NewsWrap
for the week ending October 18, 2003
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #812, distributed 10-20-03)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Fenceberry, 
Caitlin Perry, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon]


Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Christopher Gaal


  California this week became the first of the United States to enact a 
requirement that its contractors extend the same benefits to the domestic partners 
of their unmarried employees as to their married employees' spouses.  Outgoing 
Democratic Governor Gray Davis, who in a special election last week became 
only the second U.S. governor ever to be recalled, signed the bill, although it 
would also have become law the same day had he simply not acted on it.
The new law, a statewide version of San Francisco's pioneering 1996 Equal 
Benefits Ordinance, was written by openly lesbian Democratic Assemblymember from 
San Diego Christine Kehoe, currently also the acting Assembly Speaker.  It 
will not take effect until 2007 to allow contractors time to comply.  It applies 
only to contracts worth at least $100,000.  It was opposed in large part on 
religious grounds by groups including the Mormon Church and Roman Catholic 
hospitals, and passed the legislature only by narrow margins.
How future gay and lesbian equality legislation will fare under Republican 
Governor-Elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, a self-identified social moderate, is 
still unclear. 


  This week was "Marriage Protection Week" in the U.S., as officially 
proclaimed by Republican President George W. Bush.  An analysis by the National Gay 
and Lesbian Task Force found that all the Week's official activities and both 
its suggested sermons were exclusively directed towards preventing legal 
recognition of same-gender couples -- particularly the proposed amendment to the 
U.S. Constitution to restrict marriage to one man and one woman.
Examining the Web sites of nine of the week's 29 sponsoring groups, the NGLTF 
also found many more references to "homosexual" than to such issues as 
"divorce," "poverty" or "domestic violence".
Naturally NGLTF took particular issue with sponsors' declaration of the 
wealth and power of the lesbigay lobby.  They say that just 13 of the 29 sponsors 
-- not necessarily the wealthiest, just those with accessible financial 
information -- have a total income more than 4 times that of the 13 best-funded 
national lesbian and gay advocacy groups.


  However, Marriage Protection Week did not actually prove highly visible 
outside of Christian media and participating churches.  Coming as it did in the 
week including National Coming Out Day and related observances, there were 
ready-made opportunities for counter-demonstrations supporting equal marriage 
rights, particularly on university campuses.  Several of those featured wedding 
ceremonies. 


  The largest U.S. gay and lesbian advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign, 
ran a full-page ad in the "New York Times" denouncing both Marriage 
Protection Week and the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, and urging fairness.


  The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund staged an online forum entitled 
"Queer Eye for the Straight Couple," taking off from the similarly named TV 
makeover show to have heterosexual couples receive relationship advice from 
gays and lesbians.


  In Massachusetts and Connecticut, where civil unions are under active 
consideration, perhaps a dozen assorted clergy declared they would not marry 
heterosexual couples until they could marry gay and lesbian couples.  The group 
included a Jewish rabbi, a Presbyterian minister, and ministers from the United 
Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Church.
Unitarians in Connecticut also joined activists from Yale University in 
staging a demonstration in New Haven supporting equal marriage rights.


  The threat of schism in the global Anglican Communion over a Canadian 
diocese blessing same-gender relationships and the U.S. election of an openly 
partnered gay man to a bishopric, was hardly altered by a special meeting of the 
church's primates in London this week.  Division is so deep that it's widely 
viewed as an achievement that all the parties stayed in the room for the two-day 
session, much less that they went on to produce a unanimous statement.  
Anglican "first among equals," Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, is hopeful 
that the agreement has bought a year or so of "thinking time," staving off 
hasty actions in what he acknowledges is a crisis period for the church.  He told 
the BBC this week...
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams: "Undoubtedly there is a huge crisis 
looming. I think that what we have achieved this week though is at least to 
find some way of talking through the crisis without instantly jumping into of 
what appear to be quick solutions... When and if the ordination of Gene Robinson 
goes ahead in the United States we shall immediately have some responses 
around the world I'm sure but what we've done is to give ourselves a sort of 
twelve month plus thinking time inviting Provinces to reflect on their reactions..."
Because the denomination is much more a coalition than a hierarchy, the 
primates are relatively powerless.  The most tangible impact of the agreement is 
the classic delaying measure of creating a committee, in this case charged with 
exploring how spiritual needs can be met despite the division.  That means 
particularly the needs of conservatives in liberal dioceses, as the primates 
called on the U.S. Episcopal dioceses to provide alternative leadership for those 
who object to gay or lesbian priests.


