J ust briefs
BALTIMORE—A man who is suing the
Southland Corporation, which owns 7-11
convenience stores, for forcing him to take an
HIV test and then failing to keep his positive
result confidential, has been ordered by St.
Mary’s County Judge Clark Raleigh to tell the
court how many people he has slept with, how
many times he has slept with them and
whether any of the sex occurred inside the
county.
Deborah Wcimer, attorney for plaintiff
John Buler, says that Southland plans to argue
that the corporation cannot be held responsible
for publicizing Buler’s HIV status if he also
shared his test result with sexual partners,
according to the Baltimore Gaypaper.
BERKELEY—About 300 students brought
the University of California administration to a
halt for two days in late March with protests,
sit-ins, building take overs and window
smashing. They demanded tenure for two
minority professors, broader involvement of
minority students in admissions and the
creation of a gay studies department.
BOSTON—Governor Michael Dukakis
announced last month that marital status will
no longer be a consideration in foster care
placement. The change lifts an effective ban
on gays and lesbians as foster parents.
Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights
lobbying director David LaFontaine called the
change “an extraordinary victory for direct
action groups and legal advocacy groups alike
who have protested this discriminatory policy
since 1985.”
WASHINGTON—President Bush’s first
major speech on AIDS March 29 was twice
interrupted by Urvashi Vaid, executive
director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force. Bush was speaking to 400 business and
labor leaders in Virginia at a conference
sponsored by the National Leadership
Coalition on AIDS.
Seated directly in front of the president, Vaid
twice stood up to address him, holding aloft a
sign reading;’Talk is Cheap—AIDS Funding
Is Not,” and “Remember Gay People With
AIDS.”
After the second interruption, Vaid was lpd
from the room by Secret Service agents.
— RexWockner
Bias in nation’s newsrooms
A study released last month by the
American Society of Newspaper Editors finds
that newspapers are largely hospitable to gay
and lesbian journalists, although there is an
undercurrent of bias in the newsroom. The
gay and lesbian journalists, responding to the
first survey of its kind, give their papers low
marks for their coverage of gay issues and
concerns.
The report offered these major findings:
• On coverage of gay issues and concerns,
the 205 persons responding overwhelmingly
give their newspapers a grade of mediocre.
• A communication gap may exist
between newspaper editors and their openly
gay staff members.
• Although 59 percent of the sample say
they are “out," the issue of coming out
remains a difficult one, complicated by per
ceptions of indifference or even career risks
by many gay and lesbian journalists.
• Respondents say most of their gay and
lesbian colleagues are closeted, contributing
to a conclusion that despite the survey, many
such journalists remain to be heard from.
• Respondents show a surprising
ignorance of official workplace policies that
have potentially serious consequences for
them.
Partnership case goes to court
National Gay Rights Advocates has filed suit
against the Wisconsin Personnel Commission
for denying Jerri Lynn Phillips, an employee
of the Department of Health and Social
Services, the right to get health insurance for
her partner, Lorri J. Tommerup.
Wisconsin is one of the few states with a
statute banning employment discrimination
based on marital status and sexual orientation.
In October 1986, Phillips filed an applica
tion to change her health insurance from
individual to family coverage. In November
her application was denied on the rationale that
she had no “eligible dependents." The
decision was upheld by the Wisconsin
Personnel Commission.
Paul Di Donato, NGRA’s incoming staff
attorney, said, “The importance of this case is
clear. Family partnerships in the gay and
lesbian community must be legally protected
and recognized for us to truly obtain equality.
Court blocks phone
sex amendment
In a court order issued last month in
response to a suit challenging the govern
ment’s most recent attempt to control dial-a-
pom companies, U.S. District Judge Fem
Smith declared that phone sex is constitution
ally protected speech.
The suit, filed by three California compa
nies offering sexually oriented telephone
services, seeks a preliminary injunction against
the Helms Amendment to the Communications
Act of 1934,
The Helms Amendment calls for FCC
regulations that would require users of phone
sex services to be subscribers of the services.
Because of billing technicalities, such an
arrangement would effectively eliminate dial
a-pom companies.
Leonard Graff, former legal director for
National Gay Rights Advocates, argued in a
brief that “sexually explicit telephone commu
nications may play a positive role in curbing
the AIDS epidemic. Sexually explicit
telephone communications deserve First
Amendment protection if they may help save
lives by deterring or replacing life-threatening
behavior. ”
ACT/UP wants to
douse Marl boros
Members of ACT UP/DC last month
launched a boycott of Marlboro cigarettes,
owned by Philip Morris, Inc., to protest the
company’s donation to the campaign war
chest of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), the
Senate’s most venomous opponent of
effective responses to stem the AIDS
epidemic.
According to Federal Election Commis
sion records, Philip Morris is Helms’ single
largest corporate donor. Philip Morris is also
the largest corporate contributor to the Jesse
Helms Museum, scheduled to open in
Monroe, North Carolina, in 1992.
According to FEC records, Philip Morris
also has supported pro-gay and lesbian
politicians. “This is a form of corporate
schizophrenia akin to donating to both the
NAACP and the Ku Klux Klan,” said
Michael Petrelis, and organizer of the
boycott. “By its support and funding, Philip
Morris is endorsing Helms’ political agenda,
which is annihilation of the gay, lesbian and
AIDS communities.”
Newsletter details
campus violence
Campus sidewalks at the University of
Delaware were scrawled with graffiti that
read, “Step Here, Kill a Queer,” “Stay in the
Closet, Fag” and other obscene and threaten
ing messages.
Several lesbian students at Boston
University were called “fucking dykes” by a
male student in a dorm lounge. The perpetra
tor then pushed one of the women against a
glass wall and, when the woman’s lover
intervened, threatened to kill her.
At the close of Michigan State Univer
sity’s Gay and Lesbian Pride week, vandals
covered a campus bridge with more than 50
anti-gay messages, including “Death to Gays”
and “Your Kind Will Die of AIDS.”
The National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force’s Campus Project has published a
newsletter that, in detailing Such incidents,
addresses the pervasive problem of anti-gay
and lesbian violence, harassment and defama
tion at U.S. colleges and universities.
The newsletter provides a background on
campus violence and harassment and itemizes
attacks, graffiti, arson and death threats
against lesbian and gay students. The
newsletter also provides strategies for
stopping anti-gay violence and profiles
organizing efforts at select campuses.
Copies of the newsletter are available for
$1 from NGLTF, 1517 U Street NW, Wash
ington, D.C., 20009.
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