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2 Southern Voice/November 8, 1990 NEWS Tech Gays Get Funding for Trip to Conference But only after last minute intervention by graduate senate Atlanta—An October 22 demonstration by a group of about 30 lesbian and gay Georgia Tech students and their supporters brought much attention to their oiganization's dilemma but had little influence on the school's Undergraduate Student Council(USC). The USC had refused to fund a $482 request from Tech’s Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GALA) despite the support of GALA from the school's administration and the Graduate Senate. GALA requested the funds to attend a lesbian/gay/bisexual conference in Boston. While various excuses were given for the USC's refusal to fund the trip, homophobia was generally agreed to be at the root of the problem. A 50 person crowd stood on the sidelines of the October 22 demonstration. Many of them cheered the protesters, but comments like "Kill the faggots," and "I wish I had my shotgun" were also heard. Several shouting matches between homophobic students and GALA members occurred after the demon stration. Hoping that the demonstration had made its point, GALA, on October 23, intro duced a slightly different funding bill to the USC, but a vote was delayed until Oct. 30— after the conference for which the group was requesting funds. Following that USC meeting a pellet from a high powered air pistol smashed the window in GALA member Kyle Rogers dorm room. Rogers was not in the room and campus offi cials claim that the incident had nothing to do with GALA's request, the demonstration, or Rogers sexual orientation. Members of GALA say that there is not enough evidence to prove that the incident was definitely a hate crime, so they will not pursue the matter further. After the USC's second refusal to fund GALA's trip to Boston, Michael Wileman, Treasurer of Tech's Graduate Senate, and oth ers wrote a bill which paid for GALA's travel expense to the conference. The funds came from the Graduate Student Senate's own funds, which are usually reserved solely for Graduate School activities. Five students made the trip to Boston. "It was very informative and very empowering," said GALA member Steve Jones. "Given what they [the USC] has funded in the past I think it was a very good value for the school. Wileman says he felt that the entire student body could benefit from GALA attending the conference, not just the Graduate School. But, "it was obvious from the debate in the USC that they seem to focus more on morality issues than the narrative." The USC's revote on GALA's bill has been postponed again—this time until Nov. 6. GALA members remain adamant in their resolve to see their trip funded by the under graduate student government. ■ ■■ A review of policies at other universities and colleges in the area reveals that many mention sexual orientation in their harassment clauses and human rights statements, which are not legally binding. But only Morehouse College has taken the step of including sexual orientation—along with race, religion, sex, age, and national origin—in its legally enforceable non-discrimination clause. After a long drawn out battle, The University of Georgia’s Gay and Lesbian asso ciation has managed to push a "Human Rights Statement" through its student government association. The statement acknowledges that harassment of lesbians and gays is undesir able, but does not protect them from from dis crimination. A representative from UGA's Gay and Lesbian association called passage of the measure in lieu of inclusion in the non-dis crimination clause "a little disappointment... but a small victory". In response to S.V.'s question about adding sexual orientation to the school's non-discrim ination clause UGA President Knapp replied, "The real question is whether it is appropriate for this institution, through internal policy, to attempt to cut off these entities (the Department of Defense and private businesses who discriminate based on sexual orientation) from access to our campus programs and graduates. 1 do not support such an action." The real question, of course, is whether our institutions of higher learning are willing to let gays and lesbians be treated as second class citizens. UGA President Knapp also said "to pre tend the University can dictate to state and federal governments on this issue would raise serious legal questions. And, as indicated above, we would in effect be cutting the University off from many important outside GALA's Shawn Badinger addresses the crowd Eveit Bennett institutions." President Knapp failed to clarify what legal issues this would raise and exactly how many important institutions would be cut off from the University. But while President Knapp is spouting rhetoric, the UGA law school has, in fact, added sexual orientation to its non-discrimina tion clause. That's because the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) has recently taken a similar action and all mem bers schools are obligated to match their stan dards with the bylaws of the AALS. One small, private law firm and the Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG Corp)—the law branch of the US military—do not recruit at UGA's law school because they refuse to sign the school's new nondiscrimination clause. Like Georgia Tech and UGA, Emory University, in 1988, amended its discrimina tory harassment policy to include sexual ori entation. Representatives from the Emory Law School Admissions Office say they conform with with AALS policy. But, when asked whether it was written in a nondiscrimination clause or in official policy, a representative from the Law School replied, "We [go] with the spirit of the policy rather than the strict let ter." They conceded, however, "[although] we haven't printed it yet; it will be written down next fall when we send out our next mailing”. Georgia State University does not include sexual orientation in its nondiscrimi nation policy, but its Law School—as a mem ber of the AALS—does require those individ uals who interview on campus to sign a