NewsWrap
for the week ending April 15, 2006
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #942, distributed 4-17-06)
[Written this week Greg Gordon, with thanks to Graham Underhill and Rex 
Wockner]


Reported this week by Sheri Lunn and Jon Beaupré


  The Nigerian government has already proposed what could be the world's most 
draconian anti-lesbigay legislation, but it was made even worse this week 
during a first reading in the country's Senate.
The measure outlaws gay and lesbian marriage and makes advocacy for GLBT 
equality a crime, but it's been expanded to punish anyone who supports or 
celebrates same gender unions.
According to the Vanguard newspaper, the bill imposes 5-year prison terms for 
violations of the proposed law, including jail time for those who "witness, 
celebrate with or support couples involved in [a] homosexual relationship."  
One section of the bill states that "For the avoidance of doubt, only marriage 
entered into between a man and a woman under the Marriage Act or under the 
Islamic and customary laws are valid and recognized in Nigeria."
Under the measure, Nigeria would also deny recognition of marriage licenses 
legally issued to same gender couples in other countries. The clear intent of 
the bill is to make all favorable public discourse on homosexuality illegal 
there.


  But the Vatican's grip on Italian politics might be on the wane.  The 
center-left coalition led by Romano Prodi, who promised to introduce a civil 
partnership law for same gender couples if elected, appears to have won a very 
narrow victory in this week's national elections.  The current government of 
conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has close ties to the Vatican, and 
critics charged Pope Benedict XVI with meddling in civil politics in the weeks 
leading up to the election with speeches repeatedly condemning abortion and same 
gender unions.  Those were big social issues with voters, leading several 
thousand pro-queer and pro-choice Italians to demonstrate in the streets during 
the campaign.
Berlusconi is refusing to concede defeat, however, and is challenging the 
close vote, which could delay issuance of the final results for several weeks.
The International Lesbian and Gay Association -- or ILGA -- reported that 5 
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender candidates were also elected to the 
Italian parliament, including Vladimir Luxuria, who could be Europe's first 
transsexual elected official.  ILGA also believes that a Prodi-led government would 
improve Italy's anti-discrimination legislation and expand its hate crime laws 
to include sexual orientation and gender identity.


  A Serbian immigrant is being allowed to stay in Britain because deporting 
her would breach her right to a family life with another woman, according to a 
report this week in the London Telegraph.
The Court of Appeal ruled that 54-year-old Emine Krasniqi can remain in the 
country while the refugee status of her 24-year-old partner Albana Lamaj is 
decided.
Krasniqi, an Albanian from Serbia, and Lamaj, from Kosovo, fled to Britain 
separately after each was raped by Serb troops.
They now live together in Birmingham, raising Lamaj's child in what Lord 
Justice Sedley described as a "stable and committed family".
Adjudicator V. A. Osborne heard evidence from both women and found that 
although there was a sexual component to their relationship, it was "not the 
central force".  She said she was "satisfied that their relationship is an exclusive 
and enduring one."
Lord Justice Sedley, along with the Court of Appeal's Lady Justice Arden and 
Lord Justice Chadwick, said it was now conceded that neither woman would be 
able to live with the other, either in Serbia or in Kosovo.


  And bowing to pressure from members of parliament and international human 
rights groups, Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk has agreed to extend her 
stay of a controversial plan to deport Iranians who are lesbian, gay or 
Christian, according to a report by Expatica News.
Lawmakers from parties aligned with Verdonk's own party in the coalition 
government indicated this week that they would join the main opposition Labor 
party in fighting Verdonk's plan to send such refugees back to Iran.
Verdonk has claimed that conditions in Iran are safe enough for lesbigay 
people if they keep a low profile, even though homosexual sex is punishable by 
death there.  But deporting them "would result in certain torture, and the threat 
of death is very real," according to Scott Long, director of Human Rights 
Watch's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program.
Verdonk said the moratorium would remain in force until the Dutch foreign 
ministry can complete an investigation into conditions in Iran for gays and 
lesbians and converts to Christianity.  According to Expatica, that inquiry is 
likely to last until August or September.


