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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1987)
both by the medical establishment and by minority activists, according to Goldstein. Unlike the gay community, which early on banded together in the face of the health crisis, minority communities have been slow to admit the crisis in their midst, perhaps due to unwillingness to identify themselves with groups conventionally at risk for AIDS. To draw attention to AIDS in ethnic communities might be construed as contributing to that minority’s own op pression. However, fully one half Hispanic and black people with AIDS are heterosexual. Getting them while they’re young in the Third World Advocates in technology are perhaps enabling “ gender-cide” in cultures that favor male offspring, according to South magazine. Because fetuses can now be tested to determine their sex, parents are able to abort less valued female fetuses. India has 23 million fewer women than men; in cities, laboratories that determine gender o f unborn babies are often strategi cally located near abortion clinics, and ad vertise their proximity. Likewise, South Korean women frequently choose to abort female fetuses, and hospitals report that far more male than female babies are being bom since the advent of gender-testing. However, one need not go so far afield to find indications that traditional attitudes to children are breaking down. A survey reported in The New Republic reveals that drugs are four times as popular a source o f pleasure or satisfaction than grand children, according to over 1500 Ameri cans. Other things more popular than grandchildren: Food, hobbies, drinking, “ just taking it easy,” daydreaming, and clothes. Opines reporter Joe Queenan: “ A society that loves its clothes 17 times as much as its grandchildren should certainly be better dressed than this one. Court rules on handicap bias The US Supreme Court ruled March 4 that laws barring discrimination against handicapped people also protect those specifically suffering from contagious dis eases. Although the case that prompted the decision involved infection with tuber culosis, the ruling was cited as a major victory by AIDS activists. The court’s ruling rejected a Reagan Justice Department memorandum of last sum m er which held that contagiousness or perceptions o f contagiousness were not “ handicaps” under provisions of 1973 federal handicap protection legislation. The memo specifically cited AIDS. How ever, in March the court ruled that the basic purpose of the law is “ to insure that handicapped individuals are not denied jobs or benefits because of the prejudiced attitudes or ignorance of others” including discrimination based on “ irrational fear” o f diseased people. However, Justice W il liam J. Brennan, Jr., in a footnote, de clined to rule whether or not the law pro tects “ carriers” of the AIDS virus who do not suffer physical symptoms. The court’s current ruling specifically deals with handicap bias related to discrimination based on physical handicap brought on by contagious disease. Handicap or percep tions o f handicap must be present to qual ify for handicap protection. Since some people infected with HIV are not physi cally impaired, the court did not decide the status o f these individuals under the law. Tax the Gays! Your Just Out would be taxed for “ de viant sexuality prom otion” under a bizarre “ tax-the-im moral” scheme, if a Nebraska psychologist and major loon has his way. Paul Cameron, a discredited psychologist who has made a media living through fit ful. virulently homophobic pronounce ments. revealed a new plan to harness homosexuality: Tax it. According to The Advocate, Cameron, in the newsletter of his Institute for the Scientific Investigation ATT approved fo r use o f Sexuality, proposes that producers of sexually explicit material be levied a “ genital photograph federal stamp tax,” and other taxes be assessed against litera ture that promotes or advocates gayness. Explicit heterosexual erotica would also be taxed, but at a lower rate: The greater the transgression, the greater the tax. Con versely, Cameron proposes tax breaks for the moral, to “ encourage social virtue” such as “ chastity before marriage.” Cameron does not disclose how much he estimates his immorality tax would gen erate, nor what he would intend to do with his “ sin dollars.” I wager the money would go to the Contras. Public health officials back gay rights Kristine Gebbie, State Health Division Administrator, and Charles Shade, Mult nomah County Health Officer and repre- tentative of the Oregon Public Health As sociation, on March 14 endorsed House Bill 2325, which would prohibit discrimi nation based on sexual orientation. According to both officials, if equal rights were to be guaranteed to gays, then ad dressing the public health problems of AIDS would be vastly simplified. Accord ing to Gebbie, “ There are substantial seg ments o f our society who are fearful of collaborating with public health officials and becoming openly involved in combat ting this epidemic because of their fears that they are not protected as full-fledged citizens of our state.” Referring to the AIDS/HIV Policy Report, Gebbie stated, “ The report is full of discussions of com promises and adjustments that are made to deal with fearful people. I think this bill is one way of removing [these fears].” Azidothymidine, or AZT, an anti-viral drug used in the treatment of AIDS, was approved March 20 by the Food and Drug Administration, making the drug avail able, at least in theory, to a larger popula tion o f people with AIDS. AZT has been shown to prolong the lives of some people with AIDS, although its long-term effect is not known. It is not a cure for AIDS. However, availability o f the drug is problematical, even though it has now gained governmental approval. AZT was initially distributed free to those who satisfied strict experimental criteria. Now, the drug will be available for a price, and those who have already benefitted from AZT may not be able to afford its cost, estim ated at $10,000 a year by The New York Times. Medicaid policies will not pick up the bill until states individually OK expenditures for the drug. Also, it is not clear if the manufacturer o f the drug, Bur roughs Wellcome Company, will be able to produce sufficient quantities o f the drug to meet the new demand. Between its cost and assumed unavailability, AZT treat ment may be a false hope to many already infected with HIV. ACLU funds lobbyist The American Civil Liberties Union, using funds from its February Portland rally and other fundraising efforts, has hired Laurie Inacy as fulltime lobbyist for House Bill 2325, Oregon’s gay rights bill. Inacy, a Bend native, is at work in Salem, where she assists Stevie Remington, ACLU Executive Director. According to Jann Carson, ACLU as sistant, HB 2325 is tentatively due out of committee sometime this month. However, she strongly urges people to write their legislators in support of the legislation. Some legislators are receiving mail 25-1 against the bill. “ The opposition is getting organized, and we need to re spond. We need to generate contact to legislators,” urges Carson. Contact the ACLU for information, 227-3186 in Port land, 345-6162 in Eugene. Entertainment , briefly The Knife, a musical about a man who undergoes a sex change operation, is play ing at The Public Theatre on Broadway. Harvey Fierstein has a new play, called Safe Sex, on the New York stage, and has been to Hollywood looking for a director for the film version of Torch Song Trilogy. Marc Christian, Rock Hudson’s final, ingenue lover, supposedly tells all in his kiss-and-tell opus. H e’s calling it Between Rock and a Hard Place. WEDDING BANDS* AIDS risk and race The general public is not equally at risk for AIDS, because race is an ignored and suppressed contour of the AIDS epidemic, according to Richard Goldstein, writing in the Village Voice. AIDS is largely a dis ease o f gay men among whites. However, the “ general population” that AIDS sup posedly now threatens is made up largely of the urban, ethnic poor. A black woman is 13 times more likely than a white woman to get AIDS; a Hispanic woman is at 11 times the risk. Hispanics make up 20 per cent o f the population, but account for 39 percent of all Americans with AIDS. The fact that AIDS is a crisis for minor ity communities has largely been ignored, 14k matching hands by Studio 311. DISCOVER T H E F I N E A R T OF A M E R I C A N CRAFT The Real Mother Goose A Shop and Caller) Washington Square 620-2243 S.W. 9th & Yamhdl 223-9510 i n n* » w » 0 .1 Ju st Out 7 . . April 1087