"NewsWrap" for the week ending February 10, 2007 (As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #985, distributed 2-12-07) [Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Lucia Chappelle, Graham Underhill, and Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley] Reported this week by Jon Beaupre and Rick Watts Colombia's highest court ruled this week that gay and lesbian couples in long-term relationships should have the same rights to shared assets as heterosexual couples. The Constitutional Court’s decision marked the first recognition of same-gender couples' rights in the South American nation. A lawsuit filed by the gay and lesbian rights organization Colombia Diversa and members of the School of Law from the Universidad de los Andes led to the court ruling. The judges decided that if a lesbian or gay couple of two years or more separates, the assets accumulated during the relationship should be divided between the two, and in the case of death, the survivor should receive all the assets. Up until now, they automatically went to surviving blood relatives. The court struck down the definition of cohabiting couples as "men and women" in a 1990 law that gave unmarried couples joint ownership of land, and property rights when one partner died. The judges said the law must be gender neutral. Representatives of the country’s dominant Roman Catholic Church condemned the ruling, calling it "anti-family." They said it could open the door to same-gender marriage and adoption. Lesbigay activists applauded the decision, saying that it will benefit as many as 100,000 couples in the country. They vowed, however, to continue fighting for full parity with heterosexual couples. Same-gender couples in Portugal have also acquired some additional rights, according to a report by Joao Paulo on the Web site PortugalGay.PT. While it wasn’t clear if the changes instituted in late December came through court rulings or legislation, public employees who live in a same-gender relationship for at least two years can now extend their health coverage and certain other benefits to their partners. The nation's "de facto union" law now also covers immigration. A Portuguese citizen who lives with a foreign same-gender partner for at least three years, whether in Portugal or abroad, can sponsor the partner for Portuguese citizenship. A declaration from a judge is required to confirm the legitimacy of the relationship. The cabinet of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi this week approved legislation creating a form of civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. The bill is expected to be presented to Parliament later this month, but since Prodi’s government only has a one-seat majority, passage is far from certain. The opposition right of center coalition, led by former P.M. Silvio Berlusconi and aligned with the Vatican, opposes the measure. Prodi’s ability to secure cabinet approval is considered by many observers to be a major accomplishment in itself. A loose coalition of nine small parties ranging from Communists to Catholic centrists, his government has been trying to draft a civil partnership measure for months. While Prodi opposes full marriage equality, legal recognition of same-gender couples was part of an election platform that propelled him to a razor thin victory last year. Said to fall short of the UK’s "Civil Partnerships" law, and to be closer to France’s "Pacts of Civil Solidarity," the legislation would allow Italian lesbigay couples, as well as unmarried heterosexuals, to sign a civil registry. That would entitle them to share pensions and health insurance, gain hospital visitation and inheritance rights, and permit them to be considered the same as heterosexual married couples for public housing. Pope Benedict XVI last month warned Italian lawmakers that the Vatican will use all of its influence to defeat "Projects aimed at granting improper legal recognition to forms of unions other [than traditional marriage]..." Australia’s Attorney-General Philip Ruddock announced this week that the "Civil Partnerships Bill" introduced in December in the Australian Capital Territory ­- or A.C.T. ­ would be overturned if it’s€™s passed into law. Critics condemned the move as premature, since the legislation has yet to even be debated in the A.C.T. legislature. Similar in some ways to Australia’s individual states, the A.C.T. can pass laws governing its residents. A "Civil Unions Act" passed by the A.C.T. legislature last year would have granted all the rights of marriage except in name to same-gender couples. It was overruled by the Governor-General at the urging of the federal government because it was said to be too close to, and would therefore "undermine the institution of marriage." Ruddock said that the newest version of the bill doesn’t differ much from the earlier legislation. It removed a statement that same-gender unions were to be treated in the same way as marriages, but Ruddock said that it otherwise only changed the language it used to describe the relationships from "civil unions" to "civil partnerships." A.C.T. Attorney-General Simon Corbell angrily told reporters that, "This is incredibly high-handed and arrogant... They have in no way sought to engage in any dialogue with us. They have simply announced by press release that they will overturn a piece of legislation that hasn't even passed the A.C.T Assembly." He