"NewsWrap" for the week ending October 21, 2006 (As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #969, distributed 10-23-06) [Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Graham Underhill, and Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley] Reported this week by Jon Beaupré and Tanya Kane-Parry U.S. Roman Catholic bishops announced this week that they're developing new guidelines for ministry to homosexuals, while reaffirming Church opposition to same-gender marriage and adoption by lesbians and gay men. The draft document encourages parishes to make gays and lesbians feel welcome and provide them pastoral support, claiming that many "are ardently striving to live their faith within the Catholic community so as not to fall into the lifestyle and values of a 'gay subculture.'" The proposed guidelines, in development since 2002, may be amended, but a final vote on them will be held at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in mid-November in Baltimore, Maryland. While condemning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the draft document reaffirms the Catholic view of homosexual attraction as "disordered," and that same-gender relationships "violate the true purpose of sexuality" -- as do adultery and contraception. Catholic teaching is based on "objective moral norms," not prejudice, the authors claim, and gays and lesbians should learn to live chastely and celibately. The document reportedly also says that Catholics should be denied Holy Communion if they "lack adherence to what the Church authoritatively teaches on matters of faith and morals." Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, wrote that "Much of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is working to protect our families, to be protected from discrimination and violence, and to have the freedom to serve in the U.S. military. So much for the 'immoral lifestyles' we are supposedly creating." The Roman Catholic priest named by disgraced Republican Congressman Mark Foley as having sexually abused him as a teenager spoke with reporters this week. From his home on the Mediterranean island of Gozo in Malta, now 72-year-old Anthony Mercieca talked about the intimate two-year relationship he had with Foley when the former congressman was a teenage altar boy living in Lake Worth, Florida. He described activities that he says now might be perceived as sexually inappropriate, but called his relationship with Foley "innocent". Among those activities: massaging Foley while the boy was naked, skinny-dipping together at a secluded lake, and being naked in the same room on overnight trips. Foley family sources who requested anonymity told reporters that the two did have one sexual encounter that took place when Foley was 12 or 13. The priest told reporters that he may have been going through a "nervous breakdown" at the time, which he said, "affected my mind a little bit." Experts say that a refusal to accept responsibility for their actions is typical of many sexually-abusive priests. Mercieca said he doesn't understand why Foley has decided to come forward after almost 40 years, wondering if he was looking for a scapegoat. "Why does he want to destroy me in my old age?" he asked. According to a Web site for the Diocese of Gozo, Mercieca is still listed as one of its active priests. Meanwhile, the U.S. House Ethics Committee continues to hear closed-door testimony about the Foley scandal amid conflicting statements from Republican leadership officials about who knew what and when they knew it. As we reported last week, former Democratic U.S. Representative Gerry Studds of Massachusetts, the first openly gay member of Congress, died on October 14th at the age of 69. In 2004 he married longtime partner Dean Hara after same-gender marriage was legalized in their state. But unlike the legal spouses of other members of Congress who've died, Hara won't be receiving any portion of Studds' annual federal pension -- which in his case would be about 62,000 U.S. dollars -- because the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act blocks the U.S. government from recognizing their marriage. Under federal law, pensions can otherwise only be denied to those convicted of espionage or treason. Hara has thus far declined public comment on the pension issue. The National Taxpayers Union, a nonprofit citizen watchdog group, noted that U.S. Congressman Bob Ney, the Ohio Republican who pled guilty last week to conspiracy charges and faces up to 10 years behind bars for taking bribes from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, will still receive his Congressional pension for the rest of his life -- even while he's in prison. Two British lesbians have abandoned their battle to force the United Kingdom to recognize their Canadian marriage. In July, the High Court Family Division upheld a U.K. law that automatically converted Sue Wilkinson and Celia Kitzinger's Canadian marriage into a civil partnership, as it does for all legal same-gender marriages conducted in other countries. The court also slammed the couple with the equivalent of more than 46,000 U.S. dollars in court costs. Wilkinson and Kitzinger say that's close to their life savings, and that they have no money to appeal the decision. "This financial penalty is clearly intended to