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NEWS IN BRIEF
Gore Campaigns for Gay and
Lesbian Vote in California
San Francisco - Senator Albert Gore (D-TN),
who campaigned as the only conservative
Democratic presidential hopeful during the
Southern primaries, has shown a more liberal
face while campaigning in California.
Speaking at a news conference in San
Francisco, Gore said, "We would eliminate
(anti-gay) discrimination through an executive
order banning it in the federal government and
through leadership horn a president who
understands why such prejudice has to be a
thing of the past"
Gore, whose presidential aspirations for
support in the gay and lesbian community were
nearly destroyed by a reportedly misquoted,
homophobic statement made in Atlanta during
the Super Tuesday races; has recovered from
his faux pas to make impressive inroads with
community leaders in California, most notably
San Mateo County supervisor Tom Nolan.
Grassroots Mobilization
Strengthened by Merger
Washington, D.C.- The Fairness Fund, a two-
year-old gay/lesbian grassroots mobilization
group, has merged into the Human Rights
Campaign Fund, a political action committee
working to secure frill human rights for gay
men and lesbians and responsible federal
policies to fight AIDS.
"By joining forces with the extraordinarily
successful Campaign Fund, we give added
visibility, clout and resources to our important
grassroots initiative," said the Rev. Troy Perry,
Co-chair of the Fairness Fund's National
Mailgram Campaign and founder of the
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Churches.
Fairness Fund constituent mobilization, in
the form of thousands of letters, mailgrams and
calls, will dramatically enhance the Campaign
Fund's lobbying on Capitol Hill and improve
changes of making legislative gains on AIDS
and fairness issues.
'We have smart, articulate lobbyists and
generous donors who make our sizeable
political campaign contributions possible. But
we need the strong grassroots mobilization
initiative the Fairness Fund provides. Now we
can maximize our program efforts," said Victor
Basile, executive director of the Human Rights
Campaign Fund.
The Fairness Fund will retain its name, staff,
current address and telephone numbers and will
continue its present efforts, including:
* The National Mailgram Campaign, with
its "proxy system" and two 800 telephone
numbers. The "proxy system" allows
preauthorized mailgrams to be sent in the
names of its thousands of "subscribers" when
legislative action calls fix constituent pressure.
One of the four projects that came out of the
recall War Conference was a nationwide
communications network. This will include an
emergency mobilization and response
mechanism. The Fairness Fund will provide
the initial foundation for such an effort
The 800 numbers facilitate convenient,
inexpensive communication to Members of
Congress by allowing callers across the country
to select from already-prepared messages, for a
small charge on their phone bill.
* The grassroots network of State
Coordinators, congressional district Field
Associates and local Organizing Committees.
* The Congressional Action Alert system to
inform key local leaders and organizations
about fast-breaking legislative developments.
As a new project of the Campaign Fund, the
Fairness Fund will soon launch a series of
regional conferences focusing on lobbyist
strategies, issue mobilization and grassroots
fundraising.
The combined efforts of the Fairness Fund
and the Human Rights Campaign Fund
guarantee strong gay and lesbian representation
in national legislative matters.
Anti-Gay Bill Approved
in Britain
London- An anti-gay bill has received
approval by the British House of Commons,
after strong support by the conservative
government of Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher. _
The controversial plan bans local city
councils from allowing tax money to be used in
a way that will "promote" homosexuality. Gay
and lesbian groups, along with Labor Party
leaders and British celebrities, have opposed
the bill, saying it is bigoted, encourages
bigotry, and that the vagueness of its language
leaves the door open to even more
discrimirjation.The bill was approved by a
majority vote in the House of Commons after a
heated debate, despite protests and street
demonstrations. In the latest demonstration,
five lesbians were arrested after they chained
themselves to the gates around Buckingham
Palace. The only step left for the bill to become
law is approval by the Queen, which is
expected to take place next month.
Gay Attorney Sues Insurance
Company
Washington, D.C.- A gay attorney has filed
suit against an insurance company, charging he
was denied a disability policy because he is
gay-
Mauro Montoya, legal services director for
the Whitman-Walker Clinic, which offers
medical and legal counseling mostly to the gay
community in Washington, said he was turned
down for the policy even though he is in
excellent health.
In his suit, he says the insurance company,
Connecticut Mutual, refused to issue the policy
citing a skin condition, Molluscum
Contagiosum. He says the skin rash was not
acquired through sexual contact, and had
cleared up completely through medication
more than a year before he applied for the
policy, adding it is being used as a pretext to
discriminate against him for being gay.
Montoya is suing undo' a District of
Columbia law which specifically bans
insurance companies from refusing to provide
insurance on the basis of sexual orientation, job
or marital status, or AIDS test results.
He says this is the first lawsuit to be brought
under the two-year-old law.
Connecticut Mutual says it does not
discriminate against homosexuals, but refuses
to comment on the $2.5 million dollar suit
Montoya has asked the City to join in the suit
on grounds that the insurance company violated
city law, entitling the City to civil penalties. A
spokeswoman for the mayor said she didn't
know whether or not the City would join in the
legal action.
Gay Catholics Arrested
New York - Members of the gay Catholic group,
Dignity, held another protest demonstration in
front of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.
Dignity had vowed to continue demonstrating on
the first Sunday of the month, when Cardinal
O'Connor celebrates mass, to protest the Church's
stance on homosexuality and the resulting ban on
the use of Church facilities by the group.
