“NewsWrap"
for the week ending April 26, 2008
(As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,048, distributed 4-28-08)
[Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley]

Reported this week by Jon Beaupré and DonnaAnn Ward

  In a case that further legitimizes the legal status of families headed by same-gender couples in Israel, the Interior Ministry has approved a gay male couple's adoption of a now-8-year-old Cambodian boy, and also granted the child Israeli citizenship.
The adoption had already been approved in the U.S. to the two men, who hold dual U.S./Israeli citizenship.  Until now, however, their son had only been issued an annual temporary residency visa in Israel because the country wouldn't recognize his two-dad family.
One of them, who preferred that his name not be used, told the “Ha'aretz” newspaper that "We had a problem entering and leaving the country, registering for school, at the dental clinic... They always ask what our relation is to the boy because he is not listed on our identity cards.”
The decision follows an earlier declaration by Israel's Attorney General Menahem Mazuz that adoption should be open to same-gender couples "in the proper circumstances and when it is in the best interest of the child."  That followed a High Court edict that adoptions by same-gender couples granted in other countries must also be honored in Israel.
The couple's lawyer, Irit Rosenblum, said a senior deputy state prosecutor wrote to her in early April advising that the Interior Ministry had decided to recognize the adoption "in view of the special circumstances of the case in question and the long time the minor has resided in Israel legally.”
She told the newspaper that "The meaning of the decision is clear... The state directly and fully recognizes same-sex couples as parents, akin to heterosexual couples, who can adopt a child overseas and register without constraints as his parents."
Mike Hamel, who chairs the Israeli Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association, told “Ha'aretz” that "In recent months, we have been witness to the fact that heterosexual parenting is no guarantee for successful parenting."

  Another gay male couple has won a landmark parenting case - this time in the Australian state of New South Wales - after their application to become foster parents was rejected by a welfare agency with ties to the Uniting Church.
The Administrative Decisions Tribunal ruled that the couple had been "unlawfully discriminated against on the ground[s] of homosexuality".  Based on its religious affiliation, the agency unsuccessfully argued that it was exempt from the Anti-Discrimination Act, which bans bias in the provision of services based on sexual orientation or marital status.
But concluding that the couple had been "deeply hurt, insulted and embarrassed," the Tribunal awarded damages of $5,000 to each man.  It refused the couple's demand for a public apology, but did order the welfare agency to review its policy on lesbigay foster carers and "take all necessary steps to eliminate unlawful discrimination on the ground[s] of homosexuality in the facilitation and provision of its foster care services".
A spokeperson for New South Wales Attorney-General John Hatzistergos, whose government is said to be considering a series of reforms to improve the legal status of families headed by same-gender couples, told reporters that "the period during which this case could be appealed by either party has not expired and it would be inappropriate to comment."

  Elsewhere in Australia, 62-year-old veteran Melbourne TV anchorman Peter Hitchener came out as a gay man in an April 6th interview with the “Sunday Herald Sun”.
"I just also need to say I am still the person I was yesterday,” he noted, “and I remain committed to my job and my family and my service and so on.”
Hitchener's boss at National Nine News, Michael Venus, applauded the move.  "I am acutely aware of how difficult a decision this has been for Peter," he told the newspaper.  "But it is a decision which has our full support and in no way diminishes his standing as one of Australia's pre-eminent broadcasters."

