NewsWrap for the week ending October 11, 2003 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #811, distributed 10-13-03) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Fenceberry, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon] Anchored by Christopher Gaal and Cindy Friedman A panel of the Supreme Court of Canada this week unanimously denied religious conservative groups the chance to challenge the June decision by Ontario's top provincial court that opened legal marriage to gay and lesbian couples. The conservative groups -- the Association for Marriage and the Family in Ontario and the Interfaith Coalition on Marriage and Family -- argued that the marriage issue is too profound to be determined by lower courts, or even by a Parliament that's almost equally divided. The Canadian Government had chosen not to appeal the Ontario finding that denying marriage to same-gender couples violates the national Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Government also opposed the conservatives' move to appeal, as did the victorious plaintiffs in Ontario -- 7 same-gender couples and Toronto's gay-affirming Metropolitan Community Church. The 5-judge panel of Canada's highest court did not justify its rejection of the conservatives' bid, which is typical for such decisions. But during oral arguments, it was clear the justices were holding to the principle that only the parties involved in a case have standing to appeal its outcome. That means that both the Ontario court's order that the province immediately register gay and lesbian marriages, and a similar ruling by British Columbia's top provincial court, will stand unchallenged. In April the Supreme Court of Canada will review the national Government's draft bill to change the federal definition of marriage from "one man and one woman" to "two persons". But U.S. President George W. Bush has officially declared October 12 through 18 to be "Marriage Protection Week" with a proclamation that begins, "Marriage is a sacred institution," and goes on to say, "Marriage is a union between a man and a woman." Much of the text refers to child-rearing, including the claim that, "Research has shown that, on average, children raised in households headed by married parents fare better than children who grow up in other family structures." But what's alarming gay and lesbian activists even more than the proclamation's text is the origin of Marriage Protection Week. It's a campaign by two dozen religious right groups that make up a veritable Who's Who of U.S. anti-gay lobbyists. As announced by those groups at a press conference last week, Marriage Protection Week is the kickoff of a year-long campaign to make prohibiting legal recognition of same-gender couples a top issue for the 2004 elections. That's expected to get out the right-wing vote in stronger numbers than in 2000. Along with a media blitz and church-based actions, the Family Research Council will be demanding that political candidates pledge their commitment to the goal of "The uniting of persons of the same or opposite sex in a civil union, domestic partnership or other similar relationship shall not be valid or recognized with any legal benefits or privileges in the United States." Most national gay and lesbian advocacy groups issued statements exemplified by Human Rights Campaign head Elizabeth Birch's: "It is reprehensible for a president who claims to be compassionate to pander to a coalition of extremist groups by joining their assault on gay families." GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, "called on media to scrutinize President Bush's endorsement of anti-gay organizations' so-called 'Marriage Protection Week' and examine the hateful intolerance of the groups with which the president has now formally aligned his administration." U.S. opponents of gay and lesbian marriage can rest a little easier at least in Arizona, where the state Court of Appeals this week declared that neither the state constitution nor the U.S. Constitution includes a "right to marry someone of the same gender." In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's "Lawrence" decision that decriminalized private homosexual acts between consenting adults, a gay male couple in Phoenix sought a marriage license and filed a lawsuit when they were denied it. Like most other U.S. states, Arizona has a law explicitly excluding same-gender couples from marriage. In what's believed to be the first court ruling on gay and lesbian marriage rights since "Lawrence," the Arizona triumvirate declared that, while a gay or lesbian has a right to "define his or her own existence, and achieve the type of individual fulfillment that is a hallmark of a free society," the U.S. high court did not intend to ratify a right "to enter a state-sanctioned, same-sex marriage." The Arizona appellate decision upheld the state's exclusive marriage law as a valid public policy meant to encourage child bearing. A further appeal to the state Supreme Court is expected. U.S. Anglicans, the Episcopalians, continue their own struggle with recognizing gay and lesbian couples, particularly the election of openly partnered gay Gene Robinson to serve as Bishop of New Hampshire. Conservatives who opposed Robinson's elevation and the Episcopalian