“NewsWrap"
for the week ending Ma rch 14, 2009
(As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,094, distributed 3-16-09)
[Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley]

Reported this week by Tanya Kane-Parry and Chris Wilson

  Headlines in Nigeria’s leading newspapers this week had gays and lesbians “storming” or “besieging” the National Assembly to “kick against” or “protest” legislation against same-gender marriage.  The bill is so extreme that it would define any 2 people of the same gender who live together as a possible illegal marriage, punishable by up to 3 years in prison.  It would also criminalize those “who aid and abet them,” and give police sweeping power to raid public or private gatherings of any group of people suspected of being gay or lesbian.  A similar bill was proposed in 2006, but died when the government collapsed.  It was reintroduced earlier this year.
23-year-old Rashidi Williams of the Queer Alliance of Nigeria told a public hearing held by a House of Representatives committee that “I did not choose to be gay.  It is trial enough to live in this country, we should not create more laws to make us suffer.”  Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are among several global advocacy groups that have condemned the proposed legislation.
But a large number of Nigerian organizations, most notably the Anglican Church of Nigeria, also submitted briefs to the committee.  The Chur ch called same-gender marriage “ungodly,” “unnatural,” “unhealthy,” and “un-African.”  “It is a perversion, a deviation and an aberration that is capable of engendering moral and social holocaust in this country,” the brief said.  “Outlawing it is to ensure the continued existence of this nation.”
Raids of so-called “gay weddings,” which attendees have said were just parties, have made headlines across the country in recent years.  Consensual adult homosexual acts are already illegal in Nigeria, punishable by up to 14 years in prison at hard labor in northern Christian regions of the country, and death by stoning in southern Muslim areas.
If the legislation wins House approval it will then go to the Senate for consideration.

  A draft bill to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity has been withdrawn from active consideration in the Serbian Parliament under pressure from the country’s Orthodox Church, according to a report on the regional “Queeria” Web portal.  The government had originally supported the measure, as did various ministries, but the Church objected to 2 provisions in the legislation that needed to be adopted if Serbians are to gain visa-free travel to European Union countries.  One ensured the free expression and practice of religion or belief.  The other banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, or expressions thereof.
LGBT activists condemned the government for not standing up to the Church and pushing the legislation.

  A 3-day conference in Uganda’s capital of Kampala, sponsored by rightwing religious groups based in the U.S. that believe homosexuality can be “cured,” ended with the formation of a new Ugandan organization called the Anti-Gay Task Force.  Its mission is to “fight against the spread of homosexuality and lesbianism in the country.”  Conference organizers, who included a board member of the so-called “ex-gay” group Exodus International, and a Holocaust denier, claim that LGBT rights activists “recruit” young people into homosexuality.  They also met with several members of Uganda’s parliament.
The Anti-Gay Task Force promises to “wipe out” same-gender sexual activity in the African country.
Uganda already criminalizes homosexual acts, and authorities routinely harass and attack LGBT civil rights advocates.

  But an estimated 300,000 onlookers watched about 10,000 participants march down Oxford Street in Sydney’s 31st annual Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade on March 7th.  Australia’s openly gay Olympic diving gold medalist Matthew Mitcham lead the procession, surrounded by dancers in swimming trunks waving scorecards.  He posed frequently for photos with several colorfully dressed marchers along the parade route.  A tribute to slain U.S. gay politician Harvey Milk was among some 135 floats and marching units, which also included the traditional Dykes on Bikes, American entertainer Joan Rivers ? in town for a one-woman show ? along with uniforformed police officers and fire fighters, ethnic LGBT groups, businesses, and the usual dancing leathermen and feather- and sequin-clad drag queens.
Global LGBT rights concerns were the focus of this year’s extravaganza, under the theme of “Nations United.”
Revelers celebrated into the early morning hours at several post-parade parties.
A record-breaking crowd of more than 5 thousand LGBT people and their supporters in Victoria celebrated the 12th annual ChillOut festival the same weekend in the former goldmining town of Daylesford.

