“NewsWrap" for the week ending December 8, 2007 (As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,028, distributed 12-10-07) [Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley] Reported this week by Tanya Kane-Parry and DonnaAnn Ward As 2007 draws to a close, Brazilian LGBT activists have a historic event to look forward to in the New Year. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has scheduled a precedent-setting national summit to discuss LGBT civil rights legislation and the prevention of homophobia. The landmark conference was announced in the “Official Gazette” last week, and will be held from May 8th to 11th. About 700 people are expected to participate, including representatives from the president's office, cabinet members, legislators, and LGBT organizations. According to media reports, initial conferences will be held in Brazil's 27 states to develop specific proposals and elect delegates to the national gathering. A spokesperson for Lula said that the conference would address the development of a national LGBT human rights plan and evaluate the government's existing "Brazil Without Homophobia" initiative. Legal recognition of same-gender relationships, and proposals to allow gay and lesbian couples to adopt, will reportedly also be on the agenda. LGBT civil rights organizer Julian Rodrigues hailed the pending summit, telling reporters that "There are countries with more advanced legislation and policies, but this will be the first time that a federal government convenes a complete conference." Homosexual acts are legal in Brazil, and civil union laws have been passed in some regions, but queer activists have been pressing for full civil rights for more than a decade in a country where discrimination and queer-bashing remain significant problems. Elsewhere in Latin America, Venezuelan voters narrowly rejected a referendum on constitutional reforms on December 2nd that would have made the country the first on the continent to protect the civil rights of LGBT people. But new provisions would have also allowed President Hugo Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely and expanded his powers. Opponents worried that passage of the reform package could have paved the way for a Chavez dictatorship. President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections - also on December 2nd - while more than a dozen gay rights activists were being arrested at a Moscow polling station. The group intended to protest Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, a vocal opponent of LGBT rights, who was expected to vote there later that day. A Moscow court dismissed a libel lawsuit filed by queer activists earlier this year against Luzhkov for calling LGBT rights marches "satanic." Many observers believe Lushkov's hard-line homophobia is implicitly supported by the Kremlin. Putin also won a seat in Parliament, which would allow him to become Russia's Prime Minister after he officially leaves the presidency. Several opposition leaders accused his government of rigging the vote. The combination of an intransigent Republican President George W. Bush and a slim Democratic Congressional majority seem to have doomed any queer-positive U.S. legislation from becoming law this year, and possibly even until after next year's November elections. Following weeks of public rancor in the LGBT movement over passage of the transgender-less ENDA - the Employment Non-Discrimination Act - the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which passed as a stand-alone bill in the House but only as an amendment to a key Defense spending bill in the Senate, was deleted this week prior to a House-Senate conference committee charged with reconciling the legislation. The hate crimes measure, named for murdered gay Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, would have expanded existing federal laws, which already cover race and ethnicity, to allow federal prosecution of violent hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability. It would have also provided grants to help state and local law enforcement agencies prosecute hate crimes of all types, a provision that enjoyed widespread support among police departments across the country. Although the bill explicitly limited enforcement to violent acts, conservative religious groups claimed that preachers could be prosecuted for condemning homosexuality from the pulpit. Senate Democrats had attached the hate crimes amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act because they believed it was the only way to avoid a Bush veto. But about 30 liberal House Democrats reportedly threatened to vote against the combined Defense spending and hate crimes measure because they oppose Bush's Iraq war policies, while more than 150 Republican House members opposed any defense spending bill that included the hate crimes amendment. Congressional leaders determined that there weren't enough votes to insure passage of the combined measures. White House officials have insisted that Bush would have refused to sign a hate crimes-inclusive Defense spending bill, forcing legislators to drop the amendment from the critical Pentagon spending bill anyway. Judy and Dennis Shepard, Matthew's parents, issued a statement calling the hate crimes defeat “a small triumph of process over principle. We are dedicated to redoubling our efforts next year to achieve our vision of a hate-free America that truly includes everyone.” If they reach his desk, Bush will almost certainly veto the as-yet-to-be Congressionally reconciled ENDA, and legislation to repeal the U.S. military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, currently still in committee, but for which there is substantial bipartisan support. Passage of those queer-positive measures, as well as a proposed stand-alone hate crimes bill in the Senate, may be much more difficult in the coming election year, and any queer-positive legislation may have to wait for a more supportive president and friendlier Congress in 2009. In other news, despite an order by Iran's Chief Justice in late November that his conviction and death sentence be reviewed in a new trial, 21-year-old Makwan Moloudzadeh was secretly hanged on December 5th at Kermanshah Central Prison for the so-called “rape” of boys his own age when they were all just 13 years old. Neither his family nor his lawyers were given prior notice of the execution, as required by Iranian law, and only learned about it when prison authorities told them to pick up the body. The young man, and all the “witnesses” against him, repeatedly said their statements about the alleged crimes were coerced by the police, and in fact the witnesses recanted their accusations following Makwan's conviction. The Chief Justice's ruling sent the case to the Special Supervision Bureau of the Iranian Justice Department, a group of judges who are responsible for reviewing flawed cases he refers to them. However, the judges inexplicably decided to uphold the original court's ruling and ordered that the execution be carried out immediately. Two international treaties to which Iran is a signatory - the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child - both forbid the imposition of the death penalty for crimes committed before the age of 18, and Iranian law itself bans the execution for sodomy of anyone who was under the age of 15 when the crime was committed. There have been several reports, all denied by Iranian authorities, that this was far from the first execution of a defendant who was under age at the time of his alleged offense. Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director of IGLHRC - the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission - which first reported the execution this week, called it “a shameful and outrageous travesty of justice... How many more young Iranians have to die before the international community takes action?” Meanwhile, Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana has announced that it is suing the country's Department of Civil and National Registration because it refused to officially register the group, citing the African nation's laws outlawing male and female homosexual acts. The registrar may deny registration to any local organization, according to local reports, "when it appears to him or her that the proposed society's objectives are likely to be used for an unlawful purpose, thus disturbing the country's peace, welfare and good order." The group's lawyers argue that “this matter implicates a whole array of constitutional rights and protections, not least of which are the right to freedom of expression, freedom of association as well as the right to the equal protection of the law." Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana can't legally raise funds unless it is an officially registered organization. But finally, the sustained popularity of fellow lesbian luminaries like kd lang, Melissa Etheridge and Ellen DeGeneres has probably made it easier for tennis legend Martina Navratilova to get a new job: health and fitness ambassador for the AARP, the American Association of Retired People, an advocacy group for people over the age of 50. Unlike heterosexual sports stars of her stature, commercial endorsements for Navratilova have been few and far between. Beginning in January, however, she'll encourage AARP's 39 million members to stay active via the group's Web site, AARPfitness.com, offering health tips and exercise routines that she herself will help develop. According to a press release, Navratilova will also participate in various AARP events throughout the coming year. The 51-year-old tennis star said that “My goal is to let my generation know that though staying fit takes work, it's just as important now -- if not more -- than ever before." ************************************** Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001)