The Whole Picture
Project
To the Editor:
W hy is our concept of the AIDS crisis like
an elephant? Because we ourselves are like
the proverbial blind pack: each has a hand on
a part, but none has an understanding of the
whole.
O ur knowledge remains fragmentary be
cause the mass media, both Gay and
straight, have failed to provide a coverage of
AIDS that is grounded on vigorous investiga
tive reporting, sharpened by exhaustive
follow-up, and integrated into a com prehen
sive point of view. For example, for more than
six m onths now a major San Francisco
hospital has kept unused on its shelves an
anti-viral drug that many AIDS people
desperately need but cannot obtain except by
going to Mexico. Who in the media is pres
sing hard-nosed questions about such
bureaucratic bungles? No one.
Partly as a result of the inadequacy of the
media, people who have life-saving inform a
tion cannot get it into the hands of those who
need it most, medical researchers needlessly
Walters case
due in court
by Eve Sicular
Portland native Charlotte Walters will finally
have her day in court January 21 in Boston.
Walters, a form er employee of Harvard's
Buildings and Grounds D epartm ent and the
first woman hired to work in a 30- to 35-man
crew, is suing the university for sexual harass
m ent and negligent handling of her co m
plaints, first filed over five years ago.
Walters’ case is being heard by Justice
Garrity, whose controversial decision on
school bussing upheld it as desegregation
policy in Boston in the 1970s. One of the
points Walters seeks in this suit is a training
program to prevent sexual harassment
am ong staff, faculty and students at Harvard.
She hopes this will encourage lasting change.
Walters’ own experience as a harassed
worker included one incident in which
another B&G worker threw a firecracker in
her face, an episode later characterized by
management as "acceptable horseplay
am ong men."
Crisisline receives
AT &T G rant
The NGTF Fund for Human Dignity has
received a grant of $ 10,000 from the AT&T
Foundation in support of the Crisisline pro
ject. The grant, which was announced less
than a week after the Fund Board of Directors
voted to adopt the national toll-free gay/
lesbian com m unity line as a direct Fund pro
duplicate each others’ studies, a swelling tide
of homophobia sweeps along a public starved
for reliable information, and an ill-informed
governm ent responds with halting, piece
meal, and uncoordinated policies.
In order to get a more comprehensive
media understanding of AIDS, we the under
signed propose to create a unique new en
deavor: The Whole-Picture Project. This will
be a nonprofit institute that will underwrite the
expenses and salary of a Lesbian or Gay re
porter for one year. The reporter, a seasoned
journalist yet to be determined, will travel
around the country vigorously pursuing all
significant AIDS leads, uncovering any sus
picious dark corners, cross-examining m edi
cal experts, scrutinizing public office holders,
and integrating the latest findings into a com
prehensive overview. By so doing, the repor
ter will uncover new developments and inte
grate inform ation in a way that no one in the
mass media now has the means or motiva
tion to do, thereby helping to enlighten
people with AIDS, the government and the
public at large.
The Whole-Picture Project foresees an ini
tial one-year budget of $75,000 to pay for the
salary, travelling expenses, secretarial support
and other costs of a top-notch Lesbian or
Gay reporter. We seek donors, both large and
small, across the nation who would be willing
to underwrite such a project serve on its
Board of Directors, select the journalist in
question, and review his or her work. We
ourselves (all veteran Gay activists) are only
the facilitators of the project and will retire
from its services once its Board and con
tributors are established.
If you or anyone you know can help us
create and maintain such a project, please
* get in touch with us at once at The Whole-
Picture Project, 2215-R Market Street, #238,
San Francisco, C A 94114 (telephone: (415]
547-2200). We assure you both of complete
confidentiality and of the seriousness and
capability of the project Remember, throwing
money after AIDS research is not enough. We
need to have access to the whole picture.
ject, marks the first grant by a m ajor corpora
tion to the Fund, the oldest national founda
tion serving the gay and lesbian community.
“ We value both the vital role the Fund plays
in fostering public understanding of gay
people, and the im portant service Crisisline
provides in connection with the AIDS
epidemic," Charles E. Evans, Vice President
of Health & Social Action Programs for the
AT&T Foundation, said in awarding the grant
The AT&T Foundation is the principal source
of philanthropy for American Telephone &
Telegraph, one of the nation’s largest
corporations.
Fund Executive Director Lance Ringel em
phasized the significance of corporate sup
port for a Fund program, adding that while
corporate support comprises a significant
part of the budgets of many non-profits, until
now the Fund had received no major corpo
rate support, despite a number of foundation
grants and strong support from private
individuals.
