“NewsWrap"
for the week ending October 27, 2007
(As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,022, distributed 10-29-07)
[Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley]

Reported this week by Sheri Lunn and Rick Watts

  Several smoke bombs were thrown into a nightclub in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on October 25th while about 200 people attending a conference of the European branch of ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, were partying there.  Soho nightclub is next to the conference venue. Happily, no one was seriously hurt, but there have as yet been no arrests.
The bombing came hours after the city's mayor, Juozas Imbrasas, refused to allow conference participants to hold a march and raise the rainbow flag, citing safety concerns over construction work being done along the planned route.  But ILGA Executive Director Patricia Prendiville told the “BBC” that no alternative route was offered, and that “There is no doubt that the City of Vilnius used the construction works as a cover.”
Vilnius officials also cancelled the visit of a tolerance-building bus tour sponsored by the European Union earlier this year, claiming that it would spark violence, and supported city transit workers who refused to drive trolleys with ads promoting LGBT rights.
Oskaras Jusys, Lithuania's Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had addressed the ILGA Conference the night before the club patrons were attacked.  She said that there is still a huge gap in the social development of the country as a result of 50 years of Soviet occupation, and that it will take some time before Lithuania reaches the same level of acceptance and tolerance that exists in Western Europe.
There was a report earlier this year that more than half of Lithuania's MPs believe homosexuality is a perversion.  They're currently debating legislation that would ban what is called the "propagation of homosexuality" to minors.  That would effectively ban the use of literature or films about gays and lesbians in schools, or any classroom discussion about sexual orientation.  A vote on the proposal is expected before Christmas.
Vladimir Simonko of the Lithuanian Gay League told reporters that "There is unfortunately institutional homophobia in Lithuania� it's hard work for us.”

  The Istanbul governor's office is trying to close down the Turkish LGBT rights group Lambda Istanbul.
The office claims that the group's objectives - and even its name - are illegal.
The Provincial Associations Directorate of the Governor's Office, which oversees nongovernmental organizations, says Lambda's projects violate a Civil Code article that says "no association may be founded for purposes against law and morality."
The office also said that the name "Lambda Istanbul" is itself illegal because "lambda" is not a Turkish word.
A hearing on the matter was held in mid-October, and the case was continued until January 31st.  The judge appointed a legal expert from Istanbul University to determine if Lambda's claim that it is not violating any laws is valid.

  LGBT activists in Singapore are vowing to continue a public education campaign after Parliament this week approved the first major revision of the city-state's penal code in 22 years without lifting a ban on consensual adult gay sex.  Lawmakers did repeal sections against heterosexual oral and anal sex, but left intact Section 377A, which outlaws gay male sex.  While no one has been charged in recent times under the “gross indecency” law, which dates back to British colonial rule, violators can be sentenced to two years in prison.
Proponents of repeal and those who wanted the law retained organized rival online petitions to support their causes.  Two days of heated debate in parliament centered on moral values and the need to maintain the traditional family as the cornerstone of society.
Singapore officials banned several LGBT Pride events earlier this year, claiming that each were contrary to public order.  But "The gay community in Singapore is here to stay.  We are not going away," said a statement issued by a coalition of disappointed queer advocacy groups.  Echoing an online rap video produced to support repeal, they said that "It's not just a gay thing.  It's about equality."

  Meanwhile, the far-right, rabidly homophobic Law and Justice Party-led government of Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski was ousted by the more moderate Civic Platform opposition party in national elections held on October 21st.  With the support of the smaller Peasant's Party, the election gives Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk enough votes to be named Prime Minister and form a new coalition government.
Tusk campaigned on better ties with Europe and opposition to Poland's participation in the war in Iraq.
Earlier this year Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg sharply criticized Kaczynski's government for what he called an abysmal record in its treatment of gays and lesbians.  That followed a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that prior to his election as President, Jaroslaw's twin brother Lech Kaczynski, as mayor of Warsaw, acted illegally in banning LGBT Pride marches.  Lech will remain the country's president until his term expires in 2010.
Analysts believe that Tusk's Civic Platform party, while also socially conservative, is less likely to be as actively anti-queer as the outgoing far right coalition, but it's not expected to advance any new pro-LGBT civil rights measures.   However, the party also pledged during the campaign to sign on to the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights, which broadly mirrors the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  That document calls for sexual minorities to be protected from all forms of discrimination.