  But a prominent transgender rights activist in Turkey was murdered in front of her home this week in central Istanbul. The LGBT rights group Lambda Istanbul said that Ebru Soykan had reported being beaten and threatened on several occasions by the same man, but authorities took no action.  He is now in police custody as the murder suspect.
Soykan was the second member of Lambda Istanbul to be murdered in the past year.  Advocates blame the violence in part on lack of legal protections and police inaction.
While homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, there are no anti-discrimination laws, and municipalities have used so-called “morality” laws to harass and attack LGBT people and organizations.

  Human Rights Watch called attention this week to the abuse of transgender people in the So uth American nation of Guyana, and called for the repeal of a law that criminalizes dressing in clothing of the opposite gender.  Several people have been charged under that law in recent weeks.
Scott Long, director of the group’s LGBT Rights Program, charged that “Police are using archaic laws to violate basic freedoms... This is a campaign meant to drive people off the streets simply because they dress or act in ways that transgress gender norms.”
A letter delivered to Guyana’s president, also signed by the Caribbean Forum for Liberation of Genders and Sexualities, Global Rights, Guyana Rainbow Foundation, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and Guyana's Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination called for all charges to be dropped against those who’ve been arrested under the law.

  Elsewhere, however, Argentina's military has officially decriminalized homosexuality and lifted its ban on service by gays and lesbians.  The change was approved by Parliament last year as part of an overhaul of the military justice system, and took effect in early March.

  The Philippines also opened its armed forces to gays and lesbians earlier this month ? sort of.  The military’s civill relations chief told reporters that “If you are qualified, I guess we are not biased against the third sex.”
Officials said that they don’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation ? as long as recruits don’ t “show their tendencies.”

  That sounds like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the U.S., where this week a Congressman lamented the continuing discharges of qualified military personnel under that policy.
Democratic Representative Jim Moran said he’s requested monthly updates from the Pentagon on the impact of the policy until it’s repealed.  A bill to do just that was introduced last week.  Moran reported that 11 discharged soldiers in January included an intelligence collector, a health care specialist, a military police officer, 4 infantry personnel, and a water-treatment specialist.

  In other news, the Oscar Wilde Bookshop on Christopher Street in New York City, touted as the oldest LGBT bookstore in the world, will close its doors on March 29th.
Owner Kim Brinster wrote on the store's Web site that the store didn’t "have the resources to weather the current economic crisis."  She told “The New York Times” that "Even if we were rent-free, it wouldn't be enough for us to cover the bills we have.”
The Oscar Wilde Bookshop was opened in 1967 by pioneering activist Craig Rodwell, 19 months before the Stonewall Riots on Christopher Street launched the modern struggle for LGBT equality.  It functioned as a meeting place for local activists throughout the initial years of the fledgling Gay Liberation Movement.

  And after almost 30 years in the Los Angeles area, first in Silver Lake and then in West Hollywood, A Different Light Bookstore is disappearing, too.  Owner Bill Barker also cited the current economic downturn, along with street construction projects that took years and reduced parking and foot traffic in the area.  He said those challenges increased after a 2007 fire burned down the store’s neighbor, popular gay night spot Mickey’s, further reducing foot traffic.  Barker stressed that San Francisco’s A Different Light, and the store’s online site, will remain open.

  And finally, the Washington, D.C., home that’s been called the birthplace of the city’s gay rights movement is being designated as a historic landmark.
It belongs to 83-year-old Franklin E. Kameny, who was dubbed the “father of gay activism” by the Historic Preservation Review Board, which recommended the designation.
Kameny fought in World War II, earned a doctorate, and then moved to D.C. to work as a government astronomer.  He filed the first U.S. court case to address sexual orientation after being fired by the Army Map Service in 1957 for being gay.  Kameny also led demonstrations against sodomy laws, helped end the American Psychiatric Association's categorization of homosexuality as a mental illness, and was the first openly gay person to run for Congress.
A collection of Kameny's papers was added to the Library of Congress in October 2006, and some of his political placards and buttons were put on display in the Smithsonian Museum of American History in 2007.
It’s unusual for a site to be recognized as historic while its occupant still lives there.  Kameny worried about the condition of his newly designated landmark.  He told the “Washington Post” that “The lawn is a mess, it needs to be put in order.  The gutters, the heating, things like that.”
But, he said, he was touched by the recognition.