Baltimore Alternative, January 1992

SmMkM SttdluB p.15 Paul iJadum* *fll£ BEETS W p.21 M 91 LOOKING BACK BY CUFF O’NEILL _ THE ALTERNATIVE o gauge accurately how amazingly different 1991 was from the year previous in AIDS and gay issues in Washington, one need only to look at the faces that defined AIDS in each year. In 1990, that face belonged to Ryan White, the Indiana teenager who in that year succumbed to the epidemic after he made the world feel a little more aware of the bigotry that this disease can bring out in people. For most of 1991, the image that closely held the nation¬ al spotlight on the epidemic was Kimberly Bergalis, the Florida woman who before her death galvanized an over¬ whelming majority of the American people in support of mandatory HTV testing of all health care workers. And all because she and a handful of others in 1991 became the only known cases of transmission of the HIV virus from health care worker to patient. By the end of the year, Bergalis. gone but not forgotten, had yielded the spotlight to basketball giant Earvin “Magic” Johnson who may have done more to heighten awareness than anyone since Rock Hudson by announcing to the world that he is HIV-positive. munily facing some major milestones in 1992 and beyond. To take full advantage of this more lenient view of homosexuality, they agree, the gay community must begin organizing now and in a manner that is unmatched in human history. Recent victories for the gay movement, when viewed in a collective sense, are indeed impressive. An increasing number of states and communities are enacting gay rights legislation. Public opinion polls show a growing accep¬ tance of homosexuality both in the workplace and at home. Soviet gays enjoyed their first Pride celebrations this year. Amnesty International, the major global human-rights watchdog, has agreed to amend its governing mandate to police abuses against gays and lesbians. As an election year, 1992 will bring a whole host of vic¬ tories and defeats for the growing gay movement. While the progress may be slow and gay leaders wrangle over the scope of their achievements, they do agree that the general trend is a positive one. This is an exciting time to be gay. Perhaps the most symbolic and emotional event affect- Still, Johnson’s stunning announcement aside, Bergalis and her unconventional case took up the little attention given to AIDS all year. Although the health care worker and patient mandatory testing proposal that bears her name is no closer to passage now than when it was intro¬ duced. elements of it were virtually the only com¬ pelling AIDS matters discussed on Capitol Hill all year. In mid-summer, longtime AIDS and gay nemesis Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) successfully brought forth two far- reaching measures effectively mandating forced HIV tests for patients and health care workers. Introduced to unlikely money bills in the late hours after most lobbyists had closed up shop and gone home. Helms deftly had the Senate approve the measures by wide margins with little debate. After last minute compromises and a blizzard of intense lobbying, the measures were gutted and substitued with language calling for voluntary testing and mandatory infec¬ tion control measures, not mandatory testing. As for the future of the issue, Bergalis’s parents, inter¬ viewed on the death of their daughter, put it best. The young woman may be dead, but her cause will live on years beyond her. Past the sound and fury of the health care worker issue, not much else concerning AIDS moved from the front pages to the House and Senate floor all year. ing the gay and lesbian community next year will be the return of the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt to the Nation's Capital on October 9-11, 1992. The Quilt's return is a massive undertaking that will be done largely with the help of volunteers, according to Project Executive Director David Lcmos. By 1992, the group estimates the Quill will include 20,000 panels and cover 13 acres of land. "Our commitment is for nothing less than an historic event which will remind our country and its leaders of the urgency of the HIV epidemic,” said Lcmos. The effort needs shipping companies, sound systems, storage space, and plastic bags in case of rain to be donated to pull off this display. “We have set up a planning committee to map out the weekend’s events and to outline for fund-raising," he said. "With a year to plan and with the help of our chapters, we hope to get many of these items donated, but we are still See FORWARD TO ‘92 page 4 Bush: Gays Haven’t Slowed HIV Transmission BY REX WOCKNER _ THE ALTERNATIVE resident George Bush does not believe gay men have changed their sexual behaivor and slowed the spread of HIV. Meeting with top health officials December 9 for his first ever AIDS briefing. Bush said, “How can you say that when the first pie chart showed 60 per¬ cent for heaven’s sake.” Bush was responding to Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan, who had stated, “Certainly among gay men the rale of spread of the virus has really reduced because of changes in behavior, and we need to do this elsewhere.” Bush’s confusion apparently resulted from his not knowing that an average of 10 years passes between HIV infection and development of AIDS, gay activists said after studying a transcript of the meeting. They expressed anger over Bush's ill-informed remarks — and were further distressed over his summary of a lunch meeting he had earlier in the day with administration officials. "We kind of summed up at that meeting, in a word, ‘behavioral,’” Bush said. “Here’s something you can do about — if you don’t do things that cause this disease, whether its’s certain kinds of acts, sex acts, or whether it’s certain kinds of drug use. “Have we, in the eyes of this [National] Commission [on AIDS], gotten our act together in terms of the message, getting out this message?” Bush asked. “I think — I have the feeling that there’s some resistance in some quarters, some of these tiny groups, advocacy groups, ACT UP and all.” Activists said it was apparent to them that Bush does not support the most realistic approach to HIV- prevenlion — condom use. In addition to Sullivan, attendees at the meeting included Assistant Secretary of Health James Mason, National Insititues of Health AIDS Research Director Anthony Fauci. Centers for Disease Control Director William Roper and members of the AIDS commission. Activists were also stunned by a statement Roper made to Bush. Drawing a parallel with anli-smok- ing education. Roper said. “I think what's having the impact across society is not just... giving a pub¬ lic service announcement on smoking. It’s that we have decided as a society we’re going to treat smoking as an unacceptable behavior. I don’t think we’re there yet on the issues of drug use and sexual behaivor.” Roper seemed to be saying society should deem gay sex — or even any sex but that between monogamous heterosexuals — “unacceptable,” activists concluded. See LOOKING BACK page 2 BY JONATHAN MITCHELL JMR NEWS FEATURES G ay leaders say that "some- • thing in the air” tells them the general attitude toward sexual orientation is starting to change, albeit slowly, in this coun¬ try. That bodes well for a gay com- MARCHING FORWARD 92