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Gay Peoples Chronicle

NATIONAL NEWS

NEW AIDS CASES RISE

A front-page story by Eric Eckholm in the April 25 New York Times reports that the number of new AIDS cases in New York City, after remaining constant for six months, jumped sharply in February and March. It quoted Dr. Stephen Schultz, deputy director of epidemiology for the city health department, as suggesting the levelingoff may have been a "statistical variation."

In San Francisco, where the number of new cases had been almost constant for 13 months, February and March also saw a marked increase. However, the San Francico Health Department sees the rise as anomalous.

The Times article has drawn much criticism because it combined this story with what it described as a new report that the HTLV-3 virus

NEWS...

"has continued to spread rapidly among the city's homosexual men despite marked changes in their sexual hab-

its.

Close reading of the article indicated that the "new" study dated from 1984. Its even more disturbing inplication that the practice of safe sex does not halt the spread of the virus did not seem born out by statements quoted from the study, which suggested the problem was failure to practice safe sex.

Dr. Cladd Stevens, author the study, told the Native that the Times story incorrectly described the information she had presented. The point of her study was not that safe sex is not effective, but that many of those included in it were not following safe sex practices.

NAN HUNTER HEADS ACLU L/G RIGHTS PROJECT

The American Civil Liberties Union has appointed Nan D. Hunter staff counsel of its new Lesbian/Gay Rights Project. Hunter will be responsible for all National ACLU litigation involving gay and lesbian rights, and for assisting and coordinating the gay rights work of ACLU state affiliates.

Her appointment "reflects the ACLU's commitment to taking a more aggressive and visible role in fighting for equal rights for gays and lesbians, according to ACLU Executive Director Ira Glas-

ser.

The ACLU established its Lesbian/Gay Rights Project to focus its resources on civil liberties issues involving the AIDS crisis, eradication of sodomy laws, and eliminating other forms of discrimination against

STRAIGHTS

то

8. F.

LEAD

PARADE

San Francisco's gay parade this year on June 29 breaks with tradition. According to the Bay Area Reporter, the grand marshalls leading it will be two straight women, Sharon McNight and Rita Rockett, honored as AIDS volunteers.

To quiet protests over their selection, the Lesbian and Gay Freedom Day Parade Committee added two grand marshalls whose gay credentials are unimpeachable, Virginia Appuzzo and BWMT national director John E. Bush (see p. 13).

gay people, including housing and employment, particularly in the educational field and such uniformed municipal services as police and firefighters.

Hunter, a staff counsel for

the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, has participated in important gay rights cases, including the challenge to Georgia's sodomy law.

Commenting on her appointment, Hunter said, "The AIDS crisis has touched off what may be the most important civil liberties debate of the next decade, with enormously far-reaching implications in many areas of law. The ACLU is committed to insuring that public policy in this area is narrowly tailored to achieve only legitimate public health ends, and is not permitted to serve as a pretext for prejudice."

POWELL

VOTE CRITICAL

Gay Community News reports Harvard Law School Professor Kathleen Sullivan predicts that Justice Lewis Powell's vote on the challenge to the Georgia sodomy law is likely to be decisive.

Sullivan, who helped prepare the challenge, said she and her colleagues expected a 4 to 4 split among the Supreme Court justices, with Powell the swing vote. They prepared their case to emphasize the sanctity of the home, an issue on which Powell feels strongly.

June 1983

BY : Casmir Kuczynski

NGRA Sues Insurance Co

Moves by health insurance companies like Blue Cross of Northern Ohio to deny coverage to victims of AIDS or to gay men generally have drawn a legal challenge.

Early last month National Gay Rights Advocates and the Employment Law Center of the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco filed the first major lawsuit challenging AIDS-related underwriting practices. Their target is Great Republic Insurance Company.

ees, antique dealers, interior decorators, florists, and people in the jewelry or fashion business. [Insurance executives were not listed as an at-risk group.].

NGRA Executive Director Jean O'Leary said, "Great Republic's efforts to weed out all gay men because a small percentage of them will develop AIDS is like trying to exclude all Black applicants because they, as a group, have a higher-thannormal rate of heart disease."

In guidelines distributed last December, Great Republic requires its insurance agents to give a special supplemental questionnaire to unmarried men who work in "occupations that do not require physical exertion," Such establishments. as restaurant employ-

NGRA and the Employment Law Center contend these quidelines violate both the California insurance code and the state civil rights laws, which forbid arbitrary discrimination by business

Methodists Will Not

Try Gay Pastor

Gay Methodist pastor Julian Rush will not be tried for violating church law. While the United Methodist Church supports civil rights for gay people, it prohibits the ordination of "selfavowed practicing" homosexuals. When three fellow pastors filed formal complaints against Rush after he described himself as gay, the board of ministry held

GRAHAM CRUSADE

DISAVOWS

HOMOPHOBIA

a

Observors have noted that Billy Graham has not joined other evangelists in attacking gay people. Rumors that Grahan is not homophobic seemed confirmed last month.

According to the Washington Blade, Probe Ministries, an evangelical group focussing on campus gay people, claims the Billy Graham Crusade invited its current activity in the D.C. area.

Denying this, Crusade spokesman Todd Martin said, "Billy Graham has not and will not condemn homosexuals," adding that "God loves homosexuals as much as anyone else, because God doesn't make mistakes."

hearing, where he refused to answer questions about his personal life. The board ruled that without his acknowledging genital sexual behavior with a person of his own sex, Rush could not be removed from the ministry. On April 28 a United Methodist conference investigating committee, citing "insuffienct evidence," voted 4-3 against recommending a trial.

TERRIGNO GETS

60 DAYS

Valerie Terrigno, former West Hollywood mayor, rereceived à relatively light sentence after a federal jury found her guilty of misusing funds while director of Crossroads Employment Service.

Besides serving 60 days in a community treatment center Terrigno must pay back $6800 and do 1,000 hours of community service. She is also enjoined from profiting from the case.

Terrigno has resigned from West Hollywood city council, as California law requires. It will probably be filled by a special election in November.

Although her defense held that Terrigno's sexual orientation was at issue, gay organizations in the Los Angeles area did not see the case as one of gay rights.