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Gay activists lead
King Day event
D.C. clinic switches
to using oral HIV test
For the first time ever, two black sexual minor
ity activists helped lead the official commemora
tion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Keith Boykin,
executive director of the National Black Gay and
Lesbian Leadership
Forum , and aw ard
winning film producer
Dr. Sylvia Rhue were
grand marshals for the
King Day parade held
Jan. 20 in Atlanta, Ga.
Boykin and Rhue
p a rtic ip a te d in a
m arch through the
dow ntow n and his
toric areas o f the city. They were joined by num er
ous civil rights activists including Johnetta Cole,
president o f Spellman College, and Coretta Scott
King, founder of the Martin Luther King Center
for Nonviolent Social Change. Following the
march, Boykin and Rhue spoke to the thousands
of people gathered outside the King Center.
Prior to the march, Boykin spoke at the Bayard
Rustin Rally, an annual event honoring the legacy
of the gay civil rights leader and adviser to King.
Rhue and Boykin also hosted a discussion on the
black church and homosexuality at the all-male
M orehouse College, which included a screening
of R hue’s film All God’s Children.
W hitman-W alker Clinic, the primary commu
nity-based provider of HIV/AIDS services in the
W ashington, D.C.-area, began exclusive use of
oral testing in place o f traditional blood testing for
HIV on Feb. 1. The decision came after a month of
using both methods together to determine the use
fulness, safety and accuracy o f the oral test.
The clinic’s executive director, Jim Graham,
said he feels the new testing method will help
“reach people who are averse to blood-based
testing with needles.”
According to an agency press release, the
OraSure System, approved by the Food and Drug
Administration in June 1996, tests a sample o f
oral mucosal transudate rather than saliva, which
is easily contam inated. Results o f large-scale
clinical trials published in the Journal o f the
American Medical Association indicate the test
has a high accuracy rate. The product was devel
oped and is m anufactured by Epitope Inc.
Gore meets with gay
and lesbian leaders
Vice President A1 Gore met with seven leaders
of the lesbian and gay community in the White
House on Jan. 17. Meeting participants included
Roberta Achtenberg of the Department o f Hous
ing and Urban Development, Elizabeth Birch o f
the Human Rights Campaign, Kerry Lobel o f the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Martin
Om elas-Quintero of the Latino/a Lesbian and
Gay Organization, and Keith Boykin o f the N a
tional Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum.
Among the issues discussed were needle-ex
change programs, Medicaid and the narrowly
defeated Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Presbyterians divided
by controversy
In July the governing body o f the Presbyterian
Church USA approved a proposed amendm ent—
known as the fidelity and chastity amendm ent—
to its constitution. The measure allows the ordina
tion of homosexuals as ministers or elders o f the
church only if they remain celibate and renounce
their sexual past, and prohibits sex for unmarried
ordained heterosexuals, reports the San Fran
cisco Chronicle.
The church’s General Assembly voted 313-
236 in favor of the proposed amendment, but it
must also be approved by a majority o f the
denom ination’s 171 regional presbyteries, repre
senting 11,416 churches and 2.7 million members
nationwide. So far eight presbyteries have voted
for the measure and seven against, including
those in Chicago and the San Francisco Bay area.
Church officials in Chicago voted 320-167 against
the amendment, while in San Francisco it was
defeated by a closer margin of 214-179.
The proposed amendment states in part that
“persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowl
edged practice which the confessions call sin
shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons,
elders or ministers.” The Rev. Eugene TeSelle, a
professor o f church history and theology in Nash
ville, Tenn., told the Chronicle he fears the lan
guage o f the amendment will be selectively used
to target homosexuality, rather than other sins
such as usury and gluttony.
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Queer youths organize
Nearly 500 queer youths gathered at a Jan. 15
rally in Sacramento, Calif., organized by the rights
group LIFE Lobby to protest discrimination against
sexual minorities, support AIDS prevention pro
grams, and reverse the
“historic invisibility
o f queer youth in civil
rights advocacy,” re
ports The Associated
P ress.
S p e a k e rs,
mostly in their teens
and ehrly 20s, told of
the harassment they
have suffered because
o f their orientation
and urged their com
patriots to stand up
against bigotry and
demand fairtreatment
and representation.
Two members o f the California State Assem
bly addressed the crowd: Carole M idgen o f San
Francisco and Sheila Kuehl o f Santa Monica. The
first openly homosexual members o f the state
Legislature, the two were given a warm welcome
by the rallying young people.
Kuehl is the author o f a bill to prohibit dis
crimination against sexual minority students in
public schools, including colleges. She submitted
a similar bill that was defeated by the Assembly in
1995.
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Murders spark alarm
Although local police are hesitant to claim any
connection among three incidents that claimed
the lives o f five black gay men in the W ashington,
D.C.-area in the last four months, community
members are becom ing concerned that a killer
may be targeting them.
According to an A ssociated Press report, the
first victim, Anthony Barnes, 42, was last seen
alive at Bachelor’s M ill, a Capitol Hill club with
a black gay clientele, and was found stabbed to
death in his home on Oct. 6. Jimmy M cGuire, 33,
and James W illiams, 27, were found shot to death
in their suburban home on Dec. 21. John R.
W hittington, 41, and Derrick Hilliard, 22, were
also shot to death and later found Jan. 5 in a motel
room. There was no sign o f forced entry at any of
the crim e scenes.
Patrons o f the Bachelor’s Mill, 360 and Full
House— nightclubs that cater to gay men— recog
nized photos o f the victims posted at the bars by
police. The AP report states that while it is clear the
five victims frequented the same clubs, police have
not established that the men knew each other.
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