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1000 Challenge FDA; 176 Arrested
Rockville, MD—More than 1000 AIDS
activists from 15 states successfully blocked
entrances to the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) October 11, as part of
a day-long siege aimed at drawing national
attention to their demands. Among the
demands were that the agency release
experimental AIDS drugs and intensify the
protocols for development of new drags.
Led by the AIDS Coalition To Networic,
Organize and Win (ACT NOW), the crowd
rushed the building in waves of affinity
groups, while onlookers cheered them on with
anti-Reagan/Bush chants. Each affinity group
consisted of between two and twenty people
who had worked out specific scenarios aimed
at drawing the media's attention to their
demands for better and quicker drag approval.
District police reported that 176 of the
protesters were arrested. Most were charged
with loitering and released upon payment of a
$25 fine. „
Many FDA employees and visitors were
stranded outside the building when police
cordoned it off at7:30 A.M., although they
were forewarned in an FDA internal
memorandum to be inside the building by
7:00 A.M. The original aim of the activists
had been to penetrate the building at one of its
five entrances, but they were thwarted by the
quick police action.
The police at the scene were non-
confrontational, although approximately half
of them wore latex surgical
gloves-presumably to prevent transferal of
HIV. Many of the protesters were people with
AIDS (PWA). It was reported, however, that
the police were verbally abusive to many of
their prisoners once out of sight of the media.
Sirens wailed every half hour to represent
another death due to AIDS. Linda Meredith, one
of eight member of the ADS Coalition To
Unleash Power/Atlanta (ACT UP/Atl), said that
the constant reminder of the urgency of the cause
served to energize her throughout the day.
Although she had gone to the protest
planning on being arrested as a form of civil
disobedience, Meredith said that her concept
S.Carolina Paper
Rejects NCOD Ad
Greenville, SC-The Greenville News
refused to print an Ocl 11 National Coming
Out Day (NCOD) advertisement brought to
the paper by the Palmetto Gay & Lesbian
Association of Greenville (PGLA).
"The ad was "absolutely rejected without
comment" by Steven Brandt, General
Manager of The Greenville News and Donald
Barhyte, Vice President of Multimedia
Newspapers, Inc.
"Our publisher reserves the right to accept,
edit or reject any copy received," Brandt told
Southern Voice.
"It was rejected under that provision of our
rate card, and we really don't need to provide
a reason further than that," he said.
Brandt said he was not aware that a full-
page NCOD ad ran in The Atlanta Journal
Constitution. The Atlanta ad, placed by the
Metropolitan Atlanta Council of Gay and
Lesbian Organizations (MACGLO),
contained a list of about 225 organizations
and individuals who supported the event
PGLA President Robin Williams said his
group was not allowed to speak to Brandt.
PGLA was told by The News that Brandt
would not run the ad, would not talk to PGLA
and would not comment on the reason behind
their decision, according to Williams.
-Wendy Morse
RAY KLUKA
"We have every right to be here," said Linda Meredith of ACT UP/Atl, "every
right to speak with (FDA Commissioner) Frank Young and list our demands."
Young declined to meet with the 1000-plus protestors.
of civil disobedience was changed while she
was there. She said that being arrested for the
sake of civil disobedience no longer appealed
to her. Meredith said that in the future she
"would go about her business (protesting),
and if getting arrested is what that happens to
be, then so be it."
ACT NOW prepared a list of demands
which they were never able to present to
Young. Their demands were:
• Release the more than 100 drags which have
shown promise against ADS and ADS-
related illnesses. The FDA's current drag
testing system takes approximately eight years
to approve a drag for sale in the United States.
•Open the drug trials to more people,
especially women, people of color, IV-drag
users and children with AIDS. Only 5,000 of
the estimated 1.5 million people infected with
the human immunodeficiency virus are
currently in federally-sponsored drag trials.
Those drag trials are often the only form of
Congress Takes
Parting Shots
Washington, D.C.-Far-right members of
the 100th Congress enraged civil rights
activists around the country with last minute
intrusions into ADS and pro-gay/lesbian
legislation. At the same time, Congress
attempted to blackmail the D.C. city council
into revoking key gay/lesbian and
reproductive freedom ordinances.
Senator Jesse Helms' (R-NC) opposition to
counseling and confidentiality provisions in
the most comprehensive piece of ADS
legislation to approach passage, threatened to
scuttle the landmark bill until Senate
supporters removed the passages which were
offensive to him.
"It's extremely frustrating that one senator
can block the will of so many other
legislators," said Jeffrey Levi, executive
director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force (NGLTF). "It's too bad the Senate didn't
have the courage to stand up to him."
One of only four Senators to oppose the
Senate version of the AIDS Federal Policy
Act of 1988, Helms blocked the appointment
of Senate conferees to a committee to
reconcile House and Senate versions of the
bill by threatening a filibuster. It was only
after provisions that guarantee consent,
counseling and confidentiality were removed,
Cont'd Page 10
drug treatment available.
•Guarantee the freedom of information by
setting up a national registry to list the latest
and most accurate comprehensive data on
ADS drag trials.
In apparent response to the protests, the
FDA later released new plans to speed up the
process for the release of new and
experimental AIDS-trcatments and drugs.
ADS and gay/lesbian activists dismissed the
plan as politically motivated and
ineffectual.The FDA's new program, released
last week, will place more weight on tests
done during early trials among small groups
of people, and eventually reduce the time of
drag testing by one-third to one-half,
according to Young. The agency will
require,instead, that drag companies complete
Cont'd Page 6
AID Atlanta Keeps
RWJ Money
Atlanta-The AIDS Health Services
Program (AHSP) at AD Atlanta has been re
funded by the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation (RWJ) for its third year to the
tune of $400,000. Requested fourth-year
funding was denied, however, pending
changes at the agency demanded by AHSP's
national staff.
In a letter to then AID Atlanta board
president Bruce Gamer, AHSP director Dr.
Mervyn Silverman said he recommended that
only the third year of the program be funded
until he and his staff "can be assured that
services will be provided to persons with
AIDS in Atlanta under the terms of the
contract."
Denise Graveline, press officer with RWJ,
said that such a move was not extraordinary,
and called the insertion of the extra
application for funds a "routine... course
correction." AD Atlanta spokesperson
George Sinclair said that the agency would do
everything possible to meet the strict
reporting requirements set by Silverman.
Among Silverman's requirements, which
he referred to as "extreme measures," were a
request for immediate revisions in project
goals and objectives that "will include
measures of performance written in specific
quantifiable terms," quarterly site visits, and
monthly progress reports from the executive
director.
The ADS Health Services Program grant
has been at the center of this past summer’s
controversy at AD Atlanta, with sources at
the agency claiming that past employees and
board members were trying to use the
scheduled renewal cycle to force the ouster of
executive director Burcn Batson as well as
some board members.
It is apparent that any such attempt has
failed with RWJ's approval of funding for at
least the next year and the automatic renewal
of Batson's contract through the fall of 1989.
-Chris Duncan
"The gay Smothers Brothers of the 80's!"- The Advocate
ROMANOVSKY & PHILLIPS
Sister Sister Productions
Monday, October 31st, 8:00 PM
Unitarian Universalist Church, 1911 Cliff Valley Way
Special Guest: Carolyn Mobley
General Admission Tickets
Available at Charis Books &
More and 'Hie Boy Next Door
$10 advance/$12 at the door
Interpreted for the
Hearing Impaired
For more info - 377-8312
There will be a DeKalb County voter
registrar at the concert Register to Vote!