deter us from seeking justice," they wrote in an email. "We will campaign in other ways instead." Ireland's High Court reserved judgment last week in a lawsuit filed by another lesbian couple married in Canada who seek to have their legal union recognized. Dr. Katherine Zappone and Dr. Ann Louise Gilligan want Ireland to recognize their Canadian marriage or give them the right to marry there. High Court Justice Elizabeth Dunne didn't indicate when she would issue her decision. Meanwhile, the European Commission has funded a two-year project called "Family Matters -- Supporting families to prevent violence against gay and lesbian youth." It will be run by the Department of Social Research at Italy's University of East Piedmont and by groups for parents, families and friends of gays and lesbians in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. The money will be spent on polling, on identifying public and social-service sector "good practice for families of homosexual young people," and to produce educational material, a documentary video, and a Web site. The Commission said lesbian and gay youth frequently lack support and role models, and that families of gays and lesbians need help to accept their children and assist them in dealing with self-esteem, bullying and discrimination. Hong Kong's government this week decided not to appeal a judicial ruling against its unequal age of consent law. While it still requires formal legislation, the move effectively lowers the homosexual age of consent in China's Special Administrative Region from 21 to 16. In his ruling that the unequal law governing the age of consent for homosexual relations was unconstitutional, Chief High Court Judge Geoffrey Ma wrote that "No evidence has been placed before us to explain why the minimum age requirement for buggery is 21, whereas as far as sexual intercourse between a man and a woman is concerned, the age of consent is only 16." In a brief statement, Hong Kong's Security Bureau said it would not challenge the court's decision, saying only that, "After considering all the relevant factors, the government decided not to appeal the judicial review." Lesbian and gay Iranians seeking asylum in the Netherlands will now be granted full residence status, according to an announcement this week by Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk. She had declared her intention earlier this year to end a moratorium on deportation of lesbigay Iranians, saying that they could not claim possible persecution if they were returned to their home country. "For homosexual men and women [in Iran]," she said, "it is not totally impossible to function in society, although they should be wary of coming out of the closet too openly." But after strong protests from Dutch and international human rights organizations, Verdonk reinstated the deportation ban for six months, pending a review of conditions in Iran. While there has been some disagreement among global human rights groups about whether or not the death penalty for homosexuality is being implemented in Iran, Verdonk said her decision this week was based primarily on new reports by Human Rights Watch. That group noted that Iran's Sharia penal code, the Code of Islamic Punishments, calls for the death penalty for homosexual male intercourse. Non-penetrative sex between men, the group says, is punishable by 100 lashes for the first three convictions, and execution the fourth time. In addition, men who "are not related by blood" and "lie naked under the same cover without any necessity" can be punished with 99 lashes. Sex between women is punishable by 100 lashes for the first two convictions and execution the third time. Human Rights Watch said this month that the government of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has tightened restrictions on civil society and increased punishments for dissent in recent months, including death sentences for so-called "morals" offences. But the office of Turkey's Public Prosecutor has dismissed an attempt by the governor of Bursa to shut down that province's transgender and gay rights group, Gökkusagi Dernegi, or Rainbow Association. Members of the group were forced to retreat inside their meeting place earlier this year after religious zealots and football hooligans attacked them as they attempted to hold a first-ever Pride march. The governor's office had claimed the group's existence violated laws that ban organizations that promote activities that are illegal or offend public morality. In its determination, the Prosecutor's Office wrote that "homosexuality is not an offense" and that the Rainbow Association exists "to reach accord with society and defend their rights while explaining their identity." The ruling concluded that the group had "not acted with a deliberate intention of offense." And finally, rock star Melissa Etheridge and her spouse Tammy Lynn Michaels have announced the arrival of twins -- Miller Steven, a boy, and Johnnie Rose, a girl. They were welcomed into the world by Melissa and birth mother Tammy on October 17th. Michaels and the twins are all reported to be doing well. According to a statement on Melissa's Web site, "The creation of life brings about immeasurable love, and pours hope into the future... The joy will help carry us through our upcoming sleepless nights."