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                     The week of 03/04/96 on
                        T H I S    W A Y    O U T
         the international gay & lesbian radio magazine

* In NewsWrap:  A British report to Parliament says it may never be possible
to integrate open gays and lesbians into the military there, while a lesbigay
servicemembers' group cites evidence that Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
has been tougher on U.S. lesbians and gays in uniform that its earlier
outright ban ... lesbian mom Sharon Bottoms loses again in a Virginia court
... three New Zealand lesbians file a lawsuit demanding marriage licenses,
while the same-gender marriage debate continues in more U.S. states ... and
several other stories [anchored by Cindy Friedman and Brian Nunes].

=> You can read the complete transcript of NewsWrap below!

* Sodomy Law - Does It Really Prevent AIDS?" - Late last month a judge ruled
Montana's sodomy law to be unconstitutional, but as PATRICIA NELL WARREN, a
former Montana resident, and the author of the landmark novel "The Front
Runner" notes in this personal commentary, two dozen other U.S. states still
outlaw homosexual sex between consenting adults, and a few zealots are trying
to bring it back in their states.  Why?

=> You can read the complete text of Patricia Nell Warren's commentary below!

* Some Israeli activists have had their homes ransacked, and a few supporters
have received threats of violence in recent weeks.  The trouble began when an
orthodox rabbi and member of the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) demanded
the biblically-inspired death penalty for homosexuality during a recent
debate on pension benefits for gays and lesbians.  Yet in Jerusalem, reporter
Richard Miron discovers that many queer residents say Israel may be one of
the safest places in the world to be openly-lesbian or -gay.

* Remember those "young person" adventure mysteries you read as a kid - or
saw on TV?  Who hasn't thrilled to the adventures of Nancy Drew, intrepid
girl detective, and the Hardy Boys, those plucky lads?  A series of books
published by Cleis Press, featuring "Nancy Clue" and "The Hardly Boys" spoofs
the genre by giving it the queerest of spins.  With "The Case of The
Not-So-Nice Nurse" and "The Case of The Good-For-Nothing Girlfriend" to her
credit, author MABEL MANEY reads from her latest in the series, "The Ghost In
the Closet", and talks with TWO's Sue Pierce about the politics of perkiness.
==========================*=============================
                                     =NewsWrap=
               For the week ending March 2nd, 1996
        (As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT  Program #414,
                           distributed 03-04-96)
[Compiled & written by CINDY FRIEDMAN, with thanks to Brian Nunes, Bill
Stosine, Jason Lin, Greg Gordon and Ron Buckmire]

IN BRITAIN, A REPORT FROM THE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE TO THE PARLIAMENT SAYS THAT
IT MAY NEVER  BE POSSIBLE TO INTEGRATE OPEN GAYS AND LESBIANS INTO THE
MILITARY, EVEN THOUGH THE EUROPEAN COURT IS LIKELY TO RULE THAT BANNING THEM
FROM SERVICE VIOLATES THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS.  THE 450-PAGE REPORT HAS BEEN
APPROVED BY ARMED FORCES MINISTER NICHOLAS SOAMES AND WILL BE REVIEWED BY A
COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.  WHILE RECOGNIZING WHAT IT CALLS "EVOLVING
SOCIAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS HOMOSEXUALITY" IN CIVILIAN LIFE, THE REPORT CLAIMS
THAT OPEN GAYS AND LESBIANS IN THE MILITARY WOULD PROVOKE HOSTILITY FROM
OTHER SERVICEMEMBERS AND HAMPER FIGHTING EFFICIENCY.  THE CLAIMS ARE BASED ON
A SURVEY OF 13,500 BRITISH MILITARY PERSONNEL, OF WHOM ONLY 5 PERCENT
SUPPORTED IMMEDIATELY LIFTING THE BAN WHILE 80 PERCENT OPPOSED IT.  THE
REPORT STRESSED THE UNIQUENESS OF THE MILITARY MISSION AND ENVIRONMENT.

