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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 18, 2004)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- ------ ima lfl. 2004 'J— t out 3, n Aug. 2, 1988, Reagan prohibited fed eral agencies from discriminating against employees infected with H IV hut refused to seek a law banning such discrimina tion nationwide, as recommended by his A ID S commission. U .S. Rep. Henry W axman, D-Calif., commented: “T h e Reagan administra tion has done its best to avoid making even a single helpful A ID S decision in the eight years o f the Reagan presidency. They handpick a commission and then don’t even have the courage to accept its recommendations.” Perhaps this was true because Reagan and C o. saw A ID S as a laughing matter. T h e transcript o f an O ct. 15, 1982, briefing with press secretary Larry Speakes reveals the R ea gan adm inistration’s dismissal o f the “gay plague”: “Q uestion: Larry, does the president have any reaction to the ann ou ncem ent— the C enters for Disease C on trol in A tlan ta, that A ID S is now an epidem ic and have over 6 0 0 cases? “Answer: W h at’s A ID S? “Q : Over a third of them have died. It’s known as ‘gay plague.’ [Laughter. I No, it is. I mean it’s a pretty serious thing that one in every three people that get this have died. And 1 wondered if the president is aware o f it? “A: 1 don’t have it. Do you? [Laughter. 1 “Q : No, I don’t. “A: You didn’t answer my question. “Q : Well, I just wondered, does the president— “A: How do you know? [Laughter.] “Q : In other words, the W hite House looks on this as a great joke? O A Letter to My Best Friend O n June 11, while Bush-obeying federal employees stayed hom e from work and flocked to their “respective places o f worship ” to pay homage to President Ronald Reagan, the N ational G ay and Lesbian Task Force closed its offices “m memory o f all those we have lost to AID S. ” Executive director M att Foreman m arked the occasion by writing this letter to his best friend, Steven Powsner, who served as president o f the N ew York City Lesbian and Gay Community Services C enter from ¡9 9 2 to 1994. H e died o f AIDS complications Nov. 20, 1995, at age 40. D ear S teven : I so much wish you were here today to tell me what to do. You would know if it’s right to comment on the death o f former President Rea gan, or if I should just let pass the endless paeans to his greatness. But you’re not here. T he poli cies of the Reagan administration saw to th at Yes, Steven, I do feel for the family and friends o f the former president. T h e death of a loved one is always a profoundly sad occasion, and Mr. Reagan was loved by many. I have tremendous empathy and respect for Mrs. Reagan, who lovingly cared for him through excruciating years o f Alzheimer’s. Sorry, Steven, but even on this day I’m not able to set aside the shaking anger I feel over Reagan’s nonresponse to the A ID S epidemic or for the continuing anti-gay legacy o f his admin istration. Is it personal? O f course. A ID S was first reported in 1981, but President Reagan could not bring himself to address the plague until March 31, 1987, at which time there were C ontinued on P age 3 3 60,000 reported cases of full-blown A ID S and 30,000 deaths. I remem ber that day, Steven— you were staying round-the- clock in Memori al Sloan Kettering Hospital caring for your dying Matt Foreman partner o f over 15 years, Bruce Cooper. It was another 41 days of utter agony for both of you before Bruce died. During those years o f W hite House silence and inaction, how many other dear friends did we see sicken and die hideous deaths? Is it personal? Yes, Steven. I know for a fact that you would be alive today if the Reagan administration had mounted even a tepid response to the epidemic. If protease inhibitors been available in July o f 1995 instead o f December, you’d still be here. I wouldn’t feel so angry if the Reagan admin istration’s failing was due to ignorance or bureau cratic ineptitude. No, Steven, we knew then it was deliberate. The government’s response was dictated by the grip of evangelical Christian con servatives who saw gay people as sinners and A ID S as God’s well-deserved punishment. Remember? The W hite House director o f com munications, Patrick Buchanan, once argued in print that A ID S is nature’s revenge on gay men. 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Even so, I think I could let go of this anger if this was just another overwhelmingly sad chapter in our nation’s past. It is not. Steven, can you believe that the unholy pact President Reagan and the Republican Party entered with the forces o f religious intolerance have not weakened, but grown exponentially stronger? Can you believe that the U .S. government is still bowing to right- wing extremists and fighting condom distribu tion and explicit HIV education, even while A ID S is killing millions across the world? O r that “devout” Christians have forced the scrap ping of A ID S prevention programs targeted at HIV-negative gay and bisexual men in favor of bullshit "abstinence only until marriage” initia tives? Or the shameless duplicity of these same forces seeking to forever outlaw even the hope of marriage for gay people? O r that Reagan stal warts like Buchanan, Bennett and Bauer are still grinding their homophobic axes? No, Steven, I do not presume to judge Ronald Reagan’s soul or heart. He may very well have been a nice guy. In fact, I don't think that Reagan hated gay people— I’m sure some o f his and Nancy’s best friends were gay. But I do know that the Reagan administration’s policies on A ID S and anything gay-related resulted— and continue to result— in despair and death. O h , Steven, how much I wish so much you were here. I support GALA choruses! Congratulations Newlyweds! CLARK HOUSE Sales Associate (5 4 1 ) 7 5 8 - 1 2 3 4 x 21 1 e-mail: clarkshouses@aol.com NEW & USED CARS & TRUCKS JOHN MYERS Lor information cell 503-308-2 1 10 email ultraelectriccc « aol.com B ry a n t R e a lt y inc. (*=,, 1575 MW 9th Street • Corvallis. OR 9 7 3 3 0
