NewsWrap
for the week ending February 19, 2005
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #882, distributed 2-21-05)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill,
Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon]


Reported this week by Cindy Friedman and Jon Beaupré


  Russia's Supreme Court this week found that it lacks the authority to open 
marriage to same-gender couples.  For that reason it dismissed the appeal of 
two gay men who were asking the court to amend two clauses of Russia's Family 
Code.  Plaintiffs Edward Murzin, a member of the Bashkortostan State Assembly, 
and Eduard Mishin, editor of "Kveer" magazine, had applied for a marriage 
license in Moscow last month but were rejected.  They believe it violates both 
Russia's constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights to restrict 
marriage to heterosexual couples.  They're not actually a couple themselves but 
they plan to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in their quest to 
open marriage to Russian gays and lesbians.


  Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin:
"... we must always remember that 'separate but equal' is not equal."
Canada's Liberal Party Prime Minister Paul Martin this week led off the 
second reading of his Government's bill to open marriage to same-gender couples 
with a ringing endorsement of equality's importance to the nation.  He said:
"To those who would oppose this bill, I urge you to consider that the core of 
the issue before us today is whether the rights of all Canadians are to be 
respected.  I believe they must be.  Justice demands it.  Fairness demands it.  
The Canada we love demands it."
Emphasizing that the courts of seven provinces and one territory have already 
changed the definition of marriage, he attempted to reframe the debate, 
saying,
"... there is only one issue before this House in this debate.  For most 
Canadians, in most parts of our country, same-sex marriage is already the law of 
the land.  Thus the issue is not whether rights are to be granted.  The issue 
is whether rights that have been granted are to be taken away."
To override the courts would require invoking the so-called "notwithstanding" 
clause, something no Prime Minister has ever done -- and something Martin 
claimed would threaten the rights of all Canadians.  Marriage equality opponents 
who have said it would not be necessary to use the notwithstanding clause to 
return to a heterosexual definition of marriage Martin called "insincere," 
"disingenuous" and "wrong," citing the opinion of 134 constitutional law scholars.


  Leader of the Opposition Conservative Party Stephen Harper called Martin's 
approach a "blindly ideological interpretation of the charter".  He proposed 
an amendment in which the Commons would deny the bill a second reading because 
"the principle of the bill fails to define marriage as the union of one man 
and one woman to the exclusion of all others."  Calling compromise "the real 
Canadian way," he said his party would be proposing further amendments to define 
marriage exclusively as between one man and one woman while allowing the 
provinces to offer same-gender couples equal legal standing through other forms of 
civil union.  He said his party would also be offering amendments to protect 
everyone who wanted to stand apart from same-gender marriages, not just 
religious leaders asked to perform weddings.
Harper stated flatly that, "Same-sex marriage is not a human right."  He 
cited a United Nations commission's 2002 response to New Zealanders seeking 
marriage equality.


  Marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples is a current legislative 
issue in New Zealand, one that's fueled some massive religious protests.  At this 
week's Big Gay Out pride festival in Auckland, some confrontations with 
religious protesters got physical, at least to the point of pushing and shoving, 
although no arrests or injuries resulted.  Justin Pearce of the Independent 
Baptist Church came with a sign reading, "God Hates Homosexuality" and tried to 
preach to the several thousand lesbigays his belief the Bible calls their sex 
sinful.  His intended audience also tried to drown him out with chants of "shame" 
and an accordion, while the renowned openly lesbian entertainers the Topp 
Twins offered him hugs instead.  After a while the crowd simply ignored him and 
his fellow demonstrators. 


  In other recent pride news from Down Under, the 10th annual Pride March in 
Melbourne, Australia was widely praised for the quality of its organizing and 
set some new records.  An estimated 60,000 lesbigay and trans people marched 
in 99 contingents before a crowd of about 50,000.  The state of Victoria's 
Police Show Band participated for the first time, and the Princes Hill Secondary 
College became the first school ever to officially support and join the march.  
There were numerous events and exhibits in the Midsumma festival surrounding 
the end-of-January Melbourne Pride March, including non-legal wedding 
ceremonies.  But the talk of the city were the four-meter tall banners on Melbourne 
Town Hall.  Their photos by Angela Bailey showed men and women cross-dressed in 
the outfits of comic book superheroes.


  Earlier this month the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival held its 
launch rally and concert with a crowd of 10 to 12,000 revellers.  New South 
Wales Governor Marie Bashir gave a welcoming address.  The festival features 
more than 100 events and exhibits before the culminating Mardi Gras parade.


  This week Valentine's Day was marked by several events around Australia.  A 
Love-In for Love Equality in Brisbane organized a campaign for equal 
treatment of gay youth under Queensland state law, which although gender-neutral 
currently applies a higher age of consent to anal sex than to other acts.  The 
year-old national group Australian Marriage Equality held its official launch 
event, a speaker's forum in Sydney.


  There were also Valentine's Day actions around the U.S., where groups have 
made February Freedom to Marry Month.  In California's 7th Freedom to Marry 
campaign, gay and lesbian couples attempted to apply for marriage licenses in 58 
counties and even nine high school couples in Victorville held a mock wedding 
as a demonstration of support.  But by far the most widely reported event was 
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's City Hall celebration of the anniversaries 
of the more than 4,000 gay and lesbian couples who were married there last 
year.  Legal action stopped the city from licensing those marriages after about 
four weeks, and later the California Supreme Court voided them all.  Newsom 
urged a crowd of about 1,500 to continue the struggle.
Other places where same-gender couples were applying for marriage licenses 
and being rejected included Allentown, Pennsylvania and Pontiac, Michigan.


  At least a half-dozen demonstrations were staged around the U.S.  In 
Houston, Texas there was a mass wedding for 42 same-gender couples at the local 
gay-supportive Metropolitan Community Church.  A rally of about 700 people outside 
the State House in Olympia, Washington emphasized religious support for 
marriage equality.


  There were dueling demonstrations at the state capitol in Santa Fe, New 
Mexico as Republicans held a rally celebrating so-called traditional marriage and 
family.  But supporters of gay and lesbian marriage were demonstrating by the 
hundreds there as well, including at least one couple celebrating the 
anniversary of their marriage a year ago in Sandoval County.  New Mexico's 
Attorney-General intervened to stop the licensing of same-gender couples there with an 
opinion that those marriages were illegal.


  African-American anti-gay conservative pundit and never-elected political 
hopeful Alan Keyes has cut ties with his 19-year-old lesbian daughter Maya 
Marcel-Keyes after it was announced she'd be a featured speaker at a rally in 
Maryland.  The rally launched a lobby day this week by the lesbigay group Equality 
Maryland.  Marcel-Keyes devoted most of her speech to the plight of a gay 
male friend who had been thrown out by his conservative family and died a victim 
of abuse and life on the street.  But she revealed that her own family has 
stopped communicating with her, ejected her from their home and cut off her 
college tuition.  Unlike her friend, she's received hundreds of offers of support 
and even a scholarship from the Point Foundation, a group that helps keep 
throw-away gays and lesbians in college.  Her father famously remarked in an 
interview last year that the Vice President's lesbian daughter Mary Cheney is "a 
selfish hedonist" and went on to say, "If my daughter were a lesbian, I'd look at 
her and say, 'That is a relationship that is based on selfish hedonism.'  I 
would also tell my daughter that it's a sin, and she needs to pray to the Lord 
God to help her deal with that sin."  Marcel-Keyes describes her father as 
having "a lot of integrity".


  Britain this week saw the first announcement of a gay male couple's 
engagement ever to be printed in the 220-year-old "Times of London".  John O'Connor 
and Mark Jones announced they will be blessed at an Anglican Church in London 
once they contract a legal Civil Partnership.  The British Parliament hasn't 
actually created those civil partnerships yet, but the bill is in progress and 
is expected to be enacted later this year.


  And finally... openly lesbian rocker Melissa Etheridge has won Grammy 
Awards in the past, but although she was a failed nominee at this week's Grammy 
festivities, she won something bigger than a statuette.  She performed in a 
heartfelt tribute to Janis Joplin in her first public appearance since announcing 
she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer.  She was successfully treated for that 
disease, but she thrilled thousands of cancer survivors by daring to show a 
side-effect of her chemotherapy to the Grammy crowd and a huge TV audience.  In 
a move that brought much media attention to cancer, Etheridge appeared on 
stage and on the arm of her partner Tammy Lynn Michaels looking healthy and 
beautiful with a gleaming bald head.