6 T February 7, 1997 7 just out
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CALIFORNIA
The San Francisco-based group Americans
for Medical Rights that backed California’s Propo­
sition 215 has filed suit in federal court to prevent
federal officials from punishing doctors who rec­
ommend the use of
marijuana to their pa­
tients. Attorneys for
the group plan to ar­
gue that discussions
between a physician
and patient constitute
protected speech un­
der the First Amend­
ment, according to a
United Press Interna­
tional report.
Proposition 215 created an exemption in Cali­
fornia law for seriously ill patients who are using
marijuana on the recommendation or approval of
a physician. The lawsuit was prompted by the
Clinton administration’s announcement in De­
cember that it will fight implementation of the
voter-approved measure. Federal officials named
in the suit include drug czar retired Gen. Barry
McCaffrey and Attorney General Janet Reno.
V V ▼
A $13.4 million 25-year lease between United
Airlines and the San Francisco Airports Commis­
sion must be renegotiated to include domestic
partner wording, the city Board of Supervisors
said Jan. 14. According to a story in the San
Francisco Chronicle, the decision was reached
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by members of the board’s Government Effi­
ciency and Labor Committee and reflects recent
legislation stipulating that all city contractors
must provide benefits for domestic partners equal
to those given to married couples. Although that
law will not take effect until June, another law
calls for all leases of more than two years con­
tracted in the interim to comply with the city’s
domestic partner requirements.
United spokeswoman Connie Huff said the
airline is considering a domestic partners policy
but is not ready to announce any decision.
▼ ▼ V
The school board of Fremont unanimously
approved a resolution to reinforce existing poli­
cies which protect all students from bullying and
hate crimes. Unlike earlier drafts, the resolution
does not specifically mention sexual minorities or
any other group and no longer encourages schools
to implement staff development programs and
curricula to meet the needs of gay students. Board
members say the approved version was designed
to create consensus and avoid controversy.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, more
than 200 parents, teachers and students attended
and offered testimony at the board’s meeting.
Despite the support of other board members and
complaints made by lesbian and gay students that
enforcement of current district policies is shoddy,
critics of the earlier drafts— who feared the board
would be “endorsing the gay lifestyle” and offend­
ing their religious sensibilities—held sway.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
The November appointment of Rep. Jim Kolbe
(R-Ariz.) as chair of the House Appropriations
Committee’s Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal
Service and General Government is the first time
an openly gay Republican member of Congress
has been given a chairman’s post for either a
committee or subcommittee, reports the Wash­
ington Blade. Kolbe will oversee review of White
House office and residence budgets and budgets
for over a dozen other government agencies,
including the Treasury Department, U.S. Postal
Service, Federal Elections Commission and Na­
tional Security Council.
FLORIDA
Only the third Floridian ever sentenced to a
quarantine, Bartow resident Joann Moorehouse
Guzman, 35, has begun serving her two-year
punishment for criminal transmission of HIV.
She will be confined to her home, forced to wear
an electronic monitoring device, and supervised
closely by probation and parole officials.
Guzman was arrested last August after propo­
sitioning an undercover officer and later admitted
to police that she had tested positive for HIV in
1993. A four-year-old Florida law makes it a
third-degree felony for anyone knowing he or she
is carrying HIV to participate in a crime or at­
tempted crime that involves the transmission of
bodily fluids. According to a United Press Inter­
national report, after contemplating a challenge to
the HIV transmission law Guzman pleaded no
contest to the charges because she was afraid she
might die in jail.
ILLINOIS
Miguel Ayala, an openly gay 17-year-old se­
nior at Whitney Young High School, was elected
in January as a nonvoting student member of the
Chicago School Board. He won 39.7 percent of
the vote. Ayala told the Chicago Sun-Times that
his sexual orientation was not an issue in the
election and that, although it was not mentioned
in his campaign literature, about half of the 181
students who cast votes knew he is gay.
NATIONAL
A new U.S. law, sneaked through at the end of
the 1996 congressional session attached to a fi­
nance bill, has forced an established erotic maga­
zine to alter its name and prompted distributors of
the periodical to destroy several thousand copies
bearing the old title, reports the NewsPlanet news
service.
The British publishers of EuroBoy announced
Jan. 15 that the nine-year-old gay erotic magazine
will now be called
EuroGuy in order to
comply with the Child
Pornography Protec­
tion Act of 1996,
which crim inalizes
depiction of people
engaged in sexual ac­
tivity—regardless of
the m odels’ actual
ages—in such a way that the consumer is led to
believe they are younger than age 18.
Possible punishments under the new law in­
clude five to 30 years imprisonment and fines with
no upper limit. The American Media Coalition and
producers of a new film version of Lolita are
among those organizing a challenge to the law as a
violation of First Amendment freedom of speech.
NEW YORK
In January, Charles K. Ortleb, publisher of
Theater Week and the New York Native, an award-
winning weekly serving the sexual minority com­
munity, announced he would terminate publica­
tion of both titles due to lack of funds.
According to a NewsPlanet story, the Native
was heralded for its controversial coverage of
AIDS in the early stages of the pandemic, and was
home to Stephen Miller, an outspoken conserva­
tive political analyst known for attacking the
politically correct along with homophobes. With
more than 700 issues published since 1980, the
Native was New York City’s oldest continuing
queer periodical.
Compiled by Christopher D. Cuttone