J««* out ▼ January 7, 1 M 4 ▼ 7
Stories of gay youth stir
government health officials
Various representatives of youth service orga
nizations and sexual minority youth met with head
staffers of Donna Shalala, secretary of U.S. Health
and Human Services. At an unprecedented meet
ing the new group, the National Advocacy Coali
tion on Youth and Sexual Orientation, presented
recommendations to Shalala’s department about
how it can serve youths struggling with sexual
orientation and identity issues.
Particularly effective were the personal stories
of several youths who shared their experiences
and problems. One youth told of his experience
coming out to a public high school guidance
counselor at the age of 16. The youth said the
counselor violated his anonymity and confidenti
ality by telling his parents, who then sent him to a
psychiatrist. Another teenager told of being thrown
out of the house after coming out and subsequently
being rejected by Child Protective Services for
being “too” openly gay. A third youth shared a
story of rejection coupled with physical and verbal
abuse from his mother. He said he attempted
suicide and practiced other unhealthy behaviors
before finding a youth support group for sexual
minorities.
Lee Norwood
Pentagon finalizes
details on military ban
The new policy on gay men, lesbians and
bisexuals in the military was announced by Secre
tary of Defense Les Aspin. The new regulations of
the “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue” policy
include a ban on anyone openly admitting sexual
orientation but also puts a stop to the “witch hunts”
used to force lesbians and gay men out of the
armed services.
Specifics of the guidelines include barring
military police from recording the license plate
numbers of cars in the parking lots of gay bars near
military bases, or pursuing people whose names
are found on a list of those suspected as being gay.
Sexual acts between members of the same sex are
also banned under the new guidelines. These acts
include kissing, holding hands or otherwise “touch
ing a person of your same sex or allowing such a
person to touch you for the purpose of satisfying
sexual desires.”
The new policy, set to take effect Feb. 5,
restricts the Pentagon from asking a service
member’s sexual orientation and requires any gay,
lesbian or bisexual service person to hide their
sexual orientation or face expulsion from the ser
vice.
Former Army Captain Tanya Domi, legisla
tive director for the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force, remarked that the new regulations
“institutionalize and accommodate prejudice
against gay people in the military.” She added,
‘T he regulations are simply a repackaging of the
same prejudice and discrimination that existed
under the pre-Clinton policy.” The NGLTF has
vowed to continue the fight against the policy. It
promises to work toward the expulsion of ROTC
programs from college campuses as long as the
policy exists.
More than 3,500 military personnel have been
discharged for being gay or lesbian since 1989.
Lee Norwood
U.S. rescinds attempt
to suspend ILGA
Bob Roehr
The U.S. Mission to the U.N. has decided not
to introduce a resolution seeking the suspension of
the International Lesbian and Gay Association’s
consultative status to the U.N. Economic and
Social Council because of its affiliation with the
North American Man-Boy Love Association.
Rather, it has agreed, with the support of several
key Western nations, to give ILGA a chance to
sever its ties with NAMBLA by June, as ILGA
promised.
Lee Norwood
FBI’s closet doors open
The FBI has agreed to adopt regulations that
expressly state that sexual orientation will not be
considered a negative factor in deciding security
clearances or employment. It also agreed that
sexual conduct will be considered equally for
people regardless of sexual orientation.
The settlement came in the middle of the trial,
in the U.S. District Court of San Francisco, of a
class action suit initiated by former FBI agent
Frank Buttino. The 20-year veteran had been fired
when it became known that he was gay.
‘This is a major step forward for lesbian and
gay rights in federal employment, especially those
requiring security clearances,” said RichardGaycr,
an attorney with the case.
The settlement comes one week after Attorney
General Janet Reno announced that the entire
Justice Department would no longer discriminate
on the basis of sexual orientation. It closes the
remaining loop holes differentiating between ori
entation and conduct.
As Gayer noted, ‘T he FBI, at least for the last
three years, has claimed that they do not discrimi
nate on the basis of sexual orientation. But homo
sexual conduct, even among consenting adults, in
private, caused a big, big problem."
“If they follow through in good faith, then we
cathartic comics I
* WE ACCEPT MARTIN ®~>
LUTHER KING AS A 6IEAT
alMERO FOR BLACKS i f
Anti-gay politics
documented
Hostile Climate: A Stale-By-Stale Report on
Anti-Gay Activity was just released by People For
the American Way, a 300,000 member nonparti
san constitutional liberties organization.
The 60-page report "documents a wide range
of incidents in the arena of public policy that were
intended to restrict the rights of gays and lesbi
ans.” It covers an 11 month period ending with
September 1993— focusing on state and local ac
tivities, not national ones.
The report noted that the last year has seen
unprecedented public attention given to gay and
lesbian concerns— some beneficial—but "it has
also sparked a strong backlash of intolerance in
communities across America. The spread of anti
gay political activity has reached a point where
millions of American citizens now feel that their
most basic rights are being held hostage to a
particularly virulent form of hate politics.” Cen
tral to this is the religious right’s role in “exacer
bating intolerance...Implicit in their choice of
targets is the cold political calculation that this is
one form of bigotry they can still exploit without
fear of public censure.” It noted the latest tactic is
to try to “drive a wedge between” queers and other
minority populations, particularly African Ameri
cans.
