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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1987)
YEA! WE GIVE YOU TME BEAT OE WHAT WE KNOW — Wardrobe Color Analysis and Consultation — Half Full Hour Therapeutic Massage Sessions — A Full Range of Raturai & Chemical Hair Design Possibilities For an Appointment Call 236-1607 8707 SE 17th O pen Tueaday-Saturday Gift Certificates Available Chicago collegiate games include gay baiting Answering personal ads has led to harassment of Chicago-area gays. An ad, which ran in the Chicago Reader, a free weekly, read “ Attractive GWM, 24, shy, and U of C Hyde Parker, wishes to meet discreet students and locals only for close friendship.” Men who responded to the ad initially received no further communica tion. However, weeks later, the respondents were the subjects of a well- coordinated hate letter campaign directed at employers, co-workers, and family members. The phony personal ad was apparently placed by a group called the Great White Brotherhood of the Iron Fist, who claimed in a letter to the Chicago Tribune that they would “ be the complete ruination of homosexuality.” Included in the packet received by associates of the gay men was a photocopy of the original letter written in response to the personal ad, and a letter written on Great White Brotherhood let terhead threatening the reader to “ AVOID THIS HOMOSEXUAL AT ALL COST. ” At least Fifteen respondents were vic tims of the phony ads. Organized anti-gay violence again sur faced in Chicago shortly after the ad inci dent. Two men entered tf^e offices of the Windy City Times, a Chicago gay news weekly, and attacked those present. Three staff members were injured. Anti-gay incidents have been increasing at the University of Chicago and observers believe that right-wing groups on campus are behind all the activities, according to the Advocate, and Gay Chicago magazine. Priscilla Martin opens mouth, receives suit TWO TWO P + L + U + S AN EXCEPTIONAL JEWELRY STORE FOR MEN AND WOMEN P O R T L A N D S M O S T C O M P L E TE C O FFEE. T E A H E R B A N D SPICE S TO R E YAivihill M ar I let Just Out. 8 . May. 1987 A local man employed at a Portland abortion clinic has Filed a $250,000 defama tion suit against an anti-abortion protestor who allegedly accused him of having AIDS. In his suit, Tim Shuck, who is em ployed by Lovejoy Surgicenter, contends that the statements made by Priscilla Martin were false and caused him severe emotional distress. Martin, a veteran of anti-abortion and anti-gay protests, told the Oregonian that it was inappropriate for Shuck to be working at a medical facility. Let there be testing in our time The Peace Corps has announced a new testing policy that requires applicants to be screened for HIV antibodies. Applicants who do not supply a negative test result will be disqualified from placement. Ac cording to the internal memorandum, vol unteers already overseas will not be re quired to take the test unless they show signs of AIDS-related diseases. The memorandum says that health con cerns for volunteers are an important reason for implementing testing, but “ political consequences” are another. “ The health of our in-country hosts is a crucial consideration and it is important, in terms of the credibility of our programs, that host country governments know that we have done everything we can [to curtail the spread of AIDS)." A Peace Corps spokesman stated. “ The Peace Corps is a well-meaning organiza tion. like a family.” according to the Washington Blade. Love sans condom = assault Individual health insurance policy and HIV testing The AIDS/HIV Policy Committee, which proposes Oregon state policy regarding AIDS, last month accepted the recommendations of its insurance sub committee regarding health insurance risk pools and individual health insurance policies. The subcommittee recommended that the legislature enact Senate Bill 583, which would establish a risk pool to pro vide coverage for those unable to obtain insurance in a conventional manner. With the risk pool in place, the committee then recommends that insurance underwriters be allowed to require HIV antibody tests as a condition of application for individual coverage, and inquire about positive test results in the past. These recommendations affect only health policies of individuals; insurance companies are not allowed to require anti body tests in most group insurance policies. Essentially, the risk pool would offer coverage, at rates from 130% to 150% above normal health insurance rates, to those individuals that the testing program would winnow out of conventional cover age. However, the committee recom mended to allow testing only if the risk pool is enacted. If the legislature does not enact the risk pool (and several committee members felt that the bill’s chances were slim) then the full committee will again address the question of testing as a pre condition of insurability. Fundraiser beats activist in San Francisco Harry Britt, San Francisco Supervisor, was defeated last month by Democratic Party fund-raiser Nancy Pelosi in the race for the California 5th Congressional seat. Britt had hoped to be the First open gay elected to Congress. Final returns showed Britt losing to Pelosi by about 4,000 votes (3.8 percent of the vote), a much smaller margin than many predicted. Britt's supporters said that his candidacy had united gay voters and showed the gay voting block was a force to be reckoned with. However, from the outside, the sound and the fury brought up by Britt's candi dacy was more like gay tribal warfare, than coalition politics. Pelosi prevailed by simply remaining above the fray. An Army private has been accused of aggravated assault at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, for reportedly having sexual rela tions with two soldiers when he knew he had tested positive to the AIDS virus. Counsel for the solider claims that the Army is attempting to characterize “ the AIDS virus [as] the weapon in our assault.” A Defense Deparrnent spokesman said that the military had the power to discipline soldiers who failed to protect the health of other soldiers. Neither of the soliders “ assaulted,” a man and a woman, had developed anti bodies to HIV, but the woman was pregnant from the encounter. In a related story, a New York man has pled guilty to manslaughter after he was forced to drop his “ heat of passion” de fense in the slaying of a male sex partner. The defendant initially claimed that he killed his long-time friend in the “ heat of passion” after the friend revealed he had AIDS. Evidence in the case revealed that the defendant had sexual relations with his girlfriend seven hours after the slaying, and neither used a condom nor told the girlfriend about her risk. Entertainment, briefly She Alway Said, Pablo, an “ intellectual vaudeville” by Frank Galati, opened in March at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. With music by Virgil Thomson and Igor Stravinsky, sets in the style of Pablo Picasso, and text from the writings of Gertrude Stein and Picasso, the show is advertised as a fusion of painting, litera ture, art, and biography. A new ballet by Derek Deane, based on Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray, premiered in Birmingham, England, in March. Composer Philip Glass is collaborating with novelist Doris Lessing on a new opera based on her novel The Making of a Rep resentative for Planet Eight. Playwright Eric Bentley’s play Round2 opened in Los Angeles. Inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde, Bentley set his play of romantic interweaving in the 1970s within a circle of ten gay men. Has anyone noticed, in the title of Stephen Frears new movie about Joe Orton, Prick Up Your Ears, that ‘ ‘ears’ ’ is an anagram of arse? ” Here a rubber, there a rubber, everywhere a rubber, rubber A roll in the hay that results in a condom in the hay may be dangerous to farm ani mals, report animal welfare groups in Bri tain. The resilience of latex. Fine for its intended usage, poses a threat to cows and pigs who may ingest used rubbers left in the countryside, and then choke to death. A British Veterinary Association spokesman said, “ Cattle and pigs are very inquisitive and will eat anything.” A fanner observed, “ It really is time that some gui dance on the disposal of these things was