NewsWrap for the week ending July 3, 2004 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #849, distributed 7-5-04) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Fenceberry, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon] Anchored this week by Cindy Friedman and Rick Watts This week marked the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, generally viewed as the beginning of the modern lesbigay and transgender civil rights movement. When police attempted a then-routine raid on the New York City bar called the Stonewall Inn, the patrons fought back, soon joined by hundreds of others as word spread through the community. The event's anniversary was observed with marches that began the tradition of pride celebrations. Pride parades and festivals have now multiplied into the hundreds, spreading to nations around the world and most months of the year. But the last week of June remains the peak of the season, featuring many of the oldest and largest events. There was a new element in New York City's massive pride march this week: for the first time, police officers involved in the 1969 altercation were part of the parade, at the invitation of some of the same gay men who had struggled with them. Organizers estimated that one-and-a-half million people turned out to watch the long parade down Fifth Avenue. Amid the party atmosphere of colorful costumes and dance music, marchers' signs and badges signaled their demand for equal marriage rights and a desire to oust its opponent, Republican President George W. Bush, in November's elections. Pride week in New York also featured the first graduation ceremonies for Harvey Milk High School, the city's pioneering public school specifically serving lesbigay and trans youth. For New York City's elected officials including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, participating in the pride parade is practically a requirement. But this week the City Council added more substantive support, voting more than ten-to-one to override Bloomberg's veto of the Equal Benefits Bill, which requires companies contracting with the city to extend any spousal benefits they offer to their unmarried employees' domestic partners. Just as venerable as New York's march is San Francisco's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade. Organizers dedicated this year's pride celebration to the memory of Gwen Araujo, a Bay Area teen who was brutally murdered two years ago by three men when they discovered the beautiful young woman's male genitalia. That slaying raised the level of public awareness and activism on violence against transgenders. Last week the suspects' high-profile prosecution ended in a mistrial as the jury split between charges of first- and second-degree murder. A court this week approved Araujo's posthumous legal name change from "Eddie" to "Gwen Amber Rose". This week's San Francisco parade featured many of the more than 4,000 same-gender couples who obtained licenses and married there before the courts intervened. Their contingent generated a lot of emotion and roars of support for the man who instigated the licensing, non-gay parade grand marshal Mayor Gavin Newsom, and its chief defender in the continuing legal battle, City Attorney Dennis Herrera. And there's a little more hope for marriage equality in the U.S., as a federal appeals court this week rejected a challenge to the nation's first legal same-gender marriages in Massachusetts. The First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a claim, brought by several conservative legal groups on behalf of the Catholic Action League and eleven state legislators, that Massachusetts' highest state court -- the Supreme Judicial Court -- overstepped its authority in deciding last year that gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry. About a million people attended Toronto's 24th annual Pride Parade this week. It took place on the eve of national elections that had been called the most important ever for the lesbigay community, and it showed. With the long-ruling Liberal Party vulnerable, fears ran high that the Conservative Party would take over, and Tory Leader Stephen Harper had indicated his readiness to override the Charter of Rights if necessary to stop marriage equality. It was a significant issue in a sometimes ugly campaign. Despite pride marchers' urging, voter turnout was an all-time low of 60% -- but the elections results were quite favorable for the community. Even though the Liberals lost about a fifth of their seats in the House of Commons, they remain the largest party. But they no longer hold a majority there, so even though Prime Minister Paul Martin believes he can run a minority government without establishing a formal coalition, they'll require allies to advance legislation -- the much more solidly gay-supportive Bloc Quebecois and New Democrats, and both of those parties gained more Parliamentary seats. The Conservatives remain the largest Opposition Party. There was a crowd of more than a half-million for Berlin's 12th annual pride march, which was led by openly gay Mayor Klaus Wowereit. Germany's national Social Democratic Government made a tangible gesture this week, announcing a bill to allow same-gender couples who've legally registered their partnerships to co-adopt each other's children. There was immediate vocal opposition to the move from the conservative Christian Democrats and Germany's Roman Catholic Bishops Conference. In Paris, some 700,000 people watched openly gay Mayor Bertrand Delanoë lead thousands of pride marchers. Their slogan was, "Enough Hypocrisy, Equality Now," expressing resentment of the French Government's vigorous and continuing opposition to the recent marriage of a gay couple by a mayor. But last week that same Government gave them something to celebrate, as the Cabinet agreed on a bill to criminalize "incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence against a person on the basis of gender or sexual orientation." That bill will be introduced in the parliament in July, and if enacted, it will provide for punishments of a substantial fine or up to a year in jail. Legal recognition of same-gender relationships advanced this week in Spain and New Zealand. Spain's lower house took a preliminary step, approving a non-binding resolution calling on the Government to open civil marriage to gay and lesbian couples. The new Socialist Government is already working on legislation, with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero strongly and repeatedly advocating for the move. His Justice Minister said this week that a bill could be introduced in September and Spain's first same-gender marriages could take place early in the coming year. New Zealand's lower house had already given preliminary approval to the Labour Government's Civil Unions Bill, but this week Members of Parliament gave an even larger majority on first reading to its more powerful companion measure, the Relationships Bill. The Relationships Bill is an omnibus measure to overhaul about 100 existing laws and regulations to end all discrimination based on marital status, treating marriages, civil unions and "de facto" unmarried cohabitants equally. London's pride march this week was characterized for the first time as a parade rather than a demonstration. Yet it was dedicated to the memory of Jamaica's leading gay activist Brian Williamson, who was brutally murdered in June. And it came at a particularly bittersweet moment for Britain's Anglican gays and lesbians, as openly celibate gay Jeffrey John was ceremonially installed this week as Dean of Saint Alban's Cathedral, one of the highest posts in the Church of England. John had been appointed to serve as a bishop, but was forced to withdraw before his consecration for the sake of unity within the church. Conservatives claim that despite his long abstinence from sex, he's disqualified by his failure to repent and his vocal support for equality. Even his Saint Alban's deanship has already caused one cathedral official to resign and 2 local parishes to withhold their contributions to the diocese. But this was also the week when Britain's long-awaited legal reforms to recognize transsexuals in their self-identified gender passed their final stage of enactment, winning the Queen's royal assent. Still very much a political demonstration was this week's third annual march in Calcutta demanding equality for India's sexual minorities. Some three hundred marchers braved the cold hostility of passers-by in a conservative city in a nation where sex between men remains a criminal act. And finally... top officials from around the globe gathered in Jakarta this week for Asia's biggest periodic conference on security issues. But tradition dictates that on the last night of the meeting, the dignitaries perform to entertain each other. Perhaps it was all that pride in the air -- the Associated Press reports that five U.S. delegates appeared as that uniquely American phenomenon the Village People, the '70's disco group who played gay even though most of them weren't. A staunch opponent of President Bill Clinton's move to open military service to gays and lesbians when serving as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, President Bush's Secretary of State Colin Powell took the role of the hard-hatted construction worker to dance and sing the classic "YMCA".