NewsWrap
for the week ending October 23, 2004
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #865, distributed 10-25-04)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Rex Wockner, and 
Greg Gordon]


Reported this week by Cindy Friedman and Jon Beaupré


  An Anglican Church commission, convened to find ways to maintain unity in 
the 78-million-member global communion despite its rift over gay and lesbian 
issues, published its report this week after a year of study.  The report 
represented what was called the highest level of consensus that could be reached by 
the international panel's 17 members, who endorsed it unanimously.  Primarily 
it called for continued dialogue and proposed development of a basic covenant 
defining the authority and relationships of the church's regional bodies, 
known as provinces.  Both are long-term processes, so any real impact of the 
non-binding recommendations could be years away rather than immediate.
The controversy the commission hoped to ease was ignited by two events: the 2
002 decision by Canada's New Westminster diocese to offer church blessings to 
same-gender couples and last year's consecration by the Episcopal Church USA 
of openly partnered gay Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.  The report 
was critical of both actions for the offense they caused to much of the rest of 
the global church, and called for the bishops involved to tender their 
"regrets".  Bishops unwilling to do so were urged to reconsider their participation 
in activities of the global church.  The report called for moratoria on both 
public blessings of gay and lesbian couples and on the consecration of other 
bishops with same-gender partners, those moratoria to last "until some new 
consensus" is reached.
But it also ordered a halt to foreign bishops' efforts to assume guidance of 
conservative parishes in the U.S. and Canada, saying those parishes should 
turn to more compatible retired bishops within their own dioceses.  It further 
criticized the intemperate language of the most vocal opponents of gay and 
lesbian equality within the church, declaring that, "Any demonizing of homosexual 
persons or their ill-treatment is totally against Christian charity."  
Commission chair Archbishop Robin Eames of Ireland underscored the point as he 
announced the report, saying "There is absolutely no room for homophobia in the life 
of the Church."


  Liberals within the church were relieved that the commission did not take 
harsher measures.  Many focused on its "nuanced" language.  New Westminster 
Bishop Michael Ingham and U.S. primate Frank Griswold both distinguished between 
regrets -- which they readily expressed -- and apologies, which neither 
tendered.  
Griswold said, "We regret how difficult and painful actions of our church 
have been in many provinces of our communion, and the negative repercussions that 
have been felt by brother and sister Anglicans... Given the emphasis of the 
report on difficulties presented by our differing understandings of 
homosexuality, as presiding bishop I am obliged to affirm the presence and positive 
contribution of gay and lesbian persons to every aspect of our church and in all 
orders of ministry... Other provinces are also blessed by the lives and ministry 
of homosexual persons.  I regret that there are places within our communion 
where it is unsafe for them to speak out the truth of who they are."
Ingham said, "I don't wish to apologize for the actions themselves because I 
think they were right.  But I understand that change is difficult and some 
people have been alienated and I regret that very much."  Ingham said he could 
not stop the blessings for couples because that decision belongs to the New 
Westminster synod, which will be meeting in May.  The entire Canadian church was 
also rebuked for having adopted a resolution honoring the integrity of 
same-gender relationships, but the national synod won't be meeting to discuss the 
report until 2008.


  Robinson himself took heart that the report referred to a moratorium rather 
than an outright ban, since a moratorium is something that comes to an end.  
The report aimed its comments not at him personally but at the bishops 
involved in his consecration.  In fact the commission had repeatedly refused his 
requests to speak to them, nor was any representative of his diocese among the 
many people whose testimony it heard.  Robinson affirmed that he has no intention 
of stepping down and that he plans to attend the global Lambeth Conference of 
bishops in 2008.
He said, "Gay and lesbian people will take much comfort from parts of this 
report, while continuing to unfortunately have to fight for our rightful place 
in the church.  It is true that until these issues are resolved, gay and lesbia
n people in the church are second-class members, and that injustice is never 
going to be all right... But the reason you're hearing us be positive is that I 
think everyone believes we are inexorably moving forward on this issue."
But Robinson was saddened that the report emphasized the pain of 
conservatives without once referring to "the pain gays and lesbians have suffered at the 
hands of the church".  And he wished that the report's reference to his 
consecration as "widely unacceptable" had been matched by a statement of the 
unacceptability of the Archbishop of Nigeria's statements that gays are lower than 
dogs and that Robinson's consecration represented "a satanic attack on the 
church."


