NewsWrap for the week ending July 26, 2003 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #800, distributed 7-28-03) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Fenceberry, Rex Wockner, Graham Underhill, and Greg Gordon] Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Jon Beaupré The European Court of Human Rights this week strongly affirmed equal legal standing of same-gender couples for the 45 countries which are signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights -- including 33 which currently do not recognize them. The 7 judges ruled unanimously that it was illegal discrimination to evict an Austrian gay man from the Vienna apartment he'd shared with his partner after the latter died. That reversed the Austrian Supreme Court's 1996 finding that the nation's tenancy protections for so-called "life companions" applied only to heterosexual couples. Indeed the European court declared that, "differences [in treatment] based on sexual orientation require particularly serious reasons by way of justification." International Lesbian and Gay Association-Europe spokesperson Kurt Krickler said in a statement that, "[T]he case has even wider implications: The Austrian government argued that this discrimination was necessary to protect 'the family'. In rejecting this comprehensively, the Court has demolished the main argument used around the world by the religious right for continued discrimination against same-sex partners." Plaintiff Siegmund Karner is not a part of the celebration; he died almost 2 years ago, but the court felt the issue was so important that the case should go ahead. The European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights, along with the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is the basis for a sweeping human rights bill for Taiwan, which an advisory panel finished drafting for the Government this week. One article includes "sexual orientation" among 14 grounds for which "The freedom and rights everyone is entitled to should not differ". Another declares that, "People have the rights to marry and form families according to their free will; families formed by same-sex couples are allowed to adopt children according to relevant regulations." However, activists are somewhat skeptical as to the bill's ultimate enactment, since it's been in development for more than a year and has yet to be approved by the Cabinet. At least one lawmaker from an opposition party has already expressed concern at the prospect of equal adoption rights for gays and lesbians, saying it requires extensive discussion. A move to create constitutional protections from discrimination, including that based on sexual orientation, stalled this week in Guyana, in the face of intense anti-gay opposition from an array of religious groups. The Guyana Human Rights Association, which supports civil rights protections for gays and lesbians, had called for delaying even the Parliamentary debate on the issue because of the high pitch of emotions. The Parliament did debate the bill for four hours this week, while Christian opponents demonstrated outside. But no vote was taken, as lawmakers instead sent the bill back to a committee. Guyana's National Assembly actually unanimously approved the same measure 2 years ago as part of a larger bill, but most lawmakers on both sides of the aisle now oppose it. They say they hadn't noticed the sexual orientation provision in the earlier proposal, which was ultimately vetoed by President Bharrat Jagdeo, who cited religious opposition. Jagdeo announced this week that his administration and most of his ruling party will not support the current version. Christian, Hindu, Muslim, and Bahai groups have all denounced the bill, fearing it would lead to same-gender marriages and gay and lesbian adoptions. The Roman Catholic Church is the only religious group in Guyana to support the anti-discrimination bill, under the vocal leadership of Bishop Benedict Singh. University students have also been lobbying for the measure. Government employment of gays and lesbians in Singapore -- where a sodomy law remains on the books but is not strictly enforced -- has also drawn religious protest. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong told "Time" magazine that his government now allows gays and lesbians to serve even in sensitive positions, in a policy change implemented without previous announcement to local media in order to avoid conservative backlash. "Time" quoted him in early July saying, "So let it evolve, and in time the population will understand that some people are born that way. We are born this way and they are born that way, but they are like you and me." While not going so far as to enforce an anti-discrimination policy, Goh believes that gays and lesbians have to be open about their sexual orientation in order to avoid extortion. Gays and lesbians and their allies welcomed the announcement, and hope that it might support previously-denied official registration for their organizations. But the head of Singapore's national association of trade unions was quick to say that their employment rights were not a union concern, and to warn that they would face severe backlash if they pushed for further civil rights advancement. Despite Egypt's influential anti-gay