June 20, 2003

A proud day on Lake Erie

Pride picnics share the sun in two cities

by Anthony Glassman

Sandusky--The city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community held their first Gay Pride Picnic on June 14, and over 125 people turned out to bask in the sun at Lion’s Park on the shore of Lake Erie.

The same day, the 11th annual Pride Erie Picnic in Erie, Pa. brought in 270, beating the previous record of 225 people at the 2002 picnic.

Sack and drag races, food and family were the order of the day at the Sandusky picnic, which was half of a weekend of events for Sandusky Gay Pride.

The following day, during the traditional but unofficial gay day at nearby Cedar Point amusement park, the group organized a “family photo” that brought 62 people to the Aquatic Stadium at 11 am.

Sandusky Gay Pride worked with the park’s administration to arrange for the photo, perhaps the first official recognition of the event from Cedar Point.

“We all had a great time playing games, volleyball, eating lots of great food and making new friends,” said Sandusky Pride committee member Gil Thurman.

The Pride Erie Picnic, once again at the Beach 11 Pavilion of the Presque Isle State Park, surpassed its own attendance record.

After a decade of events, co-coordinator Michael K. Mahler, editor of Erie Gay News, believes that word-of-mouth and community interaction was the key to making the event such a success.

“We really feel that the picnic was such a success because so many people interacted one on one with others who may not have known about the event,” Mahler said. “All of us working together help our community to have an event to be extra proud of.”

Representatives from the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition gathered over 150 signatures on a petition to urge lawmakers to extend civil rights protections to LGBT people, and the Erie Health Department and the Hispanic American Council had information booths, along with Behrend College’s Trigon group, who were promoted their Pride Weekend on September 12-14.

Mahler noted that next year’s picnic might be moved to the Cookhouse near Beach 6 at the park, which would provide more room for the event, has electricity and is closer to the entrance.

Canada won’t appeal court’s marriage ruling

Same-sex marriage is permanent in Ontario; Parliament to have national law soon

by Anthony Glassman
with wire reports

Ottawa--Same-sex marriage will remain legal in Ontario, and soon all of Canada will allow gay and lesbian couples to marry--including ones from the U.S.

Emerging from a cabinet meeting on June 17, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced that the Canadian government would not appeal a June 10 decision by the Ontario Court of Appeals changing the definition of marriage to the union of “two people” from “one man and one woman.”

Chrétien also said that legislation will be introduced within two weeks to open marriage to same-sex couples nationwide. The draft legislation will be taken to the Supreme Court of Canada for an advisory opinion on its constitutionality, and then sent to Parliament for a vote.

Some members of Chrétien’s own Liberal party had urged the government to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

“There is an evolution of society,” Chrétien noted.

Religious institutions would, under the upcoming legislation, be allowed to decide what marriages they will perform. For example, the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, one of the plaintiffs in the Ontario suit, would be free to perform fully sanctioned same-sex marriages, while more conservative denominations would not be forced to perform the weddings.

“We have decided not to appeal those rulings,” justice minister Martin Cauchon confirmed, “and proceeded with draft legislation that will be ready shortly.”

“We’re talking about essential freedoms here,” he continued.

The Ontario case was one of three in which courts ruled that the heterosexual definition of marriage violated the nation’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. British Columbia’s top court, reversing a lower one, gave the government until July 12, 2004 to change the law. A Québec Superior Court last year also judged the law unconstitutional, and gave the government time to change it. But the latest Ontario ruling was effective immediately.

Fearing that the federal government might have that ruling suspended if it appealed, over a hundred same-sex couples have hurried to marry in Ontario since the court ruling.

Passage of the new law will make Canada the world’s third nation with full same-sex marriage, and the largest. The Netherlands has allowed gays and lesbians to marry since 2001. A lesbian couple became Belgium’s first to marry on June 6.

A dozen other countries, mostly in Europe, recognize gay and lesbian couples to varying degrees with domestic partner laws, but don’t allow same-sex marriage.

