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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE December, 1989

WE ARE EVERYWHERE

by John Hubert

International conference will be in Mexico. Guadalajara, Mexico was chosen during the July World Conference in Vienna to be the host city for the 13th International Lesbian & Gay Association (ILGA) World Conference in 1991. This will be the first time that the ILGA Conference has been held in the Third World.

GOHL, the "Gay Pride Group for Liberation," an eight-year-old multipurpose organization, presented the successful bid at the Vienna conference. Pedro Preciado Negrete, director of GOHL and its lesbian and gay community service center, invites active participation from U.S. and Canadian organizations and individuals to help make this historic conference a success. Write to GOHL, Apartado Postal 11693, 44100 Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

What is ILGA? The ILGA is an entirely volunteer organization comprised of various Secretariats, each run by an established lesbian and gay organization. The Secretariats are generally operated by a group for a couple of years, after which the responsibilities pass to new organizations. The heart and soul of the ILGA has been European activist groups for the past 14 years. However, in recent years, they have successfully brought in many new members from AALA (Asia, Africa, Latin America) countries and are campaigning to add many more groups from North America to their active membership list.

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At present, the Information Secretariat is located in Sweden, the Action Secretariat in West Germany, the Financial Secretariat in England, and the Women's Secretariat in the Netherlands.

Additionally, the ILGA has Information Pools for Latin America, headquartered in Mexico; for Asia, located in Japan; and for Eastern Europe, run by a group in Austria.

The ILGA also has numerous ongoing projects, each one administered by a separate ILGA member organization. Such projects include the Lesbian and Gay Prisoners Project, Gays & Lesbians in the Military, Christian Churches, IGLA Archives, ICEBERG (to uncover and combat discrimination), and Amnesty International. The ILGA has applied for observer status in the United Nations and the Council of Europe. It publishes the "Pink Book," a country-bycountry survey of the current situation for lesbian and gay rights, as well as the "ILGA Bulletin," a bimonthly with details of ILGA activities and actions.

Protest letter campaigns have proven to be one of ILGA's most important tools. Countries are sensitive to their international reputations, especially in regard to human rights. At present, the ILGA has 20 actions in progress, covering political, governmental, or police. problems in Brazil, South America, Greece, Austria, Chile, Turkey, Spain, England, Mexico, Belgium, Australia, Ireland, Columbia, and Argentina.

For more information about ILGA and membership, write to the IGLA Information Secretariat, c/o RFSL, Box 350, S-101 24 Stockholm, Sweden.

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AIDS Education for Thai Bar-Boys. The Thailand Public Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) are teaming up with the 400 bars and nightclubs in Bangkok, 55 of which are gay bars, to bring safer-sex information to Bangkok's estimated 1,200 barboys.

Natee Teerarojjanapongs, a Thai gay activist and leader of the gay dance troupe "Purple String," has been putting on safer-sex shows for the past year and will now be doing a series of 200 shows funded by the Thai Public Health Ministry and WHO. The emphasis of the shows is promoting the use of condoms, with demonstrations of how to correctly put on a "toong yahng" (condom). Vegetables are used as substitutes for the real thing and contests are held between representatives of different bars to see who does it best. Bar-boys commonly go home with customers, with the bar collecting a fee. They also dance, wait on tables, and perform sex shows at some bars.

Natee, who is a choreographer and director of the Sen See Khoa Dance Troupe and Studio, has established an AIDS education group called FACTFraternity for AIDS Cessation in Thailand. FACT sends out teams of outreach volunteers to Bangkok's major cruise areas to talk to men on sex hunts and to pass out brochures. FACT is also counseling bar-boys who are facing HIVpositive status. FACT, the first gay organization in Thailand in recent history, can be written to at Khun Natee/FACT, 100/28 M. 14 Soi Charoenpatana, Pattanakarn Road, Prakanong, Bangkok

Health Issues Taskforce

OF CL•E•V•E•L•A•N•D

This space has been donated to the Taskforce by the Chronicle, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Chronicle staff or management.

New staff join HIT. The Taskforce is pleased to announce the appointment of three new staff members: Chrisse France as Director of Education, John Beres as Gay Education Coordinator, and Norma Shulman as Coordinator of the HIV Volunteer Network. Ms. France previously worked with Planned Parenthood of Summit, Portage and Akron Counties, where she has been Education and Training Manager since 1987. She also worked as a volunteer with the Northeast Ohio Task Force on AIDS in Akron. Mr. Beres has worked as a consultant for many different organizations, including the Case Western Reserve Historical Society and Never Ending Battle, Inc. He also has worked as a volunteer for the Taskforce and the Children's Museum. He is probably best known to many in the community as a former bartender at the Leather Stallion Saloon. Mrs. Shulman was Director of Volunteer Services and Patient Representation at Mt. Sinai Medical Center

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from 1977 to 1988. She is responsible for development of an HIV volunteer system presently shared by the Taskforce, the AIDS Housing Council, the Living Room and North Coast AIDS Home Care.

Richard L. Fuller Fund. Members of North Coast Men's Chorus has established this fund in memory of Chorus founder and Taskforce volunteer Rick Fuller. The Fund will support attendance at cultural events by persons with HIV-spectrum conditions and their significant others. The Fund operates as part of Taskforce Direct Assistance Programs. For information about assistance, call the Taskforce at 621-0766. Our thanks to Chorus members for this tribute to Rick, who will be greatly missed by all of us at the Taskforce.

Counselors Needed. To meet the ever growing demand for support groups and individual counseling, the Taskforce is seeking qualified volunteers with coun-

10110, Thailand. Contributions should be made out to Natee Teerarojjanapongs and sent via international money order.

The Thai government has set up a similar program for bar-girls, hiring EMPOWER, an association of female prostitutes, to run the program.

East-West Magazine of London reports that Thailand presently has 22 cases of AIDS, 76 of ARC, and 8,177 people reported as HIV positive. Of this total, 106 are gay or bisexual men, 425 are heterosexual females, most of whom are prostitutes, and 7,102 are IV-drug users. Princess Chulaporn of the Thailand Royal Family, in the opening speech to the Second Annual Asia-Pacific AIDS Conference, warned that if mass education were not accomplished now, Thailand could expect 1.2 million people to become HIV positive. Princess Chulaporn has announced that her Research Institute would conduct AIDS research.

Arab Conference on AIDS. The Washington Blade reports that the Second Arab International Conference on AIDS will be held in Cairo, Egypt on March 2-6, 1990. The conference will cover both scientific and sociological aspects of the epidemic in developing nations. For information, write Dr. Mohammed Abd El-Aal, Conference Sectretariate, 5 Al Saraya St., Al Manial el-Roda, Cairo, Egypt.

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Other Volunteer Needs. Taskforce can always use volunteers in direct services and education. In particular, we need Buddies for emotional and practical support, especially Buddies for Black or Hispanic persons with AIDS or ARC. The next training is scheduled for January 1990. Call the Taskforce for details.

AmFAR Survey. As reported previously, the Taskforce was awarded a one-year grant from the American Foundation for AIDS Research to study safersex behavior among gay and bisexual men in Cleveland. John Beres is coordinating the survey at community institutions. Help us with this important work by completing a survey when contacted.

Renovations Project. The Taskforce needs carpet installers, carpenters and painters to help complete renovations at the office. Call us at 621-0766.

House Parties. You can help us to keep helping people with HIV conditions by hosting a house party for the Taskforce. Call the Director at the Taskforce for details.▼

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