NewsWrap for the week ending July 17, 2004 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #851, distributed 7-19-04) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Fenceberry, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon] Anchored this week by Cindy Friedman and Rick Watts The Yukon this week became the fourth Canadian region to open legal marriage to same-gender couples. Yukon Judge Peter MacIntyre followed the top courts of Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec as he declared it "wrong and discriminatory" to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples. The case was brought by Stephen Dunbar and Rob Edge, a couple for two years, after they were denied a marriage license in January. They held a church wedding in Whitehorse two days after Judge MacIntyre announced his decision. Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie said there was no reason to appeal MacIntyre's ruling, and his Government's attorneys even agreed in court that the common-law restriction of marriage to a man and a woman is discriminatory. But the territory had hoped to sidestep the question until the Supreme Court of Canada or the federal legislature have decided it for the nation. Officials had tried to convince Dunbar and Edge to marry by the ancient church method of publishing the banns of marriage and holding a ceremony, promising a retroactive license once the national situation is resolved. Use of the banns had been part of the landmark Ontario marriage lawsuit. But the men said they wanted to obtain a marriage license "just like any other couple that's getting married would do." The Supreme Court of Canada is scheduled to hold hearings in October on questions the Canadian Government wanted clarified before introducing a bill in Parliament to open marriage to gay and lesbian couples. A proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution saying, "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman" died in the national Senate this week. Since the Constitution was first ratified in the 18th century, it has left marriage in the hands of the states, not the federal government. It was obvious even before the debate that the so-called Federal Marriage Amendment would not win the needed two-thirds majority of 67 votes, with only about 40 Senators expected to support it. But the FMA itself never came up for an up-and-down vote, although the minority Democrats had agreed to one. There was division among FMA's Republican supporters regarding a second sentence that some believed would further stop states from creating civil unions or domestic partnerships, so the majority party's leadership wanted to present two versions. More typically, such an issue would have been resolved in committee, but although the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on the FMA, it never held a vote to advance it to the Senate floor. Human Rights Campaign head Cheryl Jacques commented, "I think it is outrageous and frankly surreal that at the 11th hour in this debate, they are literally rewriting the Constitution on the back of a napkin." The Democrats had conditioned their cooperation on the FMA being considered without amendments being offered, and would not agree to taking up two versions. So the only vote that was held was on a procedural move that needed 60 votes to keep the FMA alive -- a move that had more Republican support than the FMA itself. Only 48 Senators voted to advance the FMA while 50 voted to block it. Three Democrats joined most Republicans in voting to advance and six Republicans joined most Democrats and the Senate's lone independent in voting to block. The only two Senators not participating were the Democrats' presumptive nominees for President and Vice President, John Kerry and John Edwards. Each said he would have returned to Washington to vote against the amendment itself -- but since it was only a procedural vote, they continued campaigning in other cities. Despite the weak outcome, there were three days of debate that allowed a parade of Republican Senators to declare their support for marriage and for children having a mother and a father -- and in some cases, notably Pennsylvanian Rick Santorum, their lack of hatred. The Democrats denied any need for the amendment and denounced its consideration as politically motivated, divisive and unproductive. But there were also a handful of Republican Senators who were vocally opposed to amending the federal Constitution in this way at this time, including John McCain of Arizona, who'd vied with George W. Bush for the party's Presidential nomination in 2000. President Bush issued a statement that he was "deeply disappointed that the effort to pass a constitutional amendment affirming the sanctity of marriage as being between a man and a woman was temporarily blocked in the Senate." FMA's lead Senate sponsor, Colorado Republican Wayne Allard, said supporters had always seen this as the opening round in what would be a long process, and promised the proposal would be reintroduced. The U.S. House of Representatives, expected to take up FMA in September, is already working on