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NATIONAL NEWS...

BY: Casmir Kuczynski

Colorado May Record HTLV-III

Court Rules Against Bigotry Test Results

Georgetown University's long fight against extending recognition to two campus gay organizations reached a District of Columbia Court of Appeals panel, which voted 2-1 to require it to give both groups official rečog-

nition.

However, the Court of Appeals vacated the decision and ordered the case to be reheard later this year before the full court."

Since 1979 the Jesuit institution has insisted that recognizing gay student groups would condone homosexuality and thus violate its administration's religious beliefs. It simultaneously denies any discrimination against gay people.

In 1984 a judge ruled in favor of the university, holding religious belief should take priority over the District of Columbia's human rights law.

The latest decision sued at the end of July

holds that the District s interest in enforcing its human rights law outweighs Georgetown's religious argument. Classing unequal treatment of gay people with discrimination against other minorities, it defines the central issue as respect for human dignity. The dissenting judge held that Georgetown had the right to express its religiously-based disapproval of homosexuality by nonrecognition.

Both parties to the dispute claimed the decision was a victory. Expressing pleasure with the court's ruling, Laura Foggen and Richard Gosse, attorneys for the student groups, suggested that the full court wanted to rehear the case because of its importance and attendant publicity, and predicted it would reach a similar decision. Attorneys for Georgetown University said the dissenting opinion supported their arguments.

Bangor Gays Mark Murder

In Bangor, Maine, the gay community and its nongay supporters commemorated the murder of Charles Howard, a gay man, by three teenagers July 7, 1984. The event included a service at the Unitarian-Universalist church, a march to the river where Howard was drowned, and a talk by the Rev. William Sloan Coffin. Except for some harrassment by Bangor

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teenagers and a fight in which a straight woman supporting the march struck a male heckler, the ceremony was quiet.

The Unitarian-Universalist Church, which has given support to the gay people of a homophobic city, has selected as its new pastor the Rev. Dr. F. Jay Deacon, who is openly gay.

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AIDS IN THE MEDIA

The Colorado State Board of Health plans to require medical personnel to report the names and addresses of all persons whose tests for the HTLV-III virus are positive. Comparing this plan to the current reporting of cases of venereal disease, director Tom Vernon insists the list will be used only to ensure that those on it receive adequate counselling and will remain entirely confidential.

Carolyn Lease, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of

the Colorado American Civil Liberties Union, objects that the unauthorized disclosure of their names could subject persons to discrimination. She points out that "having AIDS means you're gay, in the public mind, and gays have no resources against discrimination." Although Colorado now records the names of everyone diagnosed as having AIDS, Lease notes that only 5% to 20% of those who test positive for exposure to the virus are likely to develop AIDS.

Homophobe Fired Again

This summer Nancy Pryor of Pittsburgh sued Pennsylvania Bell because it lists gay organizations in its directories. Pryor claimed she had documentary evidence that gay centers promote homosexual activity between adults and children, and accused the company of encouraging this. A few years earlier, Pennsylvania Bell had fired her as a supervisory operator because she refused to take a psychiatric exami-

nation..

Apparently Pennsylvania Bell was more perceptive than Ms. Pryor's recent employers, judging from Dion Sanders account of her adventures in the Bay Area Reporter.

Priests Endorse Gay Rights

The Catholic Coalition for Gay Civil Rights announces that the National Federation of Priests' Councils has endorsed its statement calling upon Catholics to "support Sound civil rights legislation...and not to oppose such ordinances on the basis of unfounded fears, irrational myths, and inflammatory statements about homosexuality.

$1

Baths Become Body Centers

Former Cleveland resident

Jack Campbell, founder of the Club Bath Chain, has assumed the presidency of a new organization, the Club Body Center Chain.

Last year, when she campaigned unsuccessfully for Congress on the Republican ticket, Pittsburgh radio station WPIT-AM fired her after she accused her Democratic opponent of "forcing homosexuality on children. She often campaigned in full military uniform [male or female, one wonders?], carrying a whip.

Designed to meet concerns about AIDS, the new chain will require its member institutions to provide safesex materials and to make condoms available without charge or at low cost. Orgy rooms and similar facilities will be eliminated. Ten former Club Bath facilities, including one in Cleveland have transferred to the Club Body Center group.

Recently radio station WEDO-AM fired her for "extremely vicious" anti-gay statments. Describing a gay dance at the Irish Centre as a "homosexual orgy for sex perverts," Pryor charged it had contaminated the Centre with AIDS germs.

"Shooting Up" Shot Down

Los Angeles County has halted the distribution of Shooting Up and Your Health an AIDS-related pamphlet (reviewed by Steven Berg in the August Chronicle) directed at intravenous drug users as an at-risk group. Charging that the pamphlet gives instructions for injecting drugs. three County Supervisors expressed shock at its content and demanded an investigation of the County's role in financing its production.

Waxman Wants Confidentiality

Democratic representative Henry Waxman of California, Chairman of the House Health and Environmental Subcommittee, will introduce legislation this fall protecting the identity of blood donors and research volunteers. His bill is supported by bloodbank groups who fear that without such protection the number of persons willing to donate blood will diminish.