"NewsWrap" for the week ending July 8, 2006 (As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #954, distributed 7-10-06) [Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Bill Kelley, and Rex Wockner] Reported this week by Kathy Sanchez and Charls Hall High courts in 2 U.S. states this week ruled against marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples. In what the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Matt Foreman called a "tortured and intellectually strained decision," New York's Court of Appeals said in a 4-to-2 ruling on July 6th that because heterosexual couples can have children accidentally -- while gay and lesbian couples can only choose to have them -- state law should therefore encourage heterosexual matrimony by denying same gender couples the right to marry. The majority decision, written by Judge Robert S. Smith, an appointee of Republican Governor George Pataki, said that the state constitution "does not compel the recognition of marriages between members of the same sex" because "Heterosexual intercourse has a natural tendency to lead to the birth of children; homosexual intercourse does not." It said limiting marriage to heterosexual couples was based on a sense that children are best raised by two opposite gender parents, even though there's no hard evidence to support that reasoning. In fact, according to a report released this week by the American Academy of Pediatrics, children of same gender couples benefit when their parents are able to marry or form civil unions. The ruling concluded that, "Whether [same gender] marriages should be recognized is a question to be addressed by the Legislature." In her dissenting opinion, Chief Judge Judith Kaye argued that, "It is uniquely the function of the Judicial Branch to safeguard individual liberties guaranteed by the New York State Constitution, and to order redress for their violation... The court's duty to protect constitutional rights is an imperative of the separation of powers, not its enemy. I am confident that future generations will look back on today's decision as an unfortunate misstep." Angry gays and lesbians gathered across New York State that night to protest the ruling. About a thousand people demonstrated in Sheridan Square in New York City's West Village. Hundreds of others protested in Albany, Rochester and four other cities around the state. As a side effect of the New York high court ruling, couples from that state who were part of a lawsuit in Massachusetts demanding the right to marry for out-of-state lesbigay couples will be dropped as plaintiffs. Even though the Bay State's Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of marriage equality in 2003, it upheld a 1913 law in March of this year banning any out-of-state couple from marrying there if the couple's home state would not legally recognize the marriage. However, the Court also said there could be exceptions for couples from Rhode Island and New York because marriage laws in those states seemed unclear at the time. That's now no longer the situation in New York. The case involving the Rhode Island couples returned to a lower court last week. A Washington state Supreme Court ruling in a marriage equality lawsuit has been pending since the case was heard in March 2005. Similar lawsuits are working their way up the judicial ladder in California and New Jersey. On the same day as the New York ruling was handed down, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously upheld the state's voter-approved constitutional amendment to ban same gender marriage, and to refuse to recognize lesbian and gay couples who've been legally united outside the state. It also denies Georgia courts jurisdiction over separations, property disputes, or any other legal issues "arising as a result of or in connection with any such relationship." The amendment's opponents had argued that the ballot measure violated state law by addressing more than one specific issue. But Georgia's high court decided that a proposal doesn't violate the single-subject rule as long as its various parts are germane to the main issue. Measures to ban marriage equality in state constitutions failed in the Pennsylvania legislature this week, and seem to be coming up short in a petition drive in Illinois. However, marriage equality opponents in Arizona submitted what appear to be enough signatures this week to qualify a November state ballot measure constitutionally banning same gender marriage in that state. The first legal same gender unions in Central Europe took place at registry offices across the Czech Republic this week. The country's civil partnership law came into effect on July 1st, but lesbian and gay couples there appeared reluctant to exchange vows under the media spotlight. Only 3 couples took advantage of the new law on its first day -- and none in the capital city of Prague. The first to register their partnership, in Ostrava in northern Moravia, was a gay male couple, identified only as Karel and a man variously named Pepa or Josef in different media reports. Well-wishers joined the couple as the men exchanged vows and then, with a string of tin cans attached to the bumper of their car, sped off to a small reception. The Czech law gives same gender couples who register their partnership inheritance and health care rights similar to those heterosexual married couples enjoy. It specifically does not, however, allow marriage or adoption. What was by most accounts a sensationally successful Pride parade on July 1st capped a 2-week European festival of LGBT culture in London. Streets in central London were closed as marchers, floats, dancers and bands joined the EuroPride procession. Spectators cheered as the parade, featuring a giant rainbow flag, wound its way along Oxford Street, through Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square, then Whitehall and Victoria Embankment. Organizers estimated the crowd at 750,000, while a Scotland Yard spokesperson set the number at 40,000, perhaps contributing to relatively minimal coverage of the event in mainstream media. About 40 uniformed Royal Navy personnel led the parade, thought to be a first at any Pride event in the world. Army and Royal Air Force personnel, however, were not given permission to take part in uniform. Several British lawmakers, along with Europe's first transgender politician, Italian M.P. Wladimiro Guadagno -- better known by her drag name Vladimir Luxuria -- spoke at a post-parade rally. "It's important to represent the whole community," Luxuria said, "to give them all a voice." Thousands of LGBT people and their supporters paraded in Caracas on July 2nd -- the sixth year in a row that Venezuela has held a Pride march. The colorful and lively parade, the closing event of a month of LGBT activities, ended at Plaza Venezuela with a post-parade rally, followed by music and dancing. One of the parade organizers, 21-year-old Georgi Martinez Torres -- who is also a nationally recognized gymnast -- marched bare-chested and flipped his way down the street to the delight of the crowd. "[We are here] to show the community that we don’t just go out at night, as many believe," he said, "and we are going to demonstrate how many of us there are." June 24th and 25th were also popular days for pride parades around the world. Drizzly skies didn't stop about 5,000 people from marching through central Dublin before thousands of spectators, said to be Ireland's largest Pride parade ever. Several thousand people also marched in Rome, while a larger Italian parade took place in Turin the week before. Hundreds of thousands made central Toronto festive, and as the Toronto Star reported, "Joining the revelry were many corporations, banks, car companies and phone service providers -- to name a few -- as well as politicians of all stripes, including a pack of Liberal [Party] leadership hopefuls." Four hundred people marched in Lisbon, while more than a thousand marched in Athens' second-ever Pride parade. At a post-parade festival, activists called for access to civil marriage and lesbigay-neutral sex education in schools. About 50,000 people turned out with Pride in the Dutch city of Zwolle, while queers and their friends in Valencia celebrated the first anniversary of Spain's marriage equality legislation at a parade with the theme of "For Diversity: All Families Matter." And finally, as the U.S. baseball season reaches the All Star break, one local gay night spot is "honoring" Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen -- well, sort of. The Kit Kat Lounge and Supper Club, known for its outrageous drag shows and celebrity-named martinis, has introduced the "Effen Ozzie Guillen-Tini," which comes with a copy of the Chicago "Sun-Times" sports section. Serving the paper on the side is a nod to "Sun-Times" sports columnist Jay Mariotti. Last month Guillen went on a tirade against Mariotti over a story criticizing the way he was managing the White Sox. "What a piece of 's' he is, f-ing fag," Guillen said about Mariotti in his well-publicized rant, which of course we can't fully report without violating U.S. broadcast obscenity laws. Guillen later apologized, but was fined by Baseball Commissioner "Bud" Selig, who also ordered him to undergo sensitivity training. In his apology Guillen claimed that he isn't homophobic and has "many friends" in the gay community. He also said he intends to visit the Gay Games in Chicago on July 17th, an off day for his team. The "Effen Ozzie Guillen-Tini" is made with assorted fresh fruit and Effen vodka -- the brand used in the drink, and also a euphemism for one of the curse words Guillen used. With the "Sun-Times" sports section, the cocktail costs 8 dollars and fifty cents.