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CALIFORNIA
An Oct. 17 political forum hosted by the San
Francisco AIDS Foundation was disrupted by
members of ACT UP-San Francisco who set off
stink bombs, blew whistles and shouted down
event speakers. The actions were to protest SFAF’s
heavy promotion of protease inhibitors and the
AIDS prevention plan proposed by city health
officials, which would require that people with
HIV be tracked and forced to take protease inhibi
tors in an approach called direct observational
therapy, a method currently used for communi
cable diseases such as tuberculosis.
Dr. Donald Abrams, head of the Food and
Drug Administration’s Antiviral Committee and
director of the AIDS program at San Francisco
General Hospital, has recently stated his reserva
tions about antiviral therapy with protease inhibi
tors, saying the drugs were insufficiently studied
and should not have been approved by the FDA.
Medea Lopez, one of the demonstrators, said,
“The fact is that protease inhibitors were rushed
through the FDA approval process so that they
could be heavily marketed to clinicians and pa
tients during the July International AIDS Confer
ence.”
The AIDS Memorial Grove Act, part of the
National Parks Bill, was passed by Congress on
Oct. 3, designating a 15-acre wooded area in San
Francisco’s Golden Gate Park as a monument to
the tragedy of AIDS and the millions of people in
this country whose lives have been touched by
AIDS.
The grove is scheduled for completion in
December 1997.
DISTRICT O F COLOM BIA
Former National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
executive director Virginia M. Apuzzo has been
appointed associate deputy secretary of the U.S.
Department of Labor.
Apuzzo previously served as president of the
New York State Civil Service Commission. Dur
ing her tenure at NGLTF she led negotiations with
the Social Security Administration to secure fed
eral disability benefits for people with AIDS.
ILLINOIS
The Food and Drug Administration has autho
rized expanded access to the anti-diarrheal drug
nitazoxanine for people with AIDS suffering from
cryptosporidiosis. The decision removes the limit
to the number of patients who may receive
nitazoxanine, formerly set at 150.
Unimed Pharmaceuticals Inc., manufacturer
of the drug, stated in a press release that the action
will allow an open label compassionate-use study,
providing the experimental drug to people with
AIDS previously unable to participate in con
trolled clinical trials, and will generate additional
safety and efficacy information to support phase
II and III trials planned for the end of the year.
NEW YORK
The New York State Court of Appeals ruled in
October that dentists cannot refuse to treat pa
tients with HIV or AIDS. The opinion stated that
legislators who wrote the state’s Human Rights
Law did not intend “that persons with disabilities
should be free from discrimination in such places
as ice cream parlors and skating rinks, but that
dental and medical providers could lawfully deny
health care to them solely on the basis of their
disability.”
The case was brought when a Long Island
dentist, Dennis Cahill, refused to treat a patient he
believed had HIV.
NORTH CAROLINA
The North Carolina Court of Appeals on Oct.
15 reversed a lower court ruling that had removed
two sons from the custody of their gay father, and
found that a parent’s sexual orientation should be
^irrelevant in custody
disputes throughout
the state.
Fred Smith, who
had raised his sons
since their birth and
had had custody since
his 1991 divorce, lost
custody in 1995 when
his ex-wife discovered
he is gay. His sons will be returned to his care.
OHIO
Denise Smith, a male-to-female preoperative
transsexual residing in Painesville, was allowed
to legally marry her girlfriend by providing a note
from a doctor confirming that her male sexual
organs will be intact on their wedding day, ac
cording to a story in the San Francisco Bay Times.
Smith plans to have a complete sex-change opera
tion within the next few years, but will remain
legally male so that her October marriage to Debi
Easterday will be valid despite the Defense of
Marriage Act.
OKLAHOMA
Stanley J. Barby, brother of openly gay con
gressional candidate Paul Barby, and six other
members of the Barby family have publicly given
their endorsement to Frank Lucas, Paul Barby’s
incumbent opponent. The statement released by
Stanley Barby stressed the necessity of “tradi
tional family values” but did not mention his
brother by name, reports the Northwest Gay Times.
The Barby family has ranched in western
Oklahoma for 100 years and also operates an oil
and gas company based in Woodward.
Paul Barby was a delegate to the Democratic
National Convention in Chicago, and two months
ago revealed his sexual orientation to party lead
ers in the state’s 6th District. His mother and sister
are among members of the family still supporting
his campaign.
PENNSYLVANIA
More than 250 middle- and high school students
in Elizabethtown walked out of class on Oct. 8 to
stage a protest against their school board’s new pro-
family resolution, according to The Associated
Press. Students at the high school had been warned
by school officials that they would be disciplined if
they protested. More than a dozen parents attended
the rally in support of their children.
The resolution, passed Sept. 17, states that
“pro-homosexual concepts on sex and family will
never be tolerated or accepted in this school,” and
describes the two-parent family as “the norm.” It
matches a document sent to many school districts
by the conservative Christian group Concerned
Women for America, which was drafted in re
sponse to the National Education Association’s
own resolution on diversity, racism, sexism and
sexual orientation.
VERMONT
According to the San Francisco Bay Times,
Matt Stickney, the South Burlington student who
was suspended for wearing a dress to school and
who later disappeared for several days, has re
turned safely. His story gained national attention
after a hundred classmates cross-dressed in a
show of solidarity. Stickney was later assaulted
by a fellow student, who is being charged with a
hate crime.
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Cascade AIDS Project's
Second Annual Benefit Fashion Show
6 pm Patron Reception
8 pm Show
Cold's Cym, Northwest Portland
A Seriously E ntertaining Evening i',tunng Designer C ollections
from New York, Paris, M ila n and Portland. Irresistible Entertainm ent,
Live A uction w,th Local C elebrity M odels *nd Post-Event Celebration.
Tickets: $35 (general); $100 (preferred seating and patron reception)
Tickets/Information: ( 5 0 3 ) 2 2 3 - 5 9 0 7 X 197
Tickets also available at participating Cold's Cyms and select retailers
All proceeds benefit CAP'S HIV Primary Prevention Services
WILSH1RE
UNAMUAI SHtVHKM'IMHiP
Compiled by Christopher D. Cuttone