  In other news, several enlistees who were discharged from the U.S. armed forces under the “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy banning military service by openly-lesbigay personnel are expressing anger that recruiters have been admitting ex-felons to fill the ranks.
The data, released this week by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, reveals that the 249 Army felony waivers in 2006 more than doubled to 511 in 2007.  The Army waivers included three soldiers who had been convicted of manslaughter, one convicted of kidnapping, 11 convicted of arson, 142 convicted of burglary, three convicted of making terrorist threats, seven convicted of sexual assault, and three convicted of indecent acts with children.  Felony waivers granted to Marine Corps enlistees rose from 208 to 350 in the same period.
The Pentagon discharged about 700 service members solely because of their sexual orientation in 2006 under “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.”
Heather Sarver, a former Russian linguist in the Air Force who was discharged in 2003, complained to the “Washington Blade” LGBT newspaper that “they'd rather have a convicted felon in the military than a gay person in the military - which is really just twisted I think.”
Jason Knight, discharged from the Navy last year, called it “outrageous... They're still clinging to this 'it's going to hurt morale and cohesion,' but what about letting convicted felons in?” he asked.  “Is that not going to hurt morale and cohesion?”
Nathaniel Frank, a senior fellow at the Palm Center at the University of California, which has been trying to draw attention to the felony waiver information, said the data makes it clear that the military's ranks are stretched thin, and that the Pentagon didn't anticipate entrenched warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He told the “Blade” that his group has conducted studies showing that ex-felons are somewhat more at risk for behavioral problems during military service.  The situation, he said, is “exacerbated by the fact that gay and lesbian troops that are ready and willing to serve are being kicked out for something that has nothing to do with their ability to perform.”

  Other researchers are reporting that “sexual bullying” in U.S. schools - harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity - does more harm than other forms of such abuse.  Writing about their study in the April 24th issue of “New Scientist,” James Gruber at the University of Michigan in Dearborn and Susan Fineran at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, say they surveyed 522 children between the ages of 11 and 18, asking how often since the beginning of the school year each had been the butt of a sexual joke, been called names like "fag" or "dyke, or been physically assaulted in connection with that type of bullying.  Fifty-two per cent reported having been bullied, and 35% had been victims of sexual bullying.
Guber and Fineran also asked questions designed to assess each respondent's self-esteem and physical and mental health.  Not surprisingly, girls and sexual minorities - gays, lesbians and bisexuals - were more likely than heterosexual kids to be targeted, and were more likely to suffer serious emotional consequences.
Gruber thinks that sexual harassment causes greater harm to children than other forms of bullying because it attacks what he calls their "core identities as gendered people" - in a way that being called "fat" or "stupid" does not.
“Interestingly,” the report notes, “while sexual harassment is illegal in the U.S. - schools are required by law to take action - bullying is not.”
"There is an eagerness to label such behavior as bullying because it avoids legal hassles," says Gruber.  But he calls that misguided, and charges that an important health concern in U.S. schools is being ignored.

  Meanwhile, according to its sponsoring organization, GLSEN - the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network - a record number of students from more than 7,300 middle and high schools across the U.S. took vows of silence on April 25th during the 12th annual National Day of Silence.  Hundreds of thousands of students registered for the event online, including those from more than a thousand colleges and universities.  Participants don't speak during the day, handing out cards explaining that anti-LGBT bullying and harassment silences too many of their peers, and that “it's time to break the silence.”
This year's event specifically honored Lawrence King, a 15-year-old from Oxnard, California who, because of his sexual orientation and gender expression, was shot to death in February by a fellow student in a computer classroom.  “Breaking the Silence” discussion groups, assemblies and rallies concluded the day in several locales.
Various rightwing groups sponsored a small number of counter-protests, oxymoronically called a “Day of Truth.”

  And finally, a seven-month kissing ban between two gay teen characters on the U.S. soap opera “As the World Turns” was lifted this week, as “Luke” and “Noah” - affectionately referred to by fans as “Nuke” - finally shared another smooch. There had been no displays of such affection since their first on-screen lip-locks in late September, prompting queer fans to mail bags of Hershey's kisses to the show's production office, and maintain an online counter of how many days had elapsed since those initial smooches.
Not everyone is happy now, of course.  The notoriously anti-queer Tupelo, Mississippi-based American Family Association called on its members to complain to Proctor and Gamble, the show's sponsor, whose products include laundry soap, toothpaste, and disposable baby diapers.  The group's online “Action Alert” condemned the show's latest “explicit open-mouth homosexual kissing,” but nevertheless provided a link to a video clip - warning readers, however, about its “repulsive” content.
For the record, according to that online fan counter, the gap between those kisses on “As the World Turns” spanned 211 days, 14 hours, 45 minutes, and 45 seconds.


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