national assembly's opening the door to church blessings for same-gender couples gathered in Dallas, Texas this week to plan their response. The 2,700 delegates included representatives from every state. They developed a petition to be presented to next week's emergency summit of the global Anglican Communion's primates. It calls for disciplinary action against gay-friendly Episcopal bishops, appointment of conservative bishops to replace liberal ones in leading traditionalist congregations, and a "realignment of Anglicanism in North America." The Episcopal Church's gay-supportive Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold acknowledged the conservatives' "grief and anger" but said their "inflammatory rhetoric" and "ultimatums" would make it hard to create any mutual agreement. As if the dissension among Anglicans weren't headache enough for Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, he also had to hear criticism from Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II. Williams was making his first visit to the Vatican since ascending to the leadership of the global Anglican Communion. The two faiths are in the midst of a long-term plan for increased cooperation, but the pontiff warned that Anglican acceptance of gay clergy would pose "new and serious difficulties ... on the path to unity." The Pope continued, "These difficulties are not all of a merely disciplinary nature. Some extend to essential matters of faith and morals." Back at Williams' home base in London, the gay and lesbian direct action group OutRage! picketed the consecration of two new Anglican bishops at Westminster Abbey. There would have been a third bishop consecrated -- openly celibate gay Jeffrey John -- had he not withdrawn from his appointment in the face of evangelical opposition. The demonstrators chanted "Shame! Shame!" while brandishing posters including one reading, "Williams is a coward." Also as the Church of England's bishops met this week, they spent one of their two days together in a closed session designed expressly to "heal" the breach that formed between the staunch opponents and the staunch supporters of John's elevation. But nothing can top the Russian Orthodox Church response to its first ever gay wedding rite last month. Meeting this week, the church's Holy Synod determined to defrock the priest who officiated -- Father Vladimir Enert. They also barred from performing services the "accomplice in blasphemy" who unwittingly provided a reporter with the key to the chapel, Father Mikhail Kabanov. On top of that, the chapel where the wedding was held has been demolished. The Nizhny Novgorod diocese denies that the razing was a reaction to the wedding, claiming it was long-planned preparation for building new church on the site... in 2005. Also in Russia this month, lesbian couple Natalya and Ulyana -- their last names withheld -- applied for and were denied a marriage license in Vologda. Returning to the Vatican, a leader of the Roman Catholic offensive against gay and lesbian marriage, Pontifical Council for the Family head Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, has declared to the BBC that condoms are not effective in preventing transmission of HIV. This public appearance brought to light that Catholic workers in Africa and on 3 other continents have been spreading the same message: that the virus -- and even the much larger spermatozoa -- are small enough to easily pass through a condom. The World Health Organization leaped to the defense of condoms, claiming that as long as they are intact, fresh enough and used properly, they do indeed stop HIV and other sexually transmitted disease pathogens. Cardinal Trujillo simply rejected scientific data that was presented to him on the BBC, relying instead on the physicians he said advised the Vatican. The Roman Catholic Church has always opposed condoms as a method of birth control, and maintains that they encourage promiscuity. But now the Church seems to actually be blaming condoms for the spread of AIDS. Trujillo called on health ministries to treat condoms "in the same way as they do with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger." And finally... it was a big gay week on British television. Open lesbian singer Alex Parks took the lions' share of 4-1/2-million viewer votes to win the "Fame Academy" contest, a recording contract and a slew of luxurious prizes. Andrew Kinlochan, who joined other losing finalists in the "Popstars" TV music contest to form the boy band Phixx, publicly identified himself as a gay man in an interview with "Attitude" magazine -- and perhaps gave a boost to the group's first album hitting stores later this month. But of course the big news was the first-ever gay male kiss in the 43 years of the soap opera "Coronation Street," the beginning of what producers promise will be an on-going story line for young "Todd Grimshaw" and not just a one-shot ratings grab. Almost 14 million people watched the much-ballyhooed smooch, giving ITV's Channel 1 a whopping 54.7% audience share. Even though the osculation aired before the 9 PM "watershed" for adult content, it drew only 16 complaints. A "Coronation Street" spokesperson said the show receives lots more complaints than that when a character swears.