January 9.2004 » Ju st out g
nTTTTnrW^nnewsbriefs
Continued from P age 7
AIDS. As a result, Medicaid is their single
largest source of insurance, providing access to
physician visits, hospitalization, prescription
drugs, home health care and long-term care.
More than half of all people with AIDS and 90
percent of children with AIDS rely on Medicaid
benefits for their health care.
Current Medicaid eligibility requirements are
st) strict that thousands of low-income people
living with HIV are unable to qualify for the pro
gram until they become disabled by AIDS.
Childless adults living with HIV typically only
qualify for Medicaid coverage once they become
eligible for Social Security. Because people are
not eligible for Social Security until they become
disabled, those with asymptotic HIV infections
are not eligible for Medicaid until their condi
tions have progressed to full-blown AIDS.
Since these people do not qualify for Medic
aid, they lack the critical ability to receive med
ical care and medicine to help slow the progres
sion of the disease and prevent the onset of oppor
tunistic infections. Smiths legislation would give
them early access to care and treatment.
Treating people with HIV early in the pro
gression of the disease has numerous benefits,
according to HRC. By providing therapeutics
earlier, costs will decrease and the number of
new HIV infections will decline because of
lower viral loads. In addition, the AID S Drug
Assistance Program will he able to provide care
to more people with HIV because of savings.
Most importantly, the quality of life for count
less HIV-positive people will improve.
In a report titled AIDS— No Time to Spare,
the Presidential Advisory Council on
HIV/AIDS supported expansion of Medicaid for
those living with HIV. It called on the Bush
administration to remove harriers that states
encounter in efforts to expand eligibility.
HRC suggests people send letters urging
members of Congress to co-sponsor the act. It
recommends that supporters include personal
stories about how HIV/AIDS has directly affect
ed their lives to make the correspondence more
compelling.
K lub
Z C loses
lub Z, the only all-ages queer nightclub in
I \. Portland, unexpectedly closed its doors
Dec. 18.
The venue, located at 333 S.W. Park Ave., was
a popular place where gay, lesbian, hi, trans and
questioning youth could dance, watch go-go hoys
and enjoy events such as drag queen wrestling
and, every March, the Rosebud and Thom
Pageant, the longest-running teen drag celebra
tion in the world. The good news is that owner
Zig Tognietti promises that the change is not per
manent and that the cluh will reopen someday.
“The tmth he told, it was time to move. Tune
for a change. I didn’t plan on making that change
until after Jan. 1, hut my hand was forced to do so
earlier. While I regret doing so in such fashion
and without warning, I think that when Z comes
hack, everyone will like it much better,” Togniet
ti announced on the club’s Web site. “There will
be a lot of changes at the new Z, hut I am confi
dent that.. .Klub Z will live on and continue to be
a fun safe place where Oregon and Washington
youth can hang out and just be themselves."
Tognietti says he has received a large amount
of correspondence from queer kids who believe
they would have committed suicide if they hadn’t
discovered his cluh.
“Klub Z was and is about the gay youth, not
about me,” he wrote on the Web sire. "It is a
gtxxl feeling to know that because of Klub Z and
a lot of its patrons.. .some of these kids that have
written to me are still alive.”
CELIA LYON
TERRI POPEJOY
( 503) 345-9253
( 503) 345-9252
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A reveler strikes a pose during Lane County
Pride 2 0 0 2 ; this year’s celebration will be
held Aug. 1 at Alton Baker Park
Chronic and Acute Health Care Needs
Family Practice/Primary Health Care
for Women. Men and Children of All Ages
Most Insurance Accepted
E u g e n e P r id e P l a n n e d
I
ane County Pride 2004 might be seven
months away, but organizers already are get
ting together to make sure the event goes off
without a hitch.
Committee meetings will he held from 1 to
3 p.m. on the first Sunday of the month through
June 6 at the Eugene Water & Electric Board
Community Room, 500 E. Fourth Ave. The
group will then take a two-month break and
resume the schedule Sept. 5.
Lane County Pride will be held from
11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 1 at Alton Baker Park.
More details will he announced as the date
approaches.
For more information e-mail vendor coordinator
Jerem iah Megowan at jer_l 28@yahtx).com.
503 / 460-0405
2821 NE 58th Avenue • Portland, OR 97213
Cross street at Sandy Blvd.
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isters of the Road Café will hold its 12th
annual Martin Luther King Day March for
Peace and Justice on Jan. 19. As in past years,
participants will gather 5:30 p.m.* in two sepa
rate neighhorhcxxls and convene into one uni
fied group at the Oregon Convention Center’s
statue of King.
T he Northwest march will begin at Sisters
of the Road Café, 133 N.W. Sixth Ave., head
over the Burnside Bridge and then turn north
on Northeast Grand Avenue. T he Northeast
route will begin at Legacy Emanuel Hospital’s
Lorenzen Conference Center, 301 N. G ra
ham Ave., march through the neighborhood
and head south on Northeast Martin Luther
King Jr. Blvd.
Both of the marches are scheduled to begin
at 6 p.m., connecting at the King memorial and
jointly continuing to the Portland Conference
Center, 300 N.E. Multnomah St., for a celebra
tion of King’s-life, snacks and an opportunity to
meet new friends. Drawing on the slain civil
rights leader’s attention to issues of poverty and
inequality, as well as his fervent anti-war
activism, this event celebrates the persistence of
those who advocate for peace and social change
through nonviolent activism.
Sisters of the Road is a nonprofit restaurant
open to the public that encourages all customers,
staff, volunteers and donors to get to know each
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