“NewsWrap"
for the week ending March 28, 2009
(As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,096, distributed 3-30-09)
[Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley]

Reported this week by Leigh Moore and Michele Pleasant

  According to media reports citing a Justice Ministry official late this week, Japan will allow its gay and lesbian citizens to marry foreign same-gender partners in jurisdictions where it’s legal.  The government must issue a certificate � which up until now it has refused too do for gays and lesbians � stating that a person is single and of llegal age before any Japanese citizen can marry outside the country.
The change will allow Japanese gays and lesbians to legally marry their Dutch, Canadian, Spanish, Belgian, or South African same-gender partners in those countries, as well as in the U.S. states of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Taiga Ishikawa, of the lesbigay support group Peer Friends, called the government move “one step forward.”
While there are no laws against private, consensual adult homosexual acts in the culturally conservative country, and no specific ban on gay and lesbian unions, same-gender marriage is not legally recognized in Japan.

  France’s Senate has voted to recognize British lesbigay civil partnerships, according to a report this week by “Pink-News-dot-com.”  Britain recognizes French unions, known as Pacts of Civil Sol idarity, but France has yet to reciprocate.
British couples in civil partnerships who live in France have to pay heavy inheritance taxes of 60 percent if one of them dies there.  French couples in Pacts don’t have to pay such taxes.
The bill will next be heard in France’s National Assembly, where supporters believe it will pass.

  The “Associated Press” reports that Serbian lawmakers narrowly approved an anti-discrimination law this week that covers race, religion, and sexual orientation, among other categories.  The move is part of government reforms designed to win favor with the European Union.  The legislation was strongly opposed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, which convinced the government to withdraw the proposal to consider its objection to the inclusion of sexual orientation.  The government made no major changes when it then reintroduced the measure.
The legislation was considered to be crucial to Serbian citizens being able to travel without visas to the 27 E.U. member nations.
The bill passed with a slim majority of 127 votes in favor to 59 against - one more than was needed for passage in the 250-member parliament.  Sixty-four deputies failed to vote on the measure.
The new law in the socially conservative country also establishes a special state representative to monitor possible discrimination, and outlines punitive measures.

  LGBT-related measures were also on the agenda in several U.S. state legislatures this week, particularly in20New England, perhaps the most queer-friendly region in the country.
The New Hampshire House of Representatives narrowly approved a marriage equality bill, expanding on a civil unions law, passed only last year, which provided all state benefits of marriage except the name.  The current measure had originally failed by one vote, but a few legislators reconsidered, leading to its passage by a vote of 186-to-179.  Its future is said to be uncertain in the Democratically controlled state Senate, however.  And Democratic Governor John Lynch, who signed the civil unions bill last year, is on record opposing same-gender marriage, though he’s yet to announce a formal position on the bill.
More than 600 New Hampshire couples have entered into civil unions since the law took effect in 2008.  The current bill would change the name from civil union to marriage.

  The Vermont Senate overwhelmingly voted 26-to-4 this week to enact marriage equality in that state.  It was the first in the U.S. to create civil unions for same-gender couples in 2000, but activists have been pushing for full marriage equality for the past few years.  The current bill still needs to be considered by the Democratically controlled state House, but Republican Governor Jim Douglas has already announced that he’ll veto the bill if it reaches his desk.  House Speaker Shap Smith called the veto announcement premature, charging that it “undermin[es] our democratic system of government.”  About 30 0 people protested the governor at the Statehouse, vowing to push legislators to override a veto.

  A marriage equality bill has almost 60 co-sponsors in the Maine legislature.  Democratic Governor John Baldacci, who’s Roman Catholic, is on record as opposed to the concept, although he has yet to take an official position on the measure.

  But civil unions legislation, that would have given Hawai’i same-gender couples all the rights of marriage but the name, died in the state Senate this week.  A full vote could have overcome a 3-to-3 tie vote in committee, but only 6 Senators supported the move, 9 votes short of what was required.  18 Senators had previously announced their support for the bill, but were said to have bowed to the will of Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, who opposed it.
The state House approved the measure by a 33-to-17 vote in February.
Rightwing religious groups claimed credit for derailing the bill.  They said they’d already been lobbying Republican Governor Linda Lingle to veto the bill if it passed in the legislature.  She did not publicly state her official position on the measure.
U.S. federal law does not recognize civil unions or same-gender marriages.

  Delaware already defines marriage as exclusively heterosexual, but supporters of a proposed constitutional ban worried that state courts would overturn existing law.  The state Senate, however, defeated a constitutional same-gender marriage ban this week.  Op ponents said the measure was unnecessary, and that discrimination should not be part of the state constitution.  The Senate voted 11-to-9 against the bill, which required a three-fifths majority to advance.
Meanwhile, the Delaware state House passed a bill outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, employment and public accommodations.  A similar anti-bias measure has passed the House 3 times before, but died in a Senate committee each time.  Proponents say a change in Senate rules this year could make it easier to bring the bill before the full Senate. 

  It wasn’t that long ago that a bill or ballot measure to restrict LGBT rights in the U.S. would win easy passage, especially in Southern states.  But a law that would have prohibited adoption or foster parenting by any person “cohabiting with a sexual partner outside of a marriage that is valid in Kentucky” has died in that state’s legislature.  Kentucky law denies marriage to gay and lesbian couples.  The state House of Representatives adjourned without voting on the legislation, which had been approved by a Senate committee, though the Republican leadership had not scheduled a floor vote in that body.
Tennessee’s legislature is currently considering a similar bill.  Four states � Florida, Mississippi, Utah, and Arkansas � �� currently have laws that prohibit adoption by same-gender couples.  Florida’s law also bans adoption by gay or lesbian individuals.

  A bill banning cities and counties from creating domestic partner registries was defeated in an Arkansas state House committee this week by a simple voice vote.
The bill reportedly targeted the city of Eureka Springs, which began issuing domestic partnership certificates to both same-gender and heterosexual couples in 2007.  The bill’s supporters said the registry is an attempt to circumvent the state's constitutional ban on same-gender marriage, but opponents said it would amount to the legislature meddling in local affairs.

  A ballot measure in Gainesville, Florida to repeal sexual orientation and gender identity anti-discrimination protections was soundly defeated this week, with 42 percent voting in favor and 58 percent against.
The repeal effort began last year after the city commission revised existing anti-discrimination laws to include protections for transgender people in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
Opponents used scare tactics about mixed-sex public bathrooms to gather enough signatures to place a referendum on the ballot.  Charter Amendment 1 would have eliminated not only transgender protections but also those for gays and lesbians.  It also would have prohibited the city from adding protected categories that are not included in the Florida Civil Rights Act, which does not recognize sexual orientation or gender identity.
Gainesville is home to the University of Florida, and is considered to be an LGBT-friendly city in the generally conservative northern part of the sta te.

  And finally, LGBT people have been banned for years by its Roman Catholic organizers from marching as an identifiable unit in New York City’s St. Patrick's Day Parade.  But a queer contingent had no problem making its first appearance in San Diego, California's parade on March 14th.
About 25 people waving rainbow flags marched alongside a float topped by a giant bedazzled leprechaun.
Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders, who emotionally spoke out in favor of marriage equality last year for his lesbian daughter, served as executive grand marshal of the parade, organized by the Irish Congress of Southern California.  The theme this year was "Celebrating Children's Services," with a specific focus on adoption, fostering and mentoring.
Ron deHarte, executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride, which organized the queer contingent, called it "an excellent opportunity to carry Pride's message of equality and diversity to an audience outside the ‘gayborhood’... We were thrilled by the overwhelmingly positive reaction we received from the crowd."





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