THE U.S. MILITARY IS FINALLY BECOMING AWARE THAT IN PRACTICE ITS SO-CALLED
"DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL" POLICY MAY BE TOUGHER ON GAYS AND LESBIANS IN UNIFORM
THAN ITS EARLIER OUTRIGHT BAN.  LAST YEAR, THE ARMY, NAVY AND MARINES
REPORTED AN AGGREGATE 17 PERCENT INCREASE IN THEIR DISMISSALS OF GAYS AND
LESBIANS, WHILE THE AIR FORCE'S DISMISSALS HAVE DOUBLED ... ALTHOUGH
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WILLIAM PERRY DENIES THAT CHANGE IS STATISTICALLY
MEANINGFUL.  THE SERVICEMEMBERS LEGAL DEFENSE NETWORK, A GAY AND LESBIAN
ADVOCACY GROUP, THIS WEEK RELEASED AN EXTENSIVE REPORT OF 363 VIOLATIONS OF
THE 1994 CLINTON POLICY, DETAILING CONTINUED WITCHHUNTS IN THE U.S. MILITARY
AND INVESTIGATIONS THAT INVOLVED INTERROGATIONS OF SERVICEMEMBERS' FAMILIES,
FRIENDS AND THERAPISTS.  SECRETARY PERRY SPOKE AGAINST HARRASSMENT OF
INDIVIDUALS BY THE MILITARY AND, WHILE INSISTING THAT THE CLINTON POLICY HAS
NOT FAILED, SAID HE'S ASKED HIS STAFF TO INVESTIGATE THE DEFENSE NETWORK'S
ALLEGATIONS CAREFULLY.

A LESBIAN MOTHER IN VIRGINIA HAS ONCE AGAIN BEEN DENIED CUSTODY OF HER OWN
SON.  HENRICO COUNTY DOMESTIC RELATIONS COURT JUDGE WILLIAM BOICE REAFFIRMED
HIS 1993 DECISION GIVING CUSTODY OF 4-YEAR-OLD TYLER DOUSTOU TO HIS
GRANDMOTHER KAY BOTTOMS INSTEAD OF HIS LESBIAN MOTHER SHARON BOTTOMS.  AND
BOICE WENT ON TO CRITICIZE SHARON BOTTOMS AND HER PARTNER APRIL WADE FOR
COOPERATING IN THE PRODUCTION OF A MOVIE FOR TELEVISION ABOUT THEIR STORY.
 THE COUPLE SAY THEY CHOSE TO COOPERATE WITH THE MOVIE PRODUCERS AFTER BEING
TOLD THE MOVIE WOULD BE MADE WHETHER THEY ASSISTED OR NOT.  THE ATTORNEY
APPOINTED BY THE COURT TO MONITOR TYLER'S WELL-BEING PLEADED FOR RETURNING
TYLER TO SHARON, CLAIMING THAT THE BOY IS SHOWING DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS IN
LEARNING AND DEVELOPING ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR PATTERNS IN HIS GRANDMOTHER'S CARE,
BUT TO NO AVAIL.  SHARON BOTTOMS AND WADE LEFT THE COURTHOUSE IN TEARS.  THEY
SAY THEY DON'T KNOW IF THEY CAN CONTINUE THEIR LEGAL STRUGGLE. 

OUTED POSTHUMOUSLY THIS WEEK BY THE ADVOCATE  WAS PIONEERING AFRICAN-AMERICAN
U.S. CONGRESSMEMBER BARBARA JORDAN.  APPARENTLY HER RELATIONSHIPS WITH WOMEN
WERE NO SECRET AMONG HER FRIENDS BUT SHE DIDN'T FEEL THE PUBLIC NEEDED TO
KNOW.  IN THE EARLY 1960'S WHEN SHE WAS FIRST INVOLVED IN POLITICS, ADVISERS
SUGGESTED HER CAREER COULD BE DAMAGED BY HER CLOSENESS WITH A FEMALE FRIEND
WHO JOINED HER ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL.  THAT RELATIONSHIP ENDED SOON AFTER SHE
PUBLICLY DISTANCED HERSELF FROM HER COMPANION.  BUT IN 1976 SHE BEGAN
BUILDING A HOME WITH NANCY EARL, WHO REMAINED HER CLOSE COMPANION UNTIL HER
DEATH IN JANUARY.  WHILE EARL DECLINED TO CONFIRM A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH
JORDAN, JORDAN'S FAMILY TREATED EARL AS A FAMILY MEMBER AT THE FUNERAL.

THREE LESBIAN COUPLES IN NEW ZEALAND HAVE FILED A LAWSUIT DEMANDING MARRIAGE
LICENSES.  THEY CLAIM THE NATIONAL LAW PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION BASED ON
SEXUAL ORIENTATION GUARANTEES THEM THE RIGHT TO MARRY, PARTICULARLY SINCE NEW
ZEALAND'S MARRIAGE ACT DOESN'T SPECIFY OPPOSITE GENDERS FOR MARRIAGE
PARTNERS.

