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"L ig h t R e f l e c t io n s
and
L iq u id I l l u s io n s
national news
Lambda Rising on-line
The swirling triangle of America Online is
about to get a little pinker. Lambda Rising Online
will offer the first lesbian and gay publication
available through one of the big commercial com­
puter services.
It is not surprising that the move should come
from AOL. The firm’s large, active Gay and Les­
bian Community Forum has earned it the reputa­
tion of being the most queer-friendly of the major
services.
Lambda will have a coveted separate icon on
the opening screen of the Forum. Click on it and
your options will include Lambda Book Report—
must reading for those following the burgeoning
world of queer-themed books and the men and
women who create them.
“There will be message boards. There will be
live conferences with well-known gay and lesbian
authors going on-line with in some cases 48 people
and in some cases up to 2,000 people at one time,”
said Deacon Maccubbin, the man behind it all.
“They will be ‘virtual’ book signing parties” with
J u n e 1- J uly 31
Dittebrandt
David Garcia
Pastels
Art Glass
JOpen 1st Thursday until 8 30 pm
The Real Mother Goose
901 SW Yamhill • Portland, OR • 97205
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Lambda will also feature a full catalog and on­
line ordering capacity tied in with Maccubbin’s
flagship operation, the Lambda Rising bookstore
in Washington, D.C. He started selling books 21
years ago—more as a community service than a
profit-making venture—and his operation has
grown to be what publisher Sasha Alyson has
called “the largest-volume gay bookstore in the
world.”
“It took us two years to negotiate the deal [with
AOL]; it was like pulling eyeteeth,” Maccubbin
said.
“It is not that they were hesitant to do it, it is just
that AOL has been growing so fast, it has been like
riding a bucking bronco over there, and they haven’t
been able to get everything done in a timely fashion
like they were supposed to.” AOL’s subscriber
base passed the 2-million mark earlier in the year,
doubling in about 10 months.
Maccubbin had hoped to begin Lambda Rising
Online in April but now looks to a start-up date of
June 5.
Bob Roehr
Mothers march
against AIDS
“Mechanics with a Conscience“
CERTIFIED MECHANICS
Complete automotive
service of foreign and
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Free ride to MAX
Gerard Lillie
Todd Connelly
The First National Mothers March Against
AIDS took to the streets of Washington, D.C., on
May 7, a glorious spring Sunday. Marchers met
near the Washington Monument and marched to
Lafayette Park across from the White House carry­
ing photos of the children they have lost to the
pandemic.
“Look! Look America! AIDS has a face. AIDS
is our sons. AIDS is our daughters. AIDS is our
children,” pleaded Katherine Miller of Santa Rosa,
Calif.
“Hold up your pictures,” exhorted Beverly
Rotter, founder and national chair of the march.
“They are not statistics, they are our children, they
will never write another play, paint another pic­
ture, design another dress, or heal another patient.”
She lost her daughter Ins to the disease in 1991.
“We are here because we want to remind the
world of the tragedy that has befallen our chil­
dren,” she continued. “We are here because we are
not willing to lose another generation tothis plague.
We are here to move mountains and you had better
believe we will. We have come out fighting, with
love in our hearts and fire in our eyes.”
Richard Ashworth, a founding member of Par­
ents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays,
praised the steps the gay community took “not only
to protect themselves but also to help nurture and
care for those who were sick and dying. They were
heroes in that battle.”
Among the gut-wrenching personal testimoni­
als of loss and survival, perhaps the most inspiring
came from Brett Lykins of Duluth, Ga.
He became infected through a blood transfu­
sion shortly after his premature birth in 1980 and
was diagnosed in 1987. He recently turned 15, and
the audience greeted the news with a spontaneous
singing of “Happy Birthday.” The thin, undersized
youth seemed several years younger, one of the
tolls that AIDS has taken. But his spirit was mag­
nificent.
“My mom and I have traveled to [the National
Institutes of Health] 68 times since 1987.1 am now
in my fourth clinical drug trial and as long as the
researchers keep coming up with new drugs while
we wait for a cure I’ll keep traveling to NIH and
keep trying new drugs.”
The march drew perhaps 500 people, the larg­
est part from New York City. It also drew some
quiet criticism from both local and national AIDS
activists, who understandably wanted to remain
off the record. “Typical New York arrogance,” is
the way one described preparations for the march.
“A go-it-alone attitude,” said another.
The marchers had little contact or coordination
with other AIDS organizations and had rebuffed
an early suggestion to make the march part of
AIDS Watch ’95, the traditional joint lobbying
activity held in late May.
Bob Roehr
FBI spies on AIDS
groups; spurs protest
Although insisting, in the aftermath of the
Oklahoma City bombing, that its hands are tied
when it comes to seeking information on right­
i n g paramilitary groups and militias, the FBI
does not seem to face the same problems when it
comes to AIDS groups.
According to documents secured under the
Freedom of Information Act by the Center for
Constitutional Rights, the FBI used paid infor­
mants as part of its program to gather information
on the activities of ACT UP. In addition to spying
on ACT UP, the FBI also reportedly spied on the
Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Senior Ac­
tion in a Gay Environment and Gay Men’s Health
Crisis.
The FBI claims it was investigating “fears that
demonstrators would throw infected blood and
used condoms” at government officials.
The National People’s Campaign, a coalition
of 600 groups and individuals fighting the “Con­
tract with America,” condemned the spying in a
press release and urged people to oppose passage
of the “omnibus terrorism bill” supported by Presi­
dent Bill Clinton because it would strengthen the
FBI’s power to spy on and disrupt progressive
movements.
The National People’s Campaign organized a
national day of protest against the “Contract with
America” on May 6. The organization is currently
planning a national organizer’s conference to be
held in New York on June 3 and 4. The purpose of
the conference is to form strategies for a summer
and fall of resistance to the Contract. For informa­
tion, call (212)633-6646.
Kristine Chatwood