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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1985)
u r-------\ r~ Lie costs Falwell $5000 The Rev. Jerry Falwell m ust pay a form er college classmate $5,000 as a result o f a prom ise he made last year, a Sacram ento co u rt has ruled. On S e p t 25, Sacram ento M unicipal Court Judge M ichael S. Gilm an awarded the Rev. Jerry Sloan $5,000 as a result o f a lawsuit he filed against Falwell when Falwell refused to fu lfill his portion o f a contract he made with Sloan. The basis o f the lawsuit was a confronta tio n between Falwell and Sloan on a live Sacram ento TV talk show on KCRA-TV. O n the July 13,1984, show, Sloan asked Falwell about som e rem arks he made on his “ O ld Tim e Gospel H our" broadcast concern Doctors report vanishing AIDS symptoms D octors at Stanford University recorded the first known case o f a person in whom blood tests revealed the presence o f anti bodies to the AIDS virus and later indicated that the antibodies disappeared. A ccording to the report in the O ctober issue o f the Annals o f Internal Medicine, a 33-year-old wom an apparently became in fected w ith the virus after her husband, a hem ophilia p a tie n t contracted AIDS from b lood -clotting products. The husband and wife continued to have sexual relations after the husband's sym p tom s first appeared in 1983, according to the m edical re p o rt In January o f last year, tests showed that the w ife’s blood contained anti bodies to the AIDS virus. She also showed a slig h t decrease in the num ber o f her im m une system ’s disease-fighting cells. The couple began using condom s a m onth after her positive blood test because semen and blood are the tw o body fluids known as the m ost probable vehicles for transm ittng the AIDS virus. In M arch o f last year the husband devel oped a severe AIDS infection called Pneu m ocystis carinii pneum onia, and the couple stopped all sexual relations. He died in S eptem ber o f last year. In A pril o f last year, the w om an’s blood was tested again. It showed no further signs of antibodies to the AIDS virus. The cells of her im m une system also had returned to normal. ing the M etropolitan C om m unity Church. In his broadcast Falwell said the church was "A brute b e a st. . . A vile and Satanic system " . . . w hich w ould "one day be utterly annihilated and there would be a celebration in Heaven!" (The M.C.C. is a Christian church which m inisters to the gay and lesbian com m unity. A pproxim ately 85 percent o f its m em bership is gay.) Falwell vigorously denied the statements on the KCRA program , saying it was "an aboslute lie !" Sloan countered by saying he possessed a tape o f Falwell m aking the statements. Falwell continued to deny the statements, saying that such a tape didn’t exist He then challenged Sloan to produce the tape, saying he w ould give SI oan $5,000 to produce the tape. W ithin a week, Sloan took two ta p es to KCRA. One was a tape w hich Sloan made of Her case suggests that changes in the im m une system due to infection with the AIDS virus may not always be irreversible and sim i lar cases may well be docum ented in the future. The federal Centers for Disease C ontrol in Atlanta estim ates that a m illion or more people in the United States may be infected w ith the AIDS virus, but only a fraction — estim ates range as high as 20 percent — are eventually expected to com e down with the disease. AIDS civil rights project launched by NGRA SAM FRAMCISCO — ¡National Gay Rights Advocates, the San Francisco-based pu blic interest law firm , announced the fo r m ation o f an AIDS Civil Rights P roject The Project, a first o f its kind undertaking, will focus on the increasing problem o f AIDS- related discrim ination. In addition to initiating precedent-setting legal cases, the AIDS Civil Rights Project will concentrate on public education and advo cacy. As part o f this effort, NGRA w ill publish educational m aterials outlining the m ajor legal issues confronting people with AIDS. NGRA w ill also develop a com puterized re source bank o f legal inform ation relating to the AIDS crisis. This inform ation will be made available to attorneys around the nation. Fi nally, NGRA will w ork to educate the general pu blic through media outreach and public Family Business Traffic W orkers Com p. Divorce Custody Support Modification Visitations Gay Couple Agreements & Breakups Contracts Licensing Admin Hearings Partnershps Corporations Smal Businesses Tickets Suspensions Accidents Drunk Driving Hearings Appeals Preparation - Nevada sodomy law attacked SAN FRANCISCO — National Gay Rights Advocates has filed a lawsuit challenging the validity o f Nevada’s sodom y statute. The suit, filed in late September, charges the state with violating the constitutional rights o f gay men and wom en. The plaintiffs in the suit have used aliases to protect them selves from any repercussions. In Nevada, sodom y is a felony