“NewsWrap" for the week ending March 15, 2008 (As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,042, distributed 3-17-08) [Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley] Reported this week by Bridgette Strong and Leigh Moore José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist party was re-elected in Spain on March 9th - but not without a bitter campaign that included threats by the conservative opposition Partido Popular to overturn the country's marriage equality law, and accusations that the Vatican was meddling in Spanish affairs. Zapatero has repeatedly cited passage of the marriage equality law in 2005 as one of his major accomplishments. Partido Popular leader Mariano Rajoy regularly charged during the campaign that actions by Zapatero's administration were diminishing the country's morals. Spain's Roman Catholic Bishops Conference issued a statement last month urging voters to defeat the Socialists. But a survey released around the same time by Instituto Opina showed that nearly 75 percent of those questioned said that they're comfortable with the marriage equality law, and only 18 percent favored repealing it. The Socialists won 169 seats compared with the Partido Popular's 153. The biggest issues Zapatero faces in his second term are a stagnant economy, immigration, and the resurgence of militant Basque separatists. Romano Prodi, who as Italy's Prime Minister tried to fulfill a campaign promise of legal recognition for same-gender couples, has announced that he's quitting politics. He lost a confidence vote in Parliament in January after a nine-party coalition government he was leading fell apart. Prodi's support for lesbigay rights caused tension in the coalition, which ranged from Communists to parties affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. He told Sky TG23 television this week that "I am finished with Italian politics and possibly also with politics in general... The world is full of opportunities and... There is always something new to build." Prodi heads a caretaker government until the country holds a general election next month. Polls indicate that conservative politician, media magnate and Vatican friend Silvio Berlusconi, the man Prodi ousted in the last election, will again become Prime Minister, which does not bode well for any legislative advances for the country's LGBT people. Also quitting politics this week, but for other reasons, was Democratic New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. His payments to high-end call girls, who traveled across state lines to meet with him, led to charges of federal finance law violations. Spitzer has been a staunch LGBT ally during his political career, and as governor called marriage legislation for same-gender couples a high priority. That measure passed in the state House last year, but the Republican-controlled Senate has not allowed debate on the bill. In light of the resignation, Lieutenant Governor David Paterson becomes the state's first African-American governor, and the first legally blind governor in U.S. history. He served previously as the state Senate Minority leader before joining Spitzer on the Democratic ticket. Paterson vigorously advocated for the marriage equality measure, and LGBT rights activists say he's been a progressive ally for more than 20 years. Paterson told the LGBT “New York Blade” newspaper early last year that "One of the reasons we need same-sex marriage is because the statistics for heterosexual marriage are so bad; that might be a way to upgrade some of the success rates." The Norwegian government has introduced legislation opening legal marriage to lesbigay couples and granting them joint child custody rights. The Scandinavian country has, since 1993, allowed same-gender civil partnerships, but LGBT rights groups have long argued that it's a second-class status for those couples. The new legislation amends the definition of civil marriage to make it gender neutral. It also says that when a lesbian who is married to another woman becomes pregnant through in vitro, the partner will have all the rights of parenthood "from the moment of conception,” and that in adoptions by gay or lesbian couples, both partners would have joint parenting rights. While formally introducing the bill, Family Issues minister Anniken Huitfeldt told Parliament that, contrary to some opponents' claims, "The new law won't weaken marriage as an institution. Rather, it will strengthen it. Marriage won't be worth less because more can take part in it." Even though the coalition government has a majority in Parliament, some of its members have said they'll vote against the measure. Parliament's second-largest bloc, the Party of Progress, and the smaller Christian Democratic Party, both immediately said they'd oppose the bill. Analysts believe some of its more controversial provisions may have to be abandoned if the legislation has any chance of passage. Meanwhile, the constitutional arm of Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice has ruled that same-gender marriages cannot be constitutionally authorized - even though the South American nation's Constitution bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. The March 4th decision cited a 