«
Jttm* «M*t ? m ay 1, 1993 T 5
national briefs
The
Coffee Merchants
♦
CALIFORNIA
In October, San Francisco industrial chemist
Merlyn Starley obtained a patent for “suspend­
ers” to hold a condom in place so that it won’t slip
off during use. It is made of two plastic clips and
a special adhesive attached to the wearer’s legs.
▼ ▼ ▼
While admitting no wrongdoing, Denny’s res­
taurants settled federal discrimination charges by
agreeing to stop requiring African American cus­
tomers in California to pay cover charges and to
pay for their meals in advance, as well as other
practices which reflect racial bias. The agreement
came in response to a class-action lawsuit filed by
a group of Denny’s customers seeking an injunc­
tion against the large restaurant chain.
FLORIDA
Circuit court Judge Scott M. Brownell has
struck down a Florida law which prohibited lesbi­
ans and gay men from adopting children. The
law, enacted in 1977 during Anita Bryant’s cam­
paign against gays and lesbians, was challenged
by two gay men as unconstitutional because it
requires lesbians and gays to reveal their private
affairs and doesn’t define what a “homosexual”
is. The second Florida judge to invalidate the law,
Brownell noted in his decision that the law re­
warded lying, and was vague about homosexual­
ity or why it made a person unfit to adopt. The
Department of Health and Rehabilitative Re­
sources had defended the law by claiming that
gays and lesbians were not “appropriate parental
role models.”
M AINE
With the support of the Maine Chamber of
Commerce and the Maine Banking Association, a
lesbian and gay civil rights bill was approved by
an almost unanimous vote of the Joint Judiciary
Committee. Maine Families, a fundamentalist
Christian right-wing organization, distributed
copies of the anti-gay video. The Gay Agenda, to
members of the Judiciary Committee before the
vote, and plans to circulate repeal petitions now
that the bill has passed.
NEBRASKA
The Nebraska Senate Business and Labor
Committee voted 4-3 on a fair employment bill,
clearing the way for final action on the bill in the
fall. One senator who was not expected to support
the bill voted for it, saying, “The lack of action in
other states can’t justify doing nothing here.” The
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also
supported the bill.
NEW M EXICO
Although it passed in the New Mexico Senate,
a lesbian and gay civil rights bill died when it was
tabled by the House Judiciary Committee on
March 18. Activists were disappointed after
earlier elation at the bill’s progress after only two
years of effort. Over 3,000 letters in support of the
legislation were sent to lawmakers.
PENNSYLVANIA
Because of Colorado’s passage of anti-gay
Amendment 2, the Executive Council of the Latin
American Studies Association has voted to cancel
plans to hold its 1995 International Congress in
Denver. LASA took the action to show support
for the gay, lesbian, and bisexual members of its
organization; to join other professional and schol­
arly organizations in the boycott of Colorado; and
to reaffirm its long-standing commitment to hu­
man rights and academic freedom. Founded in
1966, LASA is the world’s largest professional
association of scholars focusing on Latin Ameri­
can studies, with over 3,000 individual and 100
institutional members.
RHODE ISLAND
A gay and lesbian civil rights bill was passed
by the Senate Judiciary Committee with the ac­
tive support of openly gay Sen. Will Fitzpatrick
and the Rhode Island Alliance for Gay and Les­
bian Civil Rights. Passage by the Rhode Island
Senate is expected in May. Amendments to the
original bill exempt owner-occupants of dwell­
ings with three or fewer units, and release em ­
ployers from any obligation to provide benefits to
unmarried partners of employees. The conserva­
tive House Judiciary Committee is considered the
most serious obstacle to the bill’s final passage.
The finest imported coffee
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T H E B R O A D W A Y COFFEE M E R C H A N T
1637 N E B ro a d w a y • 28<-9209
♦
T H E H A W T H Q R N E COFFEE M E R C H A N T
SOUTH CAROLINA
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed
a complaint in Federal District Court against the
South Carolina Insurance Risk Pool for its policy
of excluding people infected with the HIV virus.
The Pool, a state insurance program established in
1989 for people who cannot obtain health insur­
ance because of pre-existing conditions, specifi­
cally denies coverage to HIV-infected people,
unlike approximately 20 other similar state insur­
ance risk pools. “South Carolina is the only state
in the country that deliberately prevents people
with AIDS from obtaining the medical assistance
they need,” commented Steven Bates, executive
director of the South Carolina ACLU. “Only
meanness, bigotry, and ignorance can explain
such discrimination.” Contrary to common per­
ception, treating AIDS is less expensive than
many other ailments, such as heart disease, can­
cer, or Alzheimer’s disease.
TENNESSEE
A recently released report reveals that the
Army began spying on African Americans more
than 75 years ago, focusing in particular on
churches in the southern United States. Perpe­
trated by the Army’s Green Berets, the spying
intruded on three generations of Martin Luther
King Jr.’s family, beginning with his maternal
grandmother. Such action was supported by the
conviction among Army decision-makers that
African Americans were ripe for subversion by
World War I German agents, or later by commu­
nists or anti-war groups. Numerous participants
in the 1960s civil rights movement were investi­
gated, including H. Rap Brown and Stokely
Carmichael.
W ASHINGTON, D.C.
Queer Nation has called on Georgia senator
and Armed Services Committee chair Sam Nunn
to withdraw from his responsibilities presiding
over the Senate hearings on the military ban on
gay men and lesbians. “Sen. Nunn has already
clearly stated his position. He is opposed to the
ban,” said Queer Nation spokesman Steven
Reichert. “Given his vociferous homophobia, we
feel Nunn cannot conduct hearings that are fair,
balanced and objective.” Nunn has said that he
favors the ban, but that his “final judgment on this
issue will be affected by the testimony we receive
from a wide range of witnesses.”
W ASHINGTON STATE
Project Aries is an AIDS telephone-counsel­
ing program offered via a toll-free number. Based
at the University of Washington School of Social
Work, the Aries program consists of 14 weeks of
group counseling in which men who have sex
with men can talk by phone with trained counse­
lors and learn about safer-sex practices. ‘Though
the participants already know the facts about how
HIV is transmitted, the Aries counselors focus on
the problems many people face when trying to get
safer, and help clients learn how to overcome
difficult challenges,” said Dr. Roger Roffman,
director of Aries. Counseling services are pro­
vided entirely free of charge, thanks to funding by
the National Institute of Mental Health. Clients
may participate in complete anonymity or confi­
dentiality. For more information, contact Roger
A. Roffman, Ph.D., (800) 999-7511.
compiled by Jim Hunger
3562 S E H a w th o rn e • 230-1222
♦
T H E H IL L S D A L E C O F F E E M E R C H A N T
H illsd ale S h o p p in g C enter • 244-4822
Credit where due:
The photographs appearing in the feature
story in the April 15 issue of Just Out about the
Haitian refugees as well as the demonstration at
the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City
were from Impact Visuals in New York.
*< *>
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