“NewsWrap" for the week ending October 18, 2008 (As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,073, distributed 10-20-08) [Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley] Reported this week by Pam Marshall and Chris Wilson The long-running challenge to India’s anti-lesbigay sex law continued this week in the Delhi High Court, as the Prime Minister unexpectedly got involved. The country’s Home Ministry, calling gay sex the product of “a perverse mind,” wants to keep Penal Code Section 377, a remnant of British colonial rule banning “unnatural sex.” Supported by the Law Ministry, they’ve cited prevailing social mores, and argued that repeal would create “law and order” problems. The Health Ministry, especially through its leader Anbumani Ramadoss, strongly advocates repeal, saying that the law drives gay people underground and hampers HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. Home Minister Shivraj Patil wanted the Cabinet to issue a recommendation on the case during its meeting this week, but Ramadoss was not there, so the Cabinet issued a statement only saying that they’d agree with whatever the Court decides. That prompted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who hasn’t expressed an opinion on the case, to publicly order the two ministers to resolve their differences on the issue. The Delhi High Court itself has criticized the Indian government for allowing its ministries t o submit conflicting affidavits in the case. Judges also took exception this week when the Solicitor General, who’s arguing for the government against repeal, cited Biblical texts to support that position. Chief Justice AP Shah charged that "This is just a one-sided version of religious [doctrine] which cannot be relied upon... Show us some scientific report which says that gay sex should be criminalized." The Court asked for any World Health Organization reports on the subject, and expressed support for the National AIDS Control Organization’s affidavit arguing for de-criminalization to fight the disease. The judges also rebuked the Solicitor General for suggesting that gay people are not a legitimate minority group, and implying that Court-ordered repeal would divide the country. The non-governmental organization Naz Foundation filed the challenge to the antiquated Indian law, charging that Section 377 unconstitutionally infringes on fundamental rights to life, liberty, and freedom of expression. The Australian Senate this week passed legislation that would allow unmarried heterosexual and same-gender couples to use federal Family Law courts to resolve differences when their relationships fall apart. Current laws governing so-called de facto heterosexual couples vary in each Australian state or territory. The new legislation will establish a uniform nationwide system, and does not differentiate between de facto heterosexual and same-gender couples. The government says the reforms will simplif y the laws governing separating unmarried couples in areas including property ownership and other financial agreements, and will also make an often-painful process less expensive. A series of technical amendments were added to the bill, so it now returns to the lower house for approval before being sent to Governor-General Quentin Bryce, who’s expected to sign the bill into law. The government is trying to make good on its election promises to reform dozens of federal laws that discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. Some members of the Opposition have charged that such reforms threaten the traditional definition of marriage, even though Australian law specifically defines that institution as exclusively heterosexual. In other news, comments about LGBT people seeking asylum in the UK by Lin Homer, chief executive of the British Borders and Immigration Agency, have infuriated human rights activists. She told the “Scotsman” newspaper this week that immigration courts consider “the practical consequences” of possible deportation for each individual, and that "The simple presence of either a law or a culture that frowns upon homosexuality is not of itself a reason [to grant asylum].” Nico Juetten, policy manager of LGBT Youth Scotland called Homer’s comments “astonishing,” and told the newspaper that "... judges often say something along the lines of 'you'll probably be fine as long as you keep a low profile.’ But if someone has fled t he country because of their homosexuality, they are going to be closely monitored when they are returned." The UK has notoriously denied asylum in recent months to lesbigay refugees from homo-oppressive Middle Eastern and African countries. Just last week, Jojo Yakob, a young gay Syrian man, expressed fears for his life after a Scottish judge rejected his appeal of a deportation order. The incoming editor of a provincial newspaper in Finland says she was fired before starting work because management found out that she’s in a registered same-gender partnership. Johanna Korhonen also says she was offered 100,000 euros to keep quiet about the situation. However, CEO Kai Telanne of Alma Media, which owns the local newspaper, said the company terminated Korhonen because she failed to reveal that her partner was involved in politics. Reports said