inside the glass house

Gays conquer country after country
NEW YORK - When Renee Richards, a celebrated transexual tennis player of the 1970s underwent surgery to change sex, the classic oneliner that followed her transition was that she was the only tennis pro in human history capable of playing mixed doubles with herself.

A New York court ruled that Richards, a some-time coach to seeded tennis star Martina Navratilova, had the legitimate right to represent herself as a woman in competitive tennis tournaments in the US -- although her birth certificate classified her as a male by the name of Richard Raskin.
The ruling was hailed as a victory for transexual rights in a city where gender-benders are now demanding that all public toilets, including those in New York City restaurants, go sex-less.

In Sri Lanka, when one speaks of "mixed marriages", it is traditionally a marriage that cuts across ethnic boundaries: one between a Sinhalese and Tamil or a Muslim and a Sinhalese.

But at least in two countries in the world -- the Netherlands and Belgium -- mixed marriages now mean marriages between men and women. With their liberal outlook on human rights, the Dutch and Belgians have constitutionally recognised gay marriages -- marriages between men and men, and between women and women.

As marriages begin to transcend sexual boundaries, Canada became the third country to recognise gay marriages in eight of its 10 provinces. The vote in the House of Commons in Ottawa last week was greeted as a landmark decision to change the traditional definition of marriage as a union between man and woman. The opposition Conservative Party has vowed to overturn the gay marriage legislation if it is voted into power, ousting the shaky Liberal Party government of Prime Minister Paul Martin.

A multi-denominational coalition -- consisting of evangelical Christians, Jews, Muslims and Sikhs -- has threatened to intensify efforts to prevent any further incursions into their faiths and religious beliefs.
This week, parliament of Spain, a Catholic-majority country, gave its nod for gay marriages.

Meanwhile, a move by American gay rights activists to seek constitutional amendments to legitimise gay marriages in the US has failed to get off the ground primarily because of the political clout wielded by right wing Christians and neo-conservatives who are outraged by the very concept of same-sex marriages.

In the US, gay activists have yet to be a powerful political force in the country to exert pressure on legislators. The ultimate test is the voting power of lobbyists to seat or unseat politicians who refuse to advocate popular or unpopular causes.

In the US, three of the most powerful political lobbyists are the military-industrial complex, the medical industry and the pro-Israeli bandwagon. But these are lobbying groups rich in financial resources and nurtured over decades of political campaigning.

At the last US presidential elections, both President George W. Bush and the ruling Republican Party publicly expressed their opposition to gay marriages, thereby winning the sympathy of conservatives and rightwing Christian groups in the country.

As most Americans are basically conservatives -- judging by recent national and presidential elections in the US -- the legitimisation of same-sex marriages is a long way off. Perhaps the barrier is equally unsurmountable at the United Nations where gay rights activists have been knocking at the door for several decades now.

Despite strong support from the European Union and from countries such as Brazil, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva has continued to cold-shoulder a resolution seeking rights for gays and lesbians.

In 2003, a ground-breaking resolution on gay rights made its appearance at the annual sessions of the Human Rights Commission. The introduction of the resolution was in itself an unprecedented event. And as British activist Peter Tatchell remarked: "All previous attempts to debate gay human rights in the UN have been vetoed by homophobic governments." The draft resolution, sponsored by Brazil, expressed "deep concern at the occurrence of violations of human rights in the world against persons on the grounds of their sexual orientation."

The text called upon "all states to promote and protect the human rights of all persons regardless of their sexual orientation" and urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to "pay due attention to the phenomenon of violations of human rights on the grounds of sexual orientation."

But the rejoicing was short-lived because the majority of the 53 members in the Human Rights Commission blocked any possible voting on the resolution.
Tatchell claimed he first began lobbying the UN as far back as 30 years ago. But since the world body is also considered one of the more conservative international institutions, he has been making little headway.

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