Editorial
Amendment to bill
promotes ignorance
Sen. Jesse Helms' (R-N.C.) amendment to the AIDS ap
propriations bill that would "prohibit federal funds from be
ing spent on AIDS education materials which promote the
homosexual lifestyle" is representative of the ignorance and
fear that prevents adequate AIDS research and education.
The AIDS appropriations bill determines the amount of
support the federal government will give during the next
fiscal year. Helms’ amendment, however, could hamper
financial support for AIDS research and directly segregates
those with the disease.
Essentially, the government is sending an intolerant
message that it does not approve of homosexuality and is un
willing to help conduit the disease. This is the attitude that
has prevented AIDS research for so long, as San Francisco
Chronicle reporter Kandy Shi Its explains in his book "And
the Hand Played On: People, Politics and the AIDS
Epidemic.”
Shilts says it was the lack of concern expressed by the
government, media and society that delayed AIDS education
and research — education and research that is necessary to
prevent the spread of the disease.
At first AIDS was considered a homosexual disease and
basically ignored by society and even the homosexual com
munity. Shilts said while he was on campus Thursday. It
wasn't until the disease spread to the heterosexual com
munity that it received the attention it receives now.
The Reagan administration has perpetuated this
segregated attitude by ignoring AIDS until the public
demanded action. Despite the information available to them,
officials refused to deal with the issue simply because it was
considered a homosexual disease. The government also has
promoted fears by proposing mandatory AIDS testing While
it is necessary to control the disease, this method would be
ineffective.
The Helms amendment reinforces this fearful ideology
and denounces the homosexual lifestyle. Helms would
prefer to ignore an entire class of people on the basis of sex
ual preference — a preference he does not approve of.
This attitude does not benefit AIDS research. Homosex
uals and heterosexuals are equally vulnerable to AIDS. The
homosexual lifestyle must lie considered for proper educa
tion about the disease. Ignoring this aspect of the disease
will not make it go away.
The amendment also would place the government in the
sensitive position of judging what "promotes" homosex
uality Helms' views toward the lifestyle, for example, are
much more conservative than other senators' views. As a
result, the educational material stands the chance of being
restricted to the extent that it no longer serves its purpose
Education on and research of AIDS is vital to curbing
the spread of the disease. This cannot be done, however, if
people like Helms are more concerned about dismissing a
lifestyle they do not approve of. We must all accept that the
disease exists and is a danger to both heterosexuals and
homosexuals. If we deny it in our educational material, we
only promote the stereotype and segregation of the
homosexual lifestyle.
The AIDS appropriations bill is an lmpunaiu miu
necessary step towards solving the AIDS epidemic. Helms'
amendment should not be allowed to undermine its
purpose.
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Letters
Glasnost
The recant decision of the
State Hoard of Higher Education
to retire University President
Paul Oluin in June. 1989 is
seriously flawed for several
reasons
The fact is. the decision was
made by the executive commit
tee of tne board Although the
Ixtard is now going to vote on
the matter it was perfectly ob
vious to anyone who attended
the board meeting on Friday.
Nov 13, that the decision was
already made and that the vote
was to be mere lip service to
democratic process.
The fact that this decision
was made with no minutes
kept, with no record of votes,
with no stated reason for the
retirement, and most important
ly. with no public discourse, is
a slap in the face of Dr (Hum.
the students, the faculty, the
community and anyone else in
terested in seeing that the
University grow and improve.
The board condescended to
hear testimony on Dr. Olum's
behalf at the Nov. 13 meeting,
but as I have stated, this was
merely a cosmetic measure in
tended to pacify the natives
Oregon Daily
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Regardless of Dr Qlum's
qualifications for the position of
president, the decision-making
process was flawed Once this
mistake was made, the board
had two options it could have
admitted the mistake but
defended the decision. This
would have entailed remaking
the decision in the proper man
ner The other option was to
simply admit that Dr Olum
does damn good work and let
him stay until 1‘t92.
The board did neither. In
stead. they compounded the
mistake They decided to vote
on this important matter via
teleconference, thus making
another closed-door decision.
This is a statement to Oregon
that the board does nut malty
care what we think The board
also does not want to make an
unpopular decision in front of
hundreds of justifiably outraged
citizens.
This is not just a question of
the University or of Paul Olum
Decisions that affect our lives
are being made behind locked
doors I would like to ask one
thing of the state board. The
Soviets have a name for it:
glasnost.
|eff Heiman
Student
Suave band
Personally. I think the Cuar
dians of American Morality are
really f— ing suave.
In their stance of "tight
lipped moral superiority." the
ladies of the Women's Resource
and Referral Center not only
completely miss the point
(ODE. Nov. 16). but serve to
make that of the band they an;
protesting, as its name would
imply. (You do have a point,
don't you guys?)
Although 1 suppose these
women have actually seen the
excellent film. "Blue Velvet."
somehow it doesn't seem like it
In any event, do they know
what exposition and satire are?
Lighten up. girls. Should you
wish to see some real exploita
tion. I suggest catching the dog
food-eating contest action in
Springfield. It's a crazy, mixed
up world, isn't it?
Rebecca Harris
Eugene
Make peace
As a former Marine who serv
ed with a grunt (infantry) com
pany in Vietnam. I would like to
respond to Henry Kissinger's
taking offense to the United
States-Vietnam agreement link
ing an accounting of the 2.413
missing American servicemen
with pledges to look into Viet
nam’s humanitarian concerns
It is my belief it is we. as a na
tion. who should make the first
move by offering full
diplomatic recognition and
reconstruction aid to Vietnam
It is Kissinger that I take offense
to. As secretary of state, co
author of the Christmas bomb
ing of Hanoi in 1972 and the
US.-backed coup of 1973
which replaced the legally
elected socialist government of
Salvador Allende's Chile with
the viciously brutal U.S.-backed
military of General Augusto
Pinochet. I believe that Kisss
inger should be brought to trial
as a war criminal.
1 read with interest the the ar
ticle on MIA's in Life magazine
The evidence cited was enough
to rank the magazine right up
there with The National En
quirer in the annals of yellow
journalism. The article lacks
any substantial evidence to in
dicate that there are Americans
being held in Southeast Asia.
One of the more interesting
statistics of the article is that
while MIA's make up twenty
percent of the Korean War. they
only account for five percent of
the Vietnam War. The MIA
issue is a pseudo-issue, it is
time to make peace with
Vietnam
Ron Phillips. Coordinator
Draft and Pre-enlistment
Counseling Project