IN THE U.S. THIS WEEK, A HAWAII STATE SENATE COMMITTEE PASSED A MEASURE TO
ESTABLISH LEGAL DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS FOR SAME-GENDER COUPLES, WHILE
REJECTING TWO PROPOSALS TO ESTABLISH EQUAL MARRIAGE RIGHTS FOR GAYS AND
LESBIANS.
A NEBRASKA STATE SENATE COMMITTEE HEARD TESTIMONY ON A BILL TO ESTABLISH
EQUAL MARRIAGE RIGHTS FOR GAYS AND LESBIANS WITHOUT TAKING ANY ACTION.
BUT ALMOST HALF OF THE 50 UNITED STATES HAVE REACTED TO THE POSSIBILITY OF
LEGAL GAY AND LESBIAN MARRIAGES IN HAWAII WITH BILLS TO DENY RECOGNITION TO
THOSE UNIONS.  THIS WEEK THE COLORADO STATE HOUSE NARROWLY PASSED ITS VERSION
BY A VOTE TO 33-TO-31, AN ACTION COLORADO GOVERNOR ROY ROMER CALLED
"PREMATURE". A GEORGIA STATE SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVED A SIMILAR MEASURE
THERE.  IN CALIFORNIA, A SECOND BILL DENYING RECOGNITION OF SAME-GENDER
MARRIAGES HAS BEEN INTRODUCED IN THE STATE ASSEMBLY.  THE ACTION WILL KEEP
THE ISSUE ALIVE THIS SESSION EVEN IF A STATE SENATE COMMITTEE DEFEATS THE
VERSION ALREADY PASSED BY THE FULL HOUSE.

YET, U.S. REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS MAY BE MAKING A MISTAKE WITH THEIR ALL-OUT
CAMPAIGN AGAINST EQUAL MARRIAGE RIGHTS FOR GAYS AND LESBIANS, ACCORDING TO A
SURVEY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE REPUBLICANS COMMISSIONED BY THE GAY AND LESBIAN CIVIL
RIGHTS GROUP THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN.  OF THOSE POLLED, HALF SAID THE ISSUE
"MADE NO DIFFERENCE " TO THEM, WHILE ONE-THIRD SAID THEY'D BE EITHER
"SOMEWHAT" OR "MUCH" LESS LIKELY TO SUPPORT A CANDIDATE TAKING A POSITION
AGAINST GAY AND LESBIAN MARRIAGE.  ONLY ABOUT ONE FIFTH SAID THEY WERE GLAD
THE ISSUE WAS RAISED, AND THAT THEY WERE LIKELY TO SUPPORT AN ANTI-GAY AND
LESBIAN CANDIDATE.

BRAZIL'S ELECTIONS WON'T BE COMING UP UNTIL OCTOBER, BUT THE NEW NATIONAL
ORGANIZATION FORUM OF GAY MEN, LESBIANS AND TRANSVESTITES IN POLITICS IS
ALREADY HARD AT WORK.  THEY'VE NOMINATED 15 OPENLY GAY AND LESBIAN CANDIDATES
FOR MUNICIPAL OFFICES, WHILE A 16TH, TRANSVESTITE ADRIANA TULIPA, DIED OF
AIDS-RELATED ILLNESS LAST WEEK.  ALMOST ALL OF THOSE CANDIDATES ARE
ASSOCIATED WITH LEFT-WING PARTIES, 9 OF THEM WITH THE WORKER'S PARTY.  THEIR
PLATFORMS INCLUDE CIVIL RIGHTS PROTECTIONS FROM DISCRIMINATION BASED ON
SEXUAL ORIENTATION, CREATION OF LOCAL HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCILS, SEX EDUCATION
PROGRAMS, AND A COMMITMENT TO END HOMOPHOBIC VIOLENCE.  VIOLENCE IS OF
SPECIAL CONCERN IN BRAZIL, WHERE AN AVERAGE OF ALMOST 100 GAYS HAVE BEEN
KILLED BY DEATH SQUADS IN EACH OF THE LAST 15 YEARS.  ONE OF THOSE MURDERED
IN 1993 WAS A FORMER CITY COUNCIL MEMBER, BUT THAT ONLY CONVINCES THE CURRENT
GAY AND LESBIAN CANDIDATES TO CARRY ON THE STRUGGLE.  LUIZ MOTT, A NOMINEE
FOR A MUNICIPAL POST IN SALVADOR AND LEADER OF GGB, THE BAHIA GAY GROUP, SAID
THAT IF THE OPENLY GAY AND LESBIAN CANDIDATES ARE ELECTED, THEY'LL PROVE THAT
"WE CAN BE AS GOOD AT POLITICS AS WE ARE IN THE ARTS, FASHION AND MUSIC."

