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NEWS Activists protesting the treatment of HIV+ women at this year's AIDS Conference in San Francisco. Jim Marks four times faster than infected men. Why is the agency charged with tracking and defining communicable diseases so reluctant to admit the devastating effect that HIV is having on American women? The CDC, apparently swayed by the same myths and institutionalized sexism as the rest of our government, has focused few studies on women with AIDS; The studies it has com piled have concentrated on women who are HIV infected and pregnant or women who prostitute their bodies. The pregnant women have been treated as fetal containers that might pass HIV on to their child and prosti tutes are seen as walking disease carriers delivering death wherever they roam. In other words, women are treated as vectors for HIV rather than individuals suffering from a devas tating condition themselves. Under pressure from activists, the CDC last revised its definition of exactly what condi tions define AIDS in 1987. Federal, state, and ACT UP Storms CDC Agency appears to move slightly in face of demands (Because today's demonstration at the CDC began after our deadline to take this issue to the printer the information in this story does not include details of the demon stration itself; those will appear in our next issue.—Ed.) Atlanta—Furious at the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) continued refusal to expand its definition of AIDS, more than 400 demonstrators stormed the agency's Clifton Road Headquarters here on Dec. 3. The demonstration was the culmination of a "Week of Outrage" activities coordinated by ACT UP and affiliated organizations around the coun try. ACT UP staged a similar demonstration at the CDC 11 months ago. Forty-nine activists were arrested in that action, the focus of which was expansion ofjhe definition of the opportunistic infections which are used to legally define AIDS. Members of ACT UP and representatives of the CDC met here on Nov. 19 to discuss the expansion. Maxine Wolfe of ACT UP/NY says that CDC representatives at the meeting never countered the group's claims about the fact that women affected by HIV were being excluded from the CDC's studies and defini tions. What Wolfe and others present at the meeting said they did hear was a line of rea soning which suggested the CDC was not willing to expand its definition of the disease. It would appear that the agency was doing so in an attempt to get more funding at a time when the federal budget was hostage to the twin demons of recession and deficit. As the group left the meeting, Katrina Haslip a woman with HIV told the group, "I hold you personally responsible for the deaths of all the women I know infected with HIV, including my own." The CDC's response to that meeting was to issue a statement that it would release a sum mary of studies on the link between abnormal Pap smears, cervical cancer and HIV-infected women. As the demonstration began, sources inside the CDC were saying, not for attribution, that agency would soon expand certain existing groups of opportunistic diseases to include some of the conditions which affect HIV- infected women. ■ ■■ A recent study, co-authored by a CDC researcher, estimates that 48% of women who die with HTV infection are never diagnosed as having AIDS. And HIV infected women die local health and social service agencies, as well as many doctors, use only this definition for diagnosis. All this is not to say that there has been no research on HIV infected women and the opportunistic infections that are unique to to them. ACT UP's extensive material on the subject references 22 studies which show a whole spectrum of chronic gynecological con ditions that affect these women. The CDC's definition of AIDS includes not no gynecological conditions whatsoever. The list of persistent gynecological condi tions that are the manifestation of HIV is abundant and well documented in non-CEX? studies. Vaginal thrush (candidiasis) is the most persistent example although there are numerous others—including certain types of pelvic inflammatory disease, human papillo ma virus and several kinds of cancer. Thrush, a yeast infection that affects both sexes, in its oral form invades the esophagus, trachea, bronchi, or lungs and is listed in the CDC def inition as an opportunistic infection indicative of AIDS. The CDC claims that vaginal thrush, which of course affects only women, is not included in its definition because it also affects many who are not HIV infected. Activists respond that they are talking about cases of thrush which are persistent and non- responsive to conventional therapies—a simi lar requirement to the one placed on oral thrush in the CDC's AIDS definition. In fact according to the CDC, only 30% of all the nation's new cases of AIDS in 1989 fit only the 1987 definition. Even with the restrictive definitions, women are the fastest growing group in the U.S. to be affected by AIDS. The litany of similar evidence which suggests that the CDC is consciously trying to keep the size and severity of the AIDS epi demic from being made public is overwhelm ing and far beyond the space available here to document. Readers who are interested in fur ther information are urged to contact ACT UP/Atlanta at 286-6347. Queer Nation Goes Underground Police and security offer support by Carrie Wofford Underground Atlanta—"Look, there are only two single women in that bar. Just shows how lonely those men must be; they're holding hands!" This comment came from two slight ly inebriated men as they watched the lesbians and gay men of Queer Nation visit Atlanta's premiere tourist attraction on Sat. Dec 1. Roughly 75 lesbians and gay men from Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Tallahassee, and other cities (here for ACT UP's demonstration at the CDC) descended