NewsWrap for the week ending January 24, 2004 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #826, distributed 1-26-04) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Fenceberry, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon] Anchored this week by Rick Watts and Cindy Friedman As U.S. President George W. Bush delivered his State of the Union address this week, blocking legal same-gender marriage topped his domestic agenda. While he avoided the use of any word referring to homosexuality, he clearly gave his strongest endorsement yet to amending the U.S. Constitution to reserve marriage exclusively for one man and one woman. The annual State of the Union speech to both houses of the Congress and the American people presents the chief executive's legislative proposals, but in this Presidential election year it also keynotes the campaigning of the ruling Republican party... U.S. President George W. Bush: "A strong America must also value the institution of marriage. I believe we should respect individuals as we take a principled stand for one of the most fundamental, enduring institutions of our civilization. Congress has already taken a stand on this issue by passing the Defense of Marriage Act, signed in 1996 by President Clinton. That statute protects marriage under federal law as the union of a man and a woman, and declares that one state may not redefine marriage for other states. Activist judges, however, have begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will of the people and their elected representatives. On an issue of such great consequence, the people's voice must be heard. If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage. [extended applause] The outcome of this debate is important, and so is the way we conduct it. The same moral tradition that defines marriage also teaches that each individual has dignity and value in God's sight." In addition, the President called for doubling funding for schools to teach abstinence from sex as what he called "the only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases." He also asked lawmakers to codify his executive order opening federal funding for social services to religious charities, so that in his words "people of faith can know that the law will never discriminate against them again." Religious right groups welcomed the President's apparent support for a Constitutional prohibition of same-gender marriage, although some wanted an even stronger statement from him. Groups supporting gay and lesbian equality were outraged. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman said, "We are appalled by the President's direct attack on ... an independent judiciary" and "disgusted by [his] sanctimonious hypocrisy" in "pandering" to "the extreme religious and political right" in "saying that ... lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender Americans are not entitled to equal rights." The gay and lesbian Log Cabin Republicans warned the President that "engaging in a culture war is a recipe for defeat" because "Americans are threatened by terrorism and job uncertainty -- not gay and lesbian families." But while saying they "will not stand by while anyone attempts to write discrimination into the Constitution," the group also corrected a "New York Times" report by noting they had yet to decide whether or not to endorse Bush's re-election. Human Rights Campaign Executive Director Cheryl Jacques emphasized that gay and lesbian couples are raising over a million children in the U.S. who "deserve the rights and protections of marriage." She said, "In more than 200 years of American history the Constitution has never been amended to deny basic rights and responsibilities. It is always wrong to use the Constitution to discriminate against any American." And while U.S. polls have found increased opposition to legal recognition of same-gender couples since the Supreme Court struck down state sodomy laws in June, there is no groundswell of public support for a Constitutional amendment. An ABC poll of more than 1,000 adults during the week preceding the President's speech found almost 60% preferred leaving marriage laws up to the states as the Constitution now prescribes while less than 40% wanted a federal amendment. That preference was found in every region of the country and was even held by a slight majority of Republican respondents. The same poll found 55% opposition to equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians and a slight majority opposed to civil unions. Virginia lawmakers are definitely on the same track as the President. The state House of Delegates acted quickly to vote this week by more than 80% for a resolution in support of a federal marriage amendment. There was also a bill designed to impeach for malfeasance any judge who ruled in support of same-gender marriages, but a House committee overwhelmingly voted it down. And Virginia is just one of a number of states across the U.S. where Republican lawmakers are introducing bills to bar same-gender marriages under state constitutions, as legislatures reconvene. State constitutional amendments have already been introduced in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Wisconsin; more are expected in at least Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, and Michigan. The proposed amendment in Arizona won't be showing up on the November ballot, as a Republican Senate committee chair has already shelved it. Thirty-seven states have already formally restricted legally recognized marriage to heterosexual couples in a tide of so-called Defense of Marriage laws that began in the early 1990s with a lawsuit in Hawai'i's Supreme Court. Ohio had been a holdout against similar bills proposed over the last 7 years. This week, though, the Ohio state Senate followed the House in adopting a strong measure Governor Bob Taft has said he'll sign. It describes gay and lesbian marriages as "against the strong public policy of the state" and prohibits "recognition or extension of the specific statutory benefits of a legal marriage to nonmarital relationships between persons of the same sex or different sexes." It explicitly bars unmarried state employees from gaining spousal benefits for their domestic partners, regardless of gender, and would also block local governments and private companies from extending any benefits that state law specifically restricts to married couples. Activists fear the bill is so broad as to call into question same-gender couples' out-of-state adoptions. There are also courtroom problems for same-gender couples in nations where their legal status is more established. Germany created strong registered partnerships for gays and lesbians in 2001, but a first court test has found them unequal to marriage. The tax status of German partnerships is rather complex. One gay couple sued for the option of so-called "income splitting," which allows marital partners with very different incomes to combine them for an overall tax saving. But a state court said that partnerships were not legally equal to marriage and ruled that the couple could not use the tax method, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported. There was disappointment for hundreds of gay and lesbian widows and widowers in Canada as the national Government this week announced it is appealing a recent court ruling extending federal pension benefits. A bill passed in 2000 had opened the Canada Pension Plan to surviving members of same-gender couples but only if the partner had died after 1997. Last month an Ontario trial court found for plaintiff survivors who believed the benefits should extend back to 1985, when equality was guaranteed by the national Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Justice Minister Irwin Cotler says the ruling conflicts with an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that had been the Government's basis for choosing the original cut-off date, and that guidance is needed for future moves concerning retroactive benefits. He denies that the Liberal Party Government has any problem with equal treatment of same-gender couples, but many see the move as a further erosion of Government support for gay and lesbian marriage equality since Paul Martin's recent ascension to Prime Minister. In Britain the head of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority this week told that body's annual conference that fertility treatments should be made more accessible to unmarried women and lesbian couples. HFEA chair Suzi Leather called "anachronistic" the current legal requirement that an infertile woman must identify a man to act as the father of her child before she can be offered treatment. That aspect of the 1990 law she described as "a bit of nonsense". And finally... countering the U.S. outcry against gay and lesbian families is one of the nation's most popular traditions: the annual Tournament of Roses Parade that's been held every New Year's Day for well over a century in Pasadena, California and is watched by millions on TV. The sponsor group's president has the honor of choosing the year's theme, inevitably something as bland as 2004's "Music Music Music". New president David Davis announced this week that 2005's theme will be "Celebrate Family" -- but he told the local newspaper that he welcomes all families including same-gender couples and their children, saying, "I'm not going to judge anybody's lifestyles. We don't have any prejudice or bias." That parade will be held the same day that a controversial expansion of the legal status of California's registered partnerships into the second strongest in the nation goes into effect. Golden Globes mini-feature: HBO's amazing "Angels in America" swept the longform TV categories at the 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 25th with a total of five wins: best miniseries or TV movie, supporting actor Jeffrey Wright, supporting actress Mary Louise Parker, lead actor Al Pacino, and lead actress Meryl Streep -- who concluded her thank you speech with a brief rebuttal to George W. Bush's State of the Union address... Meryl Streep: "I just want to say that I don't think the two biggest problems in America are that too many people want to commit their lives to one another till death do us part, and steroids in sports. I don't think those are our two biggest problems. That's all! Thank you very much!"