  More than 16,000 same-gender couples registered their unions under the United Kingdom's marriage-like civil partnership law in 2006, its first full year of existence, according to information issued in mid-October by the Office for National Statistics.  Ninety percent of the unions were in England, 6 percent in Scotland, 3 percent in Wales and 1 percent in Northern Ireland.  About one in four ceremonies were celebrated in London.
Sixty percent of the unions were between men, whose average age was 47; for women, 44.
A civil partnership carries rights and obligations generally equivalent to marriage within the UK.

  And New Zealand has reached its 1,000th civil union, according to a government report issued this week.  The law went into effect in April 2005.
Civil unions are open to same-gender and heterosexual couples who are at least 18, not related, and live together.  Heterosexual couples, of course, have the option of marriage.  The report said that four in five civil unions have been between same-gender couples.
Openly gay Labor MP Tim Barnett, who sponsored the 2005 legislation, called the milestone “a great reason for a celebration," and told reporters that the law "recognized the reality of New Zealand relationships.  It was opposed in raw and prejudiced ways.  It has turned out to be a comprehensive success.”

  “The Hill,” considered an authoritative source on the inner workings of the U.S. Congress, reported late this week that House Democrats have decided not to allow openly lesbian Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin to introduce an amendment to restore transgender protections to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA.  That provision was stripped from the original legislation that bans workplace bias based on sexual orientation after its lead sponsor, openly gay Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, determined that there weren't enough votes to pass a transgender-inclusive bill.  First-term Democratic House members reportedly told Speaker Nancy Pelosi that they fear an affirmative vote on transgender protections would expose them to attacks from conservatives and hurt their re-election efforts next year.
A scheduled floor vote on ENDA this week was also postponed, though reasons for the delay were not immediately clear.
It's increasingly a moot point, as a statement from George W. Bush's office this week confirmed that the president would veto any form of ENDA that reaches his desk.

  In other news, “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling sent shockwaves around the world late last week when she “outed” as gay one of the series' most beloved characters, Hogwarts wizard school headmaster Albus Dumbledore, during a sold-out promotional appearance at New York City's Carnegie Hall.  A young fan had asked Rowling during a Q&A session if Dumbledore ever finds true love.  She said that he was in love with rival wizard Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and evil, and called it Dumbeldore's "great tragedy."
She described the headmaster's love interest as a significant part of her plot's twists and turns, and said that she knew that Dumbledore was a gay man even as she began writing her first “Potter” book.
Some fundamentalist religious groups have condemned the series as a promotion of witchcraft, so their predictable reaction to Dumbledore's “outing” was that Rowling was now “promoting” homosexuality.  But Rowling told reporters this week in Toronto that while she was a bit surprised by the strong reaction to her revelation, "It has certainly never been news to me that a brave and brilliant man could love other men."
She said that she thought of her “Potter” books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority."

  And finally, about one in four secondary school students in Ho Chi Minh City thinks that at least ten percent of their schoolmates are gay or lesbian, according to a survey released this week by Vietnam's University of Pedagogy that a “Thanh Nien News” report called “startling”.
Eighty percent said “no” when asked “Is homosexuality bad?”
That attitude is in sharp contrast to parents who sought professional help after a child came out to them, according to mental health experts cited in the newspaper's report.  Most expressed shock and dismay, and worried that the social stigma associated with being gay or lesbian would push their child into depression, rebellion, or even suicide.
But while 2 percent of the students polled said that they looked at gay and lesbian peers with contempt, more than 72 percent who had gay or lesbian classmates said that they remained friends after discovering their friends' sexual orientation.
“And the children shall lead them...”


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