"We are very pleased that AT&T has con
tributed support to this project," said Fund
Board Co-Chairs Catherine Maiorisi and
Bruce Voeller. “ In assuming responsibility for
the Crisisline, the Fund Board made clear its
belief that it is important to provide a service
like the Crisisline to the gay and lesbian com
m unity nationwide.”
The Board voted to adopt the project and
its attendant Clearinghouse after the National
Gay Task Force, the line's original sponsor,
asked the Fund to do so. The line was
founded at NGTF in 1982, and since then a
dedicated corps of highly trained volunteers
(35 to 40 people at any given tim e) has pro
vided help to thousands of callers from all
over the nation with information and referrals
concerning AIDS, anti-gay/lesbian violence,
lesbian/gay youth, etc. Many tousands more
attem pt to call the Crisisline each month, but
are unable to get through due to the extra
ordinary volume of calls. The shifting of
NGTF program personnel to Washington,
D.C. prom pted the proposal that the New
York-based Fund adopt the line.
The Fund for Human Dignity, founded in
1974, is a national educational foundation
with the stated purpose of educating the
public about the lives of lesbian and gay
Americans, and educating gay and lesbian
Americans about their own status in society.
Fund grants have played a key role in the
continuation o f NGTF's educational work.
Sincerely,
Ben Gardiner
Hank Wilson
Burt Gerrits
A rthur Evans
.N.S, OKs
gay Cuban
The United States Immigration and
Naturalization Service has granted permanent
residence status to a gay Cuban refugee. This
signals an apparent reversal of the long
standing policy of the I.N.S. that gay men and
wom en cannot lawfully enter the United
States. Santiago Reyes is the first beneficiary
of this action. He came to the United States in
the Mariel boat lift of 1980.
The I.N.S. stalled Reyes for more than six
m onths until National Gay Rights Advocates
entered the case. NGRA Legal Director,
Leonard Graff, said: "The I.N.S. issued his
permanent resident visa just one week after
we notified the I.N.S. that we were represent
ing Mr. Reyes. NGRA has sued the I.N.S. be
fore and won and they know we would not
hesitate to sue them again." In 1982, NGRA
won a landmark decision in the case of Carl
H ill v. INS.
Jean O ’Leary, NGRA Legal Director, said:
"The questions the I.N.S. asked Mr. Reyes
were appalling. Their files contain all the
explicit details of his sex life. Government
action of this type is repugnant to all Ameri
Military homophobia
a civil rights issue
To the editor:
Your recent editorial: Military Homophobia
Institutionalized, Nov. 1985, read just as
hom ophobic as the institution you seem to
com plain about.
While it can be established that the military
is indeed an entity unto itself, the issue of
homosexuals in the military is not a personal
choice issue. It is a civil rights issue.
It is not for us to discern the motives or
reasons why homosexuals enlist in the m ili
tary. Equity, fairness and justice demand that,
if we are asked to pay through our taxes for
the military-industrial complex, then we
should be able to participate in it; for what
ever reason one may have.
The existing blanket exclusion of gay men
and wom an from the military is blatantly dis
criminatory, anti-national defense, and can
be construed to be “ Taxation without
representation."
Roberto Reyes-Colon
cans and we’re not going to tolerate it."
Jeff Appleman, a San Francisco attorney
who specializes in im m igration law worked
with NGRA on this case.
Alcohol education
The National Association of Lesbian & Gay
Alcoholism Professionals (NALGAP)’s Train
ing & Education Comm ittee is form ing a
network of educators concerned with gay and
lesbian com m unity education about alcohol
use and abuse. Formed at the first national
NALGAP conference, held in Chicago, Sep
tem ber 26-29,1985, the Training & Educa
tion Com m ittee hopes that this network will
be an effective way to share resources in this
area.
Recognizing only in recent years that this
com m unity has long been neglected, city and
state agencies responsible for alcoholism
services are beginning to question ways of
targeting gay men and lesbians for alcohol
education. The past few years have seen
some efforts made in training alcoholism
service providers in com bating homophobia;
but few resources have been allocated to
ward com m unity-wide educational activities.
NALGAP's Training & Education C om m it
tee will be a mechanism for resource sharing:
W ho is doing what? Planning what? All health
educators involved in this area of work are
urged to join in this networking by calling
Robert A. Kajdan at (213) 201 -6730 or Ron
Vachon at (212) 566-6110; or write to Ron
Vachon, Director, Office of Gay & Lesbian
Health Concerns, New York City Department
of Health, 125*Worth Street, Box 67, New
York, NY 10013.
Ju»i Out January.J^S
.{ M fe u ) .