NewsWrap for the week ending November 15th, 1997 (As broadcast on THIS WAY OUT Program #503, distributed 11-17-97) [Compiled & written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Steffan Jensen, Rex Wockner, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Tory Christopher and Cindy Friedman ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, has been granted consultative status by the Council of Europe. Notification of the official recognition came this week from the Council's Secretary-General. Unless there are objections from either the Council's Committee of Ministers or its Parliamentary Assembly, the new status will go into effect January 15th. It will bring increased access to official proceedings of the Council that will enhance ILGA's lobbying efforts towards gay and lesbian equality. ILGA had consultative status with the United Nations for about a year beginning in 1993, the only gay and lesbian group ever to be so recognized, but was ousted by a campaign of U.S. right-wingers alleging that ILGA supported pedophilia. By a 3-to-2 vote, the Australian High Court has upheld the use of the so-called "homosexual panic" defense by men accused of killing gays. Successful use of the defense serves to make killing a gay man not a murder but the lesser crime of manslaughter, even though in most cases the only indication of the dead man's behavior is the report of the accused. The court was divided on the question of whether what the law calls an "ordinary man" could be so provoked by a homosexual advance as to form an intention to kill the suitor. The majority wrote that they were "not saying that most men would so react or that such a reaction would be reasonable. However, some ordinary men could become enraged and feel that a strong physical re-action was called for... the appellant found the deceased's conduct 'revolting' rather than 'amorous.'" That conclusion was vigorously opposed by gay-friendly Justice Michael Kirby, who warned it would send a message that a non-violent homosexual advance is adequate to provoke an ordinary person to murderous action, a message which in his words "unacceptably condones serious violence by people who take the law into their own hands." Kirby also had a much more optimistic view of the ordinary person in contemporary Australian society, who he said might, "react with the strong language of protest; might use as much physical force as was necessary to effect an escape; and where absolutely necessary assault the persistent perpetrator to secure escape" -- but not "so lose self-control as to form an intent to kill." There's happier news for New South Wales this week as the Federation of Gay Games announced the selection of Sydney as the host site for the gay and lesbian Olympics-style competition in 2002. It will be the first time the Games have been held in the Southern Hemisphere, and the multicultural flavor of Sydney's bid contributed to its selection. An economic impact assessment found that the Games will bring $100- to $160-million dollars in revenues at a pricetag of only $11.5-million, so the state government welcomed the news. Homophobic state MP Fred Nile, his National Party, and the Christian Democratic Party all continue to object to any government funding for the games, playing on fears of AIDS and pedophilia. Also in Australia, there's been a large recall of three brands of Ansell condoms which have been sold as long as two years ago. Australia had been exempt from a recent recall of millions of Ansell condoms in the U.S., but the company's routine testing has now found problems with its Australian product. It seems that the spermicide nonoxynol-9, which is believed to be effective against HIV, has in some cases formed blisters or holes in the latex. Australians are urged to check their supplies for "Affinity Extra Strength", "Lifestyles Ultrasure" or "Lifestyles Ultrasure Extra Strength," all with nonoxynol-9 in 12-packs with expiration dates before April 1999. They can be returned for refund to the place of purchase or directly to the manufacturer. South Africa's Minister of Health has announced that unmarried women, including lesbians, will now be granted equal access to artificial insemination. Three women had complained in July to the South African Human Rights Commission that the Human Tissue Act violated the new national constitution by restricting artificial insemination to married women who had their husband's written consent. The Commission agreed that the restriction illegally discriminated on the basis of marital status, and was able to convince the Department of Health to change its policy, without having to resort to a lawsuit. U.S. President Bill Clinton this week hosted the first-ever White House national conference on hate crimes, and he was careful to ensure that gays and lesbians were recognized as a commonly victimized group. Federal law currently does not include sexual orientation as a category for bias crimes except for data collection