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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1995)
PDX Automotive G&M Automotive national news 5934 NE Halsey, Portland 282-3315 6006 E Burnside, Portland 231-8486 Queer fruit flies? “Mechanics with a Conscience" Free ride to MAX CERTIFIED MECHANICS Com plete automotive service of foreign and domestic cars and light trucks Gerard Lillie Todd Connelly Landscape Design Services Loretta Ruth Fisher Designs Garden Design & Consulting 503-281-2703 H erbs& Edibles Northwest Natives & Perennials Garden Structures & Bird-attracting Plants Understanding Viatical Settlements IF A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, Olympics Out of Utah project starts I magine THE VALUE OF AN EIGHT MINUTE VIDEO. If you’re living with a terminal illness, this is the one videotape that can help you understand the advantages and financial opportunities of viatical settlements. Life Benefactors’ professional staff has the experience and knowledge to help you understand the steps necessary for cashing in your life insurance policy. N o application fees. 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Current thinking is that male flies recognize fe males by detect ing chemical sig nals, called pheromones, in odors emitted by the female. The male then begins the courting pro cess. “Adult males make two compounds that in hibit courtship by other males,” Greenspan said. “What we noted in the study was that the femini zation of the olfactory [sense of smell] system affects the male flies’ ability to recognize the inhibitory pheromone. The flies display a nondis- criminatory sexual preference because of the change in circuitry.” He added, “Conventional scientific wisdom is to say that the components of human sexuality are biological and environmental. This study, by show ing that molecular variations to brain regions influence or control responses in mating and sexual orientation, should contribute to proving a biological basis for sexual orientation.” The study was published in the February issue of Science magazine. ( (IM IM M Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats have created an Olympics Out of Utah project. Formed in answer to the passage of Utah’s House Bill 366, the project will encourage the International Olym pic Committee to reject Utah’s bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. HB 366 bans recognition of same-sex marriages performed outside of Utah. “The International Olympic Committee and would-be Olympic participants must be warned that this state is unprepared to offer equal protec tion of legally married same-sex couples includ ing those who would choose to attend the Games,” said GLUD founder David Nelson. “The Olym pics deserve to be hosted by a venue which recog nizes and protects the diversity of the world’s athletes and citizens. The passage of this bill is stark proof that this state is unprepared to do that.” Gay and lesbian Georgians made a similar request of 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics orga nizers last year. The request came after Cobb County, Ga., commissioners passed a controver sial anti-sexual minority resolution. Organizers moved the volleyball competition out of Cobb County. Man with AIDS to receive baboon bone marrow Sometime in the next few months a man termi nally ill with AIDS will receive a bone marrow transplant from a baboon. It is hoped that the transplant will rebuild the man’s immune system. The transplant was described at a conference, held in February, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. An unsuccessful baboon-to-human bone mar row transplant was attempted two years ago at the University of Pittsburgh. In that experiment the transplanted cells failed to grow. The recent dis covery of a type of marrow tissue called facilitat ing cells has researchers hopeful that the trans plant might work this time. Facilitating cells, discovered by Dr. Suzanne Ildstad, who is directing the current transplant experiment, constitute approximately one in 200,000 marrow cells. Their exact purpose is unknown. They appear to prevent the destruction of transplanted marrow by the host body. In this experiment, the baboon marrow will be enriched with the patient’s own facilitating cells. Ildstad has conducted previous experiments where human marrow was transplanted to three baboons. The first baboon underwent this proce dure six months ago, and is doing well. Twenty percent of its circulating blood cells are now human. This is no guarantee that transplanted baboon cells will work in a human. Yakima groups meet to develop resources Gay and lesbian organizations and supportive organizations in the Yakima Valley have united to form a gay and lesbian resource project for the Yakima Valley, reports Spokane’s Stonewall News Northwest. The impetus to develop resources came after new phone books were distributed in the Yakima Valley that listed a Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays contact number as a hotline number under Gay and Lesbian resources. The listing resulted in an unexpected flood of calls. The initial goals of the project are to publish a Yakima sexual minority resource directory and to meet with a broader and more inclusive coalition of organizations. Victory fund backs new candidates Last month the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund recommended five more openly gay and lesbian candidates to its national donor network. This brings the number of candidates supported by the Victory Fund to seven. The candidates, who, ac cording to Victory Fund political director Kathleen DeBold, underwent rigorous screening to deter mine their viability as potential public officials, will now have access to the financial and technical support needed to run winning campaigns. Here are the candidates and their races: Larry Bagneris, Louisiana State House of Representa tives; Jeff Horton (incumbent), Los Angeles Board of Education; Carole Migden, California State Assembly; Tina Podlodowski, Seattle City Coun cil; and Zeke Zeidler, Redondo Beach (Calif.) School Board. Seattle couple fasts for right to marry in church For 10 days last month, James Black and Thomas Monnahan conducted a fast in a chapel next to Seattle’s St. Mark’s Cathedral. The fast was in protest of the Episcopal Church’s policy against blessing same-sex unions. The couple had scheduled a wedding in cel ebration of their 10 years together to take place in St. Mark’s last December. They canceled the event after Bishop Vincent Warner, head of the Episcopal Church in Western Washington, in formed them he could not allow the ceremony to take place because the House of Bishops, a gov erning body of the national church, had not taken an official position on same-sex marriages. Compiled by Kristine Chatwood