NewsWrap for the week ending August 16, 2003 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #803, distributed 8-18-03) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Fenceberry, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon] Anchored by Dean Elzinga and Cindy Friedman Despite international protest, openly gay dissident journalist Ruslan Sharipov was sentenced this week by a court in Uzbekistan to 5-1/2 years in prison for sodomy, homosexual acts with underage teens and running a brothel. Journalists and human rights activists are convinced the Uzbek government is using the sodomy law to punish Sharipov for his critical writings, as it attempted to do with failed drug charges against him last year. Of the 15 former Soviet states, only Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan retain the Stalin-era law criminalizing homosexual acts between consenting adult males in private -- a law which violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Uzbekistan's sodomy law provides for up to 3 years imprisonment. Reportedly it's rarely prosecuted, but commonly used by police as a threat to extort money from gays. Sharipov pleaded guilty this week after dismissing his attorneys, a remarkable turnaround after widely proclaiming his innocence, including in an open letter directed to U.S. President George W. Bush. He said he had to plead guilty for his safety and that of his mother, and human rights activists believe his confession was coerced. They had reported earlier that he'd been tortured and threatened by his jailers since his arrest in late May. A United Nations investigator had previously found torture to be systemic in Uzbek jails and prisons. Sharipov's detention also denied him needed medical treatment, but the court refused to arrange his release on bail. Sharipov's trial is widely viewed as far from fair and impartial. Despite his objections, it was closed to observers and presided over by a judge Sharipov had previously publicly criticized. Not all witnesses were heard, and the alleged underage victims gave contradictory testimony, while a key witness actually supported Sharipov's innocence. Forensic evidence did not support his guilt. Groups objecting to Sharipov's treatment include the New York-based Human Rights Watch, London-based Amnesty International, and Paris-based Reporters Without Borders. The San Francisco-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission called for his immediate release. Beijing police this week announced their arrest of a suspect in the murders of seven gay men. The as-yet-unnamed suspect reportedly confessed to those murders plus that of a school classmate who may have been his ex-lover a decade before when both were in their teens. The more recent victims he's said to have contacted on the Internet and invited to his apartment. There's been a guilty plea in one of Canada's most notorious bashing murders, the beating death of gay Aaron Webster in Vancouver's Stanley Park two years ago that sparked a new awareness and activism on anti-gay violence in the area. The convict was 17 at the time and so was tried in youth court and his name is barred from publication. In exchange for his guilty plea to manslaughter in youth court, prosecutors dropped their effort to have him tried as an adult. That means that when he's sentenced in October, he'll face no more than 3 years in prison, which in adult court could have been as much as 25 years. Gay-bashers were also arrested in Sweden earlier this month for an assault on the pride march in Stockholm. There may have been 5,000 marchers celebrating pride, but some 30 skinheads attacked the parade with fists and bottles. One marcher was hospitalized for a serious but not life-threatening head injury. The attackers were believed to be associated with a nearby counter-demonstration by about 200 people protesting the pride march in an action organized by the right-wing National Democrats. That group's leaders claimed that the pride marchers had attacked them first, but police saw it differently. They immediately arrested two men for attacking the pride parade and may have arrested as many as 15. A violent incident also marred this week's pride celebration in Brighton, England, as two men punched both members of a lesbian couple on a busy street outside a nightclub a few hours before the parade began. Sussex police believe it was a hate crime but are still seeking witnesses to help them find the perpetrators. Otherwise Pride in Brighton was a great success, with no arrests, injuries or other problems except for extreme crowding on the trains into town. Billed as "The Greatest Show on Earth," the parade ceremonially opened by Brighton Mayor Jeane Lepper was three times the size of 2002's and the free festival in the park drew 90,000 people, up one-third from last year. Along with games including a handbag-tossing competition, the festival featured its first recruiting effort by the Sussex Police, with the help of the Gay Police Association. Among numerous officials sending good wishes to the event were Prime Minister Tony Blair, Liberal Democratic Party Leader Charles Kennedy and Conservative Party Leader Iaian Duncan Smith. Arrests were apparently made on both sides of an altercation in Copenhagen's