ZIMBABWE'S PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE RENEWED HIS CAMPAIGN OF HOMOPHOBIC
RHETORIC THIS WEEK BEFORE A GROUP OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS IN HARARE.
 COMPARING HOMOSEXUALITY TO ALCOHOLISM, DRUG ABUSE AND PROSTITUTION, HE
CALLED ON PREACHERS TO FIGHT WHAT HE CALLED "THE CANKERING WORM OF DEBAUCHERY
AND THE AFFLICTION OF HOMOSEXUALITY."  HE CLAIMED THAT POLITICIANS IN OTHER
COUNTRIES HAVE AFFIRMED HIS POSITION BUT ARE UNABLE TO SPEAK UP IN THEIR HOME
NATIONS BECAUSE OF THE POWER OF GAY AND LESBIAN LOBBIES THERE.  MUGABE FACES
AN ELECTION IN MID-MARCH IN WHICH HE'S EXPECTED TO WIN ANOTHER 6-YEAR TERM BY
A LANDSLIDE.

IN AUSTRALIA, THOUSANDS OF GAYS AND LESBIANS FROM AROUND THE WORLD GATHERED
THIS WEEK FOR THE WORLD'S BIGGEST GAY AND LESBIAN EVENT, THE SYDNEY MARDI
GRAS.  MARDI GRAS ATTENDANCE CONTINUES TO GROW EACH YEAR, AND HOTELS ARE
BOOKED UP MONTHS AHEAD FOR 20 KILOMETERS AROUND THE CENTER OF THE ACTION IN
OXFORD STREET.

NEW ZEALAND'S ANNUAL HERO PARADE IN AUCKLAND IN MID-FEBRUARY DREW ALMOST
200,000 SPECTATORS.  ABOUT 1,000 GAYS AND LESBIANS MARCHED FOR 2 HOURS DOWN
PONSONBY ROAD WITH 42 FLOATS.  THE ANNUAL POST-PARADE PARTY WAS ATTENDED BY
ABOUT 4,000.

LESBIANS WILL BE CONVERGING ON PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA LATER THIS MONTH FOR
THE ANNUAL DINAH SHORE GOLF TOURNAMENT OF THE LADIES PROFESSIONAL GOLF
ASSOCIATION, BUT FOR THE FIRST TIME THERE WILL BE AN "OUT" LESBIAN AMONG THE
PLAYERS: MUFFIN SPENCER-DEVLIN.  WHILE LESS THAN A STAR, SPENCER-DEVLIN WON
OVER $100,000 LAST YEAR AND A TOTAL OF ALMOST $900,000 SINCE 1979, RANKING
NUMBER 62 AMONG TOP CAREER EARNERS ON THE TOUR.  BEFORE GOING PUBLIC, SHE
DISCUSSED HER COMING OUT WITH THE LPGA AND HER CORPORATE SPONSORS AND FOUND
NO PROBLEMS AT ALL.  SHE HOPES HER COMING OUT WILL HELP OTHER PEOPLE BY
PROVIDING A POSITIVE ROLE MODEL.

AND FINALLY ... U.S. COMIC JOAN RIVERS HAD BEEN STUMPING FOR REPUBLICAN
PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL STEVE FORBES, BUT HER REMAINING APPEARANCES HAVE NOW
BEEN CANCELLED.  HER IMPOLITIC MOVE WAS TO TAKE ISSUE WITH THE BIGOTRY OF
OPPOSING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PAT BUCHANAN DURING A RADIO CALL-IN SHOW IN
PHOENIX, ARIZONA.  CALLING BUCHANAN "ANTI-SEMITIC, ANTI-BLACK, ANTI-GAY ...
ANTI-EVERYTHING", RIVERS SAID, "I WENT TO A PARTY FOR BUCHANAN -- AND A NAZI
JUMPED OUT OF THE CAKE."

