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ew drugs helped reduce the number of
AIDS deaths by 47 percent last year, drop­
ping the disease from the 10 leading causes of
death, according to an Oct. 7 Associated Press
report.
AIDS is now the 14th leading cause of death
in the United States, with 5.9 deaths for every
100,000 people—the lowest rate since 1987,
when mortality data
first became available
for the disease.
The data comes
from the Department
of Health and Human
Services’
annual
review of birth and
death records.
According to the
AP,
Health and
Human Services Sec­
retary Donna Shalala
attributed the decline
in AIDS-related deaths to the highly effective
drug combinations with protease inhibitors.
“These figures mean that new treatments
have been very effective in extending the lives
[of people] who already have HIV infection—
but they do not mean that we have significant­
ly reduced HIV transmission,” Shalala said.
“Our ultimate goal is to prevent the estimated
40,000 new HIV infections that occur each
N
that sought to protect the civil liberties of peo­
ple with HIV.
Adding to this change is the perception that
AIDS—which is still a deadly disease—is now,
thanks to more effective drug combinations,
simply a chronic condition.
Lawrence Gostin, a director of the George­
town University-Johns Hopkins University Pro­
gram on Law and Public Health, and a member
of the advisory committee of the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, said: “We
are now treating the disease as more of a prob­
lem of criminal law and coercive state powers
than one to do with health and medicine.”
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OHIO
he U.S. Supreme Court let stand a Cincin­
nati city charter amendment that denies
discrimination protection based on sexual orien­
tation. The justices turned back a gay and les­
bian rights group’s argument that the voter-
approved amendment violates gay people’s
equal-protection rights. The Oct. 13 action is
not a decision and sets no national precedent.
According to an Associated Press report,
three justices took the unusual step of emphasiz­
ing that the court’s action “should not be inter­
preted either as an independent construction of
the charter or as an expression of its views about
the underlying issues that the parties have
debated at length.”
I
L imbo D oesn ’ t G o
W ithout N otice
“ l I 7 hy won’t the White House fight for gay
r V ambassadorial nominee James Hormel?”
asks a headline in the October issue of the polit­
ical magazine George. “Because it would prefer
to let the GOP make a martyr of him.”
These words come from reporter Gwen Ifill
writing in the magazine created by John F.
Kennedy Jr. Ifill is a network television congres­
sional correspondent and a former reporter for
the The Washington Post and The New York
Times.
“In an election year, when Republicans are
looking for ways to energize their party’s most
conservative members, Hormel’s sexuality is a
bull’s-eye on his back,” Ifill explains. “And
where the White House is concerned, Hormel
may be more valuable as a martyr to GOP intol­
erance than as ambassador: Luxembourg is not
exactly a critical post.”
The confirmation of Hormel, who is openly
gay, has been stalled for months by Senate lead­
ership. Some legislators have blasted Hormel’s
so-called “gay lifestyle." He is also accused of
being anti-Catholic because he won’t denounce
the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group
comprised largely of gay men who dress up as
nuns and engage in theatrical antics.
Ifill, meanwhile, says, “The White House,
caught up in its own problems, hasn’t exactly
rushed to the parapets on Hormel’s behalf.”
She notes: “Interestingly, one of Hormel’s
defenders has been New York senator Alfonse
D’Amato, a Republican. He is running for re­
election in a close race, and he wants the gay
vote. D’Amato wrote [Majority Leader Trent)
Lott asking for a vote on Hormel, but never got
a response. ‘If you can vote for a person or
against a person on whether they can do a job,
that’s fair,’ he says. ‘But not on the basis of race,
color, creed, or sexual orientation.’ And he adds,
‘1 think that’s a very conservative philosophy, by
the way.’ But in today’s GOP, D’Amato appears
to be a minority.”
And so Hormel’s nomination continues in
legislative limbo, likely to be approved if it
comes up for a vote, yet not likely to be sched­
uled for a vote any time soon.
The most viable remaining option to get
Hormel confirmed? Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Massa­
chusetts Democrat, could cut a deal to move the
proposal forward as part of a larger legislative
package (which is essentially how the gay and
lesbian community got an ultimately unsuccess­
ful vote two years ago on the federal Employ­
ment Non-Discrimination Act).
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s compassion towards those living with HIV
and AIDS taking a back seat to punishment?
Some believe so, according to a Sept. 25 Asso­
ciated Press report based on a story that
appeared in The New York Times.
Laws making it a crime to knowingly trans­
The AP says Justice John Paul Stevens wrote
mit or expose others to HIV are on the books in
at least 29 states. One-third of those laws have a brief opinion playing down the court’s denial
been adopted in the last two years. Similar leg­ of review. His opinion was joined by Justices
David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
islation is pending in 16 other states.
The amendment bans any city ordinance or
Laws are in place to identify people with the
vims, to notify sexual partners of people who are policy that provides gay men and lesbians “any
HIV-positive, and to punish those who put oth­ claim of minority or protected status, quota pref­
erence or other preferential treatment.”
ers at risk for contracting HIV.
Some believe the laws reflect a shift in pub­
lic attitude toward people with HIV and cer­ ■ Compiled by K ristine C hatwood and I nga
tainly mark a change from the era of legislation S orensen
5