"NewsWrap" for the week ending July 1, 2006 (As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #953, distributed 7-3-06) [Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Bill Kelley, and Rex Wockner] Reported this week by Rick Watts and Jon Beaupré June Pride season peaked around the world this week. Celebrations are held to commemorate the Stonewall Rebellion in June 1969, when patrons of that well-known gay bar on Christopher Street in New York City's Greenwich Village fought back against a routine police raid, giving birth to the modern-day movement for LGBT equality. Bolstered by news that leading candidates for the 2007 French presidential election have softened their opposition to same gender marriage, thousands of equality supporters paraded in Paris on June 24th under the slogan "Equality in 2007". The issue made headlines when Segolene Royal, the Socialist presidential front-runner, came out in support of same gender marriage, an abrupt personal policy reversal to conform with her party's written platform. "It is essential that everybody has equal rights and dignities and the chance to express themselves freely," Royal told the gay magazine Tetu last week. "Opening up marriage to same-sex couples is needed in the name of equality, visibility and respect," she said. Royal's main conservative rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, then said he would ask well-known philosopher Luc Ferry to provide him with a report on the implications of marriage equality. According to a recent opinion poll, 60 per cent of the French public support same gender marriage. However, French mayors officiate at marriages, and -- with the notable exception of openly gay Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë -- they appear less willing to embrace change. Some 12,500 of them, more than 1 in 3, have signed a petition opposing same gender unions. Tens of thousands of spectators gathered where it all began -- New York City -- lining Fifth Avenue on June 24th for that city's annual Pride march. Intermittent rain didn't deter the crowd, the route bathed in an ocean of rainbows and colorful floats. The Parade marked the first public appearance of singer Kevin Aviance, who triumphantly rolled down Fifth Avenue atop a circus-themed float just weeks after being viciously beaten and having his jaw broken by 4 young men yelling anti-gay slurs. "A few hateful homophobes will not set us back," said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who marched in the Parade. She's the first woman and first openly queer person elected to lead the Council. On San Francisco's Market Street the same day, a sea of festively dressed revelers looked on as marching bands, dancers and floats bearing corporate logos streamed by in that city's annual Pride parade. The Christopher Street West Parade in West Hollywood the week before also drew the usual large crowds to the weekend Pride festival. Political signs and banners, in those cities as elsewhere, focused on marriage equality and stopping anti-queer violence. Thousands gathered in Columbus, Ohio on June 23rd for that area's 25th annual Pride parade. Protestors along the route held large signs reading, "Homo sex is sin" and "God abhors you," while a boy in blue tie-dye clothing held up another: "2 Moms. 2 Dads. Too Cool." The largest demonstration of Pride in the history of the world took place in São Paulo, Brazil on June 17th, as nearly two-and-a-half million people turned out for that city's 10th annual Parade. However, violence against sexual minorities remains alarmingly high in that country. At least 81 Brazilians were murdered in anti-queer hate crimes last year. The parade theme was "Homophobia Is a Crime." Some 160,000 people hit the streets for the 28th annual Pride march on the same day in Mexico City. Organizers demanded equal rights and opportunities, legal recognition of queer families, and reform of the educational system to present LGBT people in a fair manner. The 5-hour parade began at the Angel of Independence monument and ended at the Zócalo, the huge square that is Mexico's political epicenter. Speakers at the post-parade rally included the president of the Mexico City Human Rights Commission and the director of the National Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS. Pop singer Gloria Trevi also spoke. "You should not have to fight for your rights to acquire them or have them, because you were born with them," she said. Trevi also performed her latest single, "Todos me miran", or "Everybody's Watching Me". Police officials in the Croatian capital of Zagreb said that about 500 officers provided protection for some 250 Pride parade participants on June 24th, which -- unlike similar marches in some other Eastern European cities -- was a peaceful event. As was the case at more violence-laden marches in Moscow and Warsaw recently, other LGBT activists from around the region participated. About 10,000 people marched in Zurich's