NewsWrap for the week ending August 21, 2004 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #856, distributed 8-23-04) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon] Reported this week by Jon Beaupré and Cindy Friedman Police in Nepal have been rounding up gay and transgendered men, including AIDS prevention outreach workers from the Blue Diamond Society, the nation's only civil rights group representing sexual minorities. Blue Diamond leader Sunil Pant wrote this week that police are searching parks and other cruising areas, creating terror among men who have sex with men. On a single night this month, police arrested 39 Blue Diamond members, raiding gay venues and rousting a number of men at gunpoint from their own homes as they slept. Blue Diamond alleges that police beat the detainees and denied them food. A police spokesperson claims that one man who is currently hospitalized for stab wounds was the victim of unknown assailants enraged by his cross-dressing, but Blue Diamond says police are not investigating and have not even taken a statement from the victim. A police spokesperson said there were judicial detention orders against the 39 men for "spreading perversion". International calls for the men's release have come from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations AIDS program, as well as from the International Lesbian and Gay Association and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Ironically, the three-year-old Blue Diamond Society first gained significant visibility earlier this year as it lobbied Nepal's government to support a resolution against discrimination based on sexual orientation, as the nation participated in the UN Commission on Human Rights meeting. So far that visibility has worked against the group, as a private attorney has filed a petition with Nepal's Supreme Court demanding the government shut down Blue Diamond. The latest roundup does not bode well in this continuing case, since it's up to the government to demonstrate why it should not act against Blue Diamond. Although Nepal has no law explicitly prohibiting homosexual acts, it has a more general "unnatural sexual acts" statute which has often been used against gay men and transgenders. Conviction can be punished with up to a year in prison. There have been a number of previous instances of police action against gay men and transgenders in Nepal, including disbanding a peaceful rally for civil rights Blue Diamond held outside the seat of government. Another Asian nation where AIDS prevention workers have been arrested is India. But this week India was rocked by the brutal double murder of a gay male couple in their home in an upscale part of New Delhi. The victims were Pushkin Chandra and his partner variously identified as Kuldeep or Vishal. Several lesbigay and transgender activists denounced the sensationalized media coverage of the case. They say it's portrayed the area's previously low-profile community in a stereotypical manner which has further marginalized them -- as one put it, "fuelling homophobia." They view this as a setback to their efforts to increase national understanding and to repeal the nation's harsh sodomy law, which provides for a decade behind bars. One activist said police had overemphasized the gay angle of the crime, alleging that only gays had been interrogated in the investigation and that the questions had been offensive ones. Police had emphasized a quantity of pornographic materials they found at the scene, and at first suggested the motive might have been a response either to attempted forced sex or attempted extortion, or even sadomasochism gone wrong. A few days later, it appeared that the more likely motive was robbery. At last report, police were still trying to track two suspects believed to have fled the Delhi area. Zanzibar has completed enactment of a harsh new sodomy law and criminalization of same-gender marriages. The bill was passed unanimously by the legislature in April, signed into law by President Amani Karume last week, and took effect immediately. Consensual sex between adult males can be punished by up to 25 years' imprisonment; consensual sex between adult women is punishable by up to seven years. The Indian Ocean archipelago has some autonomy in its governance from nearby Tanzania, and its large Muslim majority is believed to support the new law. However, the statute is expected to hurt revenues from tourism, a major source of income for Zanzibar. The Philippines may be heading in the opposite direction, as Akbayan Party Representative Loretta Ann Rosales reintroduced her bill to prohibit "discriminatory practices based on sex or sexual orientation and gender identity, whether actual or perceived." Violations could be punished with substantial fines or up to six years in prison. The bill would cover areas including public and private employment, housing, education, health care, and public accommodations. It would also prohibit police harassment and forced medical or psychological exams intended to determine or change sexual orientation or gender identity. First filed in 1998, the House approved it for the first time early this year. It was developed in conjunction with the group