The New Zealand Court of Appeal ruled unanimously against legalizing gay marriage Dec. 17.

The five judges said the 1955 Marriage Act does not allow for same-sex marriage even though its language is gender-neutral.

Two of the judges, however, said that the Marriage Act conflicts with the 1990 Bill of Rights, which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender. But they said the Bill of Rights cannot override the Marriage Act.

One of the judges conceded, "In a real sense, gays and lesbians are effectively excluded from full membership of society ... in that freedom to marry is rightly regarded as a basic civil right."

The case was brought by three lesbian couples, Lindsay Quilter and Margaret Pearl, Juliet Ann Joslin and Jennifer Daphne Rowan, and Sarah Jane Anderson and Samantha Jane Court.

They lost in the High Court in 1996 and appealed to the Court of Appeal, New Zealand's supreme court.

"It's a very serious day for New Zealanders who are concerned about human rights," Rowan said after the new ruling.

The ruling can be accessed online at http://www.base2.co.nz/agm/agm.html.

Amnesty International decided Dec. 18 to increase the visibility of its work on human-rights violations based on sexual orientation but a motion to add "sexual orientation" to the group's mission statement was shelved for fear it would be defeated.

The events unfolded at Amnesty's International Council Meeting (AICM) in Capetown, South Africa.

"This week's decisions follow a long public campaign that lasted over a decade and a half, and led Amnesty in 1991 to interpret its mandate to include sexual orientation [while] the statute itself ... was never changed," said Julie Dorf, executive director of the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

"This is another important step forward, but it does not go far enough," Dorf said. "We are encouraged by Amnesty's decision to integrate sexual-orientation issues into the research, campaign, actions, and publications of Amnesty, and hope that their interest in visibility is matched by an increased attention to research and documentation. That is where the challenge lies."

South Africa's National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality reported that the decision on adding 'sexual orientation' to the mandate was "referred to the International Executive Council to address practical implications for AI structures in strongly homophobic countries."

"This decision by the AICM is regrettable and dangerous," NCGLE said. "Regrettable because it shows a willingness to compromise with irrational prejudice, and dangerous because it threatens the jealously guarded independence of AI from all governments."

Rex Wockner's weekly International News dating back to mid-1994 is fully searchable at http://www.wockner.com

Rex Wockner's weekly International News in its original format is archived at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/wockner.html