NewsWrap for the week ending July 19, 2003 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #799, distributed 7-21-03) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Fenceberry, Rex Wockner, Graham Underhill, and Greg Gordon] Anchored by Jon Beaupré and Cindy Friedman Australia's third-largest Christian denomination, the Uniting Church, this week became the nation's first mainstream religious group to officially approve ordination of openly sexually active gays and lesbians. Despite strenuous opposition from conservatives who threatened schism, the 1.4-million-member denomination's Triennial Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of the proposal, with estimates of support ranging from 75 to 90% of delegates. The vote came after more than 20 years of discussion, including at least ten clergy dramatically "coming out" to the 1997 Assembly, only to have that meeting decline to decide the issue. The new policy is far from a non-discrimination statement, and in fact barely opens the door to ordination. The decision as to which individuals will be ordained remains in the hands of the denomination's regional presbyteries, and those presbyteries can choose to reject candidates based on their sexual orientation. Selections will be determined on a case-by-case basis, and sexual activities can be grounds for rejection for both heterosexual and gay or lesbian candidates. Individual congregations can also refuse the services of a minister based on gay or lesbian orientation. Other recent developments in Australia have concerned the status of gay and lesbian couples. In late June, openly gay Australian Democratic Party Senator from West Australia Brian Greig attempted to win status equal to unmarried heterosexual partners for same-gender couples and their children, with an amendment to a federal pension reform bill. The move was defeated by more than 80% of the Australian Senate, as the Coalition Government was joined by the Opposition Australian Labor Party. An ALP spokesperson said that although the party supports equal pension rights for gays and lesbians, it doesn't want to handle reform in a "piecemeal fashion". The Government's spokesperson declared there is no pension discrimination. Greig called that "absolute rubbish," noting that unlike heterosexuals, surviving same-gender partners have to pay up to 35% of their pension receipts in taxes. But gay and lesbian couples fared better at the state level that week, as Tasmania's Lower House passed the ALP state Government's Relationships Bill by a 7-to-1 margin. That measure would create Australia's first partnership registry, open not only to gay and lesbian couples but to a broad range of non-traditional relationships, and would carry legal status equal to marriage under more than 100 state laws. The only disappointment for activists is its limiting of adoption rights for gay and lesbian couples to co-adoption of a partner's child, an inequality the Green Party tried to rectify with an amendment that failed. Tasmania's Senate won't take up the bill until after it reconvenes from its break. In nearby New Zealand, the Government this week revealed its plans to introduce a bill to create civil unions open to same-gender and unmarried heterosexual couples, with all the rights and responsibilities of marriage. The bill to amend more than 100 laws has been drafted for the Labour Party by openly gay Member of Parliament Tim Barnett. However, the leader of the governing coalition's junior partner, the more socially conservative United Future, apparently hasn't been consulted in the matter, and is apt to oppose the move. A discussion paper is expected to be made public in a few weeks. Although Labour has already indicated it will allow its MPs to vote their consciences, at least the Government bill will be guaranteed a hearing in the Parliament, unlike a similar private member's bill already introduced by Labour MP Russell Fairbrother that's not expected to progress. The law is somewhat anomalous in New Zealand at the moment, since it provides for the dissolution of gay and lesbian and other domestic partnerships but not for their commitment. Barnett, along with openly transsexual MP Georgina Beyer, late last month led the New Zealand Parliament to decriminalize prostitution, winning by a one-vote margin. That will put an end to solicitation charges, for which more than half of those arrested in New Zealand over the last 5 years have been males. While imposing health and other government regulations on sex work, the new law will make it possible to legally run a brothel or to benefit from another's sex earnings. Beyer was eloquent in urging passage, referring to her own history as a sex worker and the many teenagers she saw die in the trade. She and Barnett held hands as they awaited the vote. Still in the Southern Hemisphere, Latin America's first legal civil union was contracted this week by a gay male couple in Argentina. Marcelo Suntheim and Cesar Cigliutti were the first in line for Buenos Aires' new civil unions, which are also open to unmarried heterosexuals and carry legal standing within the city's jurisdiction for purposes of hospital visitation and insurance benefits. Celebrating amidst rainbow confetti, Cigliutti also used the much-publicized moment to remember