[Sources for this week's report:  The Associated Press; The London Daily
Telegraph; The New York Times; Reuter News Service; The San Francisco
Examiner; The Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch; The Advocate; Rex Wockner
International News Service; press releases from The Hawaii Equal Right To
Marry Project, The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, The Lambda Legal
Defense & Education Fund and California's Life Lobby; The Daily Nebraskan;
The Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph; U.S.A. Today; IPS News; The Sydney
(Australia) Morning Herald; The (U.S.) Lesbian News; and The San Jose
(California) Mercury News]
========================================================
        SODOMY LAW -- DOES IT REALLY  PREVENT AIDS?
        A personal commentary by Patricia Nell Warren

A Montana judge with guts late last month issued a permanent injunction
against the state's Deviate Conduct law.  All across the country, the
Christian Coalition and other reactionaries are screaming bloody murder about
it.  They're all insisting that sodomy laws uphold morality and religion --
that they deter AIDS.

Dream on.  Sodomy laws do not prevent AIDS.

All states once thought it was "moral" to prohibit many things.   Many were
the Bible verses thundered from the pulpit to keep women away from the polls,
and out of the business world.  In Montana it was also legally  "immoral" to
sell mining claims to Chinese, let labor unions organize, allow white people
to marry non-whites, or let the tribes do the Sun-Dance.

Today, Montana and other states tolerate women voters, labor unions, Asians
who own property, mixed-blood marriages, and Sun-Dances.  Yet two dozen
states still forbid adult homosexuals to have consensual sex.  Other states
are seeking to re-impose their old sodomy laws.  What does this prove?  It
only proves that political expediency can drive some lawmakers and voters
into the looniest, most hypocritical kind of contraditions.

Sodomy-law advocates make liars of themselves when they hype the Bible.
 Biblical texts demand the death penalty for homosexuality.  Lobbyists and
legislators who go by the Bible ought to be advocating death for adultery as
well -- and for swearing, disrepect for parents, working on Sunday, and
worshipping other gods than Jehovah.  The Old Testament gives American
lawmakers a clear mandate  to codify all these things as felonies.  But
reactionaries don't follow the Bible mandate.  Why?  It's simple.  They would
be committing politicial suicide if they tried to criminalize most Americans
in this way.

As for AIDS, it is spreading among heterosexuals without any help from gays.
 For instance, AIDS affects straight men who patronize the sex industry, but
seldom go to jail as accomplices of prostitution.  AIDS also spreads among
homeless and unemployed women and teenagers who turn to prostitution for
economic survival.  In fact, the gay stigma on AIDS has led to heterosexual
lying  that threatens all of us.  Going by the many celebrity deaths that are
fudged as "pneumonia" in the obituaries, one can only guess at the cover-ups
among the non-celebrities among us -- especially in conservative communities,
where a desperate family might do anything in its power to keep an illness or
death from becoming known as AIDS. 

Sodomy laws don't even prevent people from being gay.  Or maybe legislators
should criminalize all parents of gay kids as felons, and put them in prison,
too.  After all, these parents have violated the sodomy law by their "failure
to teach heterosexuality."

Let's face it -- sodomy laws are USELESS.  They don't even prevent the
estimated 350,000 rapes that are perpetrated every year by straight men in
our penal system!  According to Stop Prisoner Rape, convictions send gay  men
into prisons where they are expected to be "punks" or "queens," and service
the "men" (meaning the heterosexuals).  SPR points out that many male inmates
who go to prison as heterosexuals leave as functioning bisexuals.  So ... who
are the sodomy-law folks kidding?

And there's one more problem with sodomy law.  It's part of a whole
reactionary  package that voters and legislators are being pressured to
accept right now.  Anti-gay goes along with anti-feminist, anti-race,
anti-ethnic, anti-free speech, anti-Earth, anti-any religion that isn't
Christianity.  Montana has already legalized some of this reactionary
package.

Do the majority of Americans want this kind of reactionary law?  Do they
really want the  violence that always goes with reaction?  Or are the saner
citizens in this country willing to back up that Montana judge?  Can they get
our legislators and our election candidates off this bloodthirsty bandwagon,
so we can get rid of cruel and unreal laws?

I hope so.

(PATRICIA NELL WARREN is the author of the landmark novel "The Front Runner"
and other queer-themed fiction.  She continues to publish her work, and that
of promising new authors, through Wildcat Press.  She also works as an
advocate of lesbigay youth with the Gay and Lesbian Education Commission of
the Los Angeles Unified School District.)

Copyright 1996 by Patricia Nell Warren.  Permission granted by the author for
radio airing via This Way Out and internet posting on PlanetOut.  All other
rights reserved.
========================================================
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