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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1995)
ju st o u t ▼ juno 2 . 1 0 9 5 ▼ 7 Lesbianism: the safer-sex option A recent presentation at the W estern Region Conference o f the Society for the Scientific Study o f Sexuality concluded what many already knew: Sex between women is a viable safer-sex option and should not be ignored by sex educators. Although woman-to-woman HIV transmission is theoretically possible, research has shown it to be extremely rare. Sexual activities between women tend to transfer much less body fluid than either anal or vaginal intercourse. Sex educator Marcia Munson presented the results o f eight different studies, involving nearly a million women, pub lished between 1990 and 1994. These studies found no evidence of wom an-to-wom an HIV transmis sion. There have been over 250,000 AIDS-related deaths in the United States since 1978. W orldwide, only five cases o f possible woman-to-woman HIV transmission have been reported in scientific lit erature. The victory may be short-lived, as opponents, including Lawrence M ayor Bob Moody, support repeal of the legislation. Simply Equal, a com m u nity coalition that led the campaign to add “sexual orientation” to the ordinance, plans to continue the fight for equal rights in Lawrence. ACT UP acts up Overturning dinner tables, chanting, blowing whistles and throwing fliers, ACT UP-San Fran cisco invaded and disrupted a pricey ($ 125 a plate) fund-raising dinner for Project Inform held at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. Claiming that main stream AIDS organizations are puppets of the pharmaceuticals industry, ACT UP-San Francisco stated that this was just the first of many planned disruptions. Particularly galling to the demonstrators was Project Inform ’s invitation to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to speak at the dinner. Ironi cally, the other featured guest speaker was Larry Kramer, founder o f ACT UP. Sportscaster slams lesbians on pro golf tour Hite’s new book published in U.S., finally In an interview published in The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal, CBS sports com m entator Ben W right claimed that lesbians were damaging the Ladies Professional G olf Association. W right was quoted as saying that “lesbians in the sport hurt w om en’s golf,” and that the presence o f lesbians in w om en’s golf made it difficult for the sport to win sponsorship and television coverage. He was also quoted as saying, “ women are handi capped by having boobs.. .it’s not easy for them to keep their left arm straight, and that’s one o f the Fifteen months after its publication in Europe, Shere Hite’s new book, The Hite Report on the Family, finally arrived at book stores in the United States. The book’s U.S. release had been sched uled for Spring 1994. The original U.S. publisher, Dutton, refused to publish shortly after receiving the manuscript, citing “editorial reasons.” Grove Atlantic eventually published the U.S. edition. According to a Reuter report, the book, based on answers to some 3,000 questionnaires, states that men raised by single mothers have better relationships with women and that the children of single mothers have a higher respect for their mothers. The book concludes that the traditional two-parent family is repressive. In the book Hite writes, “The current slogan ‘preservation o f family values’ really means not preservation o f love in the family but preservation o f the hierarchical fam ily.” We make it Real. 1218 S.W. Morrison • 295-3050 Tuesday thru Saturday 10 am to 5 pm “ B w l H air B a y s E a4 Her«** BIANCHI ♦ CANNONDALE It does make a difference! Our 12 Month Service Policy saves Ice s 9 2 5 SW lO th DOW NTOW N 2 2 7 -3 5 3 5 c- , For funi x 91 S STATE ST LAKE O SW EG O 6 3 6 -3 5 2 1 DIAMOND BACK ♦ SCOTT NATURAL FIBR E CLOTHING DOWNTOWN 733 SW Alder 228-1693 EASTSIDE 4100 NE Fremont 288-3422 Allow your mind lo drift alone) the D.C. court rules lesbian lover next of kin In a Reuter news story, LPGA Commissioner Charles M echem said, “The suggestion o f a prob lem [with lesbianism] is totally at odds with the facts and our experience. In my four and a half years as com m issioner I have never had one letter nor one phone call from a sponsor, media represen tative or fan to suggest that this issue is a problem.” W right insisted he was m isquoted in the inter view. Kansas town now safe for Dorothy and friends The City Commission of Lawrence, Kan., added the words “sexual orientation” to the city’s Human Rights Ordinance on May 4. In sodoing, Lawrence became the only city in Kansas to prohibit dis crimination based on sexual orientation. The ordi nance covers discrimination in employment, hous ing and public accommodations. In what is considered to be the first ruling o f its kind, a W ashington, D.C., Superior Court judge ruled in April that the lesbian lover o f a woman killed in an accident on city property, qualifies as legal “next of kin” and, as such, has the right to sue the city under D .C.’s Wrongful Death Act. According to a story in The Washington Blade, Victoria Lane died in August 1993, two weeks after a tree branch crashed through the windshield o f the car in which she was riding. Laura Solomon, Lane’s lover, and the couple’s two children, filed suit against the District of Columbia. The city challenged the claims o f the children and Solomon. In January, a ruling was issued allowing the children’s claim to proceed. In issuing the order allowing Solom on’s claim to proceed, Judge Frederick Dorsey said, “The relationship between Ms. Solomon and Ms. Lane contained all the attributes o f a m arried couple but for the fact that it is a same-sex union that cannot be recognized with a marriage license. Although they were barred from being considered legal spouses, this close relationship, coupled with the fact that they were both legally recognized parents o f the same two children, leads the Court to con clude that Ms. Solomon is the next o f kin o f Ms. Lane.” Dorsey’s decision is not binding on any other court, but sexual minority legal activists hope that D orsey’s reasoning may influence judges ruling in future cases. 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