Baltimore Alternative, May 1991

w ALTERNATIVE May 1991 ▼ Volume 6, Number 5 ▼ Serving The Baltimore /Washington Community Since 1986 AID$ FIGHTING FOR DWINDLING DOLLARS ■ Montgomery County AIDS Program Under Fire HERO Contract Terminated BY ELIZABETH LOSHER THE ALTERNATIVE Montgomery County’s highly- acclaimed AIDS Program recently came under fire when two volunteer “Buddies” publicly accused the program's director of mismanaging the program and questioned the program’s use of funds. Testifying before the County Council on March 28, Catherine Irwin and Ed Van Vraken stated that “the past year-and-a-half seems to have produced few, if any, new and creative programs to address [the county’s growing AIDS] problem.” Controversy is nothing new to this pro¬ gram. In 1985, the Health Department was outspoken in its support for HIV testing and partner notification as ways to stop the spread of AIDS. Before AZT became available, many community organizations vocally opposed this policy. The current controversy is being generated See AIDS PROGRAM, page 6 Sluggish Economy Shortchanges PWAs BY JOSHUA LOWE THE ALTERNATIVE Service organizations rendering critical help to PWAs are now becoming vic¬ tims in their own right, falling prey to a sluggish economy in the face of an ever¬ growing PWA community. The national recession, a tapped-out com¬ munity and other factors are making it tougher than ever for AIDS service groups, which have always had to hustle for funds, to get money for clients. AIDS service groups provide clients with a multitude of things from education to advoca¬ cy, but the emergency funds for people with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) who are about to be evicted from their homes, have their utilities turned off or can’t afford drugs, are among the most critical services. Three major AIDS service groups in town. See ECONOMY, page 7 MEMBERS OF ACT-UP/DC PROTEST in front of the White House April 23. They handed out condoms. See story page 4. . ^ ■ < LIFESTYLE NATIONAL Most Americans Pro-Gay According to National Survey BY REX WOCKNER THE ALTERNATIVE Anew survey commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign Fund. America's largest gay-rights orga¬ nization, has found that Americans support over¬ whelmingly equal rights for gays and lesbians. The poll, conducted by New York’s Penn & Schoen Associates, questioned 800 randomly selected Americans and has an error margin of 3.5 percent. Perhaps the most unexpected finding was that 8 1 percent of Americans oppose the military's policy of discharging all soldiers discovered to be gay or lesbian. In addition, 65 per¬ cent oppose the Defense Department’s ban on accepting gays and lesbians into the service in the first place. Further, among the 14 percent of Americans who approve of the Pentagon’s discharge of gay soldiers, 20 percent of them would make an exception for soldiers returning from the Persian Gulf. A second major finding of the survey was that 80 percent of Americans believe “homosexuals should have equal rights for jobs.” This is up from 56 percent in 1977 and 71 percent in 1989, when similar questions were asked by Gallup pollsters. Opposition to job discrimination was highest among peo¬ ple 25-34, those who make more than $75,000 per year, those living in the Northeast and West, those who are single or divorced, and women, parents, African-Americans, Jews, Democrats, political independents, liberals, college gradu¬ ates and people with no religious affiliation. But at least 60 percent of all groupings of respondents ! 1 See SURVEY, page 12