the many activists who struggled for the recognition but did not live to see it. Croatia is just as socially conservative and predominantly Catholic as Latin America, but this week its Parliament voted to extend legal status equal to unmarried heterosexual cohabitants to gay and lesbian domestic partners of at least three years' standing. That status includes recognition for joint health coverage, inheritance, and division of property in the event of dissolution. The advance can be credited in part to the European Union, which Croatia hopes to join as soon as 2007. The new recognition of same-gender couples is reportedly Croatia's first legal statute dealing with gay and lesbian civil rights. Canada's federal Government has taken its next step towards equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians, transmitting a simple draft of its bill to the Supreme Court of Canada for review. The draft states simply, "Marriage, for civil purposes, is the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others. Nothing in this Act affects the freedom of officials of religious groups to refuse to perform marriages that are not in accordance with their religious beliefs." The bill that eventually makes it to the Parliament will also amend existing federal laws to conform with the revised definition. Justice Minister Martin Cauchon expressed pride in the nation as he announced the move this week. Canada's highest court is being asked to consider if the proposal is under the exclusive authority of the national Parliament; if it is consistent with the national Charter of Rights and Freedoms; and whether that Charter's guarantees of freedom of religion in fact protect clergy from being compelled to perform marriages that violate their beliefs. It's believed that if the proposal passes muster with the Supreme Court, a Parliamentary majority will support it. However, Alberta's provincial Government has already vowed to intervene to argue against the bill before the high court, while the Opposition Alliance Party is strategizing to bring the measure to the floor of the Commons before the court has responded. Meanwhile, Cauchon has noted that the provinces don't have to wait for the federal law to formally redefine marriage, and invited them to go ahead with issuing marriage licenses and registering marriages for gay and lesbian couples, as Ontario and British Columbia have already done. Equal marriage rights dominated the discussion among 7 of the 9 Democrats vying to be nominated for the U.S. Presidency at a first-of-its-kind forum organized by the national gay and lesbian political group Human Rights Campaign. HRC will invite President George W. Bush and any candidate who might challenge him for the Republican Party's 2004 nomination to a later forum, but that simple announcement drew laughs from the audience of 500, who doubted there'd be any takers. For Democrats, though, gays and lesbians are a strong and solid constituency credited by many with having given Bill Clinton the edge in his first Presidential election, and the current crop of Presidential hopefuls are united in support of gay and lesbian equality as never before, up to and including military service. On that score there's little to choose among them except for the "m" word. Only three are ready to support equal marriage rights: Al Sharpton unequivocally; Ohio Congressmember Dennis Kucinich; and Illinois Congressmember Carol Moseley Braun, although even she would rather the states decide the question, as they do other qualifications for marriage. However, none of them is considered a front-runner. The other four did support legal status for same-gender couples to varying degrees. Three -- Senator from Massachussetts John Kerry, Congressmember from Missouri Richard Gephardt, and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean -- all said they'd support civil unions for gays and lesbians with the full range of legal and economic benefits of marriage. Moderator Sam Donaldson of ABC News did not let them off easy as to why they were willing to support gay and lesbian marriage in everything but name; they cited tradition, culture, religion, and in Gephardt's case, what might be politically achievable. Dean, of course, actually signed Vermont's pioneering civil unions into law. The final participant, Senator from Connecticut Joseph Lieberman, wouldn't support marriage and wouldn't go as far as the others even towards equal status; he called for a "methodical review" of what civil unions might be able to offer and said he didn't want to make a "snap judgment". The absent hopefuls were Senator from Florida Bob Graham and Senator from North Carolina John Edwards, who sent regrets citing previous commitments. And finally... in the age of AIDS, we've grown used to seeing a lot of giant condoms, but one erected last week in formerly sex-shy China just might take the beefcake. The Guilin Latex Company inflated its yellow PVC love glove in Guilin in Guangxi province for World Population Day, promoting the message, "Control population growth, pay attention to sexual health, prevent AIDS". Size queens, picture this: 100 meters in circumference and 80 feet high... that's 330 feet around and 260 feet tall... enough to sheath one of the tourist city's major hotels with 20 stories.