gender identity. While 14 states by law protect private as well as public workers from sexual orientation discrimination and 3 from gender identity discrimination, according to the Human Rights Campaign Kentucky follows 9 others in prohibiting civil service discrimination against gays and lesbians by means of a gubernatorial order -- and the first to use such an order to protect transgenders. The state Government bill to equalize the age of consent in the Australian state of New South Wales passed its legislature's Upper House this week by a surprisingly strong vote of nearly 60%. This means the age of consent for sex between males will be lowered from 18 to 16 years, to match that for heterosexual and lesbian acts, as the Lower House already voted its approval. In the Australian state of Tasmania, the Law Reform Institute has recommended equal adoption rights for gay and lesbian couples, in a report the state's Attorney-General presented to the state parliament this week. The state's ruling Australian Labor Party has already introduced legislation to advance legal recognition of same-gender couples, of which the adoptions proposal has proven by far the most controversial. Openly gay filmmaker Gus Van Sant was the big winner at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival this week, taking best director honors while his film "Elephant" was awarded the coveted Palme d'Or. The film he calls a "musing about school violence" is loosely based on the 1999 massacre in Columbine, Colorado, enacted by a cast of actual high school students with no prior film experience. It includes a kiss between the shooters, but Van Sant sees that act as "innocent" and "spontaneous" as the boys are planning to die when one has never been kissed. And finally... it was close but no cigar at this week's EuroVision Song Contest for the controversial Russian pop duo TATU. Although TATU is an acronym for "this girl loves that girl" and the singers recently announced their plans to contract a legal partnership, they probably aren't a lesbian couple in real life. They do play one in their music videos, and at EuroVision rumors abounded that they would shock their Latvian hosts with a raunchy act or even nudity. In fact they only held hands and gave each other a quick kiss as they performed a song whose title translates as "Don't Believe, Don't Fear, Don't Ask". They were heavily favored to win the 48th edition of the contest, which may have drawn 160 million viewers across Europe and beyond. But in scoring based mainly on viewers' telephone votes, their total of 164 points left them in third place, 3 points shy of the winning entry, Turkey's Sertab Erener. That outcome didn't bother either their hosts or their competitors, whom they'd thoroughly offended with their uncooperative behavior and insulting remarks in the course of rehearsals. But although Russia hasn't done much for its gays and lesbians, it's not ready to let go of what appeared to be its big chance to win the international competition for the first time. Its state-owned broadcaster Channel One has officially declared "that it discredits the voting results of the Eurovision Song Contest". It's filing a formal protest, centered on a last-minute switch in Ireland from viewer voting to a national jury, due to a dispute between Irish broadcaster RTE and their phone service that delayed the viewer vote results. Channel One believes the planned phone poll could easily have made the winning difference for TATU.