  The primate of Nigeria himself, Archbishop Peter Akinola, saw the report 
very differently.  He declared, "Where is the language of rebuke for those who 
are promoting sexual sins as holy and acceptable behavior?  The imbalance is 
bewildering.  It is wrong to use equal language for unequal actions."  Nigeria 
has more Anglicans than any province outside of England, and Akinola has been 
the most vocal critic of gay and lesbian equality within the church.  As for 
his own efforts to claim pastoral authority over conservative parishes in the 
U.S, he said, "We have been asked to express regret for our actions and 'affirm 
our desire to remain in the Communion'.  How patronizing!  We will not be 
intimidated."
Another anti-gay leader, South American primate Greg Venables, scoffed at the 
North American "regrets", saying, "They've already said they're sorry for the 
pain they caused, but that is like an adulterous husband saying to his wife, 
'I'm sorry I've hurt you.'  It doesn't deal with the underlying problem."
Conservative Anglican activists in many nations were disappointed at the 
report's leniency towards the North Americans and dismissed it as "toothless".
But a number of major figures in the church including the Archbishop of 
Canterbury Rowan Williams believe the report's recommendations offer hope that the 
400-year-old global church won't fall apart over gay and lesbian issues.


  Briefly in other news...
The first legal marriage in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia was 
celebrated this week with the wedding in Amherst of Gerald Veldhoven and Norman Carter 
after 30 years together.  The wedding followed a ruling by Nova Scotia's 
Supreme Court last month that made it Canada's sixth regional authority to open 
marriage to same-gender couples.  Earlier this month two couples filed a lawsuit 
in Saskatchewan in hopes of winning a similar decision.


  Hong Kong saw its first-ever pride parade last week, as some 40 lesbigays 
and transgenders marched before about 200 spectators.  The first attempt to 
organize a march there came in 1992 when homosexual acts were decriminalized, but 
it met an unfavorable response.


  Openly lesbian U.S. rock music star Melissa Etheridge is back home and 
recovering well from two successful surgeries for breast cancer.  She will be 
undergoing chemotherapy but expects to be working again in a few months.


  Openly gay 1980s British pop singer Marc Almond is in stable condition 
following a serious traffic accident.  He's best known for his work with Soft 
Cell, particularly on the hit "Tainted Love", but he's also been a long-time 
advocate for gay and lesbian equality.


  On a sadder note, African-American lesbian-feminist activist and poet 
Margaret Sloan-Hunter has died at age 57 after a long illness.  In addition to her 
decades of civil rights activism, she was formerly an editor of "Ms." magazine.


  Another loss to the community was the death of Brazilian Paulo Henrique 
Longo at age 40 from a heart attack.  He was a long-time advocate for gay and 
lesbian equality in Brazil and was also active internationally on AIDS issues and 
the human rights of sex workers, including founding the Network of Sex Work 
Projects.


  And finally... openly gay Briton Alan Hollinghurst's novel "The Line of 
Beauty" this week became the first gay-themed work ever to win the Man Booker 
Prize.  The 36-year-old Booker is widely considered to be the world's most 
prestigious English-language literary award, although only books from the U.K., the 
British Commonwealth and Ireland qualify.  It's certainly one of the richest 
prizes at 50,000 pounds.
Hollinghurst came close to the honor a decade ago when his gay-themed novel 
"The Folding Star" was a finalist.
"The Line of Beauty" centers on a young gay man whose friend's father is a 
leading Conservative Member of Parliament, so it both follows the hero's sexual 
adventures in the early years of the AIDS epidemic and satirizes U.K. politics 
under Tory Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.  In its most talked-about scene, 
the hero dances with Thatcher herself at a party -- and he's high on cocaine 
at the time.
Although the judges were sharply divided among the finalists, Booker panel 
chair and openly gay Labor MP Chris Smith said the winner's gay focus was never 
an issue in their debates.  He told reporters, "This is a novel that happens 
to be about gay sex and gay relationships.  The fact it can be considered as a 
perfectly valid part of contemporary fiction without regarding that as unique 
shows how much times have changed."