“NewsWrap" for the week ending September 27, 2008 (As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,070, distributed 9-29-08) [Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley] Reported this week by John Torres and Michael LeBeau Australia’s lower house passed legislation this week to grant a number of rights to gay and lesbian couples. The Same-Sex Entitlements Bill amends dozens of Commonwealth laws. It will remove discrimination against same-gender partners in areas such as immigration, taxation, veterans’ pensions, and elder care. It also abolishes discrimination against children of same-gender couples by granting equal rights to both parents. The Labor government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd managed to fend off a proposal by the opposition Liberal Party during debate to include language in the legislation to affirm marriage as heterosexual only. Even though that’s already part of Australian law, opponents expressed concern that passage of the legislation would somehow undermine the institution of marriage. Rudd’s government has called the law reforms an issue of basic fairness, while repeatedly voicing its opposition to full marriage equality in Australia. The future of the Same-Sex Entitlements Bill in the Senate, the country’s upper house, is uncertain. The protracted court battle over repeal of India’s anti-gay Penal Code Section 377, a 148-year-old remnant of British=2 0colonial rule that outlaws “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with another person of the same sex,” wrapped up this week. The non-governmental HIV/AIDS advocacy Naz Foundation concluded its arguments challenging the law before the Delhi High Court, saying it violated fundamental human rights. They also charged that Section 377 enshrines homophobia in India's legal system and legitimizes the continued repression of gay men and lesbians in Indian society. The government then asked for more time to reconcile the positions of its Health and Home ministries, each of which submitted contradictory affidavits with the Court, drawing fire from the judges. The Health Ministry has strongly favored repeal to further its HIV/AIDS prevention efforts among one of the country’s most vulnerable groups, while the Home Ministry supported retention of Section 377. The Law Ministry finally submitted the government’s formal position late this week against repeal because, they wrote, such an action “will disturb the law and order situation and might create unnecessary problems in the society.” One ministry official also told reporters that “it acts as a deterrent against those with sick minds.” The Court could issue its ruling before year’s end. A group of masked assailants attacked participants at what organizers called a “Queer Festival” last week in a cultural center in the downtown Serbian capital of Belgrade. At least 4 people we re injured, one of whom suffered a concussion and had his arm broken. Police say they’ve detained 2 suspects. Organizers had used only a Web site to publicize the events because they feared such violence. They praised quick action by police to break up the melee, and identified the assailants in a statement this week as “members of Obraz, a clerical fascist group that also organized the attack on Pride in 2001." This year’s events, which ran from September 18th through 21st, included participants from Macedonia, Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Slovenia, and the US. An independent ombudsman charged with protecting the rights of citizens in Serbia has defended the right of LGBT people to hold public gatherings. But a European Commission report on human rights in the country last year called discrimination against sexual minorities “widespread”. Organizers of the first LGBT Pride festival in Bosnia have cancelled remaining events following assaults on several participants on its opening night. At least 10 people were injured this week when about 70 protesters, many hooded and shouting “kill the gays,” attacked people attending the festival at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo. They reportedly dragged some from their cars, and beat others on the streets of the Bosnian capital. One of the victims, a Danish film producer, is reportedly in serious but stable condition in the hospital. The others received treatment for cuts and bruises and were released. Q Association leader Svetlana Djurkovic told a hastily arranged news conference the next night that her sponsoring organization was canceling the rest of the festival, which was to have run for 4 days, because of security concerns. About 250 people had attended the opening night event. Posters saying “death to gays” appeared on Sarajevo streets earlier in the month. Amnesty International and a number of European Union officials have criticized Bosnian authorities for failing to provide adequate security at the festival, despite strong indications that there was likely to be violence. Anti-lesbigay religious groups - mainly Muslim, who were offended that the festival was held during the holy month of Ramadan - had warned for weeks that they would demonstrate against the festival. Police said they had arrested 5 of the assailants. Elsewhere, the leader of an Iraqi LGBT advocacy group was brutally murdered this week. The 27-year-old university student, known only as Bashar, was assassinated