“NewsWrap"
for the week ending August 8, 2009
(As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,115, distributed 8-10-09)
[Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley]

Reported this week by Chris Wilson and John Torres

  Tel Aviv, Israel’s reputation as the most LGBT-welcoming city in the Middle East was shattered by gunfire on the evening of Saturday, August 1st.  A masked man dressed entirely in black walked into an area of the downtown LGBT Center that was hosting a weekly support group for LGBT and questioning youth and randomly sprayed the room with gunfire.  Two were killed � 26-year-old gay counselor Nir Katz, andd 17-year-old Liz Trubeshi.  Some reports described her as a supportive heterosexual who had come to the meeting with friends.  More than a dozen young people injured in the attack, described by one witness as a “blood bath”, were rushed to area hospitals, with 4 in critical condition.
The unknown gunman fled on foot, and police are conducting an intense manhunt for him.
Literally hours later, several hundred LGBT people and their friends held an impromptu vigil and protest against homophobia less than a block from the crime scene.  Some 500 people also rallied in Jerusalem's Zion Square, and there were reports of smaller protests in Haifa and Beersheba.
There’s only speculation about the gunman’s motive at this point, but local activists said infla mmatory anti-gay rhetoric by ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders, and by some ministers in the coalition Israeli government, could have spurred the assault.  But Police Commissioner Inspector-General David Cohen warned against "tainting sectors and populations with suspicions."  His office got a court-ordered gag order on media reports about the police investigation, but officials have expressed confidence that the gunman will be caught.  At last report detectives were continuing to interview witnesses and bystanders.

  Even though Israel repealed its sodomy law years ago, and gays and lesbians serve openly in the military, same-gender unions are not recognized, and a few other rights have been won only in court cases.  Ultra-Orthodox minority parties have generally stymied pro-LGBT legislation in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
Tel Aviv has long been considered the most queer-friendly city in the country, so news of the shooting literally shocked the nation.  Condemnations of the attack have been widespread, ranging from local Tel Aviv officials and national religious leaders to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Earlier in the week, Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog announced the formation of an emergency committee to determine how professionals can be of assistance to the LGBT community.  His office released data saying that one-third of suicides among Israel’s teenagers were due to what it called “sexual identity confusion,” and that over 80 percent of gay or lesbian teens said they’ve suffered verbal abuse.  More than half reported physical attacks.

  Forty-six percent of Israelis surveyed in a Ha’aretz-Dialog poll published this week in the aftermath of the shooting said they saw homosexuality as “a perversion”.  Forty-two percent said they didn’t, and 12 percent didn’t know.  Not surprisingly, those with conservative religious views thought of gays and lesbians negatively, while more secular respondents tended to be more accepting.  Professor Camil Fuchs, who conducted the research, compared the level of homophobia in Israel to that in Bulgaria.
Yaniv Weizman, who leads a Tel Aviv gay youth organization, told the “Ha’aretz” newspaper that "It comes as no surprise to me that almost half the public thinks I'm mentally ill and should be imprisoned, treated or killed.  However... if 26 percent of the religious and 27 percent of the Arabs say we're not perverts, you can say we've achieved something."
Many of those hurt in the youth group shooting were not “out” to their families, and there were reports that some parents refused to visit their injured children in the hospital.

  Residents of a Jewish ultra-Orthodox haredim neighborhood in Tel Aviv threatened a group of young people who visited the area late this week to hang posters condemning the deadly shooting.  According to the “Jerusalem Post,” the leader of the small group said they went to the area in an=2 0effort to raise awareness in every area of the capital that anti-gay violence affects all of Israeli society.  He said that the local residents may have thought they were being blamed for the shooting, and chased the young people down alleyways, but they managed to escape unharmed.  "If we had known it would end like [that]” the group’s leader said, “we wouldn't have put up even one poster.”