  Where the primates do have some power is in asserting the teachings of the 
Anglican Church, and they explicitly declared that the Vancouver-area New 
Westminster Diocese and the U.S. Episcopal Church have not "alter[ed] unilaterally 
the teaching of the Anglican Communion on [homosexuality]."  They reaffirmed 
the "moral force" of the resolutions of the 1998 decennial Lambeth Conference 
of the world's Anglican bishops, which by large margins found homosexual acts 
incompatible with Scripture, rejected ordination of non-celibate gays and 
lesbians, and rejected blessings for same-gender couples.  The statement did 
underscore the one gay-friendly resolution of that conference, which called on 
Anglicans "to listen to the experience of homosexual persons, and to assure them 
that they are loved by God and ... are full members of the Body of Christ."
But that may not actually be happening, since reportedly some of the most 
vehemently anti-gay African primates have never knowingly met a gay man or 
lesbian.


  The primates stated that, "As a body we deeply regret the actions of the 
Diocese of New Westminster and the Episcopal Church (USA)..."  While affirming 
the autonomy of the church's regional provinces, they wrote that, 
"Nevertheless, many primates have pointed to the grave difficulties" raised by the election 
of gay Gene Robinson to Bishop of New Hampshire, and noted that, "In most of 
our provinces [his] election... would not have been possible."  They went on 
to say, "If his consecration proceeds ... we have had to conclude that the 
future of the communion itself will be put in jeopardy.  In this case, the 
ministry of this one bishop will not be recognized by most of the Anglican world, and 
many provinces are likely to consider themselves out of communion with the 
Episcopal Church (USA).  This will tear the fabric of our Communion at its 
deepest level...  Similar considerations apply to the situation pertaining in the 
Diocese of New Westminster," regarding blessings for same-gender couples.


  Robinson's consecration as bishop is scheduled for November 2nd, and he has 
no intention of backing out.  Gay-supportive U.S. primate Frank Griswold 
affirmed his respect both for the Episcopal Church's process in choosing Robinson 
and for the primates' document, without explaining the contradiction or 
indicating what action he will take.  Currently he's scheduled to attend the 
consecration.  The New Hampshire diocese reaffirmed its support for Robinson.
Again, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in that BBC interview:
"It leaves the Church with a number of very untidy relationships let's say 
where there may be a number of provinces who will declare outright that they're 
not in Communion in the long run, though we would hope to find ways of living 
with that.  Others who would want to continue in an impaired state of 
relationship.  Of course, what complicates matters where the Anglican Church is 
concerned is that we're not a single monolithic body with a single decision-making 
authority.  Our Communion depends a great deal on relationships rather than 
rules and it's those relationships that are strained at the moment and will be 
even more so."
Canada's gay-supportive primate Michael Peers told reporters of the primates, 
"We agreed to disagree.  We are still in communion but there are dark, dark 
clouds on the horizon."


  The horizon looks brighter, though, for gays and lesbians in Australia's 
Northern Territory.  This week a bill was introduced in the territorial 
Parliament that includes a range of reforms towards equality.  Reforms would include 
lowering the age of consent for homosexual acts from 18 to 16, the age of 
consent for heterosexual acts; strengthening the territorial law against 
discrimination by removing some of its discriminatory exemptions; and establishing 
recognition of same-gender couples.  Darwin Community Legal Service played a 
significant role in developing the reform package, as was acknowledged before the 
Parliament.


  The Government of Malta last week created new protections from job 
discrimination based on sexual orientation, with publication of a legal notice 
instructing the Industrial Tribunal to follow European Union directives.  Malta will 
become an EU member next year, but the European Commission had expressed 
concern that national laws did not adequately protect gays and lesbians.  The group 
Malta Gay Rights Movement called the decree a good first step, but notes that 
it could be withdrawn as easily as it was issued, and that it does not 
adequately respond to harassment issues.


  And finally... in Britain, a new special edition of Monopoly is being 
hailed as the first family board game to include a gay and lesbian organization.  
The gameboard's representation of Brighton & Hove includes a square for 
Brighton Pride, at the usual kickoff point for the festival's parade.  Surprisingly 
strong advance sales have already spurred the manufacturer to increase their 
initial production even before it's hit the stores.