NewsWrap for the week ending February 12, 2005 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #881, distributed 2-14-05) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon] Reported this week by Rick Watts and Cindy Friedman The Communist Party of the Philippines this week celebrated its first gay wedding between members of its New People's Army. The government of the heavily Catholic Philippines has so far rejected all legal recognition for same-gender couples, but the rebel CPP added marriage equality to its guiding policy in 1998. Comrades Andres and José were joined in a military ceremony identical to those held for heterosexual couples. Each held a bullet representing their "commitment in the armed struggle" as they exchanged vows while wrapped in a large CPP flag along with their Party sponsors. Other Party members sang revolutionary songs and made a bridge of rifles for them. One spokesperson for the Philippines' mainstream army called the widely-publicized wedding propaganda meant to recruit gays into the rebel army, while two others said it showed the Communists have no religion and no god. But the national lesbigay group PRO-Gay praised the CPP for advancing their civil rights, and called on the national Government to enact equality legislation instead of denouncing same-gender marriages. The U.S. Department of Defense this week reported fewer discharges of gay and lesbian servicemembers in 2004 than any time since it began tracking what it calls "homosexual discharges" in 1997. After reaching an all-time high of more than 1,227 in 2001, the first year of the Bush administration, those figures have dropped each year since to reach 653 in 2004. That's a 47% drop for the period, while 2004 figures were 15% lower than 2003. The discharges have decreased in all branches of the military. While the Pentagon refused to comment on the figures, there's little doubt the decrease represents the military's need for personnel and so-called "stop loss" policies in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq following the "9-11" terrorist attacks of 2001. Each time there's been armed conflict since the U.S. formally banned gays and lesbians from military service in World War II, those discharges have decreased, only to shoot up dramatically when the conflict ends. The ban's modification to the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of the last decade has not changed that pattern. Those who seek equal treatment for military gays and lesbians claim this pattern underscores the hypocrisy of the policy. It's doubtful that the diminished discharges reflect an improved environment for gays and lesbians serving in the U.S. military -- a record number of them contacted the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in 2004 seeking help against harassment and discrimination. Activist Scott McCoy this week became the first open gay or lesbian ever to be sworn into the state Senate of conservative Utah. Democrats from a Salt Lake City district selected him to replace their Senator who had to retire mid-term for medical reasons, and Governor Jon Huntsman followed their lead to appoint him. McCoy is an attorney currently serving as vice chair of the lesbigay civil rights group Equality Utah. He gained recognition as the leader of the Don't Amend Alliance, which unsuccessfully campaigned against Utah's constitutional amendment prohibiting same-gender marriages. The Washington state House this week approved openly gay Democratic Representative Ed Murray's bill to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in employment, housing and insurance. Over the last three decades the Washington House has passed several similar civil rights measures only to see them killed in the more conservative state Senate. But this year the Democrats have control of the Washington Senate, so Murray and other activists are hopeful that what will still be a struggle there will end with Washington becoming the 15th U.S. state to protect lesbigay civil rights. But more U.S. state legislatures are working on amending their state constitutions to ban same-gender marriages. Virginia's House of Delegates this week gave more than 80% approval to a proposed amendment and its Senate gave 75% approval to a very similar one. Should they reconcile the small differences this year, the proposed amendment would require approval by both houses again next year before going to a statewide ballot at the end of 2006. Despite the lopsided votes, the proposals faced vocal opposition, with one Senator comparing the bill to Nazism and the state's first openly gay lawmaker, Democratic Delegate Adam Ebbin, warning his colleagues that they would one day look back on the vote with shame. Alabama legislators made anti-marriage amendments their first votes on a statewide measure this session. This week the Alabama Senate gave unanimous approval to one proposal while the House approved a similar one by more than 90% despite several hours of opposition filibustering. Once the two houses reconcile the differences, the measure will go to the voters -- but one difference between the proposals is whether it should go on the 2006 November general election ballot or a primary election or special election ballot earlier that year. Both Virginia and Alabama already have laws in place against same-gender marriage. Meanwhile, last week's remarkable New York state trial court decision requiring New York City to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples is being appealed by the city. New York City attorneys are trying to get the appeal fast-tracked directly to the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals. The U.S. religious right is taking its opposition to same-gender marriage across the border to Canada. Members of the Canadian Parliament are being actively lobbied by U.S. citizens to oppose their Government's bill for marriage equality. The U.S. chapter of the Catholic men's group Knights of Columbus sent a five-figure contribution to support a church-based Canadian postcard campaign against marriage. The Colorado-based Christian media empire Focus on the Family has been pumping major funds and services into its affiliate Focus on the Family Canada for print ads and "action kits", while its leader James Dobson has used his airtime to denounce Canadian marriage. MPs say they won't be influenced by U.S. lobbying, while Canadians of all stripes seem to generally resent the interference. A bill to create legal registered partnerships for same-gender couples in the Czech Republic fell one vote shy of passage in the House of Deputies this week. It was the fourth time such a bill was defeated there but activists had been particularly hopeful this time because there was support within almost all of the parliamentary political parties. In an attempt to deter opposition, one clause of the bill would have specifically excluded registered partners from adopting children. Peru's highest court this week ordered the reinstatement of a police officer who'd been fired for marrying a transsexual. The national police maintained that José Antonio Alvarez had been disobedient in failing to seek his superior's permission before the marriage. But the Constitutional Tribunal cited Peru's constitutional guarantee of equal treatment regardless of sexual orientation in ordering that he be rehired. According to the Associated Press, Alvarez' wife was "outed" as a transsexual by his pregnant girlfriend 6 years ago -- and since then, the controversial marriage was annulled and he married that girlfriend. In Sweden, an appellate court this week reversed the hate speech conviction of a Pentecostal minister for a sermon he gave. The high-profile case last year saw minister Ake Green sentenced to a month in jail for inciting hatred against gays and lesbians -- the first time any clergymember had been convicted under that law. At issue was his 2003 sermon including a statement that, "[S] exual abnormalities are like a cancer growth on society's body." But the appeals court found Green intended only to explain his understanding of the Bible, and so he was within his rights. The prosecutor hopes to further appeal the case to Sweden's Supreme Court. And finally... by now you've heard plenty of stories of homosexual animals, and you might even know that Germany's Bremerhaven Zoo has three devoted long-term gay couples among its penguins. But zookeepers have a vested interest in their animals' reproduction, and even more so since these Humboldt penguins from South America are members of an endangered species. Some researchers believe captive penguins are more likely to form same-sex pairs due to lack of access to the opposite sex -- that it's what in humans has sometimes been called "situational homosexuality". So the Bremerhaven Zoo brought in four female penguins from Sweden to tempt their gay males. What the zoo wasn't prepared for was the mass of calls and e-mails it then received from angry gays and lesbians. Of course it didn't help that the zoo director described the procedure as a form of "aversion therapy". Actually the only pain inflicted on the gay penguins in the experiment -- which was closely monitored by outsiders -- was the pain of separation from their chosen partners as they were isolated with the Swedish females. Apparently the gay male birds simply pined until reunited with their male mates. Saying their "bond was too strong," the zoo has admitted defeat and abandoned the experiment for now, although there may be another attempt in the future. And the zoo is also looking out for those lonely Swedish females: two more males have been brought in, ones they hope are single and heterosexual.