NewsWrap for the week ending January 8, 2005 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #876, distributed 1-10-05) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon] Reported this week by Cindy Friedman and Rick Watts Newfoundland has become the 8th region in Canada to extend equal marriage rights to same-gender couples, with a provincial Supreme Court decision in late December. The case was brought by two lesbian couples who had been denied marriage licenses, Jacqueline Pottle and Noelle French and Lisa Zigler and Theresa Walsh. Neither the federal nor provincial governments opposed their lawsuit. The court followed others in finding it violates the federal Charter of Rights and Freedoms to deny marriage to gays and lesbians. Pottle and French were the first to be married, in a ceremony presided over by St. John's Mayor Andy Wells two days after the ruling. The court's decision also opens marriage to gays and lesbians in Labrador. The Canadian Government is expected to introduce federal marriage equality legislation later this month. But the landmark late November South African Supreme Court of Appeal decision in support of marriage equality is being appealed by the Government. The Department of Home Affairs is asking South Africa's Constitutional Court to weigh in on the issue. A spokesperson said the department is "keenly aware" that the national Constitution prohibits sexual orientation discrimination and has no wish to deny equality to gays and lesbians. But he said the department felt any change in the marriage law should undergo the full process in the courts plus investigation, reporting and discussion by the Cabinet and Parliament. The South African Law Reform Commission is expected to report to the Cabinet this quarter. The Commission had first opened for public comment its formal proposals for both marriage and civil unions in 2003. The South African Christian Leadership Assembly, a new coalition of religious groups including some of the nation's largest churches, last month protested the Supreme Court of Appeal ruling. The group called for a national referendum on marriage equality, declaring the courts had gone against public opinion and should not be left to make the decision alone. While insisting they believe "in love and acceptance of homosexuals," they said that, "As a society, we cannot afford to adopt laws that are also in conflict with God's law as encapsulated in the Bible and in the writings of all major religions." Spain is a step closer to marriage equality with the Cabinet's approval of a bill at the end of December. The Government's measure is expected to be introduced in the Parliament in February. Despite vigorous opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, passage is expected to make Spain the third nation to open marriage to same-gender couples, following the Netherlands and Belgium. But Slovenia has been struggling for 8 years over legal recognition for same-gender couples and is no closer to a resolution. In an unusual move in late December, the Government withdrew a domestic partnerships bill that had already gone through its first round of Parliamentary debate, and announced it is drafting a new bill. Two left-wing opposition parties -- the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia and the United List of Social Democrats -- this week reintroduced essentially the same bill the Government had withdrawn, calling it "appropriate and comparable to the laws adopted by other EU member states." In July the bill had firm support from the ruling coalition parties Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia and the Slovene People's Party. Austria's biggest opposition party has taken a pioneering formal stand in support of both immediate legislative action to create legal registered partnerships and on-going work towards marriage equality for same-gender couples. The Austrian Social Democratic Party agreed to these positions at its biannual Federal Party Convention in late December. The Austrian lesbigay civil rights group Rechtskomitee LAMBDA, known as RKL, cheered the Social Democrats for joining their movement to open marriage to gays and lesbians, but noted that other parties will have to follow suit for any bill to pass. Israel has no mechanism to formalize same-gender relationships but courts there continue to expand their legal recognition. In late December the Tel Aviv District Court barred the deportation of a Colombian gay whose passport had expired, based on his relationship with an Israeli man. The Colombian had applied for permanent residency but the Interior Ministry wanted to deport him until his residency has been decided. Although Israel's High Court had previously rejected deportation of foreigners married to Israeli citizens, the current ruling extends that protection to common-law couples regardless of gender. The case for the Colombian was brought by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and the ruling is expected to change Interior Ministry policies. The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, has also won some court decisions favorable to gay and lesbian families in three U.S. states that adopted constitutional amendments against same-gender marriage in November. Montana's state Supreme Court split four-to-three but decided in late December that it violates the state constitution for the state university system to deny gay and lesbian couples the employee spousal health care benefits it offers to unmarried heterosexual couples. That state high court ruling overturned a 2002 ruling by a lower court. The majority of the justices said their decision was not about the ability to marry but about equal treatment. The ACLU, which brought the case on behalf of two lesbian couples and the group PRIDE, Inc., hailed the ruling as the first U.S. state supreme court decision to find that a state is constitutionally bound to extend domestic partner benefits to gay and lesbian couples. The ACLU won a unanimous ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeals in mid-December that allowed a lesbian mother to regain custody of her 2 children. There were a number of complications in the case of Amber Crosby, whose son and daughter were given to his father and her grandparents, respectively, following an anonymous tip. But the appeals court agreed that the juvenile court had incorrectly used Crosby's lesbian sexual orientation per se as the determining factor in ruling against her, and struck down the juvenile court's order denying her custody. The ACLU also acted on behalf of a gay man and a lesbian to challenge Arkansas' unique ban on foster placements in any household including a gay or lesbian. The ACLU won the first round in late December. A trial court judge did not use the ACLU's argument for equal protection, but declared that the state's Child Welfare Agency had exceeded its authority in an effort to regulate "public morality". He found that the 1999 blanket policy against gay and lesbian fostering had "no rational relationship" to the agency's mandate to promote the welfare of children. The state is already acting to appeal the decision. Arkansas does allow permanent adoptions by gays and lesbians. Florida's notorious ban on adoptions by gays and lesbians has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but some homophobes there are apparently taking the law into their own hands. The Orlando office of the group that organizes Gay Days at DisneyWorld was vandalized twice in December, the second attack last week including nine or ten bullets fired through its storefront window as well as paintballs and eggs. And New Zealand is wondering if its current controversy over civil unions legislation may have motivated an arson attack on an Auckland gay club in late December. Apparently a firebomb was detonated at the entrance, sending flames and glass into the street and smoke and flames up the main stairwell. Although there was significant property damage at Flesh -- possibly $100,000NZ worth -- twenty-odd patrons, staff and residents were able to escape without harm through an emergency exit. Incitement to hatred or violence based on sexual orientation or gender is now a crime in France, punishable by fines of up to 45,000 euros and up to a year's incarceration. In late December the French Senate passed the Government's bill that the National Assembly had approved earlier in the month. And finally... the late December tsunami in the Indian Ocean that devastated south Asian coastal areas may have disproportionately affected gays, since the tourist areas tend to be the most gay-friendly. Thailand's gay capital Phuket was hit hard, with more than five thousand dead and nearly four thousand missing, though the operators of the gay resort Connect encourage others to go ahead with plans to visit there. The Sri Lanka lesbigay group Companions on a Journey reported that thirty-six of its members died, nine are missing, and about 130 have been left homeless, though the rest are working hard to help them out. The group also reported that some homeless members have experienced homophobic harassment in the temporary camps set up by local governments. Another lesbigay group, Equal Ground, reported that a number of Sri Lanka's gay venues were completely wiped out. One of the better-known gay tourists who managed to survive in Sri Lanka was U.S. interior designer Nate Berkus, a regular guest on "The Oprah Winfrey Show". He was able to hang on to a telephone pole while the waves passed, though his partner photographer Fernando Bengoechea was swept away. The Indonesian areas closest to the epicenter of the undersea earthquake that triggered the tsunami had no regular contact with national lesbigay organizations, which at last report have not been able to obtain information. However the group GAYa NUSANTARA reported that Medan, the major city on Sumatra's east coast which has a sizeable gay population, was unaffected. Many lesbigay groups and venues around the world have been raising funds to support relief efforts. One way to contribute is via the Web site of ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, at www.ilga.org/donate.asp. You should indicate "Asia" in the "Comments" box.