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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 Suite 120 • 1904 Monroe Drive • Atlanta, Georgia 30324 (404) 874-8294 Office Hours By Appointment Brenda L. Hawkins, Ed. D. 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