  Reports are just coming in from Poland about 5 days of sleep-ins by 
protestors at the Warsaw gay club Le Madame in late March as police attempted to 
close it down.  At times, more than 200 demonstrators took part.
In the early morning hours of March 31st, however, when only about 50 people 
were inside the building, police conducted another raid and shut it down.
Activists told veteran journalist Doug Ireland that police beat some of the 
club's defenders who had chained themselves to pipes and railings, or went limp 
as they were hauled away.  Ireland reported that others regrouped across the 
street and chanted, "It's not over, it's just the beginning."
The city owns the building, and officials said the club had to be shut down 
because the space was needed for another unspecified use.
But the Polish Green Party, whose headquarters were at Le Madame, said the 
club was closed "because the right-wing government in Poland wanted to shut down 
this meeting point for civil society where artists, political activists, 
homosexuals, feminists and globalization critics met."


  But about 400 people marched in the third Pride parade in Phnom Penh, 
Cambodia, on March 31st.  Parties and other events continued through the weekend.  
According to a report by the German wire service Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the 
parade was organized by the Salt Lounge bar and sponsored by Population 
Services International, Family Health International and the Women's Network for 
Unity.


  There was both good news and bad news for equality activists in 3 U.S. 
states this week.
  In Kentucky, on the same day that he declared "Diversity Day" in the state, 
Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher issued an executive order removing sexual 
orientation from categories protected from discrimination in state employment. 
 The policy bans bias based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, 
religion, veteran status, and disability.  Sexual orientation had been added in 2003 
by the state's outgoing Democratic governor.  Fletcher's office told 
reporters that the governor believed removing sexual orientation was necessary to 
avoid conflicts with federal anti-discrimination workplace laws, which don't 
include protections based on sexual orientation.  However, critics charged Fletcher 
with pandering to the religious right as he gears up for a reelection bid.


  But an Indiana appeals court ruled this week in favor of allowing same 
gender couples to jointly adopt children.  Adoptions by unmarried couples in the s
tate were previously approved only if the child was the natural offspring of 
one partner or had already been adopted by one of them.
The victorious lesbian couple, who are in their mid-30s and have been 
together for more than 11 years, adopted an infant girl in April 2005, but a county 
judge had invalidated the adoption.  Patricia Logue, senior counsel for Lambda 
Legal, which represented the couple, described them as "elated", telling 
reporters that "they are hoping the state drops the case so they can get on with 
their lives."


  And the California Supreme Court this week again refused to hear an appeal 
challenging the state's domestic partner laws.  Opponents had appealed a 
January ruling from the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, charging that 
California's laws make domestic partners equivalent to spouses and therefore 
violate the voter-approved ban on same gender marriage, Proposition 22, which 
states in its entirety, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or 
recognized in California."
According to Kate Kendell of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and 
co-counsel in the case, "Domestic partnership is not marriage, and the Court wisely 
denied review of misguided and underhanded attempts to distort the language 
of Proposition 22 and strike down validly enacted legislation that protects 
lesbian and gay people and their families."
"These families will never be truly safe, however," noted Geoffrey Kors of 
the advocacy group Equality California, "until full marriage equality is 
achieved." 


  And finally, the Lyndale United Church of Christ in Minneapolis, Minnesota 
decided this week to stop performing civil marriages for heterosexuals because 
they're denied to gay and lesbian couples.
The 1.3 million-member United Church of Christ endorsed a resolution in 
support of same gender marriage during its national meeting last year.
Lyndale's Reverend Don Portwood says he'll officiate at religious ceremonies 
for both opposite and same gender couples, but that "I will no longer sign 
marriage licenses as an agent of the state of Minnesota until the state of 
Minnesota recognizes the loving commitment of all couples."
The congregation's April 9th vote mirrors similar actions in a handful of 
churches across the country, including some in the Unitarian Universalist Church.
And as we reported last week, LOGO -- the MTV Networks-owned cable channel 
specifically targeting the U.S. GLBT market -- has refused to air a welcoming TV 
spot by the United Church of Christ that specifically includes gays and 
lesbians, claiming that it disparages other religions.  This week 2 rivals -- here! 
TV and the Q Television Network -- announced that they'd be running the spot 
at no charge.
As the Christian world's Easter observances conclude around the globe, we're 
reminded of everything Jesus himself had to say about homosexuality...
(3 seconds of silence)