Pride parade on June 10th, setting a new crowd record. The Swissinfo Web site reported that this year's parade was less outrageous than those of previous years, "with most people turning up in normal everyday clothing." A Pride spokesperson said that's likely a side effect of gays and lesbians becoming more integrated into Swiss society. And some 250 people marched in the first-ever Pride parade in Cork, Ireland on June 4th, according to a report in the Irish Independent newspaper. Although Cork has had a Pride festival for 15 years, organizers believe the city only recently has become cosmopolitan enough to welcome a parade. "The public really seemed to enjoy it and we will definitely be extending it next year," said a parade organizer. "It just seemed to go down a treat with people." In other news, Estonia's Parliament has voted to increase protections for lesbigay people. In a 62-to-18 vote on June 15th, lawmakers criminalized incitement of hatred or violence based on sexual orientation, among other specified categories. Violators face a fine or jail sentence. Another measure also banned discrimination based on sexual orientation. The author of the bills, People's Union M.P. Jaak Allik, said Estonia was lagging behind other European nations in protecting lesbigay people, and that "Now homophobia has been criminalized here as well." In a unanimous ruling in the U.S. this week, the Arkansas Supreme Court overturned that state's ban on gay and lesbian foster parenting. The decision noted that "the driving force behind... the regulations was not to promote the health, safety and welfare of foster children, but rather based upon the [state Child Welfare Review] Board's views of morality and its bias against homosexuals." The Court concluded that there is no credible evidence that being raised by lesbian or gay people causes academic or gender identity problems, as the state had argued. Lame duck Republican Governor Mike Huckabee, whose term expires in 2007, immediately called on the legislature to enact a measure to void the high court ruling. But Rita Sklar of the American Civil Liberties Union, which litigated the case, said the Court ruling itself could make legislation difficult to pass. She cited language in the ruling that said there was no connection between homosexuality and a child's welfare. Missouri officials dropped their appeal in a similar lesbigay fostering case earlier this month after passage of a measure that, among other things, repealed the state's sodomy law. That law had been cited as the primary basis for the fostering ban. The "Show Me" state finally brought its law books in line 3 years after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Texas case struck down all sodomy laws. And finally, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, facing a tough re-election battle this year, told a fundraising dinner for the west coast chapters of the Log Cabin Republicans in Hollywood this week that he was "proud to be on the same team" as his gay GOP cohorts. His speech reportedly helped raise more than 100,000 dollars for the gay Republican group. But both the Governor and his supporters were silent about his veto of a marriage equality bill last year, the first such legislation passed by state lawmakers anywhere in the country. Schwarzenegger has also vowed to veto a bill passed earlier this year by the state Senate -- even before it's been considered in the Assembly -- which would require that LGBT people's contributions to history be taught in California's public schools. Schwarzenegger has signed bills increasing rights for same-gender domestic partners and strengthening hate-crime protections. Some activists note, however, that the various domestic partner bills his GOP defenders point to would have been unnecessary had the Governor signed the marriage equality bill into law. Schwarzenegger's Democratic opponent in the upcoming November election, State Treasurer Phil Angelides, has said he would sign such a bill. "What does Arnold Schwarzenegger believe in, beyond trying to save his own job?" an Angelides campaign spokesperson asked rhetorically about the Governor's Log Cabin appearance. "One day he is vetoing civil rights bills, and the next day this." Schwarzenegger was also this year's recipient of the "Pink Brick" award, given annually by organizers of the San Francisco Pride Parade to someone who has done the most to deny LGBT people their civil rights. Still smarting over his September veto of that marriage equality legislation, nearly a third of the 3,043 mail-in ballots made him the top vote-getter, well ahead of runner-up Concerned Women for America, a national rightwing Christian group that campaigns against LGBT equality. And that's not the only rebuke the Governor has received. Organizers of Pride events in San Diego and Long Beach refused to publish the annual greeting and letter of appreciation that Schwarzenegger sent out last month ahead of this year's celebrations.