“NewsWrap" for the week ending October 25, 2008 (As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,074, distributed 10-27-08) [Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley] Reported this week by DonnaAnn Ward and Leigh Moore LGBT advocates in the U.S. are in their final pushes to defeat anti-lesbigay ballot measures in four states on November 4th. In what is probably the most closely watched non-candidate battle in the general elections, Californians will consider Proposition 8, a measure to overturn the state Supreme Court ruling in support of same-gender marriages and constitutionally ban them. The latest polls suggest that the vote will be extremely close. In what may be the best of what some LGBT critics have called a weak TV advertising strategy, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell is featured in the latest “No on 8” ad condemning as absolutely untrue and “shameless” charges by its proponents in their ads that young schoolchildren will be forced to learn about same-gender marriage if the measure isn’t passed. "The Prop 8 campaign continues to use scare tactics and lies to bolster their campaign,” O’Connell says in the ad. “It's despicable that children are being used for political gain." Leaders of “Yes on 8” this week sent letters to several businesses that have donated to the “No” campaign threatening to publish their names, and demanding that they make equal donations to ProtectMarriage.com, the umbrella group supporting the measure. "Were you to elect not to donate comparably,” the certified letters read, “it would be a clear indication that you are in opposition to traditional marriage.” Executive director Geoffrey Kors of Equality California, which is spearheading the No on 8 effort, called it “an outrageous attempt to extort people." None of the targeted businesses appear to be complying. In what some analysts say is the costliest social issue campaign in U.S. history by some accounts the total spending by both sides has topped 50 million dollars the “Yes on 8” campaign has beeen largely funded by the Roman Catholic-based fraternal organization Knights of Columbus, the notoriously anti-queer Focus on the Family, and thousands of Mormon Church members. Californians Against Hate, a group formed to fight Proposition 8, claimed that, according to a September 20th report in the “Wall Street Journal,” Mormon Church members have been told that “their souls would be in jeopardy” if they don’t donate to the “Yes” campaign. Voters in Arizona in 2006 made it the first and only state to defeat a proposal to outlaw same-gender marriage. 29 others had passed marriage bans by that time. But the ballot initiative two years ago would have also banned domestic partnerships, often preferred by senior citizen couples who could lose government benefits if they married or remarried. And that aspect is largely believed to have contributed to the measure’s 4-point loss. But Proposition 102, a more narrow ballot initiative on this year’s Arizona ballot, bans just same-gender marriage. According to “Time” magazine, its proponents have raised more than 7 million dollars, seven times the amount raised in their 2006 loss, and 70 times the amount that opponents have raised. According to Californians Against Hate, Mormon Church members have also largely bankrolled the “Yes” campaign in Arizona. In better news for opponents, the state’s largest newspaper, the “Arizona Republic,” this week urged a “no” vote in its editorial pages. Public opinion polls show that, like California, the outcome in Arizona is too close to call. According to the latest polls in Florida, voters favor a constitutional ban there by 57 percent. Constitutional amendments, however, require a super-majority in Florida of 60 percent. And, in addition to outlawing same-gender marriage, Amendment 2 states that “no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.” Opponents say that would deny domestic partner benefits not only to same-gender couples, but also to uunmarried couples who live together. They’re hoping that the state’s significant senior citizen population, and the fact that a 60 percent vote is required to pass the measure, will work in their favor. And a poll in Arkansas predicts that Act 1, which would prevent any unmarried couple from adopting or caring for a foster child, will lose. It requires a simple 50 percent vote to pass. According to the latest Arkansas Poll, 55 percent oppose the measure, while 38 percent are in favor. Supporters say that Act 1 is needed to prevent gays and lesbians from adopting children in the state. But Jane Parry, the Poll’s director, said that “it seems to me that many Arkansans -- both liberals and conservatives -- are uncomfortable dictating the family arrangements of others, whether they agree with them or not." In other news from around the world, officials in Tambov, Russia, after giving initial approval, reversed course and banned the city's first-ever public LGBT events, which had been