Unlike the European countries, Canadian gay and lesbian marriage is open to United States citizens, since the nation’s marriage laws have no residency requirement. However, the marriages probably would not be recognized by many U.S. states.

Mayor gives Cleveland Pride a resounding start

by Eric Resnick

Cleveland--Mayor Jane Campbell kicked off a week of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Pride events in the rotunda of City Hall June 16, telling a noon crowd that at times swelled to 250, “We’re the best when we let people be who they are.”

Campbell, who last year was the first Cleveland mayor to join in a Pride march, was greeted with a standing ovation after being introduced by Cleveland Stonewall Democrats president Patrick Shepard.

“We can’t leave anyone behind,” she said, “There is too much to do.”

Campbell recognized Ted Wammes, whom she made the first openly gay appointee to the city’s Community Relations Board earlier this year, and outlined her goals to create a “stronger, safer, and smarter city.”

Her message to GLBT Clevelanders was simple: “You are a part of it, and your participation is critical.”

To illustrate that point, she nodded to Law Director Subodh Chandra and Safety Director James Draper, who were in the audience.

“It is significant that they are here,” said Campbell, noting that they are officials who normally don’t get involved in community recognition.

City Council was represented by members Patricia Britt, Matthew Zone, and Jay Westbrook.

“All 21 members of council stand with you in celebration,” said Westbrook, presenting council’s proclamation.

Westbrook spoke of his experience at one of the earliest Cleveland Pride celebrations in 1990, when the event was held in front of the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center’s former location at West 29th St. and Detroit Ave.

“There was a display of an actual closet with a sign saying, ‘Come out of the closet,’ ” he said. “People would go in it, turn around and ‘come out’ of the closet.”

“Well, we have come a long way from that closet to the rotunda of City Hall,” Westbrook said to much applause.

The center’s director David Smith spoke about how far the GLBT movement has advanced since the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis first picketed the White House in 1965.

“Pride is an antidote to shame. Pride is an antidote to guilt. And Pride is an antidote to internalized homophobia,” said Smith.

“We are not a mistake. We are not an aberration,” Smith continued. “It is intentional that we are here on the planet, and the world cannot get along without us.”

BlackOut Unlimited director Larry Webb recognized that black and Latino transgender people were among the patrons of the Stonewall who rioted when New York City police raided the bar on June 28, 1969.

The incident is widely regarded as the beginning of the GLBT movement. It is commemorated each year by Pride celebrations, including Cleveland’s parade and festival on Saturday, June 21.

“Long ago,” said Webb, “a member of Cleveland city council said, ‘We don’t have to worry about that gay stuff on the east side. That’s a west side phenomenon’ ”

Webb called Cleveland’s black and gay population “underserved,” adding, “This event today demonstrates commitment to that population.”

Other speakers included Jacob Nash representing TransFamily and Pride committee president Brian Thornton.

The event was emceed by the Very Rev. Tracey Lind, the openly lesbian dean of Trinity Cathedral.

“Coming out will not end until all of us can be safely out,” said Lind.

Entertainment was provided by singer Rhys Miller accompanied by Alan Brooks, and guitarist Kathy Harvey.

The following day, the Cuyahoga County Commissioners presented a resolution proclaiming June as Gay Pride Month to a group of community leaders including Smith, Shepherd, Thornton and Log Cabin Republicans representative John Farina.

Veterans tear up Pride flag as larger one flies at city hall

by Eric Resnick

Lakewood, Ohio--Calling it “disrespectful,” a group of veterans protested a rainbow flag flying at Lakewood City Hall by tearing up one of their own.

According to Lakewood resident Orien Rigney, he and eight other men, seven of whom are veterans, shredded a rainbow flag at the base of a new community flagpole in front of city hall around 8 am on June 16.

“We bought one and went down and tore it up in front of anyone who wanted to watch,” said Rigney.

