Gay Peoples Chronicle

July 1986

By ROB DAROFF

NATIONAL NEWS

BY : Casmir Kuczynski

INT. MR. LEATHER CROWNED

CHICAGO--Over a thousand leather-clad men jammed into the Park West night club here May 25 to watch 28 contestants compete in the Eighth Annual International Mr. Leather contest.

Scott Tucker, a freelance journalist and artist, captured the title and was crowned International Mr. Leather 1986.

Tucker's articles have appeared in Christopher Street, New York Native, and The Advocate, among other publications. He has been in the forefront of gay and lesbian politics in Philadelphia, and has a history of political activism stemming from 1979.

In a rousing acceptance speech, Tucker told the crowd, "Leather is more than style, it means playing with power and playing fair. I think the Leather community deserves a lot of credit for taking a vanguard role in educating the community on safe sex."

In addition to the competition, the contest was highlighted by a moving speech by 1985 runner-up Richard Hennigh, a person with AIDS. Hennigh stressed the importance of safe sex and "sticking by and supporting our brothers with AIDS."

During an intermission a representative of the Chicago House, a residential AIDS hospice, collected over

INTERNATIONAL MALS HER

$2000 from the audience for this institution.

According to a press release from Interantional Mr. Leather, Inc, the winner of the contest traditionally

JUSTICE DEPT. LETS PWA'S

DOWN

The Reagan administration has dealt a crippling blow to the civil rights of persons with AIDS and those who test positive for the HTLV-3

virus.

The New York Times reports a ruling by the Justice Department depriving them of most protection related to Federal regulations forbidding discrimination against handicapped persons.

Justice Department officials arque that AIDS victims may be discriminated against if those doing so are motivated by concern about halting the spread of AIDS.

Although government officials, including the Centers for Disease Control, have repeatedly stated that the virus is not spread by casual contact, the Justice Department opinion objects scientists" re-

that 11

some

gard this view as "too sweeping."

Larry Bush, who works on California state legislaAIDS-related issues for the ture, points out that many gay men will now refuse to be tested for exposure to the HTLV-3 virus, fearing they may lose their jobs or their insurance.

In an editorial titled "A License to Hound AIDS Victims, the Times identifies Charles J Cooper, head of the Justice Department's Of fice of Legal Counsel, as author of the opinion, which it describes as suffused with "error and meanness."

The Times also points out that the only medical opinion Cooper cites to support his argument that the HTLV-3 virus may be casually transmitted has itself been withdrawn as a misrepresentation.

spends

much of his time helping to raise funds for charity. Last year's winner, Patrick Toner, helped raise over $155,000 for AIDS and other charitable causes.

GAY FATHER

WINS

Chicago Judge Howard Kaufman has thrown out a previous court order by another judge requiring a gay father to take an HTLV-3 antibody test in order to visit his children. Judge Kaufman ruled that the previous order was invalid because insufficient evidence had been presented to support it. Another hearing on the issue is scheduled for late July. The father is represented by National Gay Rights Advocates.

The case, Doe vs. Doe, attracted considerable national attention after Judge Richard Jorzak ordered the father to submit to testing in November. Since then, several judges assigned to the case have removed themselves, one admitting that he was biased against the

E VIEL & cause called

Doe"

in court documents, is perfectly healthy and shows no signs of AIDS.

MOHR BACKS CHOICE

The Michigan Organization for Human Rights, a lesbian/ gay rights organization, has

endorsed freedom of choice in reproduction. Reproductive freedom, according to MOHR, includes the right to

choose an abortion as well as the right to choose one's own form of sexual expression.

Contestants were judged by penel for leather image, physical appearance, attitude, and personality. None of the contestants were from the northeast Ohio area.

FOR

$28,400 DAMAGES GAY MAN

A D.C. Superior Court jury awarded gay computer consultant William Hassell $28,400 in damages against two former high school students who assaulted him in 1983.

Matthew Warring and Kevin Kinnahan, students at St. John's College High School, made sexual advances to Hassell in a gay bar. They drove him to a park, where they viciously beat and kicked him and attacked him with a knife, while calling him a faggot.

At the first trial attorneys for Warring and Kinnahan used the homosexual panic defense. Judge Nicholas Nunzio excused their savage behavior by attributing it to their excessive consumption of alcohol and to panic stemming from Hassell's gayness. Re sentenced them to probation and 400 hours of volunteer work in a soup kitchen.

Hassell then consulted the legal firm of Williams and Connolly, which agreed to take his case. After a 9-day trial, a jury awarded him the damages.