Bob Roehr
‘Cover-up’ led to deaths,
group charges
The Health Research Group of Public Citizen,
Ralph Nader’s public advocacy group, is charging
Eli Lilly, Inc. with a cover-up of data which led to
the deaths of five people in clinical trials of the
experimental hepatitis B drug FIAU.
The phase II clinical trial had taken place at the
National Institutes of Health in the spring and
summer of 1993. Three of the dead and several of
those who survive with liver damage arc known to
be gay.
FIAU is a nucleoside analog, the same family
of anti-virals as the principal HIV drugs AZT, ddc,
and ddl. There is some evidence of toxicity in all of
these drugs.
“It is clear that this tragedy could have been
prevented but for a cover-up of data on liver
toxicity by Eli Lilly, Inc., the licensee of the drug,”
read the opening paragraph of the letter sent to
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner
David Kessler by Health Research Group Director
Dr. Sidney Wolfe.
The letter and accompanying nine-page report,
dated Dec. 9, detailed the complaints that HRG
found. It cited liver toxicity in animal studies
which were incorrectly interpreted, and toxicity-
tests in normal volunteers (people not infected
with hepatitis B) which were not reported in a
timely manner.
‘There is no question that Eli Lilly should have
stopped the NIH trial by the end of March, or in the
first days of April, before three of the five patients
who eventually died had gotten any doses of FIAU
and at a time when two of the others who died had
gotten only a fraction of the dose that would
eventually kill them.
“Not only did Eli Lilly fail to get NIH to stop the
trial, but the company did not inform NIH in a
timely manner that one normal volunteer was hos
pitalized in Indianapolis because of FIAU liver
toxicity after only two doses on the drug."
Lilly spokesman Ed West responded: “Dr.
Wolfe has characterized this in a typically sensa
tional manner without regard to the facts.”
Wolfe’s work was built upon the 90-pagc FDA
task force report, “Fialuridinc (FIAU): Hepatic
and Pancreatic Toxicity,” which was released on
Nov. 12. The FDA report was unusually strong,
though it did not go as far as Wolfe did in laying
blame.
Two of the task force’s more telling comments
read: “Optimism may sometimes unconsciously
lead investigators and sponsors to attribute signs of
drug toxicity to other more positive causes. Failure
to report the cause of death accurately may have
obscured an early instance of fatal event caused by
FIAU.”
The report called for major revisions in the
design, analysis and reporting of clinical trials.
The saga of FIAU is ongoing. The NIH is still
at work on its investigation of what went wrong.
Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY) will chair commit
tee hearings early next year. Several of the injured
surviving patients, as well as the heirs of those who
died, arc pursuing legal action.
Bob Roehr
featuring The Brown Bomber and Diva Touché Flambé
by P r o f. I.B . G itte n d o w n e
...SO DESPITE WHAT YOU GUYS MIGHT THINK OF
us a s * r a b id l y c o n s e r v a tiv e " w e r e , h a p p y
T hat YOU BLACK PEOPLE HAVE FINALLY
GOTTEN A HOLIDAY ALL TO YOURSELVES !
can probably write them [ FBI) off as a closed book
and it is done,” said Frank Kameny, a gay activist
and expert on federal employment and security
clearance matters. However, he noted that often
“the best of intentions and good faith from the top”
are marred by “spotty implementation down be
low." He says continued vigilance is necessary.
The language of the settlement is being re
viewed in Washington. The settlement also in
volves restitution to Buttino and would allow him
to return to work as an FBI agent. He has since
chosen to pursue other career options.
Another party to the suit, Dana Tillson, had
been denied hiring when it was learned she was a
lesbian. She will be hired in the next training class
for new FBI agents, though that may not be until
next fall due to a hiring freeze at the Bureau.
G o o d ness
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GAYLORD /WHATS
*-V WRONG ?V
YO u RE SOB- y o u r e really em barrassing
ME /1 CANY BELIEVE YOU THINK THE IMPACT
OF DR. KINGS ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE <
m ostly LIMITED t o b l a c k PEOPLE/
X
HE FREED WHITES BY FORCING US TO ]
CONFRONT HOW OUR PERCEPTIONS OF 1
AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE BASED ON
HATRED AND FEAR !
SURELY YOU CANT BE COMFORTABLE
SURRENDERING To SUCH A SOPHISTICATED
* r r i SYSTEM OF IGNORANCE ,.*SOBc r "
RAY AND KAY SEDEAH SHOULD^
►
BE VERY PROUD I VE NEVER
HEARD A CHILD CRY OUT FOR
SUCH A NOBLE CAUSE....
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SUPPOSE HE'S TOO YOUNG FOR US
TO BLAME T h is o n DRUGS, HUH?jgg