purposes. That could change, as Senators Ted Kennedy and Arlen Specter are introducing the Hate Crimes Prevention Act to add sexual orientation, along with gender and physical disabilities, and the President called for its passage. Meanwhile, Clinton is ordering several actions against hate crimes, including the development of a Bias Crimes Task Force by each U.S. Attorney's office, to include representatives of local minority communities as well as law enforcement, criminal justice, and federal and local government officials. The conference gave gay and lesbian anti-violence groups an unprecedented level of federal recognition for their work, with their inclusion among the several hundred invitees along with Cabinet-level officials like the heads of the Justice, Housing and Education Departments. Clinton's nomination of James Hormel to become the U.S.' first openly gay ambassador will have to wait at least until January for confirmation. Hormel's nomination to the Luxembourg embassy was kept off the Senate floor by a procedure known as a "hold," which allows any Senator to anonymously stall indefinitely the body's consideration of any proposal. To override the hold requires a roll call vote instead of the anonymous consent vote by which nominations are typically approved. At least two Republicans, Senators James Inhofe [R-OK] and Tim Hutchinson [R-AR], admit that they put holds on the Hormel nomination specifically to block what they called his "gay rights agenda"... and now the Senate has gone into its winter recess. Holds date back to the days when travel was so time-consuming that legislators might miss significant votes, but recently Republicans have used them to block as many as 40 Presidential nominations. The Parliament of Hamburg, Germany this week elected a mayor who has promised to extend all possible recognition to gay and lesbian couples. Socialist Democrat Ortwin Runde was elected by a better than two-to-one margin by a parliament dominated by a coalition of his own party and the Greens. With their support, Hamburg will establish an official registry for unmarried couples; accept their joint applications for public housing; assure hospital visitation rights, whether or not blood relatives approve; extend equal residence rights for foreign partners of Hamburg gays and lesbians; and consider granting equal adoption rights for them as well. Although more reform can only be accomplished through national legislation which Helmut Kohl's center-right coalition has opposed, some believe the Hamburg situation is a preview of what could follow next year's national elections. However, Hamburg's local Christian Democrats agreed not to try to make a wedge of the issue, which the national party could be expected to do. In Canada, London, Ontario Mayor Dianne Haskett was re-elected by a landslide in the ultimate stealth campaign. She spent the last three weeks of the campaign on a leave of absence in complete seclusion from the media and the voters, after the Ontario Human Rights Commission found she had illegally discriminated against a gay and lesbian group by denying them a gay pride proclamation. Haskett says her disappearance was a silent protest of the Commission's denying her the right to remain silent regarding gays and lesbians, claiming that her religious beliefs prevent her from supporting what she calls their "agenda." While several hundred residents demonstrated their support of her with a silent march, a new group called "People Opposing Principled Bigotry" formed to support her leading opponent. Haskett is now looking for peace and healing, and has promised to meet with the Homophile Association of London, Ontario, known as HALO. And finally ... you might not have expected this week's big budget U.S. release "The Jackal" to be a film with a message, but it is, in more ways than one. Its official synopsis describes groups using terrorism to "deliver a public message, soaked in blood, to strike fear in the hearts and minds of ... the enemy." That kind of message inadvertently colored a scene in which Bruce Willis' character, an assassin who's a master of disguise, goes to a gay bar: in early test screenings, audiences applauded when he shot dead a gay man he met there. But GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, was able to influence the producers to change the scene before the film was released, a first in the group's ten-year history. Co-producer Sean Daniel said that GLAAD staffer Chastity Bono "made it clear that she was not calling in any way to position GLAAD as a censor, [but that we] should be thoughtful because we are dealing with issues that carry a lot of weight out there in our culture. That's a good message." Co-star Richard Gere, long a friend of gay and lesbian causes, shares GLAAD's relief that the version now showing makes it very clear that the Willis character shoots the gay man not because of the victim's sexual orientation, but in order to protect his own secret identity.