  Several vigils to honor the shooting victims and protest homophobia have been held around the world.  Some 1,500 people marched in Berlin to the monument memorializing gay victims of the Holocaust, and left bouquets in memory of the 2 Tel Aviv murder victims, Nir Katz and Liz Trubeshi.
Mourners also gathered in London, Budapest, Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, and San Diego.  Quite a few actions have been generated through messages posted on social networking Web sites.  Other protests and rallies were held or are being organized in Buenos Aires, Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, and several other cities.
Meanwhile, the LGBT Center in downtown Tel Aviv opened 2 days after the shooting, with beefed-up security, on Monday, August 3rd.  Activists have vowed not to let the carnage push them back into the closet, but to use it as an opportunity to build a more LGBT-welcoming Israel.  We’ll have on-scene coverage from our Tel Aviv correspondent Eran Mor-Cicurel later in the program.

  Elsewhere, m ore than 5,500 people took part in the second LGBT World Outgames July 25th to August 2nd in Copenhagen.
The event, a rival to the Gay Games, was created in 2006 when the Gay Games had a falling-out with its local organizers in Montreal, who responded by launching a duplicate international sporting event.
Athletes came from more than 90 countries to the World Outgames.  The week's events also included a human rights conference, and art and culture programs.
The night of the opening ceremonies, 3 participants were punched and kicked near Copenhagen Town Hall by 2 men who screamed "homo pig" at them.  The suspects were captured and taken into custody for the duration of the games.  The victims were treated and released at a hospital.
Three days later, a U.S. runner participating in the Games, Dean Koga of Seattle, was injured when a man threw powerful fireworks -- which some reports called "bombs" -- onto the track at Østerbro Stadium.  The alleged perpetrator was arrested and charged with committing a hate crime.
“OutSports.com” said the 58-year-old Koga spent hours in surgery having "a big chunk of plastic" removed from his right hand.  But he was back on the track the following day, and won a gold medal in his age group in the men's 200 meters.

  The Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals has been granted consultative status by the United Nations' Economic and Social Council.
That designation allows a n ongovernmental organization to access U.N. meetings, deliver oral and written reports, contact country representatives, and organize events.
Some 3,000 similar groups have consultative status.  That’s always been a lengthy, uphill battle for LGBT groups, but organizations eventually have prevailed in recent years from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
The Brazilian group's acceptance was supported by 25 countries, including Bolivia, Estonia, Japan, Poland, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
It was opposed by Algeria, Belarus, Cameroon, China, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iraq, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
Seventeen nations abstained from voting or were not present.

  The American Psychological Association is urging its members not to tell clients that they can change their sexual orientation through so-called “reparative therapy”.
A task force reviewing such treatment was created in 2007 to update the A.P.A.'s 1997 study after noting a resurgence of groups that identified homosexuality as a defect or spiritual or moral failing.  The task force examined 83 peer-reviewed journal articles published from 1960 to 2007.  It concluded that there is no solid evidence that efforts to change a person’s sexual orientation from gay or lesbian to heterosexual are effective, and that in fact such attempts can do harm to the patient.  The A.P.A. suggested that therapists should recommend multiple options, ranging from celi bacy to changing religious affiliation, to help clients whose sexual orientation and faith conflict.  The task force’s comprehensive report was endorsed by the group’s Governing Council during the Association’s annual meeting this week in Toronto.
The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1975.

  And finally, young queer or questioning students who have problems in school because of their sexual orientation or gender identity may soon have a virtual educational alternative.  The GLBTQ Online High School, believed to be the first of its kind, plans to launch in January.  It’s the brainchild of David Glick, who’s had 25 years of experience in the education field, including the development of online learning programs throughout the United States.  He says the school will be especially valuable for students in rural areas, and those with no access to support programs at their brick and mortar schools, such as Gay/Straight Alliances.
According to a recent study by GLSEN � the Gay, Lesbian, and Straiight Education Network � almost 9 out of 10 such students have expeerienced harassment in their schools, and nearly a third of all LGBT students have missed school because of feeling unsafe.  Some critics, however, worry that an online-only school might further isolate already-alienated students.
But Glick promises a safe and affirming virtual environment.  He says the private, tuition-ba sed school will offer an interactive college-preparatory curriculum consisting of mainstream and advanced placement courses, customized to each student’s needs, and include specific classes on queer history, culture and politics.
For more information, log on to w-w-w-dot-g-l-b-t-q-online-high-school-dot-com.