nondiscrimination by sexual orientation state ment. The JAG Corps will not sign this state ment and therefore does not recruit at Georgia State Law School. Spelman College (no law school) does not have sexual orientation in its non-discrimina tion clause. Representatives from Clark Atlanta University admitted confusion over the issue, claiming policies were unclear due to their recent merger. They, however, felt that sexual orientation was not listed in their non-discrim ination clause. Despite the fact that Morehouse College is the only area college that publicly and offi cially includes sexual orientation in its nondis crimination clause, a spokesperson for the school seemed confused about whether the policy was actually good or bad and thus declined to comment about it. Spate of Positive Lesbian/Gay/AIDS Bills Pass in Last Hours of 101st Congress Historic AIDS housing and immigration measures top the list; NEA is safe but some say the compromise is unacceptable By Cliff O'Neill Washington—In a last minute flurry of lob bying, compromise and cajoling the 101st Congress passed four bills with substantial impact on the lesbian/gay and AIDS commu nities. And, while the case can be made that all could have been stronger, the four bills rep resent the largest and most comprehensive group of such legislation ever passed by Congress at one time. Immigration: Perhaps the biggest surprise and least publicized victory of the session was passage of a broadbased immigration measure which includes a removal of the federal bans on immigration by gays and lesbians as well as people with AIDS. The bill, which includes the largest revi sion of the quotas of foreign nationals allowed into the U.S., is strongly supported by President George Bush. Among the plethora of provisions in the legislation is a removal of the decades-old ban on immigration by communists, the mentally ill and gay men and lesbians. Dating back to the McCarren Walter Act of 1952, the federal ban on immigration by “sex ual deviants” and “psychopathic personalities” had been used sporadically over the years to keep lesbian and gay immigrants and visitors out of the country. Although the gay exclusion was informally voided by the Carter Administration in the '70s, it was reinstated by the Reagan Administration and used on rare occasion. Most recently, a widely publicized govern ment memo suggested that the ban be enforced to bar foreign lesbian and gay visi tors from entering the U.S. for the 6th International Conference On AIDS, held in San Francisco last June. Although the gay ban was not enforced, it did draw renewed atten tion to the legislation. “It was obnoxious to just have it on the books,” commented Rep. Barney Frank (D- Mass.), who sponsored the removal of the gay ban and shepherded it through Congress. “I think we now have the American statute books clean. There are still obnoxious poli cies, like in the military, but there is nothing statutory that I am aware of now on the feder al level that is anti-gay.” “It really is a message of a terrible period in our history,” added Tim McFeeley, execu tive director for the Human Rights Campaign Fund. “I’m glad it’s gone.” Unlike the bill’s changes in the immigra tion quotas, the change in the gay-exclusion ary policy goes into effect with the President’s signature. The change affects both visitors and long-term immigrants. AIDS Housing: Equally under-publicized in the near hysteria surrounding the battle of the budget was passage of two-year $57.4 bil lion plan expanding the federal government’s commitment to public assisted housing; it includes the nation’s first-ever AIDS-specific housing set asides. The measure now goes to the President for his expected signature. The massive bill includes in it a series of provisions from a House proposal which authorizes $238 million to be spent for AIDS specific housing programs over the 1991 and 1992 fiscal years. “This is a 'makes sense’ proposal that pro vides better options for people living with AIDS while reducing health care costs for tax payers,” stated bill co-sponsor Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) on the bill’s passage. “It is compassionate and cost-effective.” The AIDS provisions of the bill are intend ed to ease the burden on the estimated 8 10,000 people with AIDS living on the streets of nearly every city and town in the U.S., according to AIDS and homeless advocates. The legislation is also intended to lift some pressure off public hospitals in areas dispro portionately affected by AIDS, as with specif ic housing set aside for homeless people with AIDS, they may not have to turn to public hospitals or crowded, inhospitable shelters for housing. The measure is also intended to help pre vent homelessness among people with AIDS by assisting them with rental and perhaps mortgage payments and offering funds for new information and referral programs. AIDS CARE: After a series of maneuvers and battles that saw the Ryan White AIDS Care Act overwhelmingly approved by both the House and Senate only to later be totally de-funded by a Senate appropriations sub committee, the measure emerged from the 101st Congress with $350.6 million in fund ing for fiscal '91. Total federal AIDS funding for the year is nearly $1.9 million, a 20 per cent increase over 1990 levels. Stunned when the bill was not funded by the Senate appropriations subcommittee, AIDS activists launched a forceful campaign to effect implementation of the bill in the cur rent fiscal year which began Oct. 1. The original AIDS CARE bill authorized $4.4 billion to be spent over five years in areas disproportionately affected by the epi demic. Metro Atlanta was originally sched uled to receive $4.5 million in relief in fiscal '91. According to Gary Cox—project coordina tor for the HIV Health Services Planning Council which will decide where Atlanta's share of the the money actually goes—the metro Atlanta area will be eligible for a total of $2.4 million in fiscal '90. Cox says that he has been told $1.2 million will be available within 90 days. Fulton County, which is legally responsible for Continued on page 24