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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1998)
herself a lesbian and the mother of a 6-month- old daughter, says the realization that gay men can have children to whom they are biological ly related still comes as a pleasant shock to many of her clients. “They really come to it with gratitude and enthusiasm and excitement that this could possibly happen to them,” she says, adding she has received hundreds of inquiries nationwide since starting her service a little over a year ago. California does not regulate surrogate agen cies. Taylor says her basic fee is $47,000, includ ing medical screenings, legal costs of terminat ing the surrogate’s parental rights, adoption by the nonbiological parent and compensation of $15,000 that is paid to the surrogate over the course of the pregnancy. F rom the S trange - b u t - true F ile D enver’s Lutheran High School seriously pondered expelling a student who came to class dressed like a gay boy, the Denver reports. “Our dress code states that students can’t wear clothes in such a way to be in opposition to the B ib le.... He wasn’t asked to leave because he is gay. He was asked because of the gay clothing, the gay jewelry,” said the school’s director, Kenneth Palmreuter. An admitted fan of the men’s fashion maga zine G Q , 18-year-old Jeremy Garza had a 3.3 grade-point average, did well on the college entrance exam, and was only one semester shy of graduation. Garza occasionally wore black leather pants or went retro in polyester, but his so-called gay clothes did not include shirts emblazoned with queer-positive messages. He did, however, sport a rainbow-hued bracelet and necklace that earned him a few extra Bible quotes from his theology teacher. School officials prayed for Garza and repeat edly asked him to change clothes. “We don’t want to remove a student just P rotease P aun ch ? M a y b e ... umps and lumps and things that go paunch at the waist. Some people living with HIV and A ID S are noticing a redistribu tion of fat, and perhaps a lessening of lean body mass, that is changing the shape of their body. “Crix belly,” “protease paunch” and “buffalo hump" are nicknames bestowed on these meta morphoses. And nobody knows what to make of them. Even the extent of the condition is in dis pute. A G im ell University study found that 7 percent of people on protease inhibitors exhib ited the syndrome, while an Australian study concluded it was 64 percent. O ther limited research has fallen somewhere in between. “I live in Pittsburgh. 1 won’t speak for more cosmetically sensitive areas, but in Pittsburgh there is not a lot of quiche,” said Dr. John Mellors at the 5th Ginference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, held in February in Chicago. “If your viral load is undetectable, that is pretty good.” Reporters challenged that attitude as an example of physicians perhaps not taking their patients’ comments seriously and viewing this as a vanity issue. Mellors apologized for his “attempt at humor" and said, “As patients go from wrestling with having a fatal disease to having a future, H because he’s sinful. If we did that, we’d all be gone,” says Palmreuter. “But we do have a dress code.” Ultimately, Garza opted to change schools. H igh S chool B and D rops D isney W orld T rip A Missouri high school band has dropped plans to perform at Walt Disney World after months of wrangling with school officials over whether the amusement park’s corporate parent promotes homosexuality, T he Associated Press reported Feb. 20. The dispute, which had divided the small fishing resort of Stockton, was resolved when ' ' the school band : i leader Marvin X Manring canceled Sib® * V ’18 thC tn P * S3ylng U was time to put the W k [ M ' ■'<-' IT- J f l issue to rest. “It’s no secret f f i / 7 7 M X S i what a black spot Post this has been on our community," Manring said at a Feb. 18 school board meeting, which was picketed by religious protesters from neighboring Kansas. Board vice president Tom Landers said he disapproved of Disney-owned A B C ’s sitcom Ellen, whose star and title character are openly lesbian, and of Disney’s policy of providing ben efits to same-sex partners of employees. According to AP, since the Disney World trip was proposed in November the board had repeatedly delayed, approval, asking for more justification. W hen board members declined to take a vote after Manring presented a 10-page report Feb. 18, he withdrew the request. Members of the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., gathered outside the meeting. Several held signs condemning gay men and lesbians, including one with a drawing of Mickey Mouse and the words “Rat Fag." ■ Com piled by CHRISTOPHER D. CUTTONE then other issues become more prominent.” He added, “We are in a period of ignorance about the prevalence of this and the mecha nisms underlying it. I suspect that subtle abnor malities of metabolism may be identified in a larger percentage of patients than we currently believe. But these may have no long-term clin ical consequence.” Some speculate the condition is tied to fat metabolism by the liver, and believe the abnor malities may be caused by protease inhibitors. However, some researchers say they have seen the syndrome in patients who are not taking those drugs. Preliminary research has been inconclusive. According to Dr. Scott Hammer, a Harvard researcher, theories currently being tossed about focus on a possible genetic predisposition to the condition, as well as the possibility that virus- encoded proteins can alter fat metabolism with in an individual. Researchers say these types of metabolic dis orders are likely to grow in number as patients with HIV on powerful combination therapies live longer. Additionally, because they are slower-emerging conditions, it will likely take longer to fully understand their implications. For now at least, Crix belly and its friends do not appear to be life-threatening. ■ Reported by B ob R oehr No other viatical company provides these assurances: • Washington Viatical Network. 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