punishable by up to six years in prison. Leonard Graff, NGRA Legal D irector said, "T he thrust o f this suit is that the state of Nevada has overstepped its authority by at tem ptin g to regulate purely private behavior between consenting adults." G raff added, "W e feel the law is unconstitutional because it crim inalizes sexual conduct fo r gay men and w om en when the same acts are legal for heterosexuals." Jean O ’Leary, NGRA Executive Director, said, "C hallenging sodom y laws is an im p ortant part o f NGRA’s agenda. These laws are the bedrock o f discrim ination against lesbians and gay men. The law says, in e ffe c t that we are crim in a ls.” O ’Leary noted that sodom y laws are frequently used as a basis for denying jobs to gay people. Brian McKay, the Nevada Attorney General, has filed a m otion with the D istrict C ourt in Carson City asking the judge to dism iss the suit. M cKay contends that the plaintiffs d o n ’t have standing to bring the suit and that the co u rt doesn’t have ju risdiction to hear the case. NGRA w ill be filing a brief in opposition to dism issal on these procedural grounds on O ctober 15, 1985. It is not known how long it w ill take fo r the court to make its decision. Richard Brautigam and Lee A. Ryan are NGRA's volunteer lawyers in San Francisco. They are w ith one o f the city’s largest and m ost prestigious law firm s, M cCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen. In Nevada, local counsel is Rodney E. Sum pter, an attorney in private practice in Reno. TAX SHELTERS • MONEY MARKET FUNDS • OIL/GAS INVESTMENT PROGRAMS • MONEY ACCUMULATION PLANS • COMPUTERIZED FINANCIAL PLANNING • COMMON STOCK FUNDS • MUNICIPAL BOND INVESTMENTS • KEOGH/IRA PLANS • REAL ESTATE INVEST MENT PROGRAMS • LIFE INSURANCE • PENSION PLANS David M a l c o l m Ben Merrill 2 9 5 -2 4 5 6 Just Out, Novemoer. 1V85 speaking events. NGRA has hired Benjam in Schatz, J.D. as full-tim e D irector o f the P roject A cum laude graduate o f Harvard Law School, Mr. Schatz has previously worked for such groups as N ational Gay Task Force and Gay Rights Na tional Lobby. Mr. Schatz' salary fo r the first year is being paid through grants from the Harvard Fellow ship in Public Interest Law and the Berkeley Law Foundation. Because these grants do not cover the costs o f office over head, taxes and legal expenses, NGRA seeks additional funding from individual donors. "It is vitally im portant that NGRA is taking the initiative now," com m ented Mr. Schatz. "A t present we have a unique opportunity to create positive legal precedents. It is crucial fo r gay m en and women to realize that AIDS- related discrim ination threatens not only those with AIDS, but indeed the entire gay and lesbian com m unity," he added. "NGRA believes th t the AIDS crisis is increasingly being used as a pretext for discrim inating against all lesbians and gay men.” The AIDS Civil Rights Project will initially concentrate on cases involving discrim ina tion in such areas as em ploym ent, housing, insurance, education, and provision o f health care services. tape; the p la in tiff tendered the tape alm ost im m ediately, binding the plaintiff to his unilateral co n tra ct" Sloan said, "I am elated at receiving a favorable ju d g e m e n t This is the very first tim e Jerry Falwell has been held accountable in a co u rt o f law for what he has said. He tried to squirm out o f being responsible fo r his vicious attack on the M etropolitan C om m u nity C hurch, but now a judge has said he did indeed make the statem ent and now he m ust pay for trying to deny it" Sloan is a form er pastor o f several M etro politan C om m unity Churches and is now president o f the Lam bda C om m unity Fund, a charitable organization w hich is in the pro cess o f opening a gay and lesbian co m m u nity center in Sacram ento. Sloan and Falwell were schoolm ates in the 1950s when they both attended Baptist C ol lege in Springfield, MO. Financial Services Other W ils Bankruptcy Property Medical Consents 408 SW Second , Suite 519 Downtown Portland 97204 the "O ld Tim e Gospel H our" and the other tape was a tape produced by Falwell's own organization, w hich Sloan obtained by send ing $4 to Falwell’s Lynchberg address. Sloan then had his attorney, Rosemary Metrailer, write to Falwell asking for the money. Falwell refused to do so. W hen Falwell came to Sacram ento on S e p t 30, 1984, as part o f a fundraising tour, Sloan filed his suit and m et Falwell with a subpoena as the television evangelist's p ri vate je t plane landed at the Sacram ento a irp o rt Judge U llm an heard the evidence o f the case on S e p t 13,1985 and handed down his decision on S ept 24, awarding Sloan the $5,000 plus court costs and 7 percent in terest fro m July 18, 1984. In his seven page opinion, U llm an stated, T h e defendent (Falwell) offered $5,000 to the p la in tiff (Sloan) if he could produce a % 5 3 1 9 S.W W e s tg a te Dr # 162 • (5 03) 297-5651 P ortland. OR 97221 5