Sixteen demonstrators were arrested during the
latest protest in which they formed a human cross
by lying down on Fifth Avenue in front of the
church. They were quickly arrested, charged with
disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, and then
released.
Cardinal O'Connor, who did not celebrate mass
due to illness, has said he has nothing against
homosexuals, but must uphold the Church's
teaching that sexual activity between members of
the same sex is sinful because it takes place out of
marriage and does not lead to procreation.
Supreme Court to Rule on
Firing of Gay Man
from Spy Agency
Washington, D.C.- The Supreme Court has
agreed to review the case of a gay man fired
from the National Security Agency, the most
secretive of the U.S. intelligence agencies.The
Court will decide whether the NSA should
have granted a hearing before firing the
admittedly homosexual employee.
The case involves a man who had worked at
the agency since 1968. In 1982 he told security
officials that he had had several homosexual
encounters during vacations abroad. He was
fired in 1984, because of the "indiscriminate
pattern of activity which invites the risk of
security exploitation," not because he is a
homosexual, according to governmental
officials.
The firing was appealed, and a U.S. Appeals
Court said that the man, whose name has not
been released, was entitled under the law to an
administrative hearing before being fired,
despite the fact that his high-level security
clearance had been revoked after he admitted
his homosexuality.
The Reagan administration decided to <.
appeal the ruling, saying that it makes it harder
for the government to remove employees who
are security risks and imperil efforts to protect
the security of the country. The Supreme Court
will issue its decision during the term that
begins in October.
South African Athletes Barred
from Gay Games
Vancouver - In a radical departure from the
philosophy of Gay Games founder Tom
Waddell and the Games original governing
board, the San Francisco Arts and Athletics,
Vancouver, British Columbia, sponsors of the
Gay Games III have decided to bar South
African athletes from competing in the 1990
event.
The Vancouver policy directly counters
Waddell's policy of inclusion of all entrants.
The original policy stressed that all athletes
represented themselves rather than their
country of origin.
Speaking of the process that led the
Canadian sponsors to deviate from past action,
Bany McDell, spokesperson for the Games
said, "A fair amount of learning took place.
When we started this we were led to believe
that all gay South African organizatioas are
integrated. It turns out that's not true. The
powerful gay organizations are white and
refuse to address apartheid." McDell added
that "the one black South African organization
is in favor of the international sports boycott.
At press time, the board of the San
Francisco Arts and Athletics were planning a
March meeting to discuss the matter. Some
parties were suggesting the discussion was
irrelevant, as no South African athletes have
applied for admission to the Games.
Gene-Gabriel Moore
Leaves ETC.
Atlanta - Gene-Gabriel Moore, gay columnist
and News Editor of ETC., a local gay and
lesbian weekly, announced his resignation
from the magazine to finish writing his second
novel in a column dated March 11,1988.
Moore, known for his evocative writing style
and ablility to spotlight-sometimes
painfully-the weaknesses of the gay and
lesbian community, will continue to write
freelance columns for ETC. until leaving for
Ireland to complete his book.
In his last column, Moore reviewed the
year he spent covering Atlanta and gay/lesbian
politics. He noted the National March on
Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, the
Helms ammendment to the AIDS budget
appropriation, and the continuing local
controversy of Woman-Only space.
As a conclusion, Moore admonishes the
Atlanta community, "Never forget that you are
not alone. Whatever else there is under the
sweet sun, there will always be men and
women who express their love in ways that did
not please the Levites in the rocky wilderness
35 centuries ago...Jt has been true since homo
sapiens crept out of the African dust, and it
will be true when at long last our middling star
falls into itself and in one brilliant instant
explodes half way to Alpha Centauri. Boom."
Scandinavian Airlines Testing
Pilots for AIDS
Copenhagen - Scandinavian Airlines has
decided to start mandatory AIDS testing for all
pilots applying for jobs with SAS. According to
a spokesperson fa SAS, people who test
positive fa the HTV virus will not be offered
jobs, for "safety" reasons, since "pilots must be
100 percent fit"
The airline said the test will be absolutely
confidential, and doctors will not tell the airline
why the applicant failed the medical test SAS
is owned by the governments of Denmark,
Sweden and Norway, and it currently employs
mae than 1400 pilots. For pilots already
waking with the company, the test is
voluntary.
Local Lesbian Activist Joins
NGLTF Board
Atlanta - Cathy Woolard has been invited to
join the Board of Directors of the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Face (NGLTF) as an interim
member prior to the Fall election of new Board
members. The appointment was confirmed at
an Executive Committee Board meeting on
February 25 and reported by Peter Fowler,
Board Co-chair. The next Board meeting will
be held in Washington, D.C. on March 25-27.
NGLTF has a Board of Directors composed
of 24 members, 12 male and 12 female. The
nominations committee was coicemed with the
lack of Southern representation on the ament
Board and made a pro-active effort to seek
candidates from this region. Says Woolard,
"I'm excited by the opportunity to continue my
efforts to bring more of the national gay and
lesbian agenda back home as well as the chance
to let leadership from the 'twin towers' (LA &
NY) know what Southern lesbians and gay
men see as national and regional priorities."
(L-R) Vic Basile, HRCF Executive Director, Lee Bush, National Field Director, Stephen Endean,
Fairness Fund Project Director. Photo by Doug HinlklrlThe Washington Blade
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