“I want you to know that I’m not a gay basher,” he added, “and none of the guys with us are gay bashers. But they are going to fly a flag that supercedes every nationality out there to placate an abhorrent genre.”

The daily Plain Dealer quoted one of the veterans, Ralph “Pete” McGrew, 81, bragging that he and others had beaten up gay men and stolen their money during his Marine days in World War II.

“We lived off of ’em. We rolled them. We just beat the heck out of them,” McGrew told the paper.

The men were protesting a resolution passed by City Council June 2 recognizing Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month and recommending that the mayor fly the rainbow Pride flag with the U.S. and Ohio ones at City Hall during the week of June 16-21.

A rainbow flag flew over the Cleveland city hall on Pride Day last year and will return on June 21. One flew at the Ohio Statehouse in 1999. The capitol’s banner was torn off its flagpole by a street preacher who served a five-day jail sentence for the offense.

Mayor Madeline Cain supported the Lakewood resolution, which passed 6‑1 after contentious debate which included comments about a bitter 2000 fight over domestic partner benefits for city workers.

After two weeks of intense pressure from people who objected to the rainbow banner being on the same pole as the U.S. one, Cain had a new flagpole erected in front of City Hall beside an existing community announcement board.

Cain said the separate pole would give the city the opportunity to fly flags representing community groups throughout the year, while reserving the poles on top of the building for the national and state banners.

“And [the new flagpole] is performing its duties well this week,” said Cain.

The protest continued at the city council meeting that evening.

Council President Robert Seelie, admonished the crowd of 80 people, most opposing the rainbow flag, that the city “has a tradition of civility in its discourse.”

Then Seelie, who was the only vote against the flag resolution two weeks ago, opened the discussion.

“I knew there would be problems with this one,” he began. “It’s divisive, and we’re setting a precedent for other groups who will be divisive. And to show you how correct I was, look at what has gone on since that resolution passed.”

“I have a recommendation, too,” said Seelie. “Take the flagpole down and end this right now. That’s my opinion.”

“The [flag] resolution passed,” answered council member Denis Dunn, who had sponsored it. “That flag represents that City Council is in solidarity with all citizens. The fact that this is divisive creates an awareness that we have a long way to go in this community.”

Dunn said that people had told him that putting the flag on a separate flagpole represented a “less than supportive action” by the mayor.

But Dunn defended Cain, saying the new flagpole kept with the spirit of the resolution.

Throughout the debate, Seelie badgered Cain and Dunn over who was notified of the new flagpole, its cost, and the possibility of groups like the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis wanting to use it.

Seelie also badgered citizens who spoke in favor of the flagpole.

Rev. Bob Strommen of the United Church of Christ thanked Cain and council for flying the flag.

“The sin of exclusion is a great sin in Christianity,” said Strommen. “My straight children are not demeaned in any way by their gay siblings.”

Seelie called Strommen back to the podium asking, “What about diversity that goes against your beliefs? At what point do you draw the line?”

“I draw the line at coming together to celebrate the unity in diversity, and you should, too,” Strommen replied.

Five others joined Strommen in support of the flag, thanking council for the resolution. Fourteen people, most who identified themselves as veterans, spoke against it.

Rigney brought a Confederate flag to the podium, saying he’s proud of it because people died for it.

“I apologize to gays who act like everyone else for what council has done, he said.” Referring to the resolution, he added, “Council has opened up a can of worms that they are not going to be able to close.”

“I deplore that I have to stand under that flag,” said McGrew, who then complained to council that he was thrown out of a Lakewood store for telling an immigrant, “Go back where you came from.”

Council Member Nancy Roth told the crowd she was disappointed in the attempts to make it a gay versus veterans debate.

Cain said she stands by the new flagpole and the decision to fly the Pride flag on it, adding that she is going to take Dunn’s suggestion that council create a protocol to determine which flags are flown.

