Page 8 GAY PEOPLES CHRONICLE January, 1989

The following is the text of a letter sent to Cleve Jones, director of the NAMES Project, from Michael Standman, a member of the board of directors of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Standman submitted it for publication as an open letter because, he wrote, "I feel that these issues warrant public debate.

An Open Letter to the NAMES Project: Don't Deny Our Existence

by Michael Standman

When first I heard about the NAMES Project Quilt, I was deeply moved and impressed by the concept. It seemed to be a perfect way to remember the thousands who have died of AIDS. However, as I became more familiar with your literature, it became clear to me that you were making a decision to drastically limit the association between AIDS and gay men. I respect your apparent motive--to "de-stigmatize" the image of AIDS and attract vital resources from society at large---but I feel that omitting references to gay men serves to defame those who have died.

When I attended the candle-

light vigil and program sponsored by the NAMES Project at Washington's Lincoln Memorial last Oct. 8, I was stunned and deeply hurt by the presentations made there. How could you arrange for five people, including yourself, to speak about AIDS and not make a single reference to gay men? In fact, the use of the word "gay" was clearly omitted by all of the speakers.

Although their presentations conveyed important messages about hemophiliac children with AIDS, minorities with AIDS, the heterosexual spread of AIDS in Africa, as well as relevant political and medical issues in the United States, no one attending the program could have gleaned that gay men have been and continue to be the

largest group of people directly affected the AIDS epidemic. Such programs seem to me most disrespectful of gay men. Three mothers spoke movingly of their children's battles with AIDS. Would a gay man's tale of the loss of his lover have been unfit for public presentation?

Similarly, when you wanted panels made for the Quilt, you turned to the gay community. We responded in homes as well as in gay and lesbian community centers across America We produced a quilt, a monument to our brothers lost to AIDS. However,

"Straightening

most of your literature omits the use of the word "gay." You repeatedly use phrases such as, "made by families, friends and lovers of people lost to AIDS." You seem to have lost sight of the fact that the Quilt largely represents gay lives lost to AIDS and that the panels were made mostly by other gay men for their lovers, their friends and their relatives.

America would rather turn her back than face us. Homophobia was and continues to be a wall surrounding the AIDS epidemic. Government, media and society at large did not feel compelled to scale the wall of homophobia in an attempt to save the gay men who were sick and dying.

The gay community was left to develop its own resources. We had to figure out what was happening to our community, we had to educate ourselves, we had to bring attention to our plight. From grassroots gay organizations, from hospital beds and funeral parlors, from our homes, from our hearts and souls, we had to fight (and in some cases beg) for help. All too often this help was denied. We were left to die because we were gay. As the disease continued to spread to other minorities---blacks, hemophiliacs, drug

Checkbook activism

Now that the dust has settled on the recent election battles, one thing has become crystal clear about the 1988 congressional campaign: More candidates than ever took recordbreaking contributions of gay and lesbian PAC money---powerful

political greenbacks that helped most of them win their races.

The Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF), the nations's largest gay and lesbian political action committee and lobbying organization, contributed

more than $400,000 in cash and in-kind

Where the Gay & Lesbian Money Went

HRCF 1987-88 Political Contributions*

Total Dollars: $307,222

DO

=% of money

= % of candidates

$247,012

80%

88%

$221,852

72%

81%

$85,370

28%

19%

$60,210 20%

12%

Democrats Republicans Winners Candidates 98 13 91 Includes only direct cash contributions to candidates

Losers 20

Continued on Page 13.

gifts to Republican and Democratic candidates and progressive groups during the 1987-88 election cycle. That's 60 percent more than 1985-86 contributions.

But who takes gay money and why? And is it politically risky for candidates to take such contributions?

HRCF gave more than $300,000 to 111 candidates running for Congress in 29 states in 1987-88. The PAC also gave to three politicians who did not run this year or withdrew from the race. In the 1986 cycle, only 98 candidates received contributions. This cycle, 14 women received HRCF funds, as did 18 black candidates.

Congresswoman Connie Morella (R-Md.), the only Republican woman and one of only four Republicans to co-sponsor the gay and lesbian civil rights bill, won her re-election bid by a sizeable margin. HRCF contributed $6,000 to her campaign.

Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) won an upset victory over Republican incumbent Joseph DioGuardi. Lowey has pledged to cosponsor the gay and lesbian civil rights bill, as has Jolene Unsoeld (D-Wash.), who won a closely contested race.

HRCF criteria for contributing to candidates include their voting records or positions on gay and lesbian issues, such as federal AIDS legislation, hate crimes, immigration, gay and lesbian civil rights and others.

By law, PACS are allowed to contribute up to $5,000 for the primary, $5,000 for the general election and $5,000 for a runoff to any political candidate in an election cycle.

Last spring, the Federal Elections Commission ranked HRCF the ninth largest independent PAC in the country and the 24h largest PAC overall (out of more than 4,000). Rankings are based on the total amount raised by the PAC in the election cycle.

"A strong gay PAC is our calling card in Washington," said Vic Basile, HRCF executive director. "There is power behind lesbian and gay money. It provides us with a tangible way of helping people who are our political allies and friends."

In an effort to fight the enemy, HRCF spent about $66,000 in advertising and lobbying to help overturn or weaken numerous "killer" amendments that Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) tried to attach to federal AIDS legislation. Furious, Helms sent a letter to HRCF saying he "was obliged to observe that if I were asked to choose the one organization in America which I would most prefer to attack me, the Human Rights Campaign Fund would win in a walk."

All told, direct and in-kind contributions to candidates, independent expenditures---including antiHelms costs--and support to other PACs topped $400,000.

"There is no such thing as a free civil rights movement for the lesbian and gay community," said Robert Bray, HRCF communications director. "We've had a few defeats, but the wheels have been greased by gay money for more critical victories on Capitol Hill."

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