NewsWrap for the week ending June 12, 2004 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #846, distributed 6-14-04) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Fenceberry, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon] Anchored this week by Christopher Gaal and Cindy Friedman Germany's Social Democratic Government will be introducing bills to extend nearly all the benefits and responsibilities of marriage to same-gender couples, the Justice Minister announced this week. The first bill will come within the next 3 months, according to Brigitte Zypries, who told the "Berliner Zeitung" newspaper, "Gay and lesbian couples are a social reality in Germany. Therefore we will grant them ... the same rights as [heterosexual] couples. ... They will enjoy the same constitutional rights and be treated equally." The one exception is that gay and lesbian couples will not be able to adopt unrelated children together, although one partner will be able to co-adopt the other's biological children. The ruling Social Democrats believe they can sidestep the conservative majority in the upper house, the Bundesrat, by splitting the couples rights expansion into two legislative packages, the first including those items the Bundesrat does not have the power to veto. The Bundesrat can veto bills relating to taxation, and did so in 2002 when the Government proposed equal treatment for same-gender couples. Zypries admits it will still be an uphill fight there for this year's second planned legislative package. Germany established much more limited registered "life partnerships" for gays and lesbians in 2001. The coming legislation would confer status equal to heterosexual marriage in areas including taxation, inheritance, property, immunity from giving court testimony against their partners, and support following dissolution. Switzerland's bill to create registered partnerships for gay and lesbian couples has passed its last Parliamentary hurdle, Swiss Info reported. The upper house voted its approval in principle last week. The partnerships will confer next-of-kin status in areas including inheritance, pensions, health insurance, taxation, and immigration, but will not allow for marriage, fertility treatment or couple adoption. A small religious right party, the Federal Democratic Union, is confident that it can obtain enough signatures to require a national referendum on the issue. A constitutional amendment to restrict legal marriage to heterosexual couples has been introduced in the Marianas Islands. There will be a public hearing later this month, but Speaker of the House Benigno Fitial expects little opposition to his proposal in the predominantly Catholic Pacific Ocean nation. Leading Anglican conservatives severely denounced the affirmation of gay and lesbian relationships by last week's Canadian synod -- even though that meeting stalled for at least 3 years any action on church blessings for same-gender couples in an attempt to maintain unity in the global communion. As a kind of consolation prize for gays and lesbians, the Canadian synod passed a resolution affirming the "sanctity and integrity" of committed same-gender relationships. But Archbishop of the West Indies Drexel Gomez called it "completely unacceptable" to use the term "holy," saying that conferred theological status equal to marriage. Canadians responded that their resolution had never been intended as a theological statement. But this week Gomez was joined by the top Anglicans of 21 other church provinces -- more than half its regions -- in a statement drafted by South America's primate Gregory Venables that called the Canadian action "devastating." It said bluntly, "We would like to see them expelled. This is going against Christian teaching and they should either repent or shut the door behind themselves." Last week's first-ever same-gender marriage in France has spawned numerous legal actions. As expected, Bordeaux state prosecutor Bertrand de Loze has filed to nullify the marriage of Bertrand Charpentier and Stephane Chapin, and the chief judge there has indicated they will have to appear. The couple is prepared to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin continued to speak out against Bègles Mayor and Green Member of Parliament Noël Mamère for performing the marriage, declaring that "The state which I represent as prime minister cannot accept that a public sector employee should be able to take decisions against the law." Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin began proceedings immediately after the wedding to punish Mamère with a fine or suspension, but indicated this week the Government would probably not try to permanently remove him from office. But Mamère also took action this week, introducing a draft bill in the French Parliament to open legal marriage to same-gender couples. Mamère, unlike the French Government, believes existing law does not prohibit those marriages, but his new bill would explicitly legalize them. Another marrying mayor, Jason West of New Paltz, New York, was the subject of two somewhat conflicting court decisions this week. First a state judge made permanent the court order prohibiting West from performing further marriages of same-gender couples, in what's believed to be the first such permanent injunction ever issued in the U.S. Ulster County Justice Michael Kavanagh ruled rather narrowly in the case, not making any statement on the constitutional status of those marriages in New York, but declaring, "That an elected official may willfully violate a law any time he or she believes it is unconstitutional has profound and unsettling implications." While the conservative legal groups that had sought the injunction celebrated, West's attorney planned to appeal Kavanagh's decision. But it was a different story altogether when New Paltz Town Court Justice Jonathan Katz dismissed 19 misdemeanor counts the Ulster County prosecutor had levied against West for marrying gay and lesbian couples without licenses. In his much broader ruling, Katz found that there was no rational basis for denying same-gender couples their constitutional right to equal treatment under the law in the case of marriage. That was a first for New York, although 7 civil lawsuits regarding same-gender marriage are underway in other state courts. District Attorney Donald Williams intends to appeal Katz' ruling. But West has always taken the position that he was being true to his oath of office to uphold the state constitution, overriding a discriminatory marriage law. Since West was first barred from marrying gay and lesbian couples in March, Unitarian Universalist ministers have continued to perform a series of those weddings in New Paltz. The first two to do so, Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey, also face misdemeanor charges, and their case will be heard by the other New Paltz Town Judge later this month. Another New York mayor has acted against the interests of same-gender couples. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg last week vetoed a so-called Equal Benefits Bill that fully 90% of the City Council had supported. Similar to legislation pioneered by San Francisco and adopted by a few other U.S. cities since, the New York City bill would have required any group with a city contract of at least $100,000 to extend the same benefits to its workers' domestic partners as it offers the spouses of legally married employees. Under Bloomberg's predecessor Mayor Rudy Giuliani, New York City established registered domestic partnerships carrying all the benefits of marriage the city has jurisdiction to offer, and went on to extend those benefits to couples who had registered their partnerships elsewhere. But Bloomberg wrote that, "On both legal grounds and policy grounds, our administration has opposed such efforts in the past, and must continue to do so despite our support for the general intention of the bill." Actually, during his 2001 campaign he'd told activists that he would support an equal benefits ordinance. Although the City Council is apt to override his veto soon, it's expected that Bloomberg will act to block implementation of the ordinance. Jamaica is mourning the loss of its most visible gay activist Brian Williamson, who was found brutally murdered in his own home this week. His body was mutilated by multiple wounds in an apparent machete attack. Because his apartment was ransacked, police believe robbery was the motive. They are questioning one of two men who had asked him for money on the day of his death. But homophobia may have been the reason he was targeted or at least a contributing factor, according to local activists and to the human rights group Amnesty International. Just a week before the murder, Amnesty had announced an international mobilization against what it called Jamaica's "climate of violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people," urging repeal of the nation's sodomy law. Amnesty has received numerous reports of violence against lesbigay and trans people in Jamaica, with allegations that police are often unresponsive or even complicit. Williamson was a co-founder of J-FLAG, the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, the first and only such advocacy group in the nation. For years he was Jamaica's only gay activist willing to use his real name in the media. He also ran the lesbigay club Entourage out of his own home. Human rights groups praised his courage and the many friends who gathered outside his home to mourn praised his kindness, generosity and hospitality as well. And finally... Broadway's annual Tony Awards this week were more than ever rife with nominations and wins for gay-themed material and openly gay artists. Non-gay host Hugh Jackman performed "Not the Boy Next Door" from "The Boy from Oz" as a sample of his award-winning portrayal of the late gay Australian singer/songwriter Peter Allen. He pulled Sarah Jessica Parker into the act, and when she asked open gay Nathan Lane if he were jealous, Lane said, "He won't return my calls." Among numerous gay jokes, Jackman was even hit on by one of the gay puppets from Best Musical winner "Avenue Q". But at least as Peter Allen, Jackman's heart belonged to the venue, historic Radio City Music Hall. Noting that it has one of "the biggest organs in the world," he sighed, "What more could a boy ask for?"