“I hate it when in Lakewood, which is normally a peaceful community, that a few narrow-minded people get the stage,” concluded Cain.

Summit County Republican boss is outed

by Eric Resnick

Akron--A Cleveland alternative weekly newspaper has outed one of Ohio’s most powerful Republicans.

Alex R. Arshinkoff, 50, who has chaired the Summit County Republican Party for more than 25 years, socializes at Cleveland’s Leather Stallion and Grid gay bars, according to the Cleveland Scene.

Arshinkoff, of Hudson, is frequently seen at Angel Falls coffee shop, often with Republican officials and candidates.

Angel Falls is a gay-owned business in Akron’s gay Highland Square neighborhood, that is widely known for its gay clientele.

Akron area GLBTs have whispered about seeing Arshinkoff’s vehicles, formerly a red Lincoln Navigator, now a red Audi, with the vanity plate ARA 1, around Akron gay bars and cruising areas for years. Both vehicles were leased by the Summit County Republican Party.

Arshinkoff is also a former trustee of the University of Akron from 1992-2001, and served as its president from 1997- 2001. He is responsible for the hiring of current university president Louis Proenza.

Proenza was sworn in by Arshinkoff. In return, Proenza granted Arshinkoff an honorary doctorate in December, 2001.

An internship in Arshinkoff’s name has been giving financial support to University of Akron students who are placed at the Summit County Republican Party office since 1995.

Arshinkoff, who is a lobbyist and political consultant in addition to his position with the party, chaired the election campaigns of Sen. Mike DeWine.

A friend of the Bush family, Arshinkoff was a principal member of George W. Bush’s finance committee, and cast one of Ohio’s 21 electoral votes for Bush as a member of the Electoral College.

In addition to DeWine, Arshinkoff has recruited and supported anti-gay candidates for local and statewide offices, including current State Sen. Kevin Coughlin and former State Rep. Twyla Roman.

Roman’s political base was the Christian conservative community, and she was one of their brightest stars in Columbus.

Coughlin rose to prominence in the party over his controversial anti-gay speeches and writing while a student and College Republican president at Bowling Green State University.

Arshinkoff heavily supported Governor Bob Taft, and former Attorney General, now Auditor Betty Montgomery. Both have anti-gay records.

“It’s hypocrisy,” said Michael Curry of Akron, as his reason for breaking a deal of silence he made with Arshinkoff at Cleveland’s Leather Stallion in the summer of 2001.

Curry, a Summit County Board of Elections employee, said he saw Arshinkoff at the Stallion and made a point to greet him.

Curry said Arshinkoff came back to him about a half hour later, asking him to keep his presence at the gay bar a secret.

According to Curry, Arshinkoff said in return, “If there’s anything I can do for you, I’d be happy to do it.”

Curry said he told Arshinkoff he had two friends, Democrats, who were Summit County judges. He asked the GOP boss that the two never have opponents in elections.

Arshinkoff agreed to the deal, and called Curry over to re-affirm it a few months later at the Grid.

Curry said he kept his bargain with Arshinkoff other than discussion among a “close circle of friends,” until he was approached by the Scene reporter May 8.

The reporter was investigating two other incidents involving Arshinkoff.

The first occurred at 2 am on December 27, 2002.

According to a police report, Arshinkoff picked up a 21- year-old male Kent State student who was stranded and needed to get home.

The report says Arshinkoff asked the student if he was gay or bi, then began rubbing his thigh and grabbing his crotch, asking the young man if he wanted to make some money.

The student jumped out of the car at a light and ran. Akron police saw this, and stopped Arshinkoff to see what happened.

According to reports, the student saw the police stop Arshinkoff, and went back to tell his version of the story.

Police let Arshinkoff go, and never investigated further.

The second incident concerned a sexual harassment complaint reported to a deputy clerk of the Summit County Board of Elections by a former Municipal Court employee, also male.

Arshinkoff was called multiple times for comment for this report. He never returned the calls.