LAGABLAB, Lesbian and Gay Legislative Advocacy Network Philippines. In Taiwan, the Mayor of Taipei is making a generous allotment for lesbigay community events in the city's budget. While visiting Germany and chatting with openly gay Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou said he's earmarked NT$1-million. He declared it's the government's obligation to support gay rights as part of protecting basic human rights, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported. In North America, equal marriage rights continue to dominate the news. Canada's Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said the federal government will not oppose or delay any further legal actions regarding marriages or divorces of same-gender couples. While the Canadian government hasn't actively opposed those lawsuits since the top provincial courts in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia declared marriage discrimination a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it has been trying to stall other lawsuits until the Supreme Court of Canada has reviewed the issue. The nation's highest court has scheduled hearings in October to review some questions the Government has posed in preparing federal marriage legislation, but its opinion is not expected until some time later. A U.S. federal judge in the state of Washington this week rejected a U.S. lesbian couple's Canadian marriage, upholding the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA. It's believed to be the first time a federal court has considered the constitutionality of that 1996 law, although this ruling is not binding on other courts. The movement to establish an amendment to the U.S. Constitution against same-gender marriage has been largely based on an expectation that courts would find DOMA violates the constitution. But that wasn't the case for Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge Paul Snyder, who upheld the U.S. Department of Justice's rejection of a joint filing for bankruptcy by Tacoma couple Lee and Ann Kandu. In Massachusetts this week, gay and lesbian couples from outside the state lost their first round in seeking to marry there. Although Massachusetts this year became the first U.S. state to open marriage to same-gender couples, Governor Mitt Romney's administration insisted on revived enforcement of a 1913 state law prohibiting marriages for non-residents that won't be recognized in their home states. Superior Court Judge Carol Ball denied the couples a preliminary injunction to block that enforcement. Despite Ball's apparent sympathy for the eight couples from eight different states, she found it to be both rational and currently equally enforced. The couples will definitely be appealing. And finally... the world's been watching the Olympics in Athens, but even OutSports.com has so far only been able to identify nine open gays and lesbians among the 10,500 participants. There were seven "out" athletes in Sydney in 2000. Perhaps the most notorious so far is German cyclist Judith Arndt, whose rude hand gesture at the finish line of the women's road race was punished with a fine by the International Cycling Union. Arndt's insult was intended for the German Cycling Federation officials who kept her domestic partner -- and Barcelona gold medallist Petra Rossner -- off the cycling team. Arndt insists that cost Germany the gold medal. The German team did win silver, but Arndt told reporters, "Petra is the best sprinter in the world. I'm sad that she did not ride with me. I dedicate my medal to her." Another team silver winner was swimmer Johan Kenkhuis of the Netherlands, who publicly identified himself as a gay man earlier this year and this week shared a medal for the men's 4x100 freestyle relay. Openly lesbian French tennis pro Amelie Mauresmo won the silver medal in the women's singles. Defeated in quarter final matches this week were open lesbians Imke Duplitzer, a German fencer, and tennis legend Martina Navratilova of the U.S. This was Navratilova's first appearance in the Olympics, and she did set a record for the Games -- at 47, she's the oldest woman ever to compete. There are four other openly gay men: British hurdler Rob Newton and horsemen Carl Hester of Britain and Guenter Seidel and Robert Dover of the U.S. Dover is one of many who believe there are plenty of other lesbigay athletes in these Games who are not making their sexual identities public. He told the Associated Press, "The reason many of them aren't out is because they're focused on their job during this time when sports is the Number One thing in their lives." There was one queer moment at the Olympics this week when a non-participant interrupted a diving competition. Presumably he was seeking publicity for the Web site whose name was painted on his bare chest when he mounted the springboard in polka-dot tights with a tulle tutu. ----- added over "NewsWrap" outro music: ----- Updating our report on the 39 gay and transgendered men who were arrested, detained and allegedly mistreated in Nepal: an email message from the Blue Diamond Society informs us that the men have all been released on bail. They face court appearances in September. This Way Out will continue to follow this story.