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Anti-Gay School Ruling New South Wales Extends Gay Rights |
| By Rex Wockner
International News Report Britain Strikes Down Anti-Gay School Ruling
Prime Minister Tony Blair's government will scrap Section 28 of
the Local Government Act, Cabinet Office Minister Jack Cunningham
said May 20.
The 11-year-old law prohibits cities from "intentionally promot[ing] homosexuality" and bans teaching "the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship" in schools. British gay groups have battled the law since it was passed in the days of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. "Section 28 was wrong [then]. It is wrong in 1999. And it will go," Cunningham said at the annual dinner of the gay lobby group Stonewall. Stonewall Executive Director Angela Mason commented: "Ten years ago we were very much on the margins in politics. Today we are a mainstream, influential voice, right at the heart of the debate. We feel certain that during our next ten years we will reap the rewards from the effort we invested in the last." New South Wales Extends Gay Rights
The law also covers non-sexual couples, such as an adult child caring for an aging parent. Other areas covered by the measure include property transfer taxes, insurance contracts, trustee property, wills, probate and administration, protected estates, judges' pensions, and family provision. The bill also recognizes same-sex couples for purposes of organ donation, coroner inquests, decisions about bail for arrested persons, guardianship in regard to mental health, rights in retirement villages, and accident compensation. |