Muslim movement, an appeals court in Cairo this week overturned the debauchery convictions of 11 gay men arrested based on wiretapped telephone conversations. Presiding appellate Judge Mo'azer El-Marsafy said from the bench, "We are so disgusted with you, we can't even look at you. What you did is a major sin, but unfortunately the case has procedural errors and the court had to acquit all of you." The men had faced from 1 to 3 years' imprisonment for their April convictions, which drew international protest. A total of 16 men were arrested in the same February sting operation, including 2 who were acquitted in the trial court and 3 who went into hiding and were tried in absentia. According to the international group Human Rights Watch, prison guards beat the men repeatedly. HRW was joined by Amnesty International and ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, in welcoming the appellate decision while noting that it falls far short of affirming individual rights, and warning that Egypt's persecution of gay men continues. The best-known incident in the campaign, the May 2001 raid on a gay-friendly Nile riverboat club that led to 52 arrests, also led to some appeals decided last month. After an initial trial in a security court and a March retrial for 50 in a civilian court ordered by President Hosni Mubarak, 29 men were acquitted and 21 sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment. Last month the appeals court freed 4 of those men by reducing their sentences to the time they'd already served. A dozen others who'd appealed failed to appear in court but could try again; they're believed to be in hiding. Meanwhile, there've been a number of recent civil rights advances in the U.S. This week, the California state Senate voted by a 2-to-1 margin to add "gender identity or expression" as a category protected from discrimination under the state's Fair Employment and Housing Act. The California Assembly had already approved the measure, and its now up to embattled Democratic Governor Gray Davis to make his the 4th U.S. state to protect transgenders. A bill to further expand the legal standing of the state's registered domestic partners also awaits his signature, while Davis is facing a recall vote in October. Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano in late June issued an executive order prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination in state employment. Her order applies only to agencies in her executive branch of the state government. Some Republican lawmakers are reportedly considering a legal challenge to the order, since the Arizona legislature failed to pass a much broader gay and lesbian civil rights bill as recently as 2001. Nevada is notorious for having the United States' most powerful measure against legal recognition of same-gender couples, an amendment to the state constitution that was adopted by two landslide referenda. Yet state legislators quietly passed a law that went into effect at the end of June, extending hospital visitation to anyone an individual designates, including a same-gender partner. Partners also won new recognition in June from General Electric Company, #5 of the Fortune 500, as its new union contracts extend health care benefits to gay and lesbian employees' same-gender domestic partners. One of GE's major holdings is the NBC television network, which will now follow all the other major U.S. networks in extending those benefits. And also in the business sector, the directors of the largest private employer in the U.S. -- discount retail chain Wal-Mart Stores, with more than a million workers worldwide -- in early July explicitly added sexual orientation as a category protected under its non-discrimination policy. That leaves oil giant ExxonMobil as the only member of the Fortune top ten which has failed to adopt such a policy, a move shareholders once again rejected at the end of May. And finally... Hollywood this week mourned the passing of British-born openly gay director John Schlesinger, who broke new ground with gay themes in major mainstream films. He died at age 77 of a stroke. He won 3 Oscars for the pioneering "Midnight Cowboy," a portrayal of a male sex worker and his meaningful relationship with a grifter, that in 1969 became the only X-rated film ever to win the Best Picture Oscar, although it was later reclassified R. He was nominated for another Oscar for his 1971 film "Sunday Bloody Sunday," which depicted a dramatic triangle in which a man and a woman both loved the same young man. His last feature was "The Next Best Thing," something of a flop in 2000, in which Madonna played an unmarried mother who co-parents with her gay best friend, played by gay actor Rupert Everett. Schlesinger's 40-year career featured numerous other films as an actor and director in the U.S., Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. Queen Elizabeth made him a Commander of the British Empire. He's survived by his partner of 30 years, Michael Childers. Schlesinger once said, "I'm only interested in one thing -- that is tolerance. I'm terribly concerned about people and the limitation of freedom. It's important to get people to care a little for someone else. That's why I'm more interested in the failures of this world than the successes."