January, 1990
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
Page 7
Clevelanders share times at the Gay Games
by K.D. Mahnal
Is Jack Frost nipping at your nose? Does Cleveland's brisk, snowy winter leave you cold, while visions of warm, sunny days frolicking in the outdoors dance in your head? If you answered yes to these questions, there is an ultimate vacation available for you.
Celebration '90: Gay Games III and Cultural Festival, hosted by Vancouver, British Columbia, August 4-11, 1990, will be a spectacular event, forever etched in the minds of those who attend. Vancouver is a metropolitan area with an estimated lesbian and gay population of 100,000. A city of world-wide immigrants that creates a colorful mosaic of people living together in a remarkable coexis-
tence.
Vancouver offers something of interest to everyone: ethnic and international dining on one of three waterfronts, art shops, theaters, shopping, nightclubs, parks and beaches. At the center of Vancouver is the city's most prized possession, the world-renowned Stanley Park. One thousand acres of exquisite gardens, woodland trails, an aquarium, zoo, beaches and a seven-mile seawall walk. On the north shore, the Skyride tram will life you to the ski runs of Grouse Mountain, Cypress Bowl and Mount Seymour. The Games and Cultural Festival will
be an extravaganza of 10,000 artists, athletes and 20,000 spectators from around the world. To examine the spirit of the Games, we will take a look back in time at Triumph '86, held in San Francisco. Cleveland's contingent of two participants, Tin Fetrey and Cindy Pizzino, share their views with the Chronicle. Petrey captured a silver medal in racquetball, while Pizzino won a bronze in physique (bodybuilding).
NCOUVER
Q: What prompted you to participate in the 1986 Games?
Petrey: I had read about it in some literature and knew it was going to be a big event in which there was going to be a lot of camaraderie and a time to feel good about yourself and your community.
Pizzino: I read about it in a little article at Isis and thought it was really unique for something like that to happen. I was
MINNEAPOLIS
CLEVELAND
The pagentry of Triumph '86 in San Francisco
NSIDE THE WASHINGTON LOBBY
by Laura Markowitz
and Chai Feldblum The Appropriations Game
Politics, process and procedure always come together in strange ways during congressional action, but never more so than in the appropriations process, in which millions of AIDS dollars are at stake.
Every program authorized by Congress, including AIDS programs, gets money through appropriation bills. Congress is not supposed to use appropriations bills to legislate policy, but members from both ends of the spectrum, including right-wing conservatives have traditionally used appropriations bills to advance their policy views on AIDS.
The appropriations process began last April and came to its final conclusion in November, in the waning days of the first session of the 101st Congress. Advocates intervened in each stage of the process to try to keep out anti-gay amendments and to make sure AIDS programs got the money they needed; they also used procedure to their advantage whenever they could.
The infamous, anti-gay Helms education amendment has traditionally been offered to the AIDS appropriations bill. It provided that no AIDS educational materials developed with federal funds could promote or encourage homosexuality. A preemptive strike strategy was used successfully last year to defeat this amendment, and was also successful this year. By offering his amendment before Helms offered one, Senator Alan Cranston, D-Calif., used Senate procedure to silence Helms since Cranston's amendment could not be further amended under the Senate rules. The strategy was sound in terms of Senate politics as well, since Cranston's amendment addressed the Senate's concern, but without a "gay-bashing" component, providing that no AIDS
dignity
cleveland
Dignity is a Catholic based organization of gay men, lesbian women and their friends. For further Information phone 216-531-4469
educational material developed with federal money could be designed to promote any sexuality in AIDS educational materials. This amendment passed unanimously, and the opposition was more or less co-opted.
The Capitol Hill adage, "It's not over until it's over" proved true as the appropriations bill moved through the eight month process. On the Senate floor, Senator Gordon Humphrey, RNew Hampshire, successfully offered an anti-gay amendment that said that materials designed for schoolchildren could not promote or encourage homosexuality, or use the words "normal," "natural," or "healthy" to describe homosexuality. But the Senate floor is not the last word on what becomes law. With the help of sympathetic House members lobbyists helped get the amendment dropped during negotiations in the House-Senate conference.
Procedure almost defeated AIDS activists on another issue. On the Senate floor, Helms got the Senate to adopt an amendment providing that no money could be used for the distribution of clean needles or bleach to IV drug users. This was attached to a Senate provision that allowed Medicaid funding for abortions in the case of pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
This Senate abortion provision was the single item on which the HouseSenate conference reached no compromise, and so the provision went back
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to each House of Congress for a vote. Unfortunately, the restrictive needles and bleach amendment went with it.
There was no way, procedurally, to separate the two provisions. Civil rights groups wanted to support the important pro-choice provision, but the vote had to be at the expense of passing the needles and bleach restriction as well. Procedure had created an unfortunate dilemma.
The House of Representatives passed the provision with a margin of 16 votes, giving pro-choice advocates their first abortion vote victory in years. The Senate passed the provision as well, and the bill was sent to the president.
That would have been the end of the story, but the nation's highest-ranking anti-choice supporter, George Bush, vetoed the bill.
The bill then went back to Congress. While this was bad news for the prochoice lobby, it did give AIDS advocates a chance to fix the needles and bleach provision.
The House passed a new bill that had no restriction on funding for needles or bleach, but Armstrong convinced the Senate to again restrict such funding. Procedurally, the House and Senate had to end up in agreement over exactly the same bill, so the bill went back over to the House for another vote.
In the House, there was one last effort to remove the bleach restriction. Congressmen Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., leading
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into body building and I was having a rough time with normal people, whatever that is, who could not accept a woman with muscles. I needed to feel good about myself, so I decided to go to San Francisco and give it a try.
Q: How did it feel to go to the Gay Games?
Petrey: I think both Cindy and I were overwhelmed by the magnitude of everything... when we walked into Kezar Stadium and saw 10,000 people in the stands, it was just overwhelming. It makes you feel so good about yourself, your community and what our community can do.
Pizzino: Done just like the regular Olympics. So unique that you weren't just gay anymore, you were a part of society, because there were so many people accepting you. Our society sometimes has a rough time dealing with each other... both groups of people, men and women, got along well; they accepted each other totally.
Q: Describe the atmosphere at the Games.
Petrey: It was almost like a growth week or a retreat... after you came back home, you just felt so much more into your community and much more energized.
Continued on Page 9
advocates on AIDS policy, asked Chairman William Natcher, D-Kentucky, who was managing the bill to drop the restriction on bleach. To the great delight of the lobbyists who had been working on this issue, including the ACLU, the AIDS Action Council and the American Psychological Association, Natcher agreed. The Senate ultimately accepted the House's new provision, the president signed on, and AIDS funding for fiscal year 1990, including money for bleach distribution, became law.
For those who enjoy this type of game, the appropriations season starts every April and usually ends in October or November.
Markowitz is an editor of a national magazine for family therapists and a lesbian activist.
Feldblum is an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union AIDS Project.
THE FRONT ROW
DIALOGUES
DR. C. EVERETT KOOP
"AIDS, Drugs and Health Risks"
The best known Surgeon General in U.S. history speaks openly on the AIDS crisis, the drug problem and other controversial issues.
January 10 Wednesday, 10:15 AM⚫ $18.75
Tickets available at
the Front Row box
office, all Ticketrons
or charge by phone, front
216/524-0000.
For information:
449-5000.
WOOK 3WE
102.1FM
the
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