Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN
TAKING PRIDE IN OUR CULTURE
NOV 24 - NOV 30 / 1994
Remembering Milk
Harvey Milk, slain
17 years ago this
week, paved the way
for today's gay and
lesbian candidates.
PAGE 15
NEWS
Marietta gay bar raided;
two arrested, owner cited PAGE 3
NGLTF's Creating Change conference
draws 1,200 to Dallas PAGE 7
New brain study offers latest
evidence of biological basis
for homosexuality paces
HEALTH
AIDS activists blast Johnson &
Johnson for pushing home HIV
test kits page is
OUT & ABOUT
Indigo Girls headline rocking
'30s reinvention of
'Jesus Christ Superstar' PAGE 25
Author Mark Thompson discusses
myth, meaning and ’Gay Soul' page 25
Choreographer Louise Runyon Barth
unveils 'Wild Women/Bellow!' page si
VOLUME 7/NUMBER 40 PlEASf RECYCLE 75C WHERE SOLD
A Day to Remember
World AIDS Day is an occasion for reflection,
rage and renewal. Atlanta marks December 1 with
a wide range of events, both cultural and educational.
by JAMES FITCH
This year, Atlanta’s nod to World AIDS Day
aspires to more than symbolism. Because of a col
lective effort from city entities—spanning activist
groups, city government, corporations, and the High
Museum of Art—Atlanta residents on December 1
will have little choice but to sit up and pay attention.
Among this year’s World AIDS Day highlights
in Atlanta: a nationally broadcast conference on
“HIV/AIDS in the Workplace” at the Hyatt Regency
Hotel; “Electric Blanket,” a 90-minute slide presen
tation described as the electronic equivalent of the
Names Project Quilt, which will be projected onto
the facade of the High Museum; and a range of
events around town (see page 19).
“Educating the workforce about this disease is
one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the
disease,” Mayor Campbell said at an October press
conference announcing details of “HIV/AIDS in the
Workplace,” a conference for business and labor
groups which he asked to coincide with World AIDS
Day. “We must act now to develop partnerships to
prevent the spread of HIV and to protect our citizens
and protect our social and economic health,” he
added.
The Dec. 1 conference will provide business and
labor leaders in Atlanta with guidelines for compre
hensive programs dealing with HIV/AIDS in the
workplace. They will also be instructed on what
resources are available to them for implementation,
both through the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and local community organizations.
Lou Dobbs, senior vice president and managing
editor for CNN Business News, will serve as mod
erator of the four-hour program. Mayor Campbell
will give opening remarks and talk about the situa
tion in Atlanta.
Enoch Prow, executive vice president of
NationsBank and honorary business chairman for
the conference, will speak about the challenge of
HIV/AIDS to Atlanta business. Prow was recently
named board chair of the National Leadership Coali
tion on AIDS in Washington, D.C.
Other speakers include CDC director Dr. David
Satcher, who will talk about the international and
national challenge of HIV/AIDS, and Georgia State
Epidemiologist Kathleen Toomey, who will talk spe
cifically about HIV/AIDS in Georgia and Atlanta.
“We have done this [type of conference] in other
cities throughout the nation, and we have received
tremendous feedback from the business and labor
communities—very positive feedback,” says Angie
Hammock, director of the CDC programs Business
Responds to AIDS and Labor Responds to AIDS.
“[Participants in previous conferences] came look
ing for guidance and they felt they got it,” Hammock
adds. “That’s what we’re hoping to do in the Atlanta
business and labor communities.”
Though the conference is being offered on site
only to business and labor professionals, it will be
beamed via satellite to anyone with the necessary
equipment to receive it. Hammock expects it to be
viewed en masse by professional groups and busi
nesses across the country.
The broadcast will actually start with the lun
cheon speaker, with the pre-taped morning sessions
to follow. ‘That way, for those on the East Coast—
let’s say at a Rotary Club meeting—they would just
have their regular luncheon meeting and watch the
broadcast,” Hammock says. “For West Coast folks it
could be a breakfast meeting.”
While the “HIV/AIDS in the Workplace” confer
ence will impact business and labor leaders on a
national level, the event most likely to impact At
lanta the most on World AIDS Day is the visual
centerpiece at the High Museum of Art, entitled “Elec-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Pictured: The late Tom Fox of Atlanta, from Billy
Howard's book “Epitaphs for the Living.”
Howard's portraits are part of “Electric Blanket.”
BILLY HOWARD