Israel Square this week. At issue was Danish gay Carsten Damsgaard's appointment to serve as ambassador to Israel. The Israeli government approved his selection in May, and the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen still maintains that Damsgaard's gay orientation is no problem for them and that he and his partner will be welcomed in their homeland. But Denmark's own religious right objects, and Christian fundamentalists and Israeli resident Jony Noer's group Pilgrims Convoy staged a protest demonstration, praying for Damsgaard's removal from the embassy. Some other Danes found the homophobic message so offensive that they intervened, trying to drown out the demonstrators. Police intervened in the ensuing altercation. In a gentler action, some 3,000 people rallied at a shopping mall in Sao Paulo, Brazil early this month following a security guard's intervention when a male couple kissed there in July. More than 100 and possibly as many as 1,000 of the demonstrators went on to join a gay and lesbian kiss-in at the Frei Caneca mall's food court. The rally was organized by the pride group Corsa, whose president Lula Ramires told reporters, "This was less an act of protest and more of a demonstration of affection in public." The mall's manager said the security guard had acted properly because of how intimate the original kiss had been, while saying gay and lesbian shoppers were welcome. In fact the mall took full advantage of the publicity offered by the demonstration, decorating the walls inside and out with giant red lips, lighting the food court in colors disco-style, and setting up a DJ who played songs about kissing. That paid off as 35,000 people visited that day compared to an average of 25,000. For those whose relationships extend beyond one kiss, the South Sydney City Council this week approved by 7-to-2 the creation of Australia's first official domestic partners registry. Modeled on London's -- where the 500th couple was recently registered -- the South Sydney registry will be open to unmarried couples regardless of gender. While South Sydney registry per se carries no legal rights or responsibilities, it can serve as evidence of a relationship. Activists are calling on other local governments to follow suit, as has happened in other nations. In the U.S., San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this week to extend its extensive recognition of domestic partners to those who have registered or contracted a civil union in any other jurisdiction. Another vote and the mayor's signature are needed to make it final, but those should be no problem. New York City had previously adopted a similar measure. The state of California saw two other significant advances for gay and lesbian partners last week. The state Board of Equalization -- the panel that reviews tax laws -- voted 3-to-2 to extend to domestic partners registered with the state the same status as married couples for inheriting property. Previously a home-owning partner's death had meant a reassessment of the property, leading to an extra tax burden that often forced the survivor out of the home. However, the move to extend the marital exemption from reassessment to registered partners could still face a hurdle at the state Office of Administrative Law, since some believe it would violate the voter-passed state constitutional amendment restricting California's recognition of marriage to "one man and one woman". The California state Supreme Court struck down by 6-to-1 an appeals court's rejection of a lesbian co-parent's status. While the San Diego case before the court had some unusual features, the appellate ruling was viewed as a threat to about 10,000 existing second-parent adoptions by California gay and lesbian partners. Those are adoptions by which a co-parent gains legal status while the birth parent still retains legal status. The state high court's affirmation of those adoptions was welcomed by activists as further strengthening their legal validity. There've been similar affirmations by appellate courts in 7 other states and Washington, DC, with another 17 states granting second-parent adoptions to same-gender couples in trial court or by explicit legislation. And finally... in the face of right-wing proclamations that homosexuality is against nature, it's refreshing to hear a sharply dissenting view. Zoologist Clive Bromhall has been pumping his new book "The Eternal Child" at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Starting from the commonly held recognition that humans remain more physically immature longer than other primates, he extrapolates into the social realm by labeling as "infantilism" the human continuation into adulthood of child-like traits including a relatively "mild-mannered" temperament, cuddliness, and especially playfulness and creativity. This infantilism he sees as a product of evolution that sets humans apart from other primates. He told reporters, "We've known for years that homosexuality is linked to a playful, creative character. Homosexuals excel as artists, thespians and other playful, mimetic professions. Being playful is at the heart of being human. It's something that should be celebrated. You could say that homosexuals are at the pinnacle of human evolution."