the next moves against marriage equality. Republican Representative from Indiana John Hostettler has introduced what he named the "Marriage Protection Act," described as a "jurisdiction stripping" bill designed to stop federal courts from taking up lawsuits for same-gender marriage. This might appear to many to violate the Constitution's separation of powers among the legislative, judicial and executive branches. But supporters argue that the Constitution itself creates only the U.S. Supreme Court, while authorizing the Congress to "ordain and establish" lower federal courts -- and so perhaps to define their jurisdictions. Conservative Republicans, so often heard routinely criticizing judges as "activist," are eager to use this tactic on other issues as well, including abortion rights. Meanwhile, the annual federal funding that's the main support of the city of Washington, D.C. -- a traditional political football -- could well come this year with a requirement that the city deny recognition to gay and lesbian marri ages. And the list continues to grow of U.S. states where voters will be considering amending their constitutions to deny same-gender marriages. Montana was added this week, and some predict there could be 15 such state ballots this year. These initiatives are widely viewed as a means to motivate the religious right to go to the polls, with their turnout generally benefiting Republicans. Australian gay and lesbian activists were quick to use the U.S. Senate's defeat of the Federal Marriage Amendment as an example for their own federal legislators to follow with Prime Minister John Howard's bill against marriage and adoption by same-gender couples. That bill has been referred for a Senate inquiry, despite the Government's attempts to fast track it. But the Australian state of Victoria may be losing its first openly gay member of its state parliament, Andrew Olexander. He stepped down from the state Liberal Party's frontbench this week after hitting four parked cars while admittedly driving drunk. It's a major embarrassment for a man who was a vocal campaigner against drug and alcohol abuse. He's not yet been charged for drunk driving, but is believed to have done A$100,000 worth of damage in the accident. He's publicly apologized for his behavior, but his political future is uncertain. The maiden outing for R Family Vacations, organized by openly partnered lesbian mother and high-profile U.S. celebrity Rosie O'Donnell, was a cruise this week for gay and lesbian couples and their children. They were welcomed at stops down the U.S. East Coast, and in very gay Key West, Florida, they were given a parade and a key to the city. But it was a different story when they arrived in the Bahamas, where more than five dozen Nassau locals were at the pier with signs reading, "If you're openly gay, stay away". The protest was organized by two churches, although a third equally opposed church decided not to participate. Police were in control and the demonstration was peaceful enough, but most passengers were discouraged from going ashore. Reportedly the U.S. Embassy sent a notice of official concern for their safety to the Bahamian government. There's a much uglier threat to gays' safety in Jamaica, but the recent brutal murder of the island's leading gay activist apparently has sparked some more appropriate police response to homophobic violence. This week police are looking for superstar singer Buju Banton in connection with a late June armed gang attack on gay men in a private home. Banton's "Boom Bye Bye" is one of the most notorious of Jamaica's songs explicitly advocating violence and murder against gay men, and he's long been a subject of protest by Britain's direct action group OutRage. But allegedly this time he went beyond singing to joining about a dozen others in acting out that violence. And finally... there was one surprise in the midst of the U.S. debate on prohibiting gay and lesbian marriage this week: Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, diverged from the President's position in a national television appearance. The Cheneys' positions have long been of particular interest because their daughter Mary is a lesbian with a long-term partner. It seems Lynne still hews to the position her husband held in 2000, before he was elected on the ticket with Bush. Dick Cheney has more recently officially declared his support for his President's position, which of course is that there should be a Constitutional amendment restricting marriage to heterosexual couples. But Lynne Cheney said on CNN's "Late Edition" that, "I thought that the formulation he used in 2000 was very good. First of all, to be clear that people should be free to enter into their relationships that they choose. And secondly, to recognize what's historically been the situation, that when it comes to conferring legal status on relationships, that is a matter left to the states." California Democrat Barbara Boxer couldn't resist bringing this tidbit onto the Senate floor, asserting, "This constitutional amendment is divisive for this country -- it's even divided Lynne Cheney from Dick Cheney."