“NewsWrap"
for the week ending April 11, 2009
(As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,098, distributed 4-13-09)
[Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley]


Reported this week by Rick Watts and Chris Wilson


  There were reports this week that at least 6 Iraqi gay men have been brutally murdered in the past 2 weeks in Sadr City, the Shiite-dominated slum district of Baghdad.  Some had the words “pervert” or “puppy” � a derogatorry local word for gay people � written on their chests.
The “New York Times” said as many as 25 boys and men suspected of being gay have been killed in the past 2 months, citing police authorities and friends of the dead.
Some may have been victimized by death squads associated with Moktada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric with significant influence in Sadr City.  Major portions of Friday Prayer services conducted by his followers have reportedly been devoted to railing against homosexuality.  But a police official who declined to be named said many of the murders have come at the hands of family members committing so-called “honor killings,” fueled by their shame over the victim’s sexual orientation.
Whatever the numbers, there’s no doubt that gay men are being terrorized, but both Iraqi and U.S. government officials have denied that there’s an organized “sexual cleansi
ng” effort going on there.
A Sadr City café frequented by gay men also recently burned down under mysterious circumstances.
Consensual adult gay sex is a crime in Iraq, punishable by up to 7 years in prison.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch were among several global advocacy groups expressing concern this week over increasing violence against gay men in the country.


  According to various news reports, Morocco's government has launched a crackdown on the so-called “promotion” of homosexuality, saying it threatens religious and moral values.
The Interior Ministry has promised that such activities will be "repressed."
The move is apparently in response to increased press and broadcast coverage of gay and lesbian issues and same-gender couples.  The Ministry denounced media outlets "that defend ignoble behaviors that constitute a provocation of national public opinion, and fail to take account of the moral values and doctrines of our society."


  Two Moscow Pride organizers were convicted this week of promoting "propaganda of homosexuality to minors."
Nikolai Baev and Irina Fet, along with 2 other activists who were not arrested, had carried banners that read “Homosexuality is normal” and “I am proud of my homosexuality” near a school and library in the Ryazan city center.  That’s about 200 kilometers � or 1200 miles � southeast of Moscow.
The action
was a deliberate challenge to the local region's 2006 law that prohibits any discussion of homosexuality with minors.  It’s the only law of its kind in Russia.
The court fined the pair 1,500 rubles � about 50 dollars each.  Thhey’ve promised to appeal their convictions to the Russian Constitutional Court.
Moscow Pride has 6 cases already pending before the European Court of Human Rights challenging the local government’s repeated ban of LGBT rights marches in the city, and an additional case against Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for refusing to intervene.


  But Vermont became the 4th U.S. state to open civil marriage to gay and lesbian couples this week.  Marriage equality legislation had passed overwhelmingly in the Senate, and by a significant majority in the House.  A two-thirds vote by lawmakers overrode a veto by Governor Jim Douglas.  That was a certainty in the Senate, which voted 23-to-5 for the override.  95 House members had supported the original bill, but 100 were secured in that 150-member body to dramatically override the veto by the bare number required.  The override made Vermont the first state in the country to establish marriage equality by legislation rather than through court order.  The new law goes into effect on September 1st.
California lawmakers have twice passed marriage equality bills, vetoed each time by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The state’s Supr
eme Court issued a marriage equality ruling last May, which was overturned by the passage of Proposition 8 in November.  The high court is expected to rule on a constitutional challenge to that popular vote by early June.


  Iowa’s Supreme Court just the week before unanimously ruled that the Midwestern state’s ban on same-gender civil marriage was unconstitutional.  High courts in Connecticut and Massachusetts have done the same.
Neither the governor nor Iowa’s legislative leaders have expressed interest in overturning the high court ruling.  Any attempt to do that couldn’t be made until 2012, and only through an agenda item at a voter-supported Constitutional Convention following its approval in 2 sessions of the Iowa legislature.
State officials announced this week that gay and lesbian couples can begin marrying in Iowa on April 27th � a few days later, becausee of budget cuts they said, than originally announced.


  The Washington, D.C. City Council voted unanimously this week to recognize same-gender marriages conducted in states where it’s legal.  
The 12-to-0 vote puts the Council on a collision course with Congress, which has oversight of the city's laws under Home Rule.  Procedure requires a second Council vote next month before the measure is reviewed by federal lawmakers.  Minority Republican Congressmembers have already condemned the action.  The city passed a domestic partn
er registry that raised the hackles of the G.O.P. in 2007.
Openly gay council member David Catania called the recognition legislation part of a “march toward human rights and equality.”


  Colorado Governor Bill Ritter this week signed the Designated Beneficiary Agreement Act, which allows unmarried adult couples �� including same-gender partners � some of the legal rights of marriiage, including inheritance, medical decision-making, and hospital visitation.
The law permits any 2 unmarried adults to designate each other as beneficiaries by filing a form with a county clerk.  The legislation takes effect on July 1st.
Two openly gay members of the legislature, Senator Jennifer Veiga and Representative Mark Ferrandino, both Democrats from Denver, sponsored the legislation.
It passed with minimal Republican support.  G.O.P. Senator Scott Renfroe quoted from the Bible during floor debate and called homosexuality an “offense to God.”  Viega objected to the comments.  “I will stand here today and tell you that God also created me,” she said, “and the last time I checked, I am who I am.”


  The City Council of Columbia, Missouri this week unanimously approved a domestic partner registry for same-gender couples.  Heterosexual couples who choose not to marry can also register their partnerships.  
Couples must have lived together for at least 6 months.  Each partner must also
be unmarried, at least 18 years old, and mentally competent to enter into a contract.
While the registry doesn’t offer any specific legal rights, it could be used as proof of a relationship at local companies that offer health insurance to its employees’ domestic partners.
The registry had the support of Mayor Darwin Hindman and the Columbia Human Rights Commission.
One speaker during the public hearing before the vote received a standing ovation from the gallery when he made an impassioned plea for passage.  Retired United Methodist Reverend Dick Blount told the Council that “These, my brothers and sisters, are the last group that has not yet been given what is their right... That’s all we’re asking for,” he said.  “We’re not trying to make the issue complex.”


  And finally, a new TV ad attacking marriage equality hit the airwaves in selected U.S. states this week.  But its tone might be more appropriate for Hallowe’en... and its content perhaps for April Fool’s Day.
It’s called “The Gathering Storm,” with actors portraying self-avowed heterosexuals who are frightened by gay and lesbian couples getting married.  The ad includes cheesy special effects with wind-driven dark clouds and occasional lightning bolts in the background.  A group called the National Organization for Marriage is reportedly paying more than a million dollars to pu
t the ad on the air.
The actors variously describe pro-lesbigay developments that they say threaten their religious freedoms.  The LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign used its Web site to expose each of the claims in the ad as outright lies.  The group also discovered audition reels of actors seeking a role in the ad, and posted them to their Web site, too.
Here’s how openly lesbian commentator Rachel Maddow reported the story on her MSNBC cable show this week:
{Maddow excerpt}