Korhonen's spouse was running for a seat on the City Council in Vantaa, a city of about 190,000 people near Helsinki. But Korhonen said that the couple had planned to move hundreds of miles away to the Lapland capital of Rovaniemi for her new job, making the political argument irrelevant. Even Finnish President Tarja Halonen has commented on the matter, telling reporters that she was shocked by Korhonen's firing. Nine in ten U.S. LGBT teens have been verbally abused in the past school year, and almost half have been physically harassed because of their sexual orientation. That’s the disturbing assessment in an annual “National School Climate Survey” released late last week by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN. The survey involved more than 6,200 self-identified LGBT students from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It found that three-quarters of them hear slurs such as “faggot” or “dyke” frequently or often at school, and nine in 10 hear anti-LGBT language frequently or often. That type of environment obviously makes learning more difficult. About a third of the teens said they’d skipped at least a day of school in the previous month because they felt unsafe. The study did find that students in schools with an LGBT-supportive Gay-Straight Alliance experienced less harassment because of their sexual orientation and gender expression. But only about a third said there was a Gay-Straight Alliance at their school. GLSEN Executive Director Kevin Jennings said that “It’s hard to believe that anyone who reads this report could continue to turn the other way as our nation’s LGBT students are bullied and harassed at alarming rates... Every student,” he said, “has a right to feel safe in school free from bullying and harassment.” Meanwhile, a California appeals court this week upheld a judgment against a San Diego-area school district for not protecting its LGBT students. Joey Ramelli and Megan Donovan were each victimized by relentless taunting and antigay slurs at Poway High School. Ramelli20was physically assaulted and his car was vandalized. The two found the harassment so brutal that they each had to drop out and complete studies toward their high school diplomas at home. They sued the district in 2005, and were represented by the LGBT advocacy group Lambda Legal. During the original trial, the court was told that both Donovan and Ramelli reported the harassment to school officials, to no avail. The jury found that the officials took “minimal or no action at all,” and decided that the harassment was so “severe and pervasive” that they awarded 175,000 dollars in damages to Ramelli and 125,000 dollars to Donovan. Lambda Legal attorney Brian Chase said he hopes that by upholding the jury verdict, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District is sending a message to other school districts. “We hope this lawsuit and the attention it has generated,” he said, “will remind school officials everywhere that parents expect their kids to be safe from bullying and violence during school hours.” The school district hasn’t yet announced if it will appeal to the California Supreme Court. And finally, homophobia can permeate college campuses, too. For a third consecutive year, the Equality Ride is trying to improve that situation. It’s sponsored by Soulforce Q, the youth division of the nondenominational group whose goal it is to eradicate what it calls “spiritual violence” against LG BT people. Equality Riders travel by buses to various colleges and universities many operated as Christian institutions hopinging to engage in constructive dialog with students and school officials to make their campuses more LGBT-friendly. But Equality Riders ran into trouble twice this week, first at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. The school’s student handbook forbids “sexual activity that is inconsistent with biblical teaching, such as... homosexual behavior.” College administrators had restricted the Riders to a sidewalk near a campus chapel. But when six of them attempted to enter the chapel for a morning service, campus security director Terry Wheeler called police to make trespassing arrests, telling the young people that “You are an unwanted guest.” The remaining Equality Riders held a vigil near the college throughout the afternoon. Their bus had also been vandalized the night before. Three Equality Riders were arrested later in the week at Heritage Christian University in Florence, Alabama. The group always advises school administrators in advance of their plans to visit each campus. But after a university official read a letter stating that that they were declining the request for dialog, three Riders were arrested for trespassing when they stepped onto the campus to deliver letters advocating the safety and acceptance of LGBT students. Equality Ride co-director Jarrett Lucas said in a statement that “HCU trains missionaries to go beyond the walls of their school to spread the inclusive gospel of Christ, but today they chose not to uphold the principles they preach.” That was the sixth stop on this year’s tour. Equality Riders have visited more than 50 colleges and universities during the past three years, most of which to varying degrees have been welcominging.