November, 1989

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Page 5

AIDS activists strip searched

The Portland, Oregon chapter of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) has filed suit in the Federal District Court of Oregon against the U.S. Marshal for the District of Oregon, Kernon Bagley.

The lawsuit alleges that federal marshals in Portland strip searched ten ACT UP demonstrators following their arrest for nonviolent civil disobedience at a Portland protest of the Food and Drug Administration's AIDS policies, specifically, bureaucratic delays in the approval of drug treatments for ailments associated with AIDS that are safe as well as promising, but which have not been scientifically proven effective to the satisfaction of the FDA. Some of these drugs are licensed in Europe or Asia, but remain unapproved for use in the United States.

The demonstrators, all lesbians and gay men, claim the strip search was unjustified and that the marshals violated their fourth amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. The lawsuit seeks money damages and injunctive relief against future strip searches of demonstrators under similar circumstances.

The lawsuit stems from a February 27, 1989, protest at which the demonstrators blew whistles and chanted slogans in the hallway outside FDA. offices in a federal

office building in Portland. The FDA office had been closed in anticipation of the demonstration. Over 100 ACT UP demonstrators circled the building on the sidewalk carrying picket signs with messages critical of government policy. Twelve demonstrators were arrested. Eleven were taken into federal custody for creating the noisy disturbance in the hallway. A twelfth was taken into custody by Portland police after throwing himself in front of the marshal's van transporting other arrestees. He was held briefly in a police car, given a citation and released. He later paid a $25 fine.

The protesters arrested on federal charges claim they were subjected to a pat search at the scene, handcuffed and transported in a van to the federal courthouse for processing by the marshal's office. There, they were charged with creating a disturbance in a federal office building, a petty offense under federal law. Each was photographed, fingerprinted, asked to present identification, given a citation and released within three hours. However, prior to their release, the AIDS activists claim that the marshals, who were wearing rubber gloves, subjected each demonstrator to a degrading and intrusive strip search in which the men were ordered to lift their genitalia and the women their breasts. All were ordered to bend over

Judges' code may include ban on anti-gay bias

The new code of ethics for judges will include a ban against discrimination based on sexual orientation if the National Gay and Lesbian Law Association has its way. Board member Suzanne Bryant testified in Washington, D.C. before the American Bar Association committee which is currently revising the ethics code. Ms. Bryant described the current "epidemic of violence" against lesbians and gay men "who are often reluctant to report crimes because they fear they may, like rape victims, be victimized a second time by the judicial system."

Last February the ABA passed a resolution supporting legislation prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations. Now, the ABA is revising the Model Code of Judicial Conduct which serves as ethical guidance for judges throughout the country. The draft revised code prohibits bias based on race, sex, religion and national origin, but fails to mention sexual orientation.

Testimony at the hearing showed that the justice system is not always impartial when it comes to lesbians and gay men. In 1987, Daniel Wan was brutally beaten and murdered outside a gay bar in Fort Lauderdale. At a pre-trial hearing, Judge Daniel Futch asked the prosecutor, "That's a crime now, to beat up a homosexual?" The judge later said he was kidding, but gay rights groups throughout the country failed to see the humor. Last year in Dallas, Judge Jack Hampton admitted in an interview with the Dallas Times Herald that he had given a convicted murderer a light sentence because the victim was gay.

The frightening implication of remarks like these is that gay people are fair game. If the Code of Judicial Conduct is revised to include a ban against judicial discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, judges will be accountable and may think twice before they fail to provide equal justice under the law.▼

HUD sued for PWA housing funds

National Gay Rights Advocates has filed a precedent-setting lawsuit charging that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has illegally refused to fund a housing complex for people with AIDS and ARC. Housing for Independent people (HIP), a non-profit housing agency in San Jose, California, applied to HUD for funding under section 202, a program to develop housing for people with handicaps. HUD contends that people with AIDS do not qualify as handicapped under the program based on an erroneous contention that AIDS is a universally terminal illness.

The case, Jonathan G. Moreau and Housing for Independent People v. Jack Kemp concerns a 24-unit facility, "Casa de los Amigos," due to be built in San Jose. HUD contends that section 202 was designed to benefit persons with illnesses that are "long-continued and indefinite," and that people with AIDS and ARC do not live long enough to qualify. In fact, medical evidence reveals that

people with AIDS and ARC often live long, productive lives when their basic needs are assured. The Department has ignored an administrative complaint filed by NGRA in February.

"HUD's callous and insensitive reaction to a housing complex for PWA's is incredible," said attorney Benjamin Schatz, Director of NGRA's AIDS Civil Rights Project. "The fact is that HUD's discriminatory policy is in clear violation of federal handicap discrimination law."

If NGRA is successful in forcing HUD to fund Casa de los Amigos, the win will have a national impact on PWA access to government sponsored housing.

Said NGRA's Executive Director Jean O'Leary, "Winning this case will be a major victory in the war against AIDS discrimination, the powers that be at HUD must assume that PWA's will meekly accept such blatant and irrational discrimination. They are mistaken. We expect to win, and celebrate the victory when Casa de los Amigos welcomes its first residents."

and spread their buttocks for inspection. Several of the searches were conducted in full view of other officers and detainees.

"The question the government will have to explain to the jury is why. Why were these people strip searched? I can think of no legitimate reason," said Tom Steenson, a Portland attorney representing the demonstrators.

"There was no reason to believe the arrestees would bring contraband or weapons into the holding area. This was nonviolent civil disobedience. The government knew that in advance from pre-demonstration discussions with ACT UP representatives. Those who were arrested were given a citation-more or less a traffic ticket and released," said Wayne Harris, an ACT UP spokesperson. "The fact is that these demonstrators were perceived to be gay men and lesbians," Harris continued. "I

think that's the real reason they were forced to put up with this harassment. It was designed to humiliate them, to make them think twice before speaking out again."

Most of the arrestees settled the charges by paying the government $50. One arrestee went to trial and was fined $50. In that trial, U.S. Magistrate George Juba rejected the federal prosecutor's attempt to force the demonstrator to pay restitution for cleanup costs associated with removing red paint from the exterior of the building and stickers from its walls on the ground that the government failed to present evidence linking the individual defendant to any activity beyond noisemaking.

ACT UP, an international organization with more than 50 chapters throughout the United States, Great Britain and Canada, is dedicated to ending the AIDS crisis through nonviolent direct action. ▼

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