on Underground for a "queer visi bility action," bringing new meaning to the "homosexual Underground" often rumored by the 70s straight press. An initial confrontation occurred when Queer Nation gathered at the entrance to Underground. As chants of "We're Here, Evett Bennett Queer Nation rides MARTA to an action at the Atlanta Airport. We're Queer" rose, security guards pulled aside one Atlanta man saying that the group was welcome but could not yell (relating to a general concern about limiting altercations between groups or gangs). That man was temporarily evicted, but quickly rejoined the group. The contingent then walked en masse, greeting shoppers with, "Hi, we're just a bunch of happy, well-adjusted dykes and fags doin' our holiday shopping. Have a nice night!" Most shoppers responsed politely with "Well, good for you." Five women even responded by saying, "We're lesbians, too!" Only a few individual young men challenged the group, and were immediately confronted. In front of the food court, a security guard grabbed one lesbian couple as they kissed, but was immediately chastised by his supervisor who reportedly said, "Leave them alone. Don't bother them." A group of 25 concluded the outing with dancing in one bar, where one waitress so pleased with their presence paid for their beer. Police and security guards monitored a gather ing of straight men outside the bar, and escort ed a group of departing lesbians as they walked towards their hotel, shaking their hands and wishing them a good night City Moves to Fine Pro-Lifers by S.M. Clarke Atlanta—Protesters, waiting on the curb of 14th and Curran approach cars that pull up to the Feminist Women's Health Center and attempt to dissuade clients from entering the non-profit clinic. Escorts place themselves between protesters and clients as the women make their way inside. Music from a radio on the Center’s porch drowns out some of the protesters' pleas. The scenario repeats itself like a broken record as the morning passes. In late March Georgia Superior Court Judge Isaac Jenrette issued an injunction bar ring members of Operation Rescue from protesting within 50 feet of an Atlanta clinic or within five feet of an entering patient. After the much publicized ruling, media atten'ion to the protests dwindled, but the harassment did not Operation Rescue members challenge the injunction, saying that it infringes on their right to free speech. "Their behavior infringes on our client's right to privacy," said FWHC's Rheta Barnes. "The Supreme Court has ruled time and time again that you have an implicit right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution. The demonstrations this particular day are fairly tame. According to volunteer escort Elizabeth Knowlton protesters sometimes mass themselves around cars that arrive at the Center. And more protesters appear on days when Georgia Tech is playing at home; police detailed to cover the Center are diverted to traffic control. Since March, police have spent 1,300 man hours trying to enforce the injunc tion at a cost of more than $31,000. "That guy over there pulled a .knife on a client's boyfriend the other day," said Barnes. "He's so brave. Then he went zooming off because he was afraid that the police might want to talk to him." On Nov., 20 Bames, coordinator for the Cento 1 , went before Jenrette to testify against 11 members of Operation Rescue who had been arrested for violating the injunction. No lawyer was present to represent Operation Rescue. 'The lawyer for Operation Rescue said that Operation Rescue wasn't any more. Because the injunction is against Operation Rescue his tact was to say that Operation Rescue was unincorporated and didn't exist, so you can't hold these people in contempt because there's no organization," said Barnes. Dialing 221-3321 produces a recording that thanks you for calling Operation Rescue and provides updates about where to protest on Saturdays. "These people have no compunction about lying," adds Bames. At the hearing Assistant City Attorney Bruce Johnson asked Jenrette to fine each member in contempt of the injunction $500 for each violation. Jenrette replied that he thought sentencing the violators to 20 days in jail would have more of an effect. The Judge instructed Johnson to write a contempt order which Jenrette will look over, perhaps revise, and then seek to enforce "The order is supposed to be written by November 30, and then it's in the Judge's hands, but I don't know how long it takes because this is the first time we've ever gotten this far with the process," concludes Bames. Meanwhile the illegal harassment of women seeking health care continues. Bias Crimes Turn Violent Atlanta—The Lesbian and Gay Police Advisory Committee reports three bias inci dents since our last issue: two assaults and one incident of police abuse. Arrests have been made in both assaults and preliminary hear ings are scheduled for both cases in the next week. The much delayed assault case against Thomas Germain reported here in January of this year is also scheduled to be heard this week. In the first incident John Wilcox has been charged with aggravated assault after he ran over a gay man in a parking lot at Peachtree & 7th Streets. Friends with the victim got the license number of the car enabling police to arrest and charge Wilcox. In the second incident a gay man was slashed with a box knife at the intersection of Myrtle and 6th Streets by two men who he met in a nearby gay bar. APD Officer Lear drove past the scene, observed the incident and arrested Stefan Todd Astin and Damen Stiles who are charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault, carrying a concealed weapon, profane language and obstruction. Lear was also the officer responding to the incident where the man was run over. Readers are urged to report all bias inci dents to 286-BIAS. 2 Southern Voice/December 6, 1990