January 5.2001 *
k7‘ii[i j :iL\mnews
The 13th International
AID S Conference was
held last July in Durban,
South Africa, the first such
gathering in a developing
nation hard hit by AIDS.
No
scientific
break
throughs were announced.
The primary focus was on
changing the political,
economic and research
landscapes to assist those
nations most devastated by
the epidemic.
A who’s who of lesbian
health gathered last Sep
tember in Washington,
D.C., for the first National
Conference on Lesbians
and Cancer, organized by
the Mautner Project. It
called for breaking down
the barriers of ignorance,
homophobia and access
that result in lesbians
receiving less-than-ade-
quate health care.
Healthy People 2010 is
the massive document pre
pared by the Department of
Health and Human Serv
ices that will guide the fed
eral government’s health
care activities during the Showtime’s Queer as Folk pushed the envelope in 2000
next decade. The gay, les
last major telecommunications company to join
bian, bi and trans community was absent from an
the list.
early version of the report. Protests by the Gay
Virtually all high-tech companies offer
and Lesbian Medical Association and others led
to inclusion in a later version. But.they were domestic partner benefits in order to attract the
shocked to learn most of those additions had been best work force, and the trend is working its way
cut when the first public draft of the report was down the corporate food chain. It will be inter
released. A series of meetings and protests got esting to see if the slowing economy dampens
many of those cuts restored in the final document this trend.
Religion continued to grapple with gays and
released last fall.
lesbians and the issue of marriage. Progress was
more individual than institutional as pastors and
individual churches increasingly came to
aw and ociety
embrace all believers regardless of their sexual
nti-gay violence reared its ugly head in orientation.
The Vatican continued its tradition of
numerous places across the country, too
often bringing death and mourning. But from homophobia. In May it barred Sister Jeannine
Gramick and Father Robert
California to West Virginia to
Nugent, founders of the New
Virginia, the murderers were
Ways Ministry, from writing
apprehended, and prosecu
or
speaking about homosexu
tion continues apace. Law
ality. In July it lambasted and
enforcement officials increas
tried to shut down the inter
ingly are treating these crimes
national
gay pride festival in
in the professional manner
Rome, while in December it
they should.
embraced Joerg Haider, the
Federal hate crimes legis
neo-Nazi former leader of
lation passed the Senate in
Austria, with a private audi
June by a surprising margin of
ence with Pope John Paul II.
57 to 42. That edge is sure to
The United States saw two
grow, as several opponents
very different images of gay
were defeated for re-election
people through their televi
in November. The House
sion.
“The naked fat guy,”
passed a procedural measure Father Robert Nugent
Richard Hatch, emerged as
in support of the legislation
the Survivor on that summer blockbuster—and
in September, by 232 to 192, but the bill died
with
it a mix of grudging admiration and a
in a conference between the two chambers.
degree of normalization of gays.
Local jurisdictions continue to add
Queer as Folk dipped a toe into the
sexual orientation to their nondis
sexual part of orientation among a
crimination protections at a pace that
younger party crowd, although the
is difficult to follow. Atlanta and Nas
fact it was on cable meant a much
sau County, N.Y., which sprawls
smaller
audience.
across Long Island, are the latest to
Although social conservatives
join the list. The major disappoint
issued their typically apocalyptic
ment was the state of Maine, where a
news
releases, few people paid them
ballot initiative lost by a slim margin
much heed. My how times have
in November.
Sister Jeannine
The private sector has been mov
changed.
Gramick
ing just as rapidly in offering domestic
partner benefits for gay, lesbian, bi and trans
B o b ROEHR is a free-lance reporter based in
families. In December, BellSouth became the Washington, D.C.
L
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