- Title
- Baltimore Alternative, June 1990
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-
- Identifier
- BA_90_June
-
-
- Subjects
- ["AIDS activists","LGBTQIA","LGBTQ issues","LGBTQ life","AIDS (Disease)","Baltimore (Md.)","Maryland"]
-
- Description
- The Baltimore Alternative newspaper June 1990 issue.
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-
- Date Created
- 01 June 1990
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-
- Format
- ["pdf"]
-
- Language
- ["English"]
-
- Collection Name
- ["Baltimore Alternative collection"]
-
Baltimore Alternative, June 1990
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Gtrcy I-imben
FBI Busts Seattle Bombers; 3 Hurt in NYC Blast, p. 1 2
77/t BaIti'more
June 1 990
ALTERNATIVE
AIDS Activists “Storm the NIH”
enoc i ae
New Treatments, Broader Access to Trials Demanded
by Cliff O'Neill
BETHESDA, MD — Over 1,000 angry
AIDS activists, gathered here from around
the nation, laid siege to the campus of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) for
four hours on May 21st, demanding re¬
search into new treatments for the disease
and wider access to drug trials
[Protestors came from as far away as
Canada, Louisiana, Michigan, and Califor¬
nia. Baltimore was represented by demon¬
strators from AIDS Action Baltimore and
the Baltimore Chapter of GLAAD. A
large number of protestors from ACT UP/
DC were also present]
Eighty-two demonstrators were arrest¬
ed as part of assorted acts of civil disobe¬
dience throughout the day; all but one
were charged with trespassing. One dem¬
onstrator was initially charged with resist¬
ing arrest. All were released.
Twenty-one of those arrested were tak¬
en into custody at the National Institute for
Looking Back
With Pride
The ALTERNATIVE Looks
“Back”— Page 3
Baltimore Artist Looks
“Heroic”— Page 22
Megan Hamilton Looks
“Vital”— Page 29
Robert Haskins Looks
“Lively” — Page 31
How Many to Die
This Summer?
Pride March Arrives with Memories of Violence
by Joseph F. U her
“What year was that that Stanley got shot at Leon’s?” Stanley was a
well- loved bartender at Leon’s, who left employment at the popular
gay watering hole after a man stuck a gun through the door at closing.
“The cops used to come (over to The Porthole] after the neighbor¬
hood kids threw bottles through the door and say to each other, ‘These
goddamn faggots are always causing trouble. They're more trouble
than they’re worth.’”
“Whatever happened to Willie? You remember? That artist who got
shot outside the Drinkery?”
“ Fhey used to come into the Gallery, and throw you up against the
wall, and, god help you if you didn’t have a driver’s license on you. Of
course, who carried I.D. with you if you were going to the Gallery?”
“I can still remember reading in the Sunpopers the letter from Sam
Jones’ student after Sam was murdered. “Sam Jones was a generous
and kind teacher at Coppin State College, who went the extra mile to
help a student graduate on time.”
And now, it's Antonio Blake. Brutally murdered on Saturday, May
12th in the Mount Vernon gay bar district. Even in the midst of gay and
lesbian pride celebrations this month, the community asks. “Who will
be next?” >A
“Nine foot-patrolmen . as well as a number of plainclothes officers
are assigned” to the Mount Vernon area (Dennis S.J Hill fa police
spokesman l said. But, he said, he doesn’t think the police can do much
to avert the type of tragedy “ because of the " lifestyle of the gays. The .
_ See DIE, page 2
“A billion dollars and
only one drug, ” the
protesters continued
shouting. “AIDS is war.”
Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
several miles away, after they staged a sit-
in in the office of a top health staffer there.
“Ten years. A billion dollars. One
drug. Big deal,” thundered the protesters,
drumming home their recriminations of
much of the federal AIDS research effort
with the steady pounding on hundreds of
signs.
Holding aloft streaming, multi-colored
smoke bombs set atop long poles, the
hoard of activists charged the main admin¬
istrative building of the NIH, fanning their
choking purple smoke with dozens of
bright red signs reading, “We’re fired up.”
Shouting their indignant criticisms at
the curious NIH employees inside the
buildings, protesters faced off against
three lines of U.S. Park Service Police
which were dressed in riot gear, raincoats
and sky blue dishwashing gloves and
amassed behind two rows of makeshift
wood and wire snow fences.
Yet another flank of similarly attired
park Police on horseback served as the
agency’s front line of defense against the
constantly moving demonstrators.
“A billion dollars and only one drug,”
the protesters continued shouting. “AIDS
is war.”
Five times every hour, there came the
deafening roar of air horns going off to
mark the one American AIDS death which
occurs every twelve minutes.
With a series of street theater actions
and “negotiated” civil disobedience, the
morning action sought to draw attention to
each of the protesters’ many specific
demands.
Those demands included calls for the
NIH to focus their research on drugs other
than AZT, to date it is the sole drug ap¬
proved to treat HIV virus itself, and to ex¬
pand drug trials to allow for increased par¬
ticipation by women, children and former
intravenous drug users.
“The focus of the NIH has been on one
drug— AZT,” stated Keith Cylar, an ACT
UP spokesperson. “Because of that, medi¬
cations for the treatment of opportunistic
infections have not been focused on. The
opportunistic infections are treatable and
preventable and they’re things that we, as
people need.”
Cylar also argued that some NIH offi¬
cials, also having ties to some drug manu-
See STORM THE NIH. page 4
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