NewsWrap
for the week ending September 24, 2005
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #913, distributed 9-26-05)
[Written this week by Lucia Chappelle, with thanks to Cindy Friedman, Graham 
Underhill, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon]


Reported this week by Rick Watts and Christopher Gaal


  History was made in a St. Petersburg court this week with Russia's first 
ruling in favor of a gay person on a gay rights issue.  The litigant, identified 
as Mr. VP, sued the Russian State Railways after being denied a job because 
of his sexual orientation.  In 1992 Mr. VP was excluded from military service 
on the grounds that his homosexuality constituted a "perverse psychopathy" 
under the old Soviet classification of mental disorders.  A notation to that 
effect remained in his government records, even though homosexuality is no longer 
considered a disease in Russia.  The Budapest-based Mental Disability Advocacy 
Center, an international non-governmental organization, represented Mr. VP, 
arguing that his constitutional rights to education and employment had been 
violated, and that his homosexuality should never have been considered a disorder 
in the first place.  The court declared the use of military information to 
restrict human rights unlawful and re-affirmed that homosexuality is not a mental 
disorder.  Nikolai Alekseev, head of the organization GayRussia.ru, who is 
himself involved in an illegal dismissal suit against Lomonosov Moscow State 
University, called the ruling "a huge breakthrough in Russia for LGBT rights."  
However it remains to be seen how far the landmark ruling will carry, since 
precedent is not recognized in the Russian legal system.  Still, activists like 
Alekseev see this as the start of a new era -- as he put it, "The ball has 
started to roll and the court system is no longer immune to gay emancipation."


  Just a month after the execution of two gay teens caused an international 
outcry, persecution in Iran appears to be intensifying.  According to the 
Persian Gays & Lesbians Organisation a massive Internet entrapment campaign 
conducted by the morality police, fundamentalist militia, and the revolutionary guard 
has led to the arrest and torture of many gay men.  One such victim, Amir, 
received 100 lashes before managing to escape to Turkey, where he hopes to be 
granted asylum by a gay-friendly country.  The International Gay and Lesbian 
Human Rights Commission -- or IGLHRC -- expressed dismay that Iran's violations 
of international human rights agreements were not questioned at last week's 
gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.  IGLHRC has issued an urgent 
recommendation for Iran to be called to account for its actions against gays and 
lesbians at the newly formed U.N. Human Rights Council.


  If Amir the Iranian is looking for asylum in a gay-friendly country, Turkey 
is not the place for him.  Kaos GL -- the Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research 
and Solidarity Organisation -- is being threatened with closure by the Deputy 
Governor of Ankara.  After being in existence for nearly a decade, the leading 
Turkish LGBT group was approved for status as a non-governmental organization 
by the Ministry of the Interior, which passed the application on to its local 
Ankara branch.  However Deputy Governor Selahattin Ekremoglu cited two 
articles of the Turkish Civil Code which prohibit the establishment of any 
organization "that is against the laws and morality rules."  He initiated a court 
procedure to close down Kaos GL altogether.  Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, 
and the constitution provides for freedom of assembly.  Activists are warning 
the government that the move could also jeopardize Turkey's accession 
negotiation with the European Union, which also specifies freedom of association in 
its Charter of Fundamental Rights.


  The issue of same-gender marriage may be causing a break-up in Spain's main 
conservative opposition party.  Popular Party deputy leader Angel Acebes is 
spearheading the effort to draft a motion to have the 3-month-old marriage 
equality law struck down in Constitutional Court.  Other party powerbrokers are 
not on board with the plan, however, fearing the appearance of homophobia will 
hurt them come election-time.  Socialist Party leaders are seizing on the 
public split, pointing out that the Popular Party has opposed every attempt to 
advance the rights of lesbians and gays.  Recent polls indicate that over half of 
the population supports same-gender marriage.  Twenty-seven gay and lesbian 
couples have married in Spain since the law took effect July 3rd.


  In the U.S., the loudest marriage equality noise is coming out of 
California, where queer advocates have used petitions, email, phone calls and letters 
to lobby Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign the first bill legalizing 
same-gender marriage to come directly out of a state legislature.  Schwarzenegger 
has vowed to veto the bill, but as of September 23rd, the day the bill 
officially reached his desk, there's been no word of any action by the Governor.  
Meanwhile, the state Attorney General's office is moving ahead with its appeal of 
a recent court ruling that declared laws preventing same-gender marriage 
unconstitutional.


  Schwarzenegger says he's standing by a ballot measure against same-gender 
marriage passed by California voters five years ago, but activists in Oregon 
are suing their state to have a similar initiative ruled unconstitutional.  
About 3000 lesbian and gay couples received marriage licenses last year in 
Multnomah County, but they were nullified when the constitutional amendment was 
passed.  Some of those couples are involved in the current suit, which argues that 
the measure was "an improper and invalid exercise of the initiative power."


  And finally... while others in the queer world are racing to the altar, one 
famous gay couple has called it quits.  They've been an item for six years, 
raised an adopted child -- after desperately trying to conceive one on their 
own -- and became role models of fidelity in their New York City community... 
until a home-wrecking female from San Diego came along.  Silo and Roy, two male c
hinstrap penguins, have been among the stars of the Central Park Zoo since 
their relationship became public.  But now Silo has moved in with Scrappy, and 
poor Roy reportedly sits alone staring at the wall, apparently trying to avoid 
watching his former love making penguins with a new, younger mate.  Perhaps a 
personal ad would help, like "B and W divorced male seeks monogamous bird, 
destination: Canada...?"