scheduled for October 9th. City officials claimed that residents did not approve of such a march and rally, that police couldn't guarantee security, and that there would be traffic problems. Moscow gay activist Nikolai Alekseev, who was involved in planning the events, said the reversal violates the Russian Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, and that organizers will take legal action against the city. Tambov is about 500 kilometers southeast of Moscow, and has a population of about 292,000. Earlier this year, Mayor Oleg Betin reportedly said that “Faggots should be torn apart and their pieces thrown to the wind." Officials in Krakow, Poland also approved a lesbigay march, and then also banned it, after Polish President Lech Kaczynski announced plans to attend city independence celebrations on the same day. LGBT activists had planned a March of Rainbow Tolerance on October 31st to the grave of King Wladyslaw III, whom some historians say was gay, on the anniversary of his birth or death there were conflicting reports about that. City officials were originally comfortable with the March and independence day events occurring simultaneously. But, after Kaczynski's announcement, they banned all other street events and demonstrations for the day and said the king's grave would be closed. Kaczynski, who as mayor of Warsaw banned that city’s 2004 and 2005 Pride parades, has said that if homosexuality "were to be promoted on a grand scale, the human race would disappear" and that he opposes "propagating gay orientation." Gay activist Lukasz Palucki said of Kaczynski that "Information about our meeting was in the biggest Polish media, so I am sure he knew about our march." An Islamic body in Malaysia has banned lesbian sex and what it calls "masculine" conduct by female Muslims. The National Fatwa Council's chair Abdul Shukor Husin told reporters that "It is unacceptable to see women who love the male lifestyle, including dressing in the clothes men wear... [it] becomes clearer when they start to have sex with someone of the same gender, that is woman and woman.” The country of 27 million people is governed by two different judicial systems Sharia courts to address Muslim civil matters, and secular courrts, which apply to the 40 percent minority in Malaysia who are not Muslim. Section 377 of the Malaysian penal code outlaws sodomy, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has twice been charged with that crime, which he says was done to discredit him. The same law is still in force in other former British colonies, including India, where it’s currently being challenged in the Delhi High Court, and in Singapore. Malaysia additionally punishes "gross indecency with another male person" with up to two years in prison. Cross-dressing is also illegal. LGBT advocates worry that the new fatwa may lead to a specific law in Malaysia making lesbian sex a crime. But lesbians have apparently gained equal access to fertility treatment in Britain under legislation approved by an almost 3-to-1 margin in the House of Commons this week. According to a report by “Pinknews.com,” the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill now returns to the House of Lords for a final reading before it becomes law. The legislation will make it easier for lesbians and single women to get National Health Service fertilization assistance, and allow lesbian or gay couples to be named on birth certificates as the legal parents of their children. And the head of the British army, General Richard Dannatt, made history by addressing an LGBT conference in London earlier this month. In remarks to the Fourth Joint Conference on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Matters, Dannatt said that "We have made real progress in our understanding of equality and diversity in the military context, and there is a desire to achieve more yet. Respect for others,” he said, “is not an optional extra, it is a command responsibility and an essential part of leadership, teamwork and operational effectiveness." Britain's armed forces lifted their lesbigay ban in 2000 following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights ordering the change. And finally, Sweden's Court of Appeal has refused to hear a kennel owner's appeal of a discrimination case she lost after refusing to sell a puppy to a customer because she was in a lesbian relationship. The woman had mentioned her partner during a phone call to the kennel owner asking about a puppy advertised for sale. The owner then refused to sell the puppy to her. The kennel owner must now pay 20,000 kronor about 2,000 U.S. dollaars in damages. The Swedish Constitution bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. According to the English language newspaper “The Local,” "In her explanation for denying the woman her puppy, the kennel owner made reference to earlier contacts she'd had with transvestite couples, saying she'd read that transvestites are connected to animal pornography."