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NEWS IN BRIEF
Amnesty Gives Some, Ignores Some
Brazil - During a recent meeting of the
International Council of Amnesty
International, the decision-making body
adopted a resolution which affirms the
fundamental right of gays and lesbians not
to suffer oppression based on their sexual
orientation. The Council stopped short of
recognizing as "prisoners of conscience"
those who are jailed for supporting and/or
advocating the rights of gay men and
lesbians.
The International Council's emotion
packed decision grew from a study
conducted by a Dutch representative after a
meeting in 1985. The Council's final
comprehensive report is due at the 1989
meeting.
Dignity Protests
New York - Dignity, the gay Catholic
group, said it will continue to hold outdoor
protest masses in New York on the first
Monday of each month, when Cardinal
John O'Connor preaches at St Patrick's
Cathedral. After a Manhattan judge issued
a restraining order banning the group from
holding its protests within church property,
Dignity members began holding services
across Fifth Avenue, within police
barricades.
More than 100 people attended the
February 6 service despite the bitterly cold
temperatures.
Police arrested 23 worshippers who
were kneeling on the cathedral sidewalk.
The arrested protesters, charged with
disorderly conduct, offered no resistance.
Instead, they marched into the police van
singing "We Shall Overcome".
Robert Pusilo, a Dignity spokesperson,
referred to the arrests saying, "We doubled
our numbers from last month, we will
double them again next month." Eleven
Dignity members were arrested in January
while holding the silent protest inside St.
Patrick's Cathedral, prior to the judge's
ruling.
The group's protest originated when
Cardinal O'Connor banned the gay Catholic
group from holding liturgical services on
diocesan grounds. O'Connor vows he will
not change the order, saying that discussion
of changing the rulings can "only lead to
futility."
Homophobic Paper Expands
Chicago - A right-wing, homophobic
newspaper currendy being published on the
University of Chicago's Hyde Park campus,
Midway Review, has announced an
advanced distribution area and a name
change.
The newspaper will be called The
Chicago Student when it expands
distribution to other Chicago area
campuses. Several members of the
Midway Review have been implicated in
past harassment of gays, lesbians, and
supportive heterosexuals on the University
of Chicago campus. Examples of these
attacks include deceptive personal
advertisements in the paper designed to
entrap and expose gays and lesbians in the
Chicago area.
In the recent 12-page
November/December issue, the editors
devoted four articles to denigrating gays
and lesbians. One of the articles described
gay sex as "junk food sex", and crowed
"they're dropping like flies."
N.H.Sodomy Bill Defeated
Concord, NH - The notoriously
conservative New Hampshire State Senate
dismissed by voice vote a proposal to
recriminalize "unnatural and lascivious
acts" in mid-January. Had it passed, the
bill would have created a class B felony
crime, but did not define what was meant
by "unnatural and lascivious acts." No
debate on the bill took place. New
Hampshire decriminalized private, adult,
consensual sexual behavior in 1973.
The defeat of the bill, SB 240, followed
the January 11 hearing and a negative vote
in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen.
Jack Chandler, sponsor of the bill, was the
only person who testified in support, saying
it was needed to "wipe out deviant
behavior."
Marcus Hum testified against the bill on
behalf of the New Hampshire Citizens
Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Rights
(CAGLR). He said, "This bill is doomed to
failure in its announced purpose because
same sex relations are not unnatural, only
less common... You can't wipe out deviant
behavior. You can’t wipe us out."
Ellen Musinsky, also of CAGLR, told
the committee she was insulted by the
introduction of the bill. "I pay $7,000 a
year in state and federal taxes. I contribute
to the United Way and the Special
Olympics. I take care of a stray cat. And I
am angry that the state of New Hampshire
would consider locking me up at the cost of
$25,000 to $30,000 a year because
someone is offended by my private
behavior."
The executive director of the New
Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, Claire
Ebel, put it this way: "Give this bill the fate
it deserves. Bum it."
Unlike last year's bill to prohibit foster
care placements with lesbians and gay men,
Chandler's recriminalization bill attracted
very little attention from members of the
Senate or the New Hampshire news media.