When this newspaper was identified as the Gay People’s Chronicle to a woman who answered his phone, she replied, “Yeah, right,” and hung up.

Cleveland Scene is owned by New Times, Inc. Another New Times weekly, the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, outed Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley last month.            

Presbytery throws out Rev. Van Kuiken for marriages

by Anthony Glassman
with wire reports

Cincinnati--Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken, pastor of Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church, was removed from his post on June 16 after the Presbytery of Cincinnati decided that he had renounced the constitution of the denomination by continuing to perform same-sex church marriages.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) allows same-sex couples’ relationships to be blessed as “holy unions” but not as “marriages.”

Van Kuiken also had his membership in the denomination removed as a result of the 119-45 vote of the presbytery, the group of churches in the Cincinnati area.

“I am grieving right now, and part of this grieving is over the forced separation from my congregation,” he said. “I love them, and my heart will always be with them.”

Van Kuiken is in the process of appealing an April decision by an ecclesiastical court ordering him to stop performing marriages for same-sex couples.

“The presbytery’s rush to judgment has set a troubling precedent for restricting freedom of conscience for every Presbyterian,” said Bill Moss, the co-moderator of More Light Presbyterians, an organization that seeks full inclusion of LGBT people in the church. “[We are] further shocked and dismayed by the apparent precedent set by this decision, which effectively declares the semantic distinction between same-sex unions and marriages to be an essential tenet of the Reformed faith.”

“This should alarm every Presbyterian, for it suggests that any minister who deviates from any jot or tittle in the Form of Government, or Directory of Worship, or any judicial decision is at the same risk as Van Kuiken,” he continued.

Jennifer McKettrick, a lesbian married by Van Kuiken following his April rebuke, was aghast at the presbytery’s decision.

“He was only enforcing the policy of our church,” she said. “This action is really a defrocking of our church.”

“It is an amazing contrast that earlier last week the Episcopal Church elected its first openly gay bishop and Canada now legally recognizes same-sex marriages,” Van Kuiken told the presbytery prior to its vote. “How can we say that this issue is settled?”

What happens now for Rev. Van Kuiken is unclear.

“I’m really not sure,” he said. “I’m just going to take some time to try to evaluate things. This is kind of going back to square one for me.”

He will be looking into joining the clergy of another denomination, but his immediate concern is providing for his wife and two children.

“I’ll be looking at United Church of Christ and maybe one or two others, but that will take some time. It won’t be a quick transfer over,” he noted.

City says trio can’t sue to strike new hate crime law

by Eric Resnick

Cincinnati--A trio of anti-gay activists have no legal standing to ask a court to strike down a new hate crime ordinance, the city’s lawyers say.

The ordinance, passed in February, added sexual orientation, gender, age and disability to an existing measure that increased penalties for crimes committed because of the victim’s ethnicity.

State Rep. Thomas E. Brinkman, Jr., city council candidate Sam Malone and Mark W. Miller sued the city in April. They say the new ordinance violates Article 12 of the city charter, which prohibits any measure protecting gay, lesbian, or bisexual citizens.

Miller and Brinkman are the only principals of Equal Rights Not Special Rights still living in the city. Their group was formed in 1993 to campaign for the Issue 3 initiative, which became Article 12 after voters passed it.

ERNSR is still chaired by Phil Burress, who is also head of the anti-gay Citizens for Community Values in suburban Sharonville.

The three claim that the city “abused its corporate powers” when it passed the hate crime measure. Their suit is filed as a taxpayer action against the city.

Cincinnati Assistant Solicitors Richard Ganulin and Gloria Sigman filed a motion June 11 to dismiss the suit, brought in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

The city cited two U.S. Supreme Court decisions defining “standing” in such matters, and argued that the three “essentially make an ideologically-based attack on the legislature’s [passing a law they don’t agree with], an action for which they do not, as taxpayers, have standing to bring a taxpayer action.”

