february 4.2000 r J u K M t 19
than white gay men were diagnosed with the
disease.
According to the C D C , minorities account­
ed for 52 percent of the gay and bisexual men
who were diagnosed with A ID S in 1998. In
1989, 31 percent
of the diagnosed
cases were among
minorities.
One
reason
C D C researchers
are suggesting for
the increase is that
blacks and Hispan-
ics are less likely
than whites to identify themselves as gay or to
use A ID S prevention and treatment services.
“Clearly, we know that homosexuality is stig­
matized across all cultures, but it may even be
greater in African American and Latino com­
munities,” says Dr. Helene Gayle, C D C ’s direc­
tor of HIV prevention.
O f the roughly 18,OCX) cases diagnosed in
1998, one-third were blacks, 18 percent were
Hispanics and 1 percent were Asians or Pacific
Islanders. Minorities constitute approximately
one-quarter of the total U.S. population.
Data from the C D C study also indicate that
black and Hispanic gay men are becoming HIV­
positive at a younger age than white gay men.
<-
n January, 850 clergy members and church
officials issued a declaration on morality that
calls upon all faiths to bless same-sex unions and
allow gay and lesbian ministers.
The declaration also advocates access to
abortion and sex education at all age levels. The
declaration opposes “unsustainable population
growth," the “commercial exploitation of sexu­
ality” and all forms of “sexual oppression.”
“For too long, the only voices in the public
square on religion and sexuality have been the
anti-sexuality pronouncements of the religious
right," said Debra Haffner, president of the Sex­
uality Information and Education Council of
the United States, the group that sponsored the
one-page declaration.
According to media reports, members of 25
denominations endorsed the text of the state­
ment. Nearly half are officials and clergy from
Thomas’s United Church, the Unitarian Uni-
versalist Association, and Judaism’s Reform and
Reconstructionist branches.
The declaration received little backing from
the Catholic Church and none from major
evangelical, black Protestant, Eastern Ortho­
dox, Mormon, Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim orga­
nizations.
The list of endorsers does include members
of the Presbyterian Church (U .S.A .), the Epis-
copal Church and the United Methodist
Church.
NEW YO R K
peaking at a January news conference, U.S.
Senate hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton
stated that she supports full benefits for partners
in same-sex relationships but believes marriage
should be between a man and a woman.
“Marriage has got historic, religious and
moral content that goes back to the beginning
of time, and I think a marriage is as a marriage
has always been, between a man and a woman,”
C linton told reporters.
Clinton also said she would have voted for
the Defense of Marriage A ct of 1996, a law that
denies federal recognition of same-sex marriage
and allows states to ignore same-sex marriages
licensed in other states.
Clinton added that she believes there is no
need for a similar provision in state law.
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ore than 1,000 people converged upon
the Statehouse to offer their comments on
the debate over same-sex marriage.
Two legislative committees held the first
hearings on the subject since the state Supreme
Court’s December ruling that same-sex couples
must be given the benefits of marriage, reports a
Jan. 25 Associated Press story.
M
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300 Liberty St. SE
Salem. OR )
Suggestions ranged from granting gay men
and lesbians the right to marry or creating a
domestic partnership system, to adopting a state
constitutional amendment that would define
marriage as a union between a man and a
woman.
The court ruled that gay and lesbian couples
are being unconstitutionally denied the benefits
of marriage. The court left it to the Legislature
to decide whether to legalize same-sex marriage
or adopt some sort of domestic partnership
arrangement.
Rep. Thomas Little, chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee, hopes to begin drafting a
bill in February that could be voted on by the
House of Representatives in early March. The
Senate would then have about a month to act
before the Legislature adjourns in mid-April.
■ Com piled by KRISTINE C h ATWOOD, a Portland-
based writer and longtime Just Out contributor.
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