1999 constitutional edict “to protect monogamous matrimony between a man and a woman as the essential nucleus that gives origin to the family in the Venezuelan historic and cultural context.” But, the tribunal added, "The court wants to emphasize that the constitutional norm does not prohibit or condemn common-law unions between persons of the same sex, which find constitutional cover in the fundamental right of free development of the personality.” A dissenting decision by Judge Carmen Zuleta de Merchán supported full marriage equality, arguing that the other justices were influenced by ingrained social and religious prejudices. A statement issued by the queer group Affirmative Union of Venezuela called the ruling “an advance with respect to the previous situation in which we had no legal existence... We commit ourselves to continue fighting, with all legal means within our reach, to obtain what should be common sense: the overcoming of discrimination in Venezuelan society." In other news, gay Iranian teenager Mehdi Kazemi has won a reprieve from a British deportation order. The now 19-year-old originally came to London to study English three years ago, but sought asylum after he found out that a boyfriend back home had given authorities his name under interrogation before being convicted of sodomy and hanged. Fearing for his own life if he was forced to return to Iran, Kazemi fled to the Netherlands after Britain denied his asylum request and ordered his deportation. But the Dutch high court ruled this week that under European Union agreements there was no choice but to return him to Britain. That's when more than 60 members of the House of Lords wrote to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith urging her to “show compassion” to Kazemi. She announced later in the week that “in the light of new circumstances since the original decision was made, I have decided that Mr. Kazemi's case should be reconsidered on his return to the U.K. from the Netherlands." The deportation order against him has been suspended pending that review. Activists are also urging a review of the case of 40-year-old Iranian lesbian Pegah Amambakhsh, who fled to Britain in 2005 after her girlfriend was sentenced to death by stoning. The Court of Appeal most recently denied a request for reconsideration of her deportation order, and her lawyers say they'll apply for a judicial review at the High Court. The British Home Office said in both cases that gays and lesbians are safe in Iran as long as they remain “discreet.” But Omar Kuddus, a queer rights activist who campaigned for Kazemi, told the British “PinkNews” Web site that "To say that homosexuals [in Iran] are safe as long as they are discreet and live their lives in private, is to say that Anne Frank was safe from the Nazis in World War Two as long as she hid in her attic.” The Egyptian government has indicted five more men for the "habitual practice of debauchery" under the guise of HIV prevention. According to a Human Rights Watch report this week, the five are among at least 12 men detained since October 2007 in what appears to be a widening police crackdown. The “debauchery” charge is used to prosecute private adult consensual sex between men. Four of the 12 men have already been sentenced to one-year prison terms. All detainees were forcibly tested for HIV, and charges against three were dropped when they tested negative. Of the five who went on trial this week, one faces an additional charge of facilitating the practice of debauchery for the other men. The lead prosecutor reportedly told a lawyer for the defendants that the men should not be allowed to "roam the streets freely" because the government considers them "a danger to public health." Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have jointly called on the Egyptian government to overturn the indictments and nullify the convictions of the four already imprisoned. But finally, Jaason Simmons, known to millions around the world as hunky lifeguard Logan Fowler on the primetime TV beach soap opera “Baywatch,” has come out in an Australian magazine. The 37-year-old actor said he plans to marry his partner, Irish actor John O'Callaghan in Canada - though it won't be legally recognized in Australia, nor in the couple's current home, California. They've been together for eight months, and have also adopted a six-year-old Ugandan boy. Simmons told Australia's “New Idea” magazine that "Our son needs to see we can stand in front of family and loved ones who are going to support our union through the good times and bad." Simmons was born in the Australian state of Tasmania, and Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesperson Rodney Croome told reporters that "The success of Jaason Simmons, both in his professional and personal life, sends a message to young gay Tasmanians that they can achieve their goals, and need not be limited by other people's prejudice." An estimated one billion people in 142 countries tuned in to watch Simmons play Australian lifeguard Logan Fowler on “Baywatch,” which still runs in syndication around the world. ************** It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL Money & Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001)