jw «t ©«ft ▼ January 7, 1994 7 7
tive director for the National Gay and Lesbian can probably write them [ FBI] off as a closed book
Task Force, remarked that the new regulations and it is done,” said Frank Kameny, a gay activist
"institutionalize and accommodate prejudice and expert on federal employment and security
against gay people in the military.” She added, clearance matters. However, he noted that often
Various representatives of youth service orga "The regulations are simply a repackaging of the “the best of intentions and good faith from the top”
nizations and sexual minority youth met with head same prejudice and discrimination that existed are marred by "spotty implementation down be
staffersof Donna Shalal a, secretary of U.S. Health under the pre-Clinton policy.” The NGLTF has low.” He says continued vigilance is necessary.
and Human Services. At an unprecedented meet vowed to continue the fight against the policy. It
The language of the settlement is being re
ing the new group, the National Advocacy Coali promises to work toward the expulsion of ROTC viewed in Washington. The settlement also in
tion on Youth and Sexual Orientation, presented programs from college campuses as long as the volves restitution to Buttino and would allow him
recommendations to Shalala’s department about policy exists.
to return to work as an FBI agent. He has since
how it can serve youths struggling with sexual
More than 3,500 military personnel have been chosen to pursue other career options.
orientation and identity issues.
discharged for being gay or lesbian since 1989.
Another party to the suit, Dana Tillson, had
Particularly effective were the personal stories
been denied hiring when it was learned she was a
of several youths who shared their experiences
Lee Norwood lesbian. She will be hired in the next training class
and problems. One youth told of his experience
for new FBI agents, though that may not be until
coming out to a public high school guidance
next fall due to a hiring freeze at the Bureau.
counselor at the age of 16. The youth said the U.S. rescinds attempt
counselor violated his anonymity and confidenti
Bob Roehr
ality by telling his parents, who then sent him to a to suspend ILGA
psychiatrist. Another teenager told of being thrown
The U.S. Mission to the U.N. has decided not Anti-gay politics
out of the house after coming out and subsequently to introduce a resolution seeking the suspension of
being rejected by Child Protective Services for the International Lesbian and Gay Association’s documented
being “too” openly gay. A third youth shared a consultative status to the U.N. Economic and
Hostile Climate: A State-By-Slate Report on
story of rejection coupled with physical and verbal Social Council because of its affiliation with the Anti-Gay Activity was just released by People For
abuse from his mother. He said he attempted North American Man-Boy Love Association. the American Way, a 300,000 member nonparti
suicide and practiced other unhealthy behaviors Rather, it has agreed, with the support of several san constitutional liberties organization.
before finding a youth support group for sexual key Western nations, to give ILGA a chance to
The 60-page report “documents a wide range
minorities.
of
incidents
in the arena of public policy that were
sever its ties with NAMBLA by June, as ILGA
Lee Norwood promised.
intended to restrict the rights of gays and lesbi
Lee Norwood ans.” It covers an 11 month period ending with
September 1993—focusing on state and local ac
Pentagon finalizes
tivities, not national ones.
FBI’s closet doors open
The report noted that the last year has seen
details on military ban
The FBI has agreed to adopt regulations that unprecedented public attention given to gay and
The new policy on gay men, lesbians and expressly state that sexual orientation will not be lesbian concerns—some beneficial—but “it has
bisexuals in the military was announced by Secre considered a negative factor in deciding security also sparked a strong backlash of intolerance in
tary of Defense Les Aspin. The new regulations of clearances or employment. It also agreed that communities across America. The spread of anti
the “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue” policy sexual conduct will be considered equally for gay political activity has reached a point where
millions of American citizens now feel that their
include a ban on anyone openly admitting sexual people regardless of sexual orientation.
orientation but also puts a stop to the “witch hunts"
The settlement came in the middle of the trial, most basic rights are being held hostage to a
used to force lesbians and gay men out of the in the U.S. District Court of San Francisco, of a particularly virulent form of hate politics.” Cen
armed services.
class action suit initiated by former FBI agent tral to this is the religious right’s role in “exacer
Specifics of the guidelines include barring Frank Buttino. The 20-year veteran had been fired bating intolerance...Implicit in their choice of
targets is the cold political calculation that this is
military police from recording the license plate when it became known that he was gay.
numbers of cars in the parking lots of gay bars near
‘This is a major step forward for lesbian and one form of bigotry they can still exploit without
military bases, or pursuing people whose names gay rights in federal employment, especially those fear of public censure.” It noted the latest tactic is
are found on a list of those suspected as being gay. requiring security clearances,” said RichardGayer, to try to “drive a wedge between” queers and other
Sexual acts between members of the same sex are an attorney with the case.
minority populations, particularly African Ameri
The settlement comes one week after Attorney cans.
also banned under the new guidelines. These acts
Bob Roehr
include kissing, holding hands or otherwise “touch General Janet Reno announced that the entire
ing a person of your same sex or allowing such a Justice Department would no longer discriminate
person to touch you for the purpose of satisfying on the basis of sexual orientation. It closes the
remaining loop holes differentiating between ori ‘Cover-up’ led to deaths,
sexual desires.”
The new policy, set to take effect Feb. 5, entation and conduct.
As Gayer noted, ‘The FBI, at least for the last group charges
restricts the Pentagon from asking a service
member’s sexual orientation and requires any gay, three years, has claimed that they do not discrimi
The Health Research Group of Public Citizen,
lesbian or bisexual service person to hide their nate on the basis of sexual orientation. But homo Ralph Nader’s public advocacy group, is charging
sexual orientation or face expulsion from the ser sexual conduct, even among consenting adults, in Eli Lilly, Inc. with a cover-up of data which led to
private, caused a big, big problem.”
vice.
the deaths of five people in clinical trials of the
“If they follow through in good faith, then we experimental hepatitis B drug FIAU.
Former Army Captain Tanya Domi, legisla
Stories of gay youth stir
government health officials
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 are known to
be gay.
FIAU is a nucleoside analog, the same family
of anli-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 lime 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 page 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 toother 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
cathartic comics I featuring The Brown Bomber and Diva Touché Flambé
by P rof. I.B. G ittendow ne
1
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CONFRONT HOW OUR PERCEPTIONS OF
AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE BASED ON
HATRED AND FEA R '
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ME /1 CANY BELIEVE YOU THINK THE IMPACT
OF DR. KINGS ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE <
m ostly LIMITED t o b l a c k p e o p l e /
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' I SUPPOSE HE5 TOO YOUNG FOR US
TO BLAME THIS o n DRUGS, HUH?