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NEWS
Florida Court OK's Gays to Adopt Kids
A Monroe County Circuit Court judge has ruled that a 14 year-old Florida law which pro
hibits gays from adopting children is unconstitutional. Judge M. Ignatius Lester found that the
law violated the constitutional right to privacy of Key West resident Edward Seebol, 53, who had
sought to adopt a child for whom he had already served as court-appointed guardian. New
Hampshire is the only other state in the nation which specifically precludes lesbians and gay
men from adopting, but judges all over the country regularly prohibit adoption by openly gay
parents based on sodomy laws, according to Ivy Young of the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force. "They have the Hardwick decision rattling around in their brain," said Young, "and that
really hurts us in both custody and adoption hearings. That's why sodomy reform is so important.
Kowalski Guardianship Case Delayed Again: Minnesota District Court judge Robert
Campbell has delayed Karen Thompson's request for guardianship of her lover Sharon Kowalski
yet again by reopening hearings in the case. A decision on the request, filed in 1989, is now not
likely until late June, 1991 according to Thompson, who is the only person to have filed a
request to become Kowalski's guardian. "This is a another in long series of legal hoops through
which Karen and Sharon have been forced to jump in this case," said Rosemary Dempsey of the
National Organization for Women.
Catherine Ames
Taking It to the Streets: Carrying a huge cardboard "Wall of Women," spanning all four
lanes of Market Street, 1000 women marched through the streets of downtown San Francisco on
March 8, International Women's Day. The march, sponsored by Women Against Imperialism and
the International Women's Day Demonstration Committee, was to protest violence against
women, racism and the war in the Persian Gulf. Following the "Wall" were 10-foot puppets of
women from around the world, and street performers on stilts and dressed in black with mime
faces.
Consumer Watchdogs Tackle "Immune Booster": Advertisements for "Immune+Plus"
claimed that the "balanced vitamin, mineral and protein product" could retire the immune system
of persons who have AIDS or HIV infection. In response to the advertising which appeared in
Outweek magazine, the city of New York's Department of Consumer Affairs has charged the
California manufacturer of the "wonder drug" and True Health, Inc., which made the promotion
al videotape for the product, with false advertising and misleading the public. ",. .this ad is noth
ing short of cruel and fraudulent," said Mark Green, the NYC Consumer Protection
Commissioner. "The ads for 'Immune+Plus' crassly exploit people who are either sick with
AIDS or at risk of getting the disease." While this is the first case brought under a NYC regula
tion which restricts the language in advertising for "immune boosters" it is the fourth time
Gotham's consumer watchdogs have moved against what they call deceptive AIDS advertising.
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Homos Disrupt "Straight Pride" Rally": Organizers of "Conservative Awareness Week" at
the University of Massachusetts at Amherst learned what it was like to be silenced, when gay
rights proponents shouted them down at their "Second Annual Straight Pride Rally." Students
from conservative groups found themselves in the minority as 500 protesters drowned out the
hour-long event, waving posters with pink flags and shouting "Homophobia has to go." A recent
study conducted by the American Council on Education indicates that homophobia is still alive
and well on American campuses. The survey found that 44.4 % of college freshman believe that
the government should criminalize gay sex. Sixty-five percent felt that abortion should be legal;
66.4% felt the best way to control AIDS was through widespread testing; and about 30 percent
of the freshman defined themselves as "born-again Christians."
DC Hate Crimes Bill Upheld: The nation's capitol has authorization to prosecute cases under
its Bias-Related Crimes Act. The constitutionality of the act had been challenged by attorneys
for two Virginia youths charged in an August 1990 gay bashing. Superior Court Judge Harold L.
Cushenberry rejected the defendants contention that the law was unconstitutional. The ruling
cleared the way for prosecution of the men who are charged with attempting to murder two gay
men with a billy club while shouting "kill the fags."
Gertrude Stein Lands on Venus: During the past 13 years, scientists from the Soviet Union
and United States have named surface features of Venus, the second planet from the sun, after
more than a hundred famous women, mythological heroines and goddesses. A volcano-like
crater was named Sappho, after the Greek poet from the island Lesbos. Two other craters were
named after American lesbian authors Willa Cather and Emily Dickinson. Now, the Washington
Blade reports, the Magellan Project is recommending naming a crater triplet after Lesbian expa
triate author Gertrude Stein.
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Southern Voice/March 28, 1991
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