in a barbershop in Baghdad. Members of a religious militia burst into the shop and according to leading British ggay activist Peter Tatchell writing in the “Guardian” newspaper “sprayed his body with bullets at point blank range." Bashar had organized safe houses in Baghdad for dozens of gays and lesbians seeking refuge from so-called religious police in his work for the London-based advocacy group of=2 0expatriates called Iraqi LGBT. A recently released United Nations report on human rights charged that while gays and lesbians are supposed to be protected by law in Iraq, LGBT residents must live in hiding or face extreme brutality. Ali Hili, who heads up the Iraqi LGBT group in London, told a conference on homophobia in the city last year that armed wings of the two main Shia parties that control the government of Iraq routinely round up men and women, primarily in Baghdad, who are suspected of being gay or lesbian. Those men and women are never heard from again. Hili blamed those militias for the murders of hundreds of gays and lesbians, and accused the U.S.-led coalition of doing little to stop the killings. In other news, a 21-year-old lesbian has become the first person to receive an official national identity card in Nepal listing her gender as "third" rather than "male" or "female." Bishnu Adhikari received the designation last week after refusing to accept a "male" identity card from the Kaski district administration office in central Nepal, where officials claimed that she appeared to be a man. The Blue Diamond Society, the Himalayan nation's most prominent LGBT organization, called the move "a landmark victory for sexual and gender minorities in Nepal." LGBT people are routinely harassed by police, and are victims of extortion and other abuse in the country’s conservative and generally homophobic society. Meanwhile, the national government has unveiled a bud get that provides funds to "accord special priority to solve the core problems of Nepali people relating to sexual and gender minorities." It includes money for "a common house for 50 people... to live together for their socialization." Openly gay lawmaker Sunil Pant said in an email statement that "This (is a) very symbolic but very positive change of not just attitudes, but also (of) helping marginalized and oppressed sexual and gender minorities...” Pant, a well-known gay activist, was elected to Nepal's 601-member Constituent Assembly in May. The Assembly is drafting a new constitution, while also functioning as parliament during the process. A U.S. district court ruled this week that the Library of Congress illegally discriminated against a qualified transgender applicant when they withdrew a job offer after she revealed her plans to transition from male to female. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented David Schroer, who has since adopted the first name of Diane, called the ruling “groundbreaking”. Judge James Robertson said that by revoking the job offer the Library had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans bias based on gender. The Library of Congress unsuccessfully attempted to have the case dismissed, claiming that transgender people are not protected under that Act. The now-52-year-old Schroer retired from the military as a special forces commander while she was still David, and had directed a classified organization formed to track in ternational terrorists after the September 11th attacks. She had applied for a job with the Library of Congress as a terrorism research analyst. "It is especially gratifying that the court has ruled that discriminating against someone for transitioning is illegal," Schroer said in a statement. "I knew all along that the 25 years of experience I gained defending our country didn't disappear when I transitioned,” she added, “so it was hard to understand why I was being turned down for a job doing what I do best." She now heads a consulting firm that ironically has contracts with several federal agencies, including the Coast Guard and the U.S. Defense Department. And finally, New Zealand not only protects many of its minorities from discrimination, it names its select committee rooms in Parliament for them. And this week the newest of them was officially dedicated: the Rainbow Room, honoring the contributions of LGBT people to New Zealand society. It’s decorated with framed photographs depicting the struggle for LGBT civil rights in the country, on loan from the National LGBT Archives. Other rooms in Parliament House have been named to honor minorities and other previously under-represented groups, including the Maui Tikitiki-a-Taranga Room to celebrate native New Zealanders; the Suffrage Room to salute the country’s women winning the right to vote in the late nineteenth century; and the Asia Room to commemorate achievements by members of that community. New Zea land law bans discrimination against LGBT people in housing and employment; includes those communities in hate crime protections; and allows same-gender civil partnerships with virtually all the rights of marriage. House Speaker Margaret Wilson said during the Rainbow Room dedication ceremony that "It is appropriate that it is with select committee rooms we recognize all members of our society and the paths they have taken to full citizenship with equal rights." Find phone numbers fast with the New AOL Yellow Pages!