“The Ohio taxpayer statutes are not the proper procedural vehicle for ideologically-based lawsuits,” the motion continues.

The city points out that the three violated Ohio law by not putting up a security bond, as is required for taxpayer actions.

The city also cited a 1993 U.S. Supreme Court case supporting hate crime laws, saying that Malone, Brinkman and Miller cannot claim that the law has “specific adverse effect on them.”

There is no language in the city’s motion challenging the constitutionality of Article 12, as was speculated on by the new hate crime measure’s sponsor, council member John Cranley.

But according to city solicitor Ganulin, someone could expand the suit to include a constitutional challenge by joining the city as a interested party. So could someone convicted under the ordinance.

But in the case of Malone, Brinkman, and Miller, “It is an abstraction. The law has not been applied to them,” said Ganulin.

If the city’s motion to dismiss is rejected, both sides will prepare for a trial.

Langdon and Ganulin both say their clients are prepared to take the case as high as the Ohio Supreme Court.

News Briefs

Compiled from wire reports by Brian DeWitt, Anthony Glassman, Patti Harris and Eric Resnick.

Bill would give partner benefits to federal workers

Washington, D.C.--A bill to extend employee spousal benefits to the domestic partners of federal workers was introduced in both houses of Congress June 11.

The bill, introduced in the House by openly gay Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. and in the Senate by Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., covers health insurance, retirement, life insurance, and compensation for work injuries.

This marks the fourth time the measure has been introduced in the House by Frank, in each session since 1997, and the second time Dayton has introduced it in the Senate.

The bill has died without a hearing in every previous attempt, and neither lawmaker believes it will fare better this time.

“As long as the Republicans are in charge, it will have zero chance,” said Frank. “Republican [House] leadership is not wanting to offend its deeply homophobic base, so nothing pro- gay will move.”

Both Frank and Dayton are skeptical of movement in the Senate as well.

Suit says Ohio bias law covers gays

Cincinnati--A woman who claims she was harassed and fired as a security guard because she is a lesbian is asking a federal appeals court to revive her lawsuit against a subdivision homeowners’ association.

Darlene Norton, 52, asked the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to reinstate her lawsuit that a federal judge rejected in December 2001. A three-judge panel heard arguments June 17.

Norton argues that Ohio law protects gays and lesbians from discrimination under provisions that prohibit gender discrimination.

Norton sued Candlewood Lake Association, the homeowners’ group at a subdivision near Mount Gilead north of Columbus, and three officials or employees after the association fired her in July 2000.

The homeowners’ association says Norton’s sexual orientation and gender were not part of the decision to fire her. She was fired because she violated its rules by intimidating and harassing subordinate employees, including using abusive language toward them, the group says.

Norton says she was subjected to slurs at work, passed over for a promotion and ultimately fired because she is a lesbian. She says the association violated her civil rights and protections for privacy, due process and equal protection. She says she had an exemplary job performance record, but that harassment began after officials and employees of the homeowners’ association found out she is lesbian.

Mexico passes anti-bias law

Mexico City--A new anti-discrimination measure signed into law with fanfare this week is already being questioned by some who say it lacks a means of enforcement.

President Vicente Fox called the federal measure “historic” as he signed it
June 9.

Human rights groups, gay and women’s activists and indigenous organizations agreed the new law was an important government effort to improve civil rights. But many also said they were concerned about what they termed its broad and vague language.

The law makes it illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of “ethnic or national origin, sex, age, disability, social or economic condition, conditions of health, pregnancy, language, religion, opinions, sexual preferences or civil status.”

It also requires federal agencies to take steps to eliminate discrimination and calls for a campaign to promote tolerance in society.

But the measure’s far-reaching goals seem contradictory to its narrow enforcement options. A new National Council to Prevent Discrimination is supposed to receive and act upon complaints. However, violators will not be subject to criminal penalties.

