ju st o u t ▼ m arch 2 1 . 1 9 0 7 T 9
and largest AIDS service organization, shut down
abruptly on Feb. 28, leaving its 2,600 clients in the
lurch. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that
agency board m embers convened an emergency
meeting to address financial problems uncovered
by a two-m onth audit conducted by county offi
cials and decided to file for liquidation under
Chapter 7 bankruptcy laws. That means all the
agency’s assets, including its $1.9 million build
ing, will be sold to pay its debts. Effective March
3, the county health departm ent transferred
SD A F’s federal contracts to other service provid
ers and established a hot line to provide referrals
for the agency’s form er clients.
After the county’s audit revealed $331,500 in
unpaid and undocumented bills for which the foun
dation was reimbursed with federal funds, SDAF
was given a week to produce receipts, but county
officials said the irregularities were so egregious
that cancellation of the agency’s contracts was
imminent. The audit also found that some $400,000
was owed to more than 80 vendors and that the
agency had exhausted its $200,000 line o f credit.
Internal efforts to rescue the agency— includ
ing staff and program cuts and stepped-up fund
raising— unfortunately came too late. In Decem
ber most o f the board members resigned, in re
sponse to the dem ands o f a staff concerned by
hints o f major financial problems. No one has
suggested that theft or em bezzlem ent led to the
foundation’s demise.
HIV-prevention ad campaign
stirs up old controversy
On Feb. 25, AIDS Partnership M ichigan un
veiled an advertising cam paign designed to stop
the spread o f HIV among teens, young white gay
men, African American men and intravenous
drug users— groups targeted by the agency in
light o f state health departm ent statistics show
ing, among other things, that in M ichigan AIDS is
the No. 1 k illero fb lack m en ag e2 5 to44. But with
some sexual minority com m unity leaders already
objecting to one ad and more protests expected,
the organization may become the new center of an
ongoing debate weighing the requirements of
high-impact, effective and focused advertising
against the need not to alienate anyone from
participating in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The ads, which convey messages developed
with the input o f focus groups representing the
four targeted populations, are funded by private
donations and began appearing on billboards in
the Detroit m etropolitan area in early March (and
will eventually be found on buses and in newspa
pers as well). Some gay and lesbian activists have
com plained about an ad depicting two shirtless
tw entysom ething men em bracing with the mes
sage, “W e’ re hoping for some negative responses.”
Activists fear that not all viewers will understand
the ad refers to negative HIV test results rather
than negative responses to gay couples. AIDS
Partnership defends the ad’s bluntness, saying its
purpose is to stop the spread o f HIV, not to
address prejudice.
A nother ad shows nearly naked teenagers in
tertwined above a list o f “W ays You Can Get
AIDS,” including descriptions o f anal and oral
sex. The ad is planned for placement on smaller
billboards near schools. G atew ay Outdoor Ad
vertising has donated some o f the billboards be
cause it says it believes in the cam paign’s mes
sage.
Laws may change,
but public opinion hasn’t
A poll conducted by the Honolulu Star-Bulle
tin shows residents o f Hawaii are by a strong
majority opposed to legalizing same-gender mar
riage. As in a similar poll last year, 70 percent of
respondents oppose legal recognition o f same-sex
unions and 55 percent disapprove o f granting
limited marital benefits to queer couples. Mean
while, the state Senate and House have both autho
rized constitutional amendments to outlaw homo
sexual marriages and are attempting to hammer
out a compromise on the issue of limited benefits.
While approving its version o f the amend
ment, the Hawaii House of Representatives passed
a companion bill granting four marital benefits to
gay and lesbian couples who register as “recipro
cal beneficiaries.” The Senate, however, seeks to
confer a much broader package of more than 200
state benefits, in order to pre-empt legal chal
lenges to such provisions based on the state Su
preme C ourt’s 1993 ruling on marriage and equal
rights. The Senate proposal would allow regis
tered couples to file state tax returns jointly.
The Star-Bulletin poll yielded some additional
statistics: 27 percent of Democrats versus 3 per
cent of Republicans favor legalization o f queer
marriages; almost twice as many women support
it as men; and 35 percent o f Caucasians supported,
while 85 percent of Filipinos opposed, same-
gender unions. On the subject of limited marital
benefits, the gap between men and women less
ened significantly; 50 percent o f Democrats were
in favor vs. 26 percent o f Republicans; and 51
percent of Caucasians approved, along with 43
percent o f Filipinos, while 59 percent o f ethnic
Japanese disapproved.
Megan’s Law misfires amid
decades of red tape
An article in the Los Angeles Times in February
exposed myriad problems with California’s hope
lessly inaccurate sex-offender registry and law
enforcement’s attempts to implement a newly es
tablished statute called M egan’s Law. One of the
problems is that men arrested by police in the
1940s, ’50s and ’60s for seeking or engaging in
consensual sex with other men are listed as regis
tered sex offenders, even though their conduct is no
longer considered criminal.
r
93 ose G il y
H OSPITAI
Pounded in 1911, Rose City Veterinary
Hospital is Portland’s oldest pet hospital.
As the new owner, I am proud to he able
to carry on this tradition of service to the
City of Roses hy giving your pet the finest
medical care, hoarding and ¿rooming as
well as lots of loving compassion. Please
stop hy for a visit.
DocJar G raiy Q uirk
8 0 9 BE Pow ell Boulevard
(near the Ross Island Bridge)
232-3105
Bridgetown Realty congratulates its
Million Dollar Producers for 1996.
Chris Bonner. GUI
Associale Broker
Despite an intensive effort two years ago to
overhaul the list, state Department of Justice offi
cials acknowledge that vague, decades-old criminal
records and changed statutes governing sexual be
havior make it difficult for them to know which
offender did what, and thus who really belongs on
the list. All of that makes a law enacted last fall—
that calls for the creation of a publicly available CD-
ROM database showing the names, photographs
and ZIP codes of California’s 57,000 most danger
ous sex offenders— a quagmire for the state and a
nightmare for men, some now in their 90s, who were
arrested for having consensual sex with other men.
As dozens of states have passed versions of
M egan’s Law, named for a New Jersey girl alleg
edly murdered by a paroled molester, reports have
surfaced nationwide o f gay men and others land
ing on sex offender registers even though their
crimes have nothing to do with rape or molesta
tion. There is particular cause for concern in Cali
fornia, where for many years registration laws
were used to monitor homosexuals. Police later
used the list o f sex offenders for tracking child
molesters— without removing names from the list’s
previous uses.
According to state Department of Justice offi
cials, by the 1990s as much as 60 percent o f the
information on registrants was inaccurate.
Donald Falk, ORI
Philip Beausoleil
Val Thorpe Galvin. GR] Karen Biking
Gerry Federico, GR]
Kathleen Ira
Jude Watson. GRI
Broker
Anita Trudeau
Linda Welch, GUI
Greg Washington
Robert Anibes
Robin Grimm
Bill GaHin
Associate Broker
Laurie SanlaMaria
Kathy Tyslnger
Cathy Martine
Associate Broker
Bridgetown
Realty
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Compiled by Christopher D. Cuttone
Sandy Mort