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national news
Transitions..
A new group for
Queer and
questioning youth
in Beaverton!
Court rules people with HIV
are protected under ADA
FREE AND CO NFIDENTIAL!
A March 6 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals
established a precedent that it is illegal under the
Americans with Disabilities Act for a dentist to
refuse to treat a patient with HIV based on fear of
disease transmission. It was the first case of its
kind to reach a federal appeals court, and the first
federal appellate ruling to establish that HIV
positive asymptomatic people are protected from
discrimination under
—
-
the ADA.
The case was
brought by Sidney
Abbott, an HIV-positive
woman who was re
fused a filling for a cav
ity by Randon Bragdon,
a dentist practicing in
Bangor, Maine.
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders,
which represented the plaintiff, argued that public
health authorities, including the Centers for Dis
ease Control and Prevention and the American
Dental Association, have determined that people
with HIV can be treated safely with the use of
standard infection-control procedures known as
universal precautions. There has never been a
documented case of HIV transmission from pa
tient to dentist.
Wednesdays
from 3:30-5:00pm
Cedar Park Recreation Center
(11640 SW Parkway in Beaverton)
More Info: (503)223-8290
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See Vue
Lodging— where mountain meets the sea
95S90 Highway 101
6.2 miles south of
Yachats, Oregon 97498
______(541) 547-3227
Less foreskin
may mean more risk
A New Dental Research Study at Russell Street Clinic
Are You
HIV POSITIVE?
Do You Have Tooth Pain?
Do You Have These Symptoms?
Do you have a persistent tooth ache, intermittent tooth pain, or swelling in
your mouth or face? Have you been told your tooth needs a root canal?
Participate In A New Free Research Study
You may qualify to participate in the Oral Health Enhancem ent Study being
conducted by the Russell Street Dental Clinic, a part of OHSU. Volunteers must
be HIV positive, 18 to 65 years of age and have at least 20 teeth.
Benefits
Participants will receive free root canal treatment, free CD4 counts and viral
load blood tests, free check-ups, and $125 for participation. Participants will
also be helping to improve the quality of life for people with HIV.
For more information, call: ( 503 )
494-6300
OREGON
HEALTH
Where Healing, Teaching and Di semer)' Come Together
SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY
An equal opportunttv affirmative action institution.
Although circumcision has long been pro
moted as the healthier choice, scientists at the
University of Chicago said on April 1 that circum
cised men run a higher risk of contracting vene
real diseases.
According to a United Press International re
port, the study of 1,410 men ages 18 to 59 found
that the absence of foreskin is significantly asso
ciated with bacterial sexually transmitted dis
eases among men who have had several partners.
The researchers also said that circumcision makes
men more adventurous sexually—likely to en
gage in a “more elaborate set of sexual practices,”
such as masturbation and oral sex—although they
added it is unclear to what extent these practices
are related to social factors, like the stigma at
tached to having a foreskin.
On the other hand, the data also indicated one
clear benefit: Circumcised men were less likely to
experience sexual dysfunction or impotence as
they got older. Still, sociologist Edward O.
Laumann, the lead author of the report published
in the Journal o f the American Medical Associa
tion, said there is no persuasive evidence in favor
of the procedure, since the claims about STDs
aren’t true. Prevention of bacterial infections can
be accomplished by thorough washing, he said.
Both the American Academy of Pediatrics
and the American Urological Association issued
statements that circumcision has potential ben
efits and risks, leaving the decision up to parents
and individual doctors, who should weigh the
medical problems as well as the cultural and
religious considerations. AAP plans to review its
policy this summer and may publish new guide
lines at that time.
Research uncovers
lesbian risk for HPV
Research published in the October 1996 issue
of Obstetrics and Gynecology is causing the medi
cal establishment to question the belief that there
is little or no risk of female-to-female transmis
sion of human papillomaviruses, a class of vi
ruses known to cause cervical cancer and genital
warts. According to a report in The Washington
Blade, Drs. Katherine A. O’Hanlan and Christo
pher P. Crum reported the case of a 36-year-old
lesbian who has never had sex with men and
nevertheless tested positive for HPV after being
diagnosed with cervical cancer.
It is still not known which specific sexual
activities can transmit HPV, and the researchers
say it is reasonable to expect that, like HIV, HPV
can be transmitted by oral-genital contact be
tween women. They recommend that all women
receive yearly Pap smears, which can detect early
stages of cervical cancer.
Meanwhile, the Blade also reports that
Medlmmune Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md., has be
gun clinical trials of a vaccine against human
papillomavirus that is based on a successful vac
cine the company developed for dogs in 1995.
The human version may help stem the tide of
the roughly 1 million HPV diagnoses reported
annually, which the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention says is the main factor in
the nearly 80,000 new cases of cervical cancer
each year. Studies to track the virus in lesbians
have detected HPV-related cancer in about 2.8
percent of those examined.
Activists call for march
on presidential summit
Thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender activists and groups are throwing
their support behind the National Peoples
Campaign’s March for Jobs, Justice and People’s
Needs, planned for April 27 in Philadelphia, the
group said in a press release. The march will
coincide with the President’s Summit for
America’s Future, which will draw attendees
such as President Clinton, former presidents Bush,
Ford and Carter, and Gen. Colin Powell.
The press release states: ‘‘[These leaders] pro
pose to replace social services with our volunteer
labor and private charity. Underfunded and un
derstaffed charities are already unable to meet the
overwhelming needs of poor people. And replac
ing wage workers with unpaid volunteers is part
of a corporate drive that threatens millions of jobs
of federal, state and municipal workers and public
sector unions.
“The White House and Congress have already
united to throw millions off welfare... attack im
migrants, downsize workers and slash Social Se
curity Insurance. AIDS funding and public hous
ing subsidies are being gutted, and affirmative
action abandoned....
“It’s no accident that this reactionary program
is being accompanied by a simultaneous rise in
scapegoating— racist, transphobic and
homophobic attacks....”
The march is endorsed by many individuals
and organizations, including Alice Walker, Leslie
Feinberg, the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force, Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education
Initiative, the Washington, D.C., Deaf Queer Re
source Center, Queer Nation and Lesbian Aveng
ers.
For more information about the march, con
tact the N ational Peoples Cam paign at
(212) 633-6646,
or
visit
http://
www.peoplescampaign.org/.
Frankly, senator,
WPT doesn’t give a damn
On April 4, despite the efforts of state Sen.
Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) to organize a letter
writing campaign in protest, Wisconsin Public
Television aired an episode of the national gay
and lesbian newsmagazine In the Life which fea
tured a segment on several gay men and lesbians
who grew up on farms in the Midwest. A few of
the farmers interviewed, it turns out, have been
Fitzgerald’s constituents for decades.
“This program portrays Wisconsin in a very
negative light,” Fitzgerald said in a press release.
He also stated that “public television has gone