said the legislation would probably not be considered in the current session, but that it could be brought up after the next elections. "Maybe then," he said, "we'll have a federal government more willing to let the A.C.T. legislate for its own citizens." And Australia Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has denied previous reports that his Government's "Family Law (Same-Sex Adoption) Bill" would ban the recognition of more than one parent of foreign children adopted by Australian gay or lesbian couples. Ruddock said in a letter to "The Age" newspaper this week that the bill would only prevent same-gender adoptive parents from using the Government's inter-country adoption program. The complete text of the bill has yet to be released. A transgender woman in Nepal has won what LGBT rights advocates in the country are calling a major victory. The government has agreed to revise the citizenship records of Chanda Mausalman to show her gender as both male and female. Mausalman was born biologically male. She’s in her twenties and has not begun hormone therapy -- the first step in gender reassignment. She presents as female and applied to the government to have her official records amended. Blue Diamond Society, Nepal's major LGBT rights organization, said it’s the first time the government has officially recognized transsexuals. Effeminate gay men and transsexuals are routinely arrested and beaten by police in Nepal’s major city, Kathmandu. Britain’s Football Association has banned homophobic chanting by fans during matches. The Association's stadium regulations have focused until now primarily on racism, with the only mention of bias based on sexual orientation appearing in rules covering the behavior of players. The regulations, signed by all Premier League and Football League clubs, now explicitly target homophobia as unacceptable. The Association has even established a hotline to report any discriminatory behavior. The new rules, which will take effect next season, call for everyone connected with football to "behave in a sporting manner." Former U.S. professional basketball star John Amaechi has become the first National Basketball Association player to come out as a gay man. He’ll discuss his closeted career on an episode of the cable sports network ESPN program "Outside The Lines". His book, "Man In The Middle," in which he chronicles his NBA career and the challenges of being a closeted professional athlete, will be released later this month. Of Nigerian descent, Amaechi was raised in England by a single mother. The six-foot-ten center spent only one year playing high school basketball in the United States before becoming a standout on the Penn State University basketball team from 1992 to 1995, where he was twice named a First Team Academic All-American. Originally with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Amaechi became the first undrafted player in NBA history to start in his first game as a rookie. He played in 301 games over five seasons, mostly with the Utah Jazz and Orlando Magic, before retiring in 2003. Reaction by current NBA players has been generally positive. "So what?" one of his former coaches, Doc Rivers, now with the Boston Celtics, told reporters. "Can he rebound? Can he shoot? Can he defend?" About Ameachi’s being gay, he said, "I couldn't care a flying flip about [it]." Amaechi is listed on the Web site "100 Great Black Britons," and now runs a charitable foundation designed "to increase participation in physical activity and holistic support services by building affordable, quality facilities and making expert coaches, respected mentors and educators available to all young people." The foundation's first sports center was built in Manchester, England, close to Amaechi’s childhood home of Stockport. And finally, some queer activists in the U.S. state of Washington are challenging opponents of marriage equality to either put up or shut up. Washington’s Supreme Court last year cited procreation as the major reason to keep marriage exclusively heterosexual. Judges in several other U.S. states have used the same rationale to rule against marriage equality. The Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance has started circulating petitions for a ballot initiative that would require couples to prove that they can have children before they’re issued marriage licenses. It would also annul the marriage if a couple fails to have children within their first three years together. The lesbigay group has two additional proposals ­- one to outlaw divvorce for married couples who have children, and one stipulating that unmarried heterosexual couples who have children would automatically be considered legally married. The group needs to collect more than 200,000 signatures by July in order to qualify any of the measures for the Washington state ballot, which its leader Gregory Gadlow acknowledges will be difficult. Evan Wolfson, Executive Director of the national queer advocacy group Freedom to Marry, told San Francisco’s "Bay Area Reporter" that the initiative proposals, as absurd as they may be, have real educational value. "It's already triggered news stories all around the country and invited people to think through how they would feel if this kind of bogus reason were applied across the board," he said. "I wouldn't vote for it and I wouldn't sign the petition, but I'm happy to have the conversation."