Susan Bruce, moderator of CAGLR’s
steering committee, noted, "Chandler's bill
had so little support that it was defeated as
part of a package of several other bills.
We're pleased this bill died a natural and
uncomplicated death. We feel confident it
won't be resurrected in the future."
Last month's defeat of the New
Hampshire sodomy recriminalization bill is
a hopeful sign for repeal of sodomy laws in
other states. "The unpopularity of the
recriminalization bill demonstrates
disapproval for the Supreme Court's 1986
decision in Bowers v. Hardwick," said Sue
Hyde, director for NGLTF's Privacy
Project. "These laws will be repealed and
will not be reinstated. Defeat of SB 240 is
a victory for all the people of New
Hampshire. Goes New Hampshire, so goes
the nation."
New Lesbian Support Group
Houston - The Gay and Lesbian Hispanics
Unidos of Houston announced the
formation of a new committee, All Mujeres
Interested in Getting Alive (AMIGA). The
purpose of the group will be to serve as a
support group to all "lesbianas Latinas".
Among the group's future plans are
consciousness raising workshops and "rap
sessions where women can increase their
awareness in most areas of interest and
concern." Most recently, they sent two
delegates to the Lesbian Feminist
Conference in Mexico last October.
Interested persons can contact AMIGA
by writing c/o GLHU, P.O. Box 600921,
Houston, TX 77260.
Activists Assemble At War Conference
Virginia - The War Conference was
held in Warrenton, Virginia on February 26
- 28. A coalition of 175 lesbians and gay
men gathered to identify threats to the
lesbian and gay community and develop
strategies to combat them. Even though
conference organizers concurred that the
group was not a representative sampling,
participants included members of national
organizations and local political activists.
Organizers plan to publish a summary of
tactics to be utilized by grassroots
organizations to further promote lesbian
and gay issues.
NGLTF Terms Budget "Deficient"
Washington - Calling the Reagan Administration's
- fiscal year 1989 AIDS budget proposals "a step
forward but still deficient," the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) called on the
Congress to appropriate a minimum of $2 billion
for AIDS research and prevention at the Public
Health Service. The President's fiscal 1989 request
allocates $1.3 billion to the PHS for AIDS research
and prevention activities, as compared to S950
million in the current fiscal year. While the
President's budget message announces $2 billion in
AIDS spending, the Administration's figures
incorporate the programs of all government
agencies, including Medicaid. Only $1.3 billion
would go toward the PHS's efforts.
"As the crisis continues to escalate,” commented
NGLTF Executive Director Jeffrey Levi, "we must
move to reach the $2 billion target set by the
National Academy of Sciences." Levi argued that
the President’s budget is particularly deficient in the
areas of prevention and care, and said NGLTF
would be working with a broad-based coalition of
gay/lesbian, AIDS, and health oriented
organizations to justify a minimum of S2 billion in
funds next year.
"The toll keeps mounting, the vims keeps
spreading, and still this Administration has failed to
pull together a major national prevention
campaign," Levi said. "What prevention money is
available is strapped in its ability to deliver an
effective message by restrictions imposed by Jesse
Helms, the New Right, and the White House," Levi
continued.
NGLTF also criticized the lack of planning for the
care needs of persoas with HIV infection and
AIDS. "We are fast approaching the point where
the health care delivery system will be
overwhelmed by AIDS in some parts of the
country," Levi said, "but still, model programs for
care delivery go underfunded and the federal
government has played little role in inspiring
planning at the local level."
The research component of the proposed budget
represents significant increases in funding. "But
more money on paper does not mean rapidly
expanding research. Unless the government
acts to remove bureaucratic roadblocks to
getting the funds into the hands of the scientists
in the field, more money means little to
people with AIDS who need treatment and
a cure."
Franklin Abbott, L.C.S.W. jane DeMore, R.N., M.N., C.S.
Martha Lou Brock, L.C.S.W. Elaine Mueller, R.N., Ms.T.
Ansley Therapy Associates
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Atlanta, Georgia 30329 (404) 634-9440
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