Nominee compares gays and incest

Washington, D.C.--President Bush’s nomination of Alabama attorney general William Pryor for a federal judgeship ignited a tempest of controversy June 11 as Senate confirmation hearings began.

Pryor was nominated to fill a seat on the U.S. 11th District Court of Appeals.

As attorney general, he filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the Lawrence v. Texas case challenging the constitutionality of state sodomy laws.

Pryor’s brief stated that legalizing homosexual activity would lead to the legalization of necrophilia, pedophilia, incest, adultery and prostitution. He also asserted that it is a learned behavior that is not worthy of constitutional protection.

Pryor has also referred to the Supreme Court as “nine octogenarian lawyers,” according to the Washington Post, saying that they should not decide whether the use of the electric chair is constitutional.

In addition, when talking about the historic Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, he said, “I believe that not only is the case unsupported by the text and structure of the Constitution, but it has led to a morally wrong result. It has led to the slaughter of millions of innocent unborn children.”

HIV came from chimps eating monkeys

Washington, D.C.--The ancestry of HIV has been traced by researchers in Alabama and England to two strains of virus found in African monkeys.

The viruses probably passed into chimpanzees when the apes ate infected monkey meat, according to the researchers, including a virologist at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Earlier studies have shown that HIV‑1, the virus that causes the most common form of human AIDS, originated from a simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV, that is found in chimpanzees. But how chimps came to have SIV had been a mystery.

American and English researchers analyzed the genetic pattern of a number of SIV strains in African monkeys and concluded that at least two strains found in red-capped mangabeys and greater spot-nosed monkeys combined to form the type of SIV now found in African chimps.

It was this form of SIV that spread into the human population when the chimps were hunted for food, researchers reported June 13 in the journal Science.

Ten years for Morehouse beating

Atlanta--A jury found a 19-year-old man guilty June 11 in the baseball bat beating of a fellow Morehouse College student in a dorm shower, but acquitted him of violating Georgia’s hate crime law.

Aaron Price was sentenced to ten years in prison for aggravated battery and aggravated assault after the jury deliberated more than two hours. However, the jury did not find sufficient evidence to call the assault a hate crime, which would have added up to another five years to his sentence.

Price beat student Gregory Love in a dormitory bathroom last November after Love looked at him over a shower curtain. Love, who said he is not gay, has said he only looked at Price because he didn’t have his glasses on and mistook Price for his roommate.

During his testimony earlier in the week, Love maintained that Price called him gay epithets while beating him with the bat. Price claimed he was acting in self-defense because Love threatened to hurt him before he left the shower to get his bat.

The beating evoked strong emotions at the historically black college, where some gay students said homophobia is rampant. The incident also prompted administrators to set up discussion sessions promoting diversity and acceptance of people of different sexual orientations.

CDC: Take sex out of AIDS workshops

San Francisco--Federal health officials have warned an AIDS prevention program that its federal funding will be cut if it does not stop offering classes that “encourage or promote sexual activity.”

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criticized the nonprofit Stop AIDS Project for a workshop that offers guidelines on “safe and friendly relations” with male prostitutes, another that discusses oral sex and a third called “Bootylicious” that gives tips for safe anal intercourse.

The June 13 warning, announced in a letter, came four months after the agency cleared Stop AIDS in a review prompted by complaints from Rep. Mark E. Souder, R-Okla. Souder’s objection to the sexually explicit nature of the program prompted a national review of all federally funded HIV and AIDS programs.

Stop AIDS officials said they believe the CDC’s latest challenge came after political pressure from some congressional Republicans and the Bush administration.

In a separate letter, the CDC asked the San Francisco health department to improve its monitoring of HIV-prevention programs and reject ones with titles and descriptions that appear to “directly promote or encourage sexual activity.”

About one-third of Stop AIDS’ $1.8-million annual budget comes from the federal government. The health department director said that if CDC cuts the program’s funds, city money would be used to ensure it continues.