NewsWrap
              for the week ending August 31st, 1996
        (As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT Program #440, 
                            distributed 09-02-96)
[Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Brian Nunes, Jason Lin,
Ron Buckmire, Alejandra Sarda, Alan Reekie,
Dylan Littlefield and Greg Gordon]

  Buenos Aires became the first city in Spanish-speaking Latin America to
enact a human rights law which prohibits discrimination based on sexual
orientation, among other categories.  Buenos Aires is in the process of
establishing home rule, having previously been run under federal laws by
appointees of the President of Argentina, and its Statutory Convention passed
the anti-discrimination clause honoring "the right to be different" with a
unanimous vote on August 30th.  A sizable contingent of activists were
present for the plenary session and celebrated the vote by unfolding a
rainbow banner and chanting, "Gays, lesbians, transvestites, transsexuals,
all together fighting for national rights."  When the civil rights measure
was set aside on technical grounds by the plenary the previous week, a score
of those activists had personally ensured the signatures of all but one
member of the Drafting Committee by surrounding their meeting table and
tracking down absentees, making certain that the bill would be voted on this
week.  One delegate to the Statutory Convention proclaimed that the ban on
discrimination did not signify approval of same-gender marriages or
artificial insemination for lesbian couples.

  Also in Argentina, transvestite activist Mocha Celis died last week after
being found on a Buenos Aires street bleeding from two bullets in the penis
-- and local activists believe it was police who fired the shots.  They say
Celis was threatened a few weeks ago by a police sergeant and was last seen
alive getting into a car like those driven by local police.  It also appears
that police who knew her perfectly well registered her at the hospital as
"identity unknown."  Friends seeking to obtain her body say they were
continuously followed by  police.  Celis' sister plans on filing a lawsuit to
ensure an investigation of  the killing. Meanwhile, two Argentine national
trany groups and Gays por los Derechos Civiles are clamoring for media
attention  to the case.

  In Vienna, despite opposition from both parishioners and the head of the
Evangelical Church, a local minister performed Austria's first same-gender
church wedding on August 31st.  Lesbians Jutta and Irene wore skirts and
black jackets, and carried white and yellow bouquets as they exchanged vows
before a crowd of about 100.  Austria's conservative Christian Democratic
People's Party has thus far blocked efforts to legally recognize same-gender
couples there.

  In Belgium, unmarried domestic partners -- both heterosexual and
same-gender -- will be able to receive the same unemployment benefits as
legally married couples, effective September 1st.  The partner in the
so-called "de facto" household must be financially dependent on the
unemployed worker to qualify.  The change in unemployment regulations was
officially published in mid-August. 

  Alabama Governor Fob James signed an executive order August 29th to deny
Alabama marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, and to deny recognition
to legal same-gender marriages which might someday be performed in another
U.S. state.  The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama quickly denounced
the order as wrong, discriminatory and -- since the states are required to
recognize each other's legal and judicial proceedings -- unconstitutional.
 It's the second such gubernatorial executive order, following Governor Kirk
Fordice's order issued last week in neighboring Mississippi, while 16 states
so far have enacted legislation against recognition of other states'
same-gender marriages.  Similar federal legislation -- the so-called "Defense
of Marriage Act" -- will be considered on the floor of the U.S. Senate on
September 5th.
This year's flurry of legislative activity in the U.S. against same-gender
marriages has been spurred by the possibility of their legalization in
Hawaii, following a trial court hearing scheduled to begin there September
10th and at least two years of judicial process thereafter.

  A Florida trial court judge acted properly last year in taking a girl from
her openly lesbian mother to give custody to her convicted murderer father, a
state appeals court ruled August 30th in a much-publicized case.  Although
Circuit Court Judge Joseph Tarbuck had actually said in his order that he
wanted to give Cassey Ward the option to live in "a non-lesbian world",
Florida's First District Court of Appeals ruled that he had based his
decision not on mother Mary Ward's sexual orientation but on the child's best
interests.  The three-judge appellate panel said Tarbuck acted on evidence
that Mary's custody was harmful to Cassey -- although the court's own social
worker had testified to the contrary, while the "evidence" of harm consisted
of statements by father John Ward's attorney.  However, the panel did write,
"We are not suggesting that the sexual orientation of the custodial parent by
itself justifies a custody change."
John Ward had pleaded guilty and served 8 years for murdering his first wife
before marrying Mary Ward.  Mary was given custody of Cassey when they
divorced in 1987.  John had married for a third time before gaining custody
of Cassey in September 1995, when Mary had gone to court hoping to increase
his child support payments.  Mary Ward intends to appeal this week's decision
to the Florida State Supreme Court.

  Chief Justice of Israel's Supreme Court Aharon Barak was  criticized in the
newspaper "Yated Neeman" on August 26th in a manner that has created fears he
may be physically assaulted by members of Israel's religious right.  While
the current  trigger for the attack was a decision allowing traffic through
an orthodox neighborhood on the sabbath, Barak's rulings favorable to gays
and lesbians have also enraged  ultraorthodox Jews.  Several top government
officials shared the concerns of former Justice Minister and current Finance
Minister Dan Meridor, who said, "We have recently been witness to an attack
by  various groups, politicians and journalists, on the Supreme Court and its
president Aharon Barak.  This is a serious incitement campaign which is
directed not only at individuals serving in vital positions under the law,
but which also attempts to undermine the basic values of Israeli society."

  As the first World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children met in Stockholm, Sweden this week, some gay and lesbian activists
feared the drive to protect children from the international sex trade could
lead to censorship, restrictions and discriminatory prosecutions which could
ultimately harm gay and lesbian youth.   But RFSL, Sweden's largest gay and
lesbian organization, issued an open letter to conference participants on
August 29th which endorsed the Congress' agenda.  Countering the myth
equating homosexuality with pedophilia, the letter reminded participants that
gays, lesbians and bisexuals are often themselves loving parents.  RFSL went
on to express horror at the increase in sexual exploitation and to emphasize
the total responsibility of the adults involved in it for all their sexual
relations with children.  While many gay and lesbian activists have struggled
to change age-of-consent laws -- which vary widely from nation to nation and
which often prescribe a higher age of consent for same-gender sex acts --
RFSL stated unequivocally that they were necessary for the protection of
children.  RFSL was unable to participate in the conference because of the
gathering's restricted attendance.

  "I'm a mayor who happens to be gay", said Neil Giuliano of Tempe, Arizona
this week.  Anticipating that a disgruntled resident would "out" him at a
meeting of the Tempe City Council, Giuliano announced, "My private life is my
private life and is not a topic to be discussed at a City Council meeting.
 I'm taking this opportunity to pre-empt that.  I happen to be gay.  That's
it ... the end of the story."  Giuliano says he does not plan "to become an
activist for the gay and lesbian community."

  And finally ... a new memoir by a woman who assisted former U.S. President
Richard Nixon in his final years reveals that he gave more thought to gays
and lesbians than many might have presumed.  In her book "Nixon Off the
Record", Monica Crowley quotes him as saying, "I don't go for this 'outing'
business.  If someone is gay, that's their business, and they should have the
right to protect their privacy about it."  He also took issue with the right
wing of his own Republican party, saying, according to Crowley, "We have too
much bashing of everyone in this party.  It's an embarrassment.  So many
people are gay -- or go both ways.  I don't care.  I don't want to hear about
it."


Sources for this week's report included:  Reuter News Service;  The
Associated Press;  The Arizona Republic;  The San Francisco Examiner;  and
cyberpress releases from Escrita En El Cuerpo/Buenos Aires and the
International Lesbian & Gay Association.