NewsWrap for the week ending September 3, 2005 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #910, distributed 9-5-05) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon] Reported this week by Cindy Friedman and Jon Beaupré The California Senate this week approved a bill to open civil marriage to same-gender couples, the first state legislative body in the U.S. to do so. Passage came with the minimum required 21 votes in favor, all from Democrats. The 15 votes against the bill included all the Republican Senators and one Democrat, while three Democrats abstained. The bill spearheaded by openly gay Democratic Assemblymember from San Francisco Mark Leno moves next to the state Assembly, where in June a similar measure fell four votes shy of the minimum 41 votes in favor. One Assemblymember who was absent for that vote will support the bill this time, but whether three more "yeas" can be found is in doubt. Only one week remains in this legislative session. Even if the Assembly approves the bill, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's spokesperson this week indicated he would not sign it into law, citing Proposition 22, a ballot initiative restricting marriage to one man and one woman that voters passed by a large margin in 2000. Schwarzenegger already has another gay-supportive measure to consider. The Assembly gave final approval by 47-to-29 this week to a bill adding sexual orientation, gender identity and marital status to categories protected under California's civil rights law from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. While state courts have long recognized the law as protecting these groups, the bill clarifies the existing law -- particularly with respect to public accommodations -- by making that explicit. The Senate approved the same measure last week by a vote of 22-to-15. Both houses of the California legislature have also approved a resolution calling for repeal of the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that excludes open gays and lesbians from the U.S. military, the first state legislature in the nation to do so. The resolution introduced by openly lesbian Democratic Senator from San Diego Christine Kehoe was approved by the Senate 23-to-14 this week and by the Assembly 44-to-33 last week. Resolutions do not require the Governor's approval. An unusual legal struggle for equality in Canada regards divorce on the grounds of adultery. The federal Divorce Act does not actually include a definition of adultery, and the venerable common-law definition used in British Columbia does not recognize extramarital homosexual acts. While Canada offers no-fault divorce following a year of separation, adultery is one basis for an immediate divorce judgment. In December a heterosexual woman in Vancouver was denied that immediate judgment based on her husband's gay affair until the provincial trial court could hear arguments as to why his relationship should be recognized as adulterous. Those arguments were heard this week and the immediate divorce was granted as Justice Nicole Garson changed the traditional definition of adultery. It's the first such judgment in the nation and it's precedent-setting. Canada's Department of Justice was an intervener in the case and its position was that the Divorce Act must be interpreted in a manner consistent with the nation's new marriage equality legislation and with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which ensures equal treatment regardless of sexual orientation. The woman was represented by lesbigay rights activist attorney barbara findlay, who said the issue was of particular importance since Canada's legal same-gender marriages could be expected to lead to cases of homosexual adultery. The relationship debate in Ireland this week centered on adoption. The "Irish Catholic" newspaper apparently broke the story that this year the Attorney-General's office had interpreted the Adoption Act to mean that an individual could apply to adopt a child even if cohabiting with a partner, regardless of gender -- although only legally married couples can adopt jointly. Apparently the actual case the Attorney General's office had ruled on involved a woman in an unmarried heterosexual relationship. But the Adoption Board, which must approve all adoptions whether the child is Irish or from another country, confirmed that at least three individuals in gay or lesbian relationships had applied to adopt children from other nations. Another source said an international adoption was nearly complete for a woman in a lesbian relationship. Even though the Adoption Board has approved only 66 individual adoptions over the past 13 years, some conservative activists demanded immediate legislation to prohibit adoptions by gays and lesbians. Lesbigay activists and others believe Ireland's equality laws would not allow that. Justice Minister Brian Lenihan said the Government has no plans for legislation to open adoptions to same-gender couples. Britain's Government has launched consultation on major fertility law reforms, including opening equal access to treatments for lesbians and other women without male partners. A parliamentary committee had already harshly criticized the current requirement for physicians to consider if a child will have a father before administering treatment. The Department of Health was careful to note that even if the law changed, it did not necessarily mean that fertility treatments for women without male partners would be paid for by the National Health Service. Physicians are also concerned at health risks posed by the current lack of regulation of sperm donations arranged over the Internet, a system some lesbians have turned to since other options are often closed. The current Human Fertilization and Embryology Act is 15 years old and generally agreed to be lagging far behind the changing technology and social conditions. Also in Britain, the city of Manchester swelled with pride this week -- literally, as about a quarter-million visitors came to the original home of "Queer As Folk" for ten days of events. For the Pride Parade, crowd estimates ranged from 45 to 200,000. Of the thousands who actually marched, media coverage generally focused on just ten -- soldiers representing the British Army in the parade for the first time, as part of its first major recruitment drive at a lesbigay event. The Royal Air Force participated for the second time, this year presenting a float representing a fighter jet which, to quote the "London Times", "featured an oversized cockpit". Pride festival fund-raising for lesbigay, transgender and HIV charities set a new record. In Canada, thousands watched the pride parade in Ottawa, whose marchers included a number of gay and lesbian couples who were celebrating their legal marriages. The upbeat event may have been a little happier for an attempt to set a record for most same-gender couples kissing -- a promotion staged by radio station KISS-FM that may have had 5,000 people smooching. But there was no pride parade for Bulgaria's first national lesbigay-and-trans festival, after officials in the Black Sea city of Varna refused a permit. They cited a lack of clarity and precision in the application by the Bulgarian national lesbigay civil rights group Gemini. Mayor Kiril Yordanov also rejected Gemini's plan to set up two tents to distribute information in a public education campaign, saying it failed to meet the legal requirements of a "cultural event". Gemini proceeded with other events planned for private venues while threatening lawsuits and vowing to hold a parade next year. Leaders of Bulgaria's Orthodox Church had publicly criticized the event as destructive of Christian values and had threatened to stage a counter-demonstration. Miss Teen Bahamas beauty pageant winner Gari McDonald publicly identified herself as a lesbian this week, as she held a press conference to claim the pageant had discriminated against her because of her sexual orientation. The pageant committee then announced that they were stripping her of her title because she'd held that press conference without their permission. The committee denied they'd made any such decision previously, although they admitted that they do "not condone or support homosexuality." In fact one pageant official was quoted as saying teens should not have an established sexual identity and the pageant promotes abstinence. Stated principles of the pageant are shaping young Bahamian women in spirituality, social behavior, academics, and personal development. There are numerous claims and counterclaims between McDonald and the pageant, as she says she did not receive promised prizes or the chance to represent the Bahamas at an international pageant, while the Bahamas pageant committee says she failed to make scheduled appearances and that they had been privately investigating one individual's allegations that McDonald had sexually harassed her. McDonald's threatened lawsuit may be the only way the conflicting stories are ever sorted out. But for the teen queen to be a lesbian is pretty strong stuff in the Bahamas, where some religious groups have vigorously protested against gay cruise ships. And finally... lesbigay and trans people are among the many victims of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans in particular has a long gay history and has some of the most gay-supportive ordinances of the U.S. South. But the state laws in the affected areas and for the most common destinations for the storm's refugees are some of the least gay-supportive in the nation, and do not recognize same-gender relationships. This is bad news especially for couples separated by the disaster, but also for couples who need assistance in its wake. That situation is exacerbated since much of the relief effort is by anti-gay churches. There are even some religious leaders who have blamed the hurricane on New Orleans' big annual gay party called Southern Decadence, which was cancelled due to storm warnings. U.S. lesbigay organizations have joined in a coalition called the "Hurricane Katrina LGBT Relief Fund", which you can learn about at www.nyacyouth.org